She runs a real estate portfolio for one of the greatest baseball players in history, but Erin Knight credits the launch of her business career to a misprint on a job fair pamphlet.

Knight is president of A-Rod Corp.'s Monument Capital Management, a Coconut Grove, Florida, company with 150 employees. The firm has acquired 13,000 multifamily units across 14 states since it was created in 2012.

Led by Chairman and CEO Alex Rodriguez, the fifth-most-prolific home run hitter ever in Major League Baseball with 696 homers, A-Rod Corp. has internal and external capital invested in over 30 companies and partnerships valued at more than US$1 billion.

In 1998, Knight was looking for a first job and always thought it would be in government. So, she pursued a degree in political science at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

"After being involved with student government, I thought this is not what I thought it was," Knight said in an interview. "There were (political) deals happening, and it wasn't all I'm going to save the world."

She ended up at a job fair and was scrolling through pamphlets from companies offering employment, trying to find a fit. "So, I'm thinking now, what am I going to do with this degree?" she said. "I was searching for any company that would take any major."

Atlanta-based SunTrust Bank, which later merged with BB&T and formed Truist Financial Corp., said it would consider candidates regardless of the subject they majored in at college.

"I thought 'Perfect,' and I went to the booth with my resume and talked to the recruiter, and I came to find out there was a misprint in a booklet, and it wasn't supposed to be any major," Knight said. The pamphlet said a candidate "was supposed to be a business major, but I had a business minor."

Knight told the recruiter she was ready to do anything for that first job and talked her way into in-person interviews in Miami. She started taking accounting classes at night to supplement her knowledge. "The job involved lending and underwriting real estate projects," she said. "In my banking career as a whole, there was always real estate involved." That said, Knight did not have a burning desire to be involved with property.

After almost 15 years in banking, she took the unusual turn to work at a women's clothing designer and the manufacturer called Alexis about a job as chief operating officer in 2018. She had been working for a financial institution called Stonegate Bank, and Knight was instrumental in building out the Miami area, but in 2017, the company was sold to Arkansas-based Centennial Bank, so she was open to the clothing industry.

"I stayed for a bit, but we had a client with a women's fashion clothing business. They were asking if I would help run the business, and I thought if there was any time to do something completely different, now was the time," said Knight.

The job was short-lived. Her high school buddy, Rodriguez, had retired from baseball by then and was focusing more on real estate, raising money for its fourth fund.

Monument had been raising money through friends and family for six years to buy apartment buildings Rodriguez's company would fix up. "The firm was preparing for continued growth and expansion," said Knight. "It was interesting timing for me. We had known each other for years, and he had seen my work."

They had stayed in touch and his Miami-area office was close to her banking office, so they would talk business and share ideas. "Now our kids are older than we were when we met," she said.

Is there any extra pressure working for a former star whose 10-year, $250 million contract in 2000 was the largest in baseball history at the time?

"I would hope anyone working at any level feels pressure. Some of it is self-imposed," she said. "Is it more pressure? I don't think so. I think it's a blessing because you have a person who is a huge, big-picture thinker.

"He's always striving and does not see limits to what can be done. Not every owner, manager or CEO has that same passion. Here's a guy who didn't need to work anymore, and he comes to the office in a suit every day" when he's in Miami.

Rodriguez said Knight was the ideal person to serve as Monument Capital's president.

“Erin and I have known each other since high school. Through the years we remained in touch, and I’ve had the opportunity to see her evolve within the financial services arena, including serving as market president of a regional bank," Rodriguez said in a comment emailed to CoStar News. "When the opportunity presented itself to engage a President for Monument Capital Management, there was no doubt that she was the ideal individual for the role."

Looking back on the move into real estate, Knight said the lessons from her first job remain with her today.

"I knew I didn't have a business degree and needed to work and take those classes, feeling I didn't know as much about this topic," she said. "There is some of that (today), but I have an entire career behind me that I can use with all the resources I have developed."

Maybe it's no surprise because every baseball hitter needs discipline at the plate, but that is one bit of tutelage she took from Rodriguez. "Don't overreach; that's one of his big lessons. And it's the same in real estate; you look at a ton of deals," said Knight. "If a deal doesn't work, you cannot push it."

Her message to employees is to take on as much training as you can.

"I still do that, and we encourage that for all our employees," Knight said. "I also believe in giving back. I've spent a lot of my time professionally on charity boards and volunteer services. It's how I was raised, but you also meet a lot of great people you can learn from."