Meet NEFAR’s new Front Desk Administrator Felicia Velazquez
For the past three months, there has been a new, cheery, smiling face behind the desk in the lobby of the NEFAR Resource Center.
Felicia Velazquez, originally from Brooklyn, New York, has been hired as NEFAR’s new Front Desk Administrator. She takes the place of Taylor Swagel, who replaced Membership Specialist Claire Denning when she resigned to become a full-time mom to her son Isaac.
Felicia comes from a large family and has nine siblings. The entire Velazquez clan and their two Schnauzers, Marvel and Coco, moved to Jacksonville three years ago to be close to Felicia’s brother, Efrain, when he was in the navy and stationed at NAS JAX. Although Felicia lives independently, all her family members live nearby. “We all live separately but together,” she said, noting that she prefers Florida weather to what she found in New York.
Felicia went to school in Buffalo, New York, and has a degree in speech pathology from SUNY Buffalo. She is bilingual and fluent in Spanish. She has found that her background in speech pathology is helpful to her work at the front desk. “I’m able to more carefully listen to others and I can interpret for anyone who speaks Spanish that comes to the desk,” she said.
New to the field of real estate, Felicia said what she loves best about working at NEFAR is the people and the opportunity to learn new things. “What interested me in working for NEFAR was the opportunity. Once I read the job description, and realized all I could learn, the prospect of working here was interesting,” she said, noting that she has not ruled out making real estate a career. “If the opportunity arises, I would like to progress here at NEFAR. If not, at some point, I would like to go back and get my masters in speech pathology,” she said.
When she is not working, Felicia loves to travel, even if it is just for the weekend. She enjoys visiting state parks, natural springs, and different cities in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. Mainly she travels with her brother and/or sister, but often she likes to go solo. “I’ve been to Clearwater, Dunedin, Disney World, Orlando, Miami, and Kissimmee,” she said. On her bucket list is seeing as many Florida springs as possible. “I love the water. Ichetucknee was very fun, but I haven’t seen enough springs to have a favorite.”
