Grace Totty didn’t set out to become a technology leader in self-storage. But 13 years after stumbling into the industry as a college intern, she’s now the Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Absolute Storage Management—bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and day-to-day operations across hundreds of facilities nationwide.
From Intern to Industry Innovator
Grace’s journey into self-storage started with what she calls a “bamboozle.” That’s her own term for how she convinced the partners at Absolute Storage Management to hire her full-time after her college internship. Through the University of Memphis’s talent retention program, she met two of Absolute’s three partners while earning her business management degree.
At the time, Absolute managed around 65 properties across seven states. Grace was the youngest person in the home office when the partners approached her with a challenge: “You’re young and hip,” they told her (adjectives she laughingly disputes), “can you figure out this whole social media thing and can you figure out marketing?”
What started as a one-woman marketing team has evolved into something much bigger. Today, Grace leads both marketing and sales operations for a company that now manages over one hundred – fifty properties across the country.
The Technology Bridge Builder
Grace’s unique strength comes from her operational background. Before diving into marketing, she started in operations. That experience shaped how she approaches technology implementation.
Grace explains. “I’ve got my finger on the operation’s pulse. I don’t always know what clients want, but I have an idea of what they need to really maximize the profit at their properties.”
This operational lens has made her invaluable in driving technology adoption across Absolute’s portfolio. But the path hasn’t always been easy.
The Adoption Challenge
One of the biggest hurdles? Convincing people that technology won’t eliminate their jobs.
“If team members feel like their job is in jeopardy, there’s a lot of pushback,” Grace notes. “But it’s about training. It’s coming alongside people and saying, ‘No, look at what else you get to do because technology is going to be making those collection calls. Look at what else you get to do because we’re going to automatically text these leads and you don’t have to do that.'”
The key is getting buy-in from multiple stakeholders. Clients want flexible, customized management solutions. Team members need to understand how technology makes their jobs easier, not obsolete.
When implementation succeeds, Grace gets to tackle what she calls the “really fun part”: analyzing whether the technology delivered on its promise. “In some cases, yes, it has gone above and beyond what we thought. And in some cases, it’s no. And that’s also fun because we get to problem solve and troubleshoot.”
A Champion for Change: The Online Rental Revolution
One project stands out in Grace’s career as truly transformative: leading Absolute Storage Management’s integration of online rentals. She calls it “old school technology” by today’s standards, but it was revolutionary when it launched.
“I had to talk to our senior leadership team to say we need this,” Grace recalls. The timing proved prescient. They implemented the system just before COVID hit. During the pandemic, online rentals accounted for 50-60% of Absolute’s rentals. Today, the number has settled at 35% of their business.
But getting there required rethinking the entire operational process. What does a “full rental” actually mean? For Absolute, it meant customers could select their unit, sign a lease, make payment, and receive a gate code. All online, in that specific order.
“There was a lot of conversation, a lot of consideration that went into that,” Grace says. The project also required ensuring vendor partners could support the workflow and communicating clearly to property teams that the technology would augment rather than replace their roles.
The result? Rental time dropped from 30 minutes to as little as 5 minutes for team members, who now simply confirm files and make a welcome call.
Navigating the AI Revolution
Today, Grace is tackling a new frontier: understanding how AI is reshaping customer search behavior in self-storage.
Historically, tracking Google search demand provided clear insights into customer behavior. But the landscape is shifting. Google has reported lower search demand, and Grace’s team is working to understand whether that represents actual declining demand (driven by economic factors like reduced moving activity) or whether customers are simply searching through different channels.
The challenge extends to content strategy. While traditional keywords like “storage near me” or “5×5 storage near me” have been trackable, conversational AI queries present new questions: Is Absolute’s content written for someone asking, “I’m going abroad for the summer. I need a self-storage facility. What do I need to know about?”
The Importance of Flexible Partnerships
For Grace, vendor partnerships are critical to Absolute Storage Management’s success. But not all partnerships are created equal.
“We really select our vendors so that we can stay innovative and stay ahead of different trends,” she explains. “What Absolute does not want is a vendor that is dictating how we operate.”
The company seeks partners who can add custom fields, create specific reports, and adapt to unique client needs. This flexibility helps Absolute deliver customized management solutions while maintaining competitive performance. The company consistently matches or beats REIT performance metrics quarter after quarter.
Advice for Women in Tech and Leadership
When asked what advice she’d give to women trying to break into leadership roles in male-dominated industries, Grace’s answer is direct: Share your voice.
“You’re in the position that you’re in for a reason,” she says. “Don’t be shy in saying something is off or something can be better.”
Grace emphasizes that innovation comes from identifying practical needs, whether you’re in technology, operations, or any other role. Some of Absolute Storage Management’s most successful technology rollouts have come from property managers saying, “This takes me eight steps. Can this please take me three steps?”
“Women typically tend to be more muted, and I think that’s a detriment to your personal growth but also the company’s success,” Grace notes. She challenges companies to create cultures where feedback is safe and leadership to actively listen and create space for that feedback.
The Journey Continues
From a college intern who “just happened into” storage to a VP leading technology strategy at scale, Grace Totty’s career shows how curiosity, operational grounding, and willingness to champion change can reshape an industry.
Her approach is pragmatic: understand the problem, get the right stakeholders aligned, implement thoughtfully, and measure results honestly. Whether online rentals, AI-driven search, or the next wave of technology innovation, Grace’s fingerprints are on the processes that help Absolute Storage Management stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market.
And true to form, she’s already looking two months ahead, ready to report back on how the next experiment turned out.
Grace Totty is Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Absolute Storage Management, where she oversees marketing strategy and sales operations across hundreds of storage facilities nationwide.
About This Series
This profile is part of Storable’s Women in Technology series, where we spotlight the trailblazers reshaping the self-storage industry through innovation and leadership.
Want to share your story or nominate a woman leader in self-storage technology? Contact us at [email protected].
