Steven is an innovative entrepreneur passionate about preserving Costa Rica’s lush southern tropics and fostering sustainable growth. As founder of Trópico Digital, his mission is to empower local communities by bridging the digital divide, connecting them to global opportunities and driving economic development. Leveraging his expertise in digital marketing and his deep-rooted love for nature, Steven has successfully scaled local businesses and initiatives, contributing to a thriving and sustainable region.

Stephanie, or “Tefa”, as we all call her, is a local entrepreneur and all around warrior of a woman.  She was born in San Jose and raised between Tibas and Sarapiquí and came to Uvita in 2015 with a desire to experience a different way of life by the beach. 

She quickly fell in love with the area and in no time found herself working on her first big endeavor in building a unique and beautiful hostel in Bahia.  Her grand opening was in February 2020 and two weeks later followed the total lockdown caused by COVID. 

Despite the hurdles, the hostel is still running and in early 2024 she began her next venture and created TYA – a local handyman service providing expertise in AC installation and maintenance, landscaping, general construction and more – making her a valuable asset to Redefine’s team.

When Tefa isn’t running around town making other people’s lives easier, she’s taking care of her beautifully well trained 4 dogs, going to the gym, attending silks classes, or taking in the natural surroundings at the beaches and rivers. 

José Umaña Quirós was born in Llano Bonito de Leon, Cortes, Costa Rica.  After building his experience over decades of hard work, he finally began his own business in 2019 with a vision of supporting his family and others in his community.  His passion for helping people and promoting sustainable living practices shows in how he creates a cohesive living environment between guests and the jungle as Redefine’s Sanitation Expert. 

Jose and his team are committed to maintaining Redefine’s sustainability commitment by ensuring only biodegradable local products are used and assisting us in managing our commitment to recycling.  Without Jose and his team, Redefine could not meet the high standards we set out. 

Jose is a loving husband and father to three beautiful children.  His many joys in life include his family, his community, and providing a clean and welcoming home to our guests. 

Jose was born in Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica, but has lived in Uvita for decades.  With more than 30 years of experience in construction in this country, and 10 years experience working in the USA, Jose quickly became Redefine’s go-to for any and all kinds of maintenance requests.

Jose is well known around town as “Gato” and constructed what we consider a landmark here – Gato’s Plaza.  While he doesn’t actually have any cats, he does have 6 dogs!  He loves being a father to his three children, is passionate about his work, and is a man of few words, but always gets the job done. 

Angela is a political scientist from the University of Costa Rica. In 2017 got selected to participate in the Community Solutions Program, doing her fellowship with the Gender Equality Law Center in Brooklyn, New York.

When she came back to Costa Rica continue her job in the prevention of Gender Based Violence leading the Building Capacities Project, funded by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), working with more than 30 local governments, creating strategies, programs and guidelines to face this type of violence.

Because of this project, she moves to the Osa Peninsula in 2020, where she starts finding love with nature in the most intense biological place on earth, and after finishing the Building Capacities Project, she funded the AmbiciOsas Association in 2021, and NGO focus on finding innovate solutions to social problems.

Currently the Association is providing recycle services in the Bahia Ballena community. Getting the machines to process plastic and create new products to activate the local economy in collaboration with Innoceanna another local NGO focus on the protection of the Ocean Pacific.

Since the creation, AmbiciOsas is providing economical opportunities and information to women, talking about social innovation with entrepreneurs, children and adolescents, and with this Angela is continuing her long term goal: eradicating gender based violence and now protecting nature.

Born and raised in Platanillo, Yery is a native to the area and spent a large portion of his career as a vegan chef. He has a knack for curating mouthwatering menus with fresh, organic, locally sourced ingredients. His high quality service and attention to detail makes him a valuable asset to the business. And his passions extend beyond the culinary world.

Yery was the right-hand man for many years at a retreat center in Uvita, and was responsible for many departments all helping him form the right skill set to help manage service providers, provide proactive maintenance inspections, and be an important face of the company.

Natasha came to Costa Rica in January 2018, diving straight in to a new world of customer service and hotel management.  With her background in finance and international development, she quickly found her hands in every aspect of the business and enjoyed not only managing teams but focusing on the details that enhance the experiences of guests.  In 2021 when she decided to branch out and start her own business, she was grateful for the vast knowledge she brought with her on how to run a business in Costa Rica.   
Now Natasha is on a mission to provide a new kind of attention to detail to the property management world.  Focusing on transparency, communication, and mindfulness, she’s determined to redefine what it feels like for your investment to be well handled.