Today we’d like to introduce you to Anahi Gonzalez.
Anahi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born and raised in Reynosa Mexico a town across the border from US (Mcallen, TX). I’m a psychologist by education, however, I have been working in the real estate field for the last 12 years in our family real estate business. Currently, I am working on a project called Staging Houston which helps real estate agents sell properties faster.
Has it been a smooth road?
Not a smooth road, let me go back in time a little bit. My parents worked super hard to provide an education for me since it was only my dad’s salary for a family of 5. After I graduated in 2003 as a Psychologist, I got a job at a manufacturing company, which was a dream job for any person that just graduated. I was a Human Resources Assistant, but the week after I got the job I suffered an accident where a person was killed and my life got turned upside down. Between bonds, lawyers and legal procedures, my family’s income and my job were not enough to pay all the debts I got into. After a rough time going through the trail and all the process, I finally got through it all and was able to move on.
With debt getting bigger than I could count, I decided to come to the USA to try to find more opportunities and education and later come back home to Mexico to find a better paying job. I walked in with a tourist visa, with a plan of working as a babysitter for my nephews while attending an English school to get better with the language and go back to Mexico after six months. Plans took a different turn, I finally was able to pay my debts and shortly after, I got married, and all my professional dreams where put aside again, but this time to raise a beautiful family. After 12 years of raising an amazing boy and a beautiful girl I decided to go back to my bucket list and shake the dust of my dreams and starting to bringing them to life again.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Staging Houston story. Tell us more about the business.
Staging Houston is one of the most challenging projects I have ever had. I’m a very creative and detail-oriented person. I consider myself a girl with a good taste. But the question was always, how can I connect my creativity with our family business of real estate appraising. A year ago, I decided to explore more into the real estate branch and I realized that staging and home decor is where the jackpot is!
I have been able to help our clients to have a better vision to decorate or to stage their property and sell it fast and for top dollar. My creativity has exploded to the max, and I have been enjoying this dream so much. I don’t call this a job, this is my dream, my way to enjoy myself and a very amazing way to help my community and make Houston more beautiful, one house at a time!
I believe what sets me apart is that I’m fully bilingual, very professional and with excellent organization and attention to detail skills. As a Psychologist I am a very good people person. I analyze the client’s needs and together we can make the best decisions in regards their home/property project.
I would hope to inspire other Latina/Mexican moms out there. I have a goal that is kind of controversial but its something that I face myself a lot and because of it I analyze it a lot as well and I sure want to do something about it, Latina girls (Mexicans/Texmex/ South Americans etc.) are often labeled as an uneducated, maid workers, ignorant and nonprofessionals, and I believe that this label makes us fall for it. So as a Latina/Mexican well-educated person I would love to impact others with a professionalism, excellence and wellness.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The client over the next 5-10 years is more tech-savvy and wants to see results faster. Technology will be utilized to view potential remodels and changes in a virtual reality setting before any changes are done to the property. As staging professionals we will need to adapt and change quickly to the millennial generation.
Definitely, we will incorporate more minimalistic and modern styles with an emphasis on clean and more efficient way to decorate.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 7133494618
- Email: staginghtx@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/staging_houston_htx/
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
