12/9/22 11:39 AM | Company News Insights From REBA's Own - Alicia Mendoza

Meet Alicia. 

As one of REBA’s Business Intelligence Developers, Alicia’s day-to-day revolves around developing our tech integrations, setting up pipelines to get data from open APIs and other data sources, and funneling it into staging tables which then load into the REBA data cube. 

In short, she spends most days coding in Microsoft Azure’s data factory working on API calls to ensure our solutions meet our clients’ specific data needs regardless of their tech stack. Quite the full circle moment, as her high school career aptitude test told her that she should pursue computer programming. 

“In high school, I remember thinking, "Wow! I love computers, but I don't have one at home and
don't really know how to use one." So, I continued down the road of pursuing an education in
business administration. 10+ years later, I found myself developing applications for a company,
purely out of need, and I've been in the app development space ever since.”
 

Alicia started as a Project Analyst in the multifamily industry working for Riverstone and immediately inherited Excel reports. Her technical acumen told her that she could execute her monthly deliverables much faster if she could just put the data into a database, but one didn’t exist.  

So, Alicia asked if she could build one. And then, once the database was built, she asked for a SQL server, and so on and so forth...(for fellow toddler parents out there, you’ve likely read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie). Riverstone was acquired by Greystar in 2015 and Alicia’s career evolved into application development. She joined the REBA team in 2021 and brought with her a passion for understanding how things work, SQL programming, and technology. 

 Get to know Alicia better below. 

1. Describe yourself in 3 words.

  • Determined 
  • Open minded 
  • Optimistic 

2. What's your favorite color?

I think the prettiest colors I’ve seen are in the Arizona sunsets - vivid oranges and pinkish purples. But if you're wondering what my favorite color to wear is, it’s light grey. White doesn’t work with toddlers and gets stained, and black is too dark and hot in the sun. 

3. Coffee or tea? Wine or beer?

All the above, I like the taste of everything. When it comes to beer, I usually do lagers & brown ales; nothing too hoppy. I also drink a cup of ½ caf/decaf coffee every morning and then switch to tea throughout the day. 

4. What's the weirdest word in the English language?

This question reminds me of the scene in Black Sheep where Chris Farley and David Spade are laughing about the word “road” and its pronunciation.  

As a former 5th and 6th grade reading, writing, and math teacher I remember I had a lesson plan about how weird of a language English is, and took my classroom through these examples to illustrate it: 

  • If the plural of mouse is mice, then the plural of house is...
  • If the plural of goose is geese, then the plural of moose is... 

It just doesn’t make sense :) 

5. What's inspiring you in your life right now?

My son, Joah. Every decision I make is based around him and how to make him the happiest and allow him to thrive.

6. What is the best piece of advice you've received?

A quote by Gandhi has always stood out to me, “Whatever you do in life will be insignificant but it is very important that you do it because you can't know. You can't ever really know the meaning of your life...”  

It makes you think. It highlights the fact that individually no one can accomplish that much, but if you’re all accomplishing as much as you can then you have a significant impact. 

7. What is a podcast that everyone should listen to?

I listened to a podcast where they interviewed ultrarunner Courtney Dauwalter who won the Moab 240 (a 238-mile run through the Moab desert) and beat every competitor by 10 hours. She’s very approachable and not one bit arrogant and just talked about how she accomplished the feat. She’s not a typical athlete, she’s actually a full-time science teacher, and I loved how much of her story was based around mental control and pushing through the mental boundary. 

8. What is a quote or affirmation you live by today?

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have a verse that says, “All we are are leaves that fall.”  It reminds me that there are so many of us, our time is short, and we’ll ultimately all disappear just like a leaf. 

9. What’s your favorite time of day?

Not super early mornings, but the morning after I’ve come to. My brain is the sharpest and the most energized and I have the most hopeful outlook on the day at that time. 

10. What is one thing no one knows about you?

I’m 28% Native American.  

Connect with Alicia Mendoza on LinkedIn.

 *Questions inspired by Vogue’s 73 Questions Video Series.