aisy González, manager at All-American Self-Storage in Methuen, Mass., which is managed by StoragePRO Management, loves to bake. Cakes and cookies are her favorite, but her legendary tres leches (three milks) cake is her area of expertise. “I make it for every single family event,” she says proudly. It’s something that makes her so happy because her parents, Maria and Orlando, and her 25-year-old daughter, Mya, are her world; and they certainly enjoy spending time together.

The fact that good relationships are the foundation of her life has certainly shaped the trajectory of her career in self-storage. It also secured her position as this year’s second runner-up for Manager of the Year.

González started her career in storage in 2013 as a full-time sales associate. By 2015, she had been promoted to sales manager. “Daisy has been instrumental in generating key metrics and reporting for the East Coast properties,” says Jen Conlon, StoragePRO’s marketing manager and the person who nominated González for 2025 Manager of the Year.

To date, González has managed five different properties across the StoragePRO portfolio. She’s also set up new facilities and provided onboarding and training for new self-storage managers.

And while every business needs a solid team to move forward, González manages to keep everything going, even when she’s short staffed. “Despite losing her assistant manager recently, Daisy has successfully managed her facility under single coverage for several months without missing a beat,” says Conlon. Then, when her facility migrated their online presence to a new platform, she convinced more than 40 percent of her tenants to enroll in autopay. However, there are still customers who prefer to come to the store to pay in person, and González is happy to greet them warmly.

“That’s how I got to know ‘Betty,’” she says before telling a story about a tenant who will forever remain in her memory. (The tenant’s name was changed to Betty to protect her privacy.)

One of the most common phrases in the business world is that nothing is personal—it’s just business. While it has become accepted as an adage in most industries, it’s far from the truth. Everything is personal, because every decision has an affect on people’s lives in some way, and sometimes something that may seem small can have a significant impact.

González is very aware of this fact, and the biggest example is how she decided to approach the situation when she noticed that Betty’s payments were past due. 

“She had been a tenant for many years,” she recalls. “In fact, she used to come in every month with her son to visit her unit, which looked like a little library, and to pay with a check.” González had become used to those visits, so when she saw that Betty had missed a couple of payments, she was worried.

“I called her phone number several times, and it would ring and ring, and no one would answer,” says González. “I then would call her son, and it would go straight to voicemail.”

Betty’s son was her only living relative. He had lived with her and was her caregiver, so the fact that neither were getting back to her weighed heavily on González’s mind. When she Googled their names, she was shocked to find out that the son had been killed in a fatal car accident.

González’s heart raced, not only because the event itself was devastating but because she knew that Betty relied on her son completely. She reached out to an acquaintance who provides senior services to ask for help with locating Betty. It turned out that Betty had to be hospitalized after the police delivered the bad news; subsequently, she was sent to a nursing home.

Through the senior services organization her friend ran, González arranged for someone to help Betty in everything she needed to do, including claiming her son from the morgue, making all the funeral arrangements, getting her bills paid, saving the photos in the home she shared with her son, and donating everything else.

A few days later, Betty called González. “She told me that she was surprised someone had been asking about her, because after her son passed away, she didn’t have anyone else.” She then asked González if she would come visit her. González did, and Betty hugged her, thanking her profusely for everything. A few days later, Betty passed away.

González reflects on this time, fully aware that the memory will stay with her forever. “I’m glad we were able to help her,” she says with heartfelt concern. “She went peacefully.”

In a world where most businesses would have simply sent the required number of late-payment notices before promptly beginning the lien sale process, González exemplified what having a heart can do for someone who’s going through a truly difficult, life-altering time.

Betty’s story wasn’t a one-off example of González’s genuine caring nature. She regularly reaches out to unhappy customers to see how she can find solutions. In fact, she’s a firm believer that there’s always a way to resolve any challenges that may arise. “I enjoy my work, and I always find a way to work things out.” This approach has been instrumental in preserving relationships long term.

When asked about her biggest accomplishment in her career so far, she doesn’t mention her impressive key performance indicators, nor the success of the portfolios of facilities she manages. She immediately goes back to Betty’s story. “The fact that I was able to help someone that way is something that will always stay with me,” says González. “That has definitely been my biggest career accomplishment.”

Conlon agrees. “Daisy’s career is defined by her operational excellence, her role as a mentor and leader, but also her unwavering commitment to customer care. She has shown that with hard work, adaptability, and compassion, a store manager can have a lasting impact, not just on their property but on the lives of the people they serve; and Daisy’s approach to customer service is deeply rooted in empathy.”

When González isn’t managing her facility, she loves to spend time with her family, especially with her daughter Mya. “She’s my greatest accomplishment, my best friend, and my motivation to keep doing better in life,” she says proudly. “I always want to be a great example for her.” She also loves enjoying quiet mornings on her porch with a hot cup of coffee, as well as playing and cuddling with her dogs, Sonic and Scout.

And while González strives to always make her daughter proud, being nominated for Manager of the Year made her take pause and feel proud of herself, too. “When Jen first told me she was nominating me, I thought it was an internal thing. But when she told me I was second runner-up and that this would be a story in Messenger, I was shocked. All these years, I’ve loved my job, but I’ve also been so busy, so I hadn’t really stopped to think about how much I’ve been able to do,” she says.

Nevertheless, she does want to share credit with her coworkers. “Michelle Johnson-Sealy, Sarah Johnson, and Traci Bump have been instrumental in my self-storage career,” says González. “They have helped me on numerous occasions, and the wealth of knowledge I have in this industry is thanks to them. I couldn’t be more grateful to have them on my team.”