Copyright Joliet, IL Patch
A big yellow truck has popped up in downtown Tampa near the court offering mobile, bilingual notary services to Spanish speakers. TAMPA, FL — When Sara Román’s role with the University Area Community Development Corporation shifted to part-time work earlier this year, she saw it as a chance to launch her own business. “It was an opportunity for me to get back to work solo as a notary public and court translator,” she told Patch. Román bought a 16-foot trailer off Facebook Marketplace for $1,000, painted it bright yellow with her logo, and parked The Notary Kiosk permanently outside the courthouse in downtown Tampa in June. With just $73 in her pocket and donated office supplies, she began offering bilingual notary services to underserved communities, especially Spanish-speaking clients, with a goal of making these essential services accessible to everyone. “It’s been overwhelming — in a good way,” she said. “It’s such an honor to experience this craziness.” Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she moved to Tampa 24 years ago, when she was just 19 years old, to care for her mother who was recovering from a liver transplant. Community engagement has been at the heart of much of Román’s career. She’s held positions with Moffitt Cancer Center, United Way Suncoast, AmeriCorps and the Veterans Administration, in addition to the University Area CDC. As a pastor’s wife, she also worked closely with the community, including as a wedding officiant, at the church her husband oversaw. She first started working as a notary public in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The courthouse was closed and I got a lot of phone calls from church members and friends, ‘Hey, Sara, how can we connect to Zoom?’ They’d said, ‘I need a translator. I need to bring an interpreter for court,’” she said. Román would put her children in the backseat of their car and meet people she was trying to help in front of the courthouse, where she would help them connect to WiFi and log into Zoom for court appearances. Frequently, she assisted the elderly who struggled with the technology. “That was five years ago. A lot of people hadn’t heard about Zoom; people didn't know how to connect to the Zoom, even though the court will send them the link and instructions,” she said. “People, they found it complicated.” Now, Román offers a range of services — notarizations, fingerprinting, document prep, scanning and faxing, UPS/FedEx services, and interpretation help — in one accessible location near the courthouse at 946 E. Twiggs Street. On Friday, to celebrate National Notary Day, she’s hosting an open house at her kiosk from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by a networking and mocktail event from 5 to 8 p.m. for notaries. “I wanted to make some noise and educate people,” she said. “They think we only witness signatures but we also provide other services that don’t necessarily have to be related to legal paperwork.” So far, Román has been embraced by Tampa’s “culturally open and aware” community. “I’m just here trying this crazy idea that has matured very naturally,” she said. “I opened on June 6 not knowing what is it that I’m doing. I just want to have a kiosk in the middle of each community and help them in whatever they need.” She hopes to eventually expand by adding additional mobile notary services offices throughout the region. “As an entrepreneur Latina, I would like to stream these services in the community and just branch them out. [Artificial intelligence] cannot replace a person that could verify a person signing a document in real time,” she said. I would love, love, love to have more of these and provide a pathway to economic opportunity to others.”
