The Story Behind
the Systems
Francesca Sta Maria
Builder of systems, storyteller of brands, operator behind creative momentum.
“I’ve never been interested in doing more — I’ve always been obsessed with doing it better. refining, rebuilding, perfecting. I don’t chase momentum; I create it.”
— Francesca Sta Maria
How I
Got Here
At fourteen, I received the first and only Major Scholarship ever granted to Cempaka International Ladies’ College, known for educating Southeast Asia’s royal families. I graduated valedictorian twice—IGCSE and IB—earning Top in the World for English Literature and Chemistry, and a perfect 45. I performed for sultans, played for my state’s field hockey team, and coached badminton while completing national service as an intelligence officer-in-training and liaison for royal students. It taught me to read people, lead quietly, and make decisions that balance loyalty with logic — skills that would later shape how I build and lead teams.
1998 – 2008 | The Rhythm of Beginnings
I was born into contrast—a touring musician father and a political strategist mother—and raised by my grandparents in Kuala Lumpur. My grandfather led sales for Singapore Airlines, so I spent my childhood between terminals, time zones, and boarding gates. By twelve, I’d already seen twelve countries and learned to listen as much as I observed. My grandmother, once secretary to Malaysia’s founding father, taught me the art of presence, precision, and ambition—the kind that builds legacies quietly.
Early Velocity | 2008 – 2012
By my early teens, I spoke multiple languages, led my school as Head Girl, and played competitive field hockey. I was the student teachers used as a benchmark—straight A’s, always first in, last out. But beyond grades, I was scouted for creative writing, learning that words could move people the way performance once did. Those years cemented an unshakable truth: excellence isn’t a phase; it’s a habit.
I was awarded a full scholarship to Minerva University, the world’s most selective program (0.9% acceptance rate), where education meant immersion. I lived and studied in San Francisco, Seoul, Hyderabad, Berlin, Buenos Aires, London, and Taipei, majoring in Economics and Political Science, with a minor in Philosophy and Law. It was a global case study in systems—how people, policy, and power interact—and how adaptability is its own form of intelligence.
2012 – 2016 | The Scholar of Cempaka
The Global Experiment | 2016 – 2020
These were the years I learned to build engines from nothing.
At Flockjay, I ran all marketing, HR, and hiring, taught personal-development courses, and helped secure Serena Williams as an investor. We scaled from a single 20-person cohort to two 40-person classes running in parallel.
At Sidekick Browser, I led our Product Hunt #1 launch, driving 600% user growth through creative community strategy and sharp storytelling.
At Snapi Health, I rebuilt the brand and built its first full growth and sales system from the ground up.
At Elevate, I led a $1.2 million campaign end-to-end, transforming creative vision into measurable growth.
Across these years, I went through Y Combinator twice, Techstars, and two other global accelerators—not just building brands, but learning how great founders think.
2019 – 2022 | The Builder Years
At Public Group, a boutique inbound-only agency, I build systems that make creativity scale. We work quietly but globally—partnering with Apple, Dyson, Nicole Miller, MakeSoil, Asha AI, Starck, SRI, Maclaren, and ASEAN. My work bridges founders and legacy brands, shaping clarity from ambition and turning bold ideas into lasting impact.
The Operator Era | 2022 – Now
Still building. Still evolving. Still obsessed with turning potential into power—one system, one story, one company at a time.
Next | The Continuum
The Mind Behind the Work
Every project starts with listening—to the product, the people, and the silence in between. I build from intuition first, logic second. That rhythm keeps my work human but precise.
I start by zooming out. My brain maps systems before details, patterns before plans. I look for where energy is being wasted—the friction points that kill growth—and design around flow instead of force.
How I Think
I connect the dots between brand and operations so they move as one. The goal is a system that scales without losing story. Creativity and structure aren’t opposites; they’re partners in execution.
How I Build
Data gives me direction, but instinct decides timing. I make decisions from context, not panic—always balancing performance with purpose.
How I Decide
Depth & Craft
Brand Architecture & Identity Systems
Designing brand engines that scale meaning, not just awareness. Every logo, tone, and system is built to hold weight and adapt to growth.
→ In Practice: Snapi Health, Flockjay
Creative Ops & Team Design
Building the frameworks that keep creative teams moving with clarity and autonomy. Turning chaos into rhythm is the real craft.
→ In Practice: Public Group, Sidekick Browser
Growth Science & Experimentation
Marrying intuition with analytics. I run experiments that teach as they perform, driving momentum that compounds instead of spikes.
→ In Practice: Sidekick Browser (600% user growth)
Narrative Strategy & Storycraft
Positioning brands with stories that move people and markets. I shape narratives that sell without shouting.
→ In Practice: Elevate ($1.2M campaign)
Community & Ecosystem Building
Creating connection loops that sustain loyalty and advocacy. Every audience becomes an engine.
→ In Practice: Flockjay, MakeSoil
Experience Design & Human Interface
Designing clean, distraction-free digital experiences that feel as good as they perform.
→ In Practice: Dyson, Asha AI
See the full story.
See the full story.
I’ve built a career around systems that scale and stories that move. Here’s the proof behind the polish.
Off the
record
I live for stories, systems, and beautiful contradictions. I’m the kind of person who color-codes a calendar, then spends the afternoon chasing light through city streets just to see how it moves. I find comfort in order but crave the moments that disrupt it—the ones that remind me that creativity begins where control ends. I believe life, like good work, needs rhythm: a tension between structure and spontaneity, precision and play. The throughline in everything I do is curiosity—the need to understand how things fit together and the quiet joy of making them make sense.
Life in motion
Every morning starts with Yorkshire Gold—milk-heavy, brown sugar, the comfort of something consistent. Evenings are for reading, writing, and catching up on F1 like it’s religion. I find calm in the repetition of care—laundry folded, candles burning, a home that smells like clean cotton and rain.
What Grounds Me
Always in the kitchen. By the window during a storm or when the light turns gold. My dog, Gnocchi, at my feet, Ray nearby, music in the background. I like homes that feel lived in—books with notes, plants that climb, leather that softens with time.
Where I belong
Tea. Potatoes. The sound of rain hitting leaves. Rearranging a space until it makes sense again. Making something from nothing—a meal, a sweater, a home.
What Feels Like Joy
Cooking, baking, sewing, writing, rearranging—I think best through my hands. I don’t do stillness well; my rest looks like creation. It greatly bemuses my husband.
How I Work When No One’s Watching
Mexico City at golden hour, when the light turns liquid and the streets hum. It’s the only place I’ve ever seen that feels alive in the same way I do.
Where My Heart Stays
F1 strategy, belonging, female ambition, the ritual of routine. I collect fragments—recipes, sentences, faces—small things that explain how people live and why they love.
What Keeps Me Thinking
The friend who always knows what someone needs before they ask. The one who remembers the small things—how you take your coffee, what day you have that hard call, what makes you laugh again after.
Who I Am to People
That I keep showing up—for people, for work, for myself. That I build with my hands and my head, and that somehow both always end up connected.
What I’m Proud Of
In This Season
Stories that remind me how language can alter a heartbeat—fantasy, romance, politics, mythology. I’ve read over 200 books this year, from Throne of Glass to Babel to The Lord of the Rings. Fiction is how I think, and how I remember who I am.
Reading
Everything and nothing specific. Sleep Token, Wind Walkers, Kode, Chase Atlantic, Bad Bunny, Bohnes, Austin Giorgio, Hozier, Khalid, Kendrick Lamar, Amble—my playlists swing from country to nu metal to classical without hesitation. I listen for energy, not genre.
Listening
Francesca 2.0. My personal curriculum for 2025 is about depth, mastery, and direction. I’m rebuilding every system I use to live, learn, and lead. Between that, I’m shaping Grooovee, Güld, and Confess Mezcal—projects born from obsession and a refusal to stagnate.
Building
Quiet mornings with tea. Cooking in rhythm with the day. Rearranging a room until it feels right. Long walks through Mexico City’s golden hour. The kind of life that leaves space for work, curiosity, and rest—all in balance.
Living
F1. It’s the purest form of systems thinking—strategy, mathematics, reflex, and risk all collapsing into milliseconds. Blink and the moment’s gone. Every decision is probability and nerve disguised as instinct. I’ve studied it for half my life—the machinery, the telemetry, the mind games—and I still can’t look away.
Obsessing
In Practice
Everything I do begins with care. Whether it’s scaling a startup, hosting friends for dinner, or rebuilding a brand from scratch, I believe in doing things with rhythm — in finding the harmony between structure and soul.
Systems, to me, aren’t cold. They’re how you make creativity repeatable, how you turn chaos into confidence. I build them so that ideas, teams, and people can move freely inside them.
At the end of the day, I want my work—and my life—to feel considered, lived-in, and built to last.
Let’s build something that matters.
