Team Spotlight: Kaitlyn Howell, Head of Operations

Welcome to AptAmigo’s Spotlight Series, where we highlight some of the amazing people who make up our team. We’ll be chatting with people who work in a variety of roles, so check back often or view the entire series.  

If you type “ example of an empathetic leader” into Google, a picture of Kaitlyn Howell, our Head of Operations, will almost certainly appear. She manages our operations teams in multiple markets like a well-oiled machine, easily navigating through any crisis and supporting every single team member. She also constantly asks her colleagues to give feedback on her ideas and suggest improvements. Kaitlyn is a natural born leader who embodies humility and actively listens to others, no matter their position or seniority in the company.

When Kaitlyn first started at AptAmigo, the company was still in its infancy. She recalls how “we were so small when I started! When I first got here, we were in only two markets: our Chicago market and our Denver market. We were all in one office space, and I was making calls and doing my job right next to the CEO of our company. We were a small team, grinding our work out every single day, and then we started to make big things happen. As we grew, we expanded into many more markets, and I got to help launch our Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas, and Austin markets, which are very proud moments for me.”

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Other proud moments for Kaitlyn include when she moved up the ladder from Operations Coordinator to Operations Manager, and then to Head of Operations: “Being in my position has been one of my favorite things in the world. As Head of Operations, I essentially get to develop and foster talent. I want to get my teammates and my team to where they want to be and where their true passions lie. If you want to be in a leadership role, hell yeah I’m going to support you and guide you in the right direction! I also make sure that every market is fully ‘stocked up’ with everything they need and that everyone is completely copasetic. If any crisis arises, I’m here to get things back on track.”

When talking about her leadership style, Kaitlyn aims to be both humble and proactive: “The nice thing about AptAmigo is that you get to grow into your position organically. I learned from Dan (our CEO) and Rachel (our COO) how to establish a manage-up mindset, which is essentially when you ask the people you are managing ‘What can be improved upon?,’ and that has catalyzed incredibly fruitful results. I feel like it’s very easy to fall into an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality, and that is just not how I function. A lot of empathy is necessary, and I think at our company’s core, that’s who we are. We want to understand what every team member is going through on a daily basis. Empathy and collaboration is what I bring to my team, and what I want my team to give in return.”