I was born in Chateauroux, France, where my father was in the Air Force. This meant we moved around a lot. I primarily grew up in the United States, both the East and West coast and Bermuda.

Whilst living in Bermuda, at the age of 8, my mother encouraged me to take up an apprenticeship with my grandfather W.E.R. Joell. This is where my interest in the flooring business came into play. My grandfather had a flooring and refinishing business called Bermuda Floor Craftsman, established in 1920. From 8 to 18 I spent many weekends and summers working at Bermuda Floor Craftsman. One of the lasting things I took from my apprenticeship was that there is no such word as “Can’t”!

Fast-forward to 1985 when I graduated from Howard University with a Business Degree in (Insurance Cum Laude). From there I landed a prize job as a Corporate Calling Officer at Irving Trust Bank on 1 Wall Street. That year the pressure was on!

In 1986 I decided to return to Bermuda to pick up where my grandfather had left off. My cousin, Trevor Cann, and I hopped right in, they would call us the ‘Pig Pen Cousins” from Charlie Brown fame, because we were always dusty.

Hardwood Design was founded in 1987 and not long after the name changed to Stafford & Co., which sounded too much like a law firm, so it became Stafford Flooring.

Along this beautiful winding road, I was also involved in operating Home Paint Store, Common Ground Café, Le Figaro Restaurant and Island Coffee which was located at the airport.

It was time to expand and there was no better place than the Cayman Islands. I relocated in 2010 to plant the Stafford Flooring flag in the Caribbean. We stationed ourselves in Grand Cayman in order to serve the Caribbean community better.

Amongst all my accomplishments the most important ones were having my three daughters Nicole, Sydney and Savannah along with two grandkids Vaughn and Layla.