For Sasha-Gaye Angus, providing affordable housing for families in need has become her life’s work.

With more than 14 years of experience in the urban redevelopment industry, she has managed, structured, and led —–multiple low-income housing tax credit projects totaling more than 1,600 units. She also has overseen the master planning of more than 2,000 units.

“It’s much more than building the housing. It’s also about building the lives of those families,” says Angus. “It’s great to build shiny buildings, but if the people who live in them aren’t receiving the support that’s needed to propel them into greater prosperity, then I am not really doing my job and working on my life’s purpose.”

Angus joined Michaels Development Co. in 2010 as project manager and has been vice president of development since 2013. She says her work there has been rewarding because of the comprehensive array of services the firm’s sister organizations provide to facilitate affordable housing and social services.

At Michaels, she has been has been instrumental in leading and coordinating master-planning efforts for redevelopment of O’Donnell Heights in Baltimore and the Franklin Housing Authority in Franklin, Tenn. She also has created new business opportunities for the firm in Washington, D.C.

"Sasha-Gaye Angus is the ideal, well-rounded developer," says Ava Goldman, president of Michaels Development Co. "She has the technical skills to move an affordable housing project from initial conception to construction completion, but most importantly, she has the interpersonal and relationship-building skills to work with all the various constituencies needed to transform a vision into beautiful, new sustainable communities."

Before joining Michaels, Angus managed affordable housing developments for McCormack Baron Salazar, TCG Development Services, and the Oakland Planning & Development Corp. She also was a Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence fellow at The University of Pennsylvania from 2004-2006.

At press time, Angus announced she would be leaving Michaels to join Telesis Corp., a Washington, D.C.–based company that plans, finances, and builds urban communities.

In addition to her development work, she serves on the boards of Open Arms Housing, a nonprofit that provides permanent supportive housing for homeless women in the Washington, D.C., area, and the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers.

Angus, 38, lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, who she married in September, and her 15-year-old son.