Karen Maehara

Yardi Employee Profile

By Katrina McDowell on Aug 14, 2024 in People

Yardi’s global offices make essential contributions to property management and investors worldwide. Today, meet Karen Maehara, senior technical account manager for the commercial Santa Barbara team.

Maehara has been working at Yardi for nearly six years. She supports some of Yardi’s largest, most strategic clients daily and supports colleagues throughout her department. Maehara spends most of her time in the office troubleshooting client cases and working on client projects.

“I love mentoring colleagues and working on internal or other non-client initiatives. I recently helped put on our second internal Commercial summit for the West Coast,” explained Maehara.

Maehara feels collaboration and relationships with colleagues and clients are the best part of working at Yardi. Some of Maehara’s favorite interactions at Yardi are from talking about anime with clients to discussing cool hobbies or activities like escape rooms in team meetings. Even a simple run-in at the office with people she hasn’t worked with or seen in a while is enjoyable.

The “let me see if I can help” attitude that everyone has (including herself) is what works for Yardi’s corporate culture. Everyone is always trying to help where they can, even if they don’t have an immediate or direct answer. “Receiving that kind of warm support and being able to give it back to others is a wonderful place to be,” said Maehara.

YASC Spokesperson

Maehara has accomplished many things over the years at Yardi, but her most cherished project was presenting at YASC San Diego for Yardi Spreadsheet Reporting (YSR).

“The guru of YSRs had retired, and other prior YSR presenters had left too, and with only a couple months to go, management asked if Sarvagya Madan (one of the BEST people at Yardi) and I could take on the task,” Maehara stated.

Maehara spent hours learning YSR work in the first place with Madan and then spent time figuring out what and how to present. After countless hours spent practicing, the day of the conference came, and the Guru himself was sitting in the front row, “It was such a relief and honor when, after the class, he approached us and let us know we did a great job covering the topics,” expressed Maehara.

As YASC continues, she works on improvements and updates the courses each year, but it was by far the fastest learning curve and the most intense project she has worked on. In the subsequent years, Maehara continues to work on the presentations and improve them to make the topic more accessible.

“I look forward to continuing to present at YASC and making YSRs more accessible to people, especially as it becomes more and more prevalent in Voyager 8.”

Maehara enjoys YASC so much that she said she would switch positions with Tim Hoover for a day, “I would love to see what a day in Tim Hoover’s life is like. Planning (and keeping secret) the inner workings of YASC sounds like a busy and cool time.”

Career Growth

Working at Yardi has been an excellent experience for Maehara, and she wants new hires to know that people at Yardi have their backs and want to see them succeed. Clients can be challenging sometimes, but there is always a sense of growth and accomplishment, even in the more tense situations. Yardi offers an outstanding work-life balance and the opportunity to grow when showing initiative.

“Whether it’s your first job out of college or a new adventure after prior positions, you’ll find that people stay at Yardi for a long time for a reason. You can have confidence in the stability that the company has to offer while still being able to experience close, fun experiences that make you forget it is a giant company with over 9,000 employees!”

Some of the best advice Maehara received at Yardi during her interview was that “I don’t know” is a perfectly reasonable answer. There is no shame or judgment for not knowing everything.

“There is no need to lie or put on airs about being knowledgeable. No one is expected to know everything, and there isn’t always a need to answer immediately. There isn’t always a need to provide an opinion,” Maehara explained.

Alien Adventures

Karen Maehara spends her time outside the office paddleboarding in the Santa Barbara Habor, participating in half-marathons and returning home in the summer to New York fly-fishing in the Catskills. She also enjoys watching anime and playing Dungeons & Dragons, and she recently started playing Magic the Gathering. She enjoys baking treats and often shares with the Santa Barbara office.

Maehara is a resident alien of the United States with her citizenship in Japan, and yes, she does speak Japanese! She hopes to one day return overseas to visit Luxembourg as an adult and revisit her favorite spots.

“I really enjoy being a part of the Yardi team and hope to spread the joy! Hoping to fulfill my little dream of being a veteran Yardian where, one day, someone looks in the directory and says, ‘Wow, she’s been here for 20 years!’ Thank you for the opportunity and to whoever suggested me for this spotlight.”

Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site.

Learn more about the dynamic members of #TeamYardi on the People page.