As principal agent of Residence Group at Compass, and with over 15 years of experience in real estate, Paola M. Garcia-Carrillo knows how important it is to “live, work and play” in the markets she serves. From Pinecrest to Coconut Grove, and from South Miami to Coral Gables and Palmetto Bay, Garcia-Carrillo commits herself to providing focused, friendly experiences for clients of all types.

Having started her career at a time when the housing market was much less robust, Garcia-Carrillo gained valuable skills in her first years as a broker. “I started real estate in the Great Recession to help the family business,” she remembers. “I started managing the sales at a time where you couldn’t give a house away. I really learned the value of marketing and relationships and grew my business from that.”

Nowadays, Garcia-Carrillo greatly enjoys serving a wide-ranging market as a Certified International Property Specialist and a Certified Luxury Homes Marketing Specialist in an area she loves. Raising a family in Miami, she says, makes conducting business “easy, fun to do, because it’s where you live. The information you learn about the schools, the shopping areas, restaurants, gyms and what is new and coming into the area — and, importantly, the lifestyle — is extremely valuable for my clients.” With her and her team’s enthusiastic, solutions-driven approach, they recently gained recognition as Real Estate Team of the Year for both the Builders Association of South Florida and the Latin Builder’s Association.

Garcia-Carrillo credits many of her accomplishments to raising her three children with her husband, a South Florida developer, in part due to learning how to balance the many working factors that family life and a busy real estate career require. As she puts it, “It’s true what they say … it takes a village to raise a child!” In her free time, she also enjoys exercising, yoga, attending concerts and traveling.