The Nocatee Welcome Center is the first stop for anyone looking to find out more about the master-planned community.
The office offers resources like interactive maps, tours and tons of information about living in Nocatee. The most important resource, however, is the vibrant staff who waits to help newcomers get oriented. Each month, we will feature a different member of the Welcome Center team.
This week, we sat down with Donna Lundgren, Nocatee’s Welcome Center Manager.
Describe your role at the welcome center.
The way I see my role at the Welcome Center is primarily as a support agent to the staff.
I believe it is my responsibility to provide them with the best tools, training and the freedom to be their authentic selves, so that they can effectively do their jobs at the highest level of performance.
We want our visitors to the Nocatee Welcome Center to find their experience enjoyable, educational, informational and sometimes even entertaining.
Second is the operational side. It is important to me that I am meeting the needs and expectations of the PARC Group as well as our visitors and builders in the community, meaning operational hours, staffing, marketing materials and events.
Was there anything that surprised you about Nocatee?
Every day, I think I am surprised or in amazement of the things that happen here in Nocatee. Our running joke in the Welcome Center is that we can leave at 6 p.m. and by the time we walk in the door the next morning something, has changed - there’s something new. It makes it a very exciting place to work.
But, my first surprise, I think, was finding out that over 60% of Nocatee will never be developed. I thought, “Wow, now there’s a group of people with some integrity, who care about the environment.” The more time I have around the executive team at PARC, the more I realize just how great their integrity is. They are good stewards with what they have been given. Always taking the best care and doing the best with what they have been given. That belief penetrates to the residents of Nocatee and makes it a very special place to live.
That alone is a surprise and a very rare quality to find in business anywhere. I think this is what makes them so successful.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
I can honestly say, I love everything about my job. If I had to choose something, it will always come down to the people. I feel so blessed to be here. To work for the PARC Group, to be on the front line (when I say on the frontline, that’s because we have an incredible team behind us, here in the Welcome Center) getting to sharing the Nocatee Lifestyle with people from all over the world, to working with some of the most incredible people I have ever met. To know that it’s not just selling a lifestyle or a home, it is about improving the lives of those who choose to purchase in Nocatee.
I have actually had, not just me - but all of us, here in the Welcome Center have had people who come back in to tell us they purchased a home and how happy they are and what a change living here has made in their own lives or children’s lives.
I had one woman, who came into the Welcome Center with her sister who was purchasing here. She was from New York and she was so concerned about the direction her daughter was heading in - she actually was in tears, my heart broke for her. When she learned about Nocatee she decided she was going to move, too. She bought and later came back to tell me, that in just a few short weeks of living here, she felt she had gotten her daughter back. That her daughter had made some great friends and how thankful she was. She even volunteered to wave the Nocatee flag as a testament to how wonderful living here is.
So, that has got to be a favorite part. It has been my experience that no matter how long someone has lived here, they are just as excited and happy as if it were their first day living here. You know the best thing about this? Is that as we continue to grow, it is only going to get better.
What does a typical day look like in your position?
Okay, all I can do is laugh, here! There is no “typical day.” I wear multiple hats throughout a day. From Welcome Center representative, giving presentations, answering phones, tour guide, conducting training sessions for realtors, visiting builders, answering incoming emails, lead nurturing, concierge, fire fighter (figuratively speaking), compiling reports, payroll, coaching, scheduling, taking inventory, shopping for inventory, attending meetings or events, training staff members, putting the train set in our kid’s corner back together to cleaning, vacuuming or taking out the trash. Whatever needs to be done... that’s a typical day!
