Meet Raquel Gomes | Founder and CEO of Stafi (www.getstafi.com)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Raquel Gomes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Raquel, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I was very tired of working for others and following ideas and instructions that didn’t make sense to me. I built my career in Large Corporate America, in the technology and telecommunications space. I climbed the corporate ladder to become an executive, and over the years, my work became very robotic. It started losing the deeper meaning that I believe one should have in life—the inner fire that is alive every day as a result of following your ‘why’ and your passion. I always loved helping women growing up, which is why I chose to become a psychologist in the first place, and that was missing in my life in a bigger way. Now I can help an infinite number of women achieve work and life balance, and that fulfills my soul.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Stafi is all about helping women business owners become very successful while having a more balanced life: more time for themselves to do what allows them to rest and recharge, more time with their families without worrying about what’s going on in ‘the office.’ I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, and my dad worked extremely hard every day. I thought that being successful was directly related to sacrificing your family and personal time and health. My dad suffered multiple heart attacks during his journey. He paid a big price for his success. I started my journey mirroring my dad’s story. I used to work so hard that I got sick and burned out. I grew up in a very traditional family; my dad was the sole provider for the family, and my mom believed that a woman had to choose between having a happy family and personal life or a successful career. I grew up listening to those words regularly: ‘You can’t have everything, Raquel, as a woman, you will have to choose’ – and listening to that created this fire inside me, a mix of anger with passion. I felt it was so unfair; how come my brothers don’t have to choose???

I did a lot of self-work and started therapy at age 18, and I continue to engage in self-development until today. I will always keep doing it because I believe we are here to evolve as humans until the day we die. I learned that from my parents, and I am very grateful for this big lesson. So I challenged this belief about women having to choose between a fulfilled happy family life and a brilliant career, and several years ago, I had a major insight: the only way I can indeed have everything in life is if I accept help from others. The more successful I want to be, the more I need to delegate different parts of my business and things in the household. There is no one in this world who is really successful and who does it all alone; that’s impossible. And that’s why I founded Stafi. Stafi provides highly qualified bilingual virtual talent from Latin America who are carefully vetted, screened, and trained in-house and assigned to businesses in the US for a fraction of the cost of hiring locally. In addition, we provide HR support to remove from the business owner’s plate the time-consuming tasks associated with new hire onboarding, continuous training, and ongoing management so that the business owner can focus on being a leader and CEO and spending their time wisely, growing their business and having the time to live a balanced life.

Every Stafi Representative assigned (Legal Assistant, Executive Assistant, Paralegal, Marketing Assistant, Marketing Specialist, Project Manager, etc.) is linked to a group of professionals from Stafi’s side to support them throughout their journey. This team is composed of:

Client Success Team: This team is your business partners; they are the face of Stafi and interact with you, our clients, on a regular basis to see about potential areas of improvement in your business. Our client success team has a background in entrepreneurship and business coaching.

Mindset Coach: This is an in-house psychologist who works regularly with all Stafi representatives on their mindset, emotional, and psychological aspects of the human being that they are. We offer a safe space for the representatives to elaborate on anything emotional from their personal and work lives that needs attention, so performance is not impacted.

Task and Processes Coach: This coach helps all Stafi representatives with prioritizing tasks, time management, as well as documenting processes related to their roles inside the businesses and law firms. All the documentation is done to help businesses grow and scale by using the documented processes not only to help the Stafi representative keep on track but also to use with other staff members of the team.

Performance Coach: In case performance needs to be improved, this coach engages with the Stafi representative and builds a performance improvement plan while ensuring the plan is followed by the rep. This plan is approved by the client with the help of our client success team.

English Coach: These coaches are English teachers with a legal background and help review documents when they need to be written by our Stafi representatives. This service is available on demand for no additional charge to our clients.

IT Support: Our team ensures the representative and the law firm have all the systems and platforms in place to welcome a virtual staff into their teams seamlessly.
Marketing Support: When you sign up for marketing assistant or marketing specialist services from Stafi, our in-house Marketing pros will be coaching that person with anything marketing-related to ensure a successful partnership.

In addition, Stafi offers on-demand Live Receptionist services to all small businesses so your business:

1. never misses a call
2. all calls are answered with care, empathy, and professionalism
3. calls are routed properly and messages are always delivered.

Stafi also offers on-demand live Intake services to Immigration law firms to increase the close rate for your law firm, schedule only qualified consultations, and gather the necessary eligibility screening so the lawyer running the consultation has all the necessary information beforehand.
My passion is to offer high-quality services so your business continues to grow while you learn to be selective about how you spend your time because you are worth it!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love Miami! We enjoy spending Sundays in Coconut Grove, having a family lunch at Cocowalk, perhaps visiting the kids’ park on Grand Avenue for some playtime, and ending the day with a movie at Cinepolis in Cocowalk.
Boating is a big thing for us. If you don’t have a boat, check if any of your friends or family can invite you for a day of boating in Miami, exploring the sandbars. Seeing the city from a boat is incredible and adds a different flavor to the experience, plus being in contact with nature is always so relaxing.
Driving around Key Biscayne is fantastic, crossing those bridges and enjoying the water from every angle.
Dining in Coral Gables, you can’t go wrong with the fabulous menu and drinks at Hillstone.
If you are heading south, we recommend trying the freshly made pastas at Annacapri restaurant in Pinecrest.”

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband and partner, Demetrio Rico, deserves a big shoutout as I couldn’t do what I do without his love and support. My daughter Sarah is a bright light in my days, and her admiration for what I do feeds my soul daily. Also, a big shoutout to my mom, Maria Helena Alcaraz Gomes, and my dad, who is here in spirit, Celso Alcaraz Gomes, for always believing in me, paying for my education, and supporting me in my dreams of coming to the US to study and build my career. Without their support, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Website: www.getstafi.com

Instagram: getstafi

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raquel-gomesstafi/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GetStafi/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@getstafi

Image Credits
I have the rights for these images