Sara Roman doesn’t recognize the America she moved to from Puerto Rico in 2011.
She said people are afraid after the government’s crackdown on immigration, but she wants to be a friendly face for people looking for notary services in Tampa, regardless of their status.
On June 6, she opened the Notary Kiosk, a small trailer next door to the Hillsborough County Courthouse in downtown Tampa.
When President Donald Trump was elected last year, she knew people would need someone they could feel comfortable getting help with their documents from, regardless of their immigration status – and she wanted to be that person.
While she tries not to be intrusive, she knows many of her clients do not have proper documentation. She bases that on the types of questions they have and services they are asking for.
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“I'm an impartial person,” Roman said. “And I do know one thing: [It] doesn't matter who you are and what is the status that you have in this world, I will welcome you and I will help you be successful in your personal and business transactions.”
She wants people to know she cannot offer legal advice, but she can connect them with an immigration attorney if they need it.
She offers copying, faxing, interpreter, and notary services all from the trailer off Twiggs Street. Soon, she hopes to add passport photos and fingerprinting to that list.
“I’m just falling in love with the idea of expanding the business,” Roman said.
She said being a notary is “just a hook” when meeting new people and finding a way to help Hillsborough County’s Latino community.
“We are in the news every day. It doesn't matter if we are citizens or not,” she said.
Roman moved to the United States with her mother when she was 19. She’s lived in the University Area ever since, now raising her son and daughter in a two-bedroom house.
She didn’t formally attend the University of South Florida, but took a few paralegal classes and an accent reduction class.
Roman said she took that class because she was worried about getting a job as a 20-year-old and didn’t want her accent to work against her.
However, since then, she’s embraced her accent and her identity as a Latina woman.
Getting started
The community identified Roman as someone who could help them back in 2020 when Spanish speakers would come to her for help translating documents or connecting them to virtual court hearings.
She was working full-time as the outreach coordinator for the University Area Community Development Corporation, but she had a dream of helping her Latino community through her own business.
“I’m a 41-year-old millennial, Latina mom, and independent woman,” she said. “I said, ‘How can I be employable in 2040?’ As long as I have Wi-Fi and a computer and I have my digital notary, I can always make a living.”
In March, Roman got that opportunity.
She became a part-time employee and got her tax return, which was enough to cover much of the start-up costs.
Days later, she found a cheap trailer on Facebook Marketplace and went to pick it up with her dog “Silly Sally.”
When the seller showed up with his own dog, Roman took it as a sign.
She picked the location outside the courthouse because it is near her home and surrounded by public transportation, something she said many of her clients rely on.
She said the process moved quickly once she decided to open the Notary Kiosk.
“When you want a project so bad, 90 days is the time-lapse that you will develop an idea, master it, digest it, and put it into life,” she said. “I thought that was a story, but it’s not.”
She said her services are different from other notaries because she has the Latino community in mind, has 14 years of experience, and can identify when someone might be being scammed.
Family, support, and dreams
She also wanted to set an example for her kids of how working hard and being friendly can pay off.
Both 12-year-old Isaac and 10-year-old Kamila attended the grand opening of the Notary Kiosk so Roman could show them how to make their dreams come to life.
Her kids were with her throughout the process of starting the business. When she bought the trailer, she turned to Kamila for advice on how to decorate it.
They decided on a homey feel. A pink accent wall, Kamila’s favorite color, bears the same wallpaper Roman and Kamila used when they redecorated their shared bedroom.
But help goes beyond her family – the Latin Chamber of Commerce also helped Roman in developing the idea for the Notary Kiosk.
“I am receiving overwhelming support from everybody that comes here and visits me and I'm just so happy,” she said.
So far, she said business has been slow, but steadily growing. Just three weeks after she opened, Roman said she’s already developing a partnership with an attorney to be the firm’s designated online notary.
Right now, she’s the only employee. She dreams of expanding to airport locations, as well as other big cities.
But what she wants is to be easily accessible to the people who need her services.
"It's a no-brainer,” she said. “I love to connect with people so I know I'm in the right place."
