Tami Prince wants everyone to see life at Indigo, a community by Neal Communities, at the clubhouse or an event at least once.
That may seem like a tall order for a community with approximately 130 single-family homes and plans for roughly another 445 homes still to be built.
But, Tami doesn’t view it as a challenge, but rather an opportunity.
Tami, who works for Access Management, which manages a number of Neal Communities’ neighborhoods, opened Club Indigo, the community’s clubhouse, in January 2016.
Since then, Tami has been on-site every day making sure the community’s amenities, including the pool, fitness center and pickle ball and bocce ball courts, are clean and running properly. She also makes arrangements for repairs and preventative maintenance with vendors, among other day-to-day tasks.
But the largest part of Tami’s job is putting together Indigo’s social calendar. As the lifestyle director for Club Indigo, Tami is tasked with planning outings, classes and social events to keep the community’s residents active and engaged.
‘It’s a lot of work, but it’s an important part of the community with the residents,” says Tami. “I’m tickled that we’ve been able to maintain the level of commitment that we have. It’s insane that we’ve been able to have so much success with only 130 homes.”
Every month, Tami creates, promotes and sends out the Indigo Insider, a 30-page newsletter designed to connect the residents of Indigo. The newsletter features a social calendar, event flyers and promotions, neighborhood news and highlights of the happenings going on with Indigo residents in and around the community.
Tami manages all of Indigo’s social activities, including Wine Down Wednesdays, Roosters Men’s Night, Ladies Night Out as well as monthly field trips and lunch and dinner outings. She also has helped the community create a wide range of clubs for residents such as Euchre, Bunco, book and walking, among countless others.
In addition to organizing Indigo’s social calendar, Tami also has implemented a variety of fitness classes for residents, including instructor-led classes twice a week.
It’s rare that a day goes by when there isn’t at least one club meeting, event or social activity happening at Club Indigo.
“I feel like I live here,” says Tami, who actually resides in Parrish with her husband, Lee Prince. “It’s an awesome place to come to every day. The residents are happy and engaged. We have a perfect world. I don’t want anything to change.”
Tami is constantly on the lookout for new, fun and different events and activities for the community and always encourages residents to offer their ideas.
In addition to a Derby Day event, Tami also helped Indigo residents Tom Perillo, Bill Irvan and Ken Combs form a community rock band. The Blue Pelicans played their first live performance for residents during a Picnic on the Patio event and plan to play during Indigo’s weekly Wine Down Wednesday gathering.
“She’s been just great. She really has,” says Perillo of Tami. “I think everyone in the community holds her in very high regard. She’s very enthusiastic. She’s become friends with everyone, which I think that’s a goal. It’s been all positive.”
With her entire career spent in the hospitality industry, ranging from catering and resort and membership sales to helping manage country clubs, Tami is accustomed to doing whatever it takes to make residents happy even if that means juggling multiple projects while wearing multiple hats at once.
It may seem like a daunting task, but Tami wouldn’t want it any other way. Seeing the pride and sense of community spread across the resident’s faces during an Indigo event is more than enough to keep Tami going.
“I’m really proud,” says Tami. “I’m proud of our community. Indigo is a really special place. Everyone is so neighborly, sociable and caring. It’s a big family here and we welcome everyone with open arms. It’s just awesome.”
A native of Ohio, Tami moved to Florida when she was little before moving to Michigan in 2002. Tami spent 11 years in Michigan before the winter blues started to get the best of her. Tami and Lee moved back to Florida four years ago and over the past one-and-one-half years, the couple has become engrained in the Indigo community. Lee participates in all of Tami’s Indigo events, including Roosters, which is the community’s men’s night.
“They love him,” says Tami. “He’s just a real good guy. This is our social life. We’re here a lot nights during the week and on weekends.”
As Indigo continues to grow and expand, Tami plans to add more fitness class offerings. Ultimately, she would love to have instructor-led classes available to residents every day of the week. Additionally, Tami would like to eventually have enough resident participation to take a coach bus to a performing arts venue or Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Rays game.
In addition to running Club Indigo, Access Management also has recognized Tami as its lead lifestyle director and given her the task of training new directors for some of its other communities.
“I’ve received a lot of support from my management company and from Neal Communities,” says Tami, who was nominated for Employee of the Year. “They give me plenty of rope. Having support from them helps me keep motivated because we are here to have fun.”
