- March 18, 2024
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East County resident Monaca Onstad has taken national honors in her field.
Lakewood Ranch’s director of community relations was named lifestyle director of the year from the National Association of Home Builders’ National Sales and Marketing Council during a ceremony Jan. 9, in Orlando.
The awards, known as “The Nationals,” honor the best in the building industry for “their determination, integrity, creativity and resilience.”
Onstad has handled community relations and lifestyle programming across Lakewood Ranch since 2016 and is responsible for more than 100 events each year.
“Lifestyle is a primary driver when choosing a place in which to live,” said Rex Jensen, president and CEO of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Inc., the developer of Lakewood Ranch, in a press release. “For 20 years we’ve known that people select the community first, then the home. Increasingly, our emphasis has been on creating and nurturing an active lifestyle within Lakewood Ranch, whether it be festivals, celebrations, clubs, or even casual neighborhood get-togethers. This lifestyle focus is a prime contributor to the fact that Lakewood Ranch was the third best-selling master-planned community in the country in 2017.”
Among Onstad’s initiatives since joining Lakewood Ranch are bringing programming by the Players Centre for Performing Arts to Lakewood Ranch – far in advance of the theatre’s planned physical relocation – and her creation of The Market, a farmers market concept that grew from the need for a distribution point for the Ranch’s “organic veggie box” program, a community supported agriculture project.
“This award is a true testament of Lakewood Ranch’s thoughtful planning and design of amenities, a team who works tirelessly to ensure every event is better than the last, and our community members who wholeheartedly support our programming,” Onstad said in a statement. “This award is for all of us!”