"[1] The decision to debut a comedy web series coincided with Stafford's departure as Phyllis Summers on The Young and the Restless, a role that became "crazy-popular" over the course of her fifteen years with the soap opera, as well as earning her two Daytime Emmy Awards out of ten nominations.

"[4] In an interview with TV Guide's Michael Logan, she said that wanting to pursue comedy was a primary reason behind her decision to exit the show.

[2] Based on her own life, Stafford plays Michelle, an actress known for her role of Francis on a soap opera who is raising her three-year-old daughter and trying to "get her groove on as a single chick and mother".

[7] The first episode of The Stafford Project has Michelle being persuaded by her Hollywood agents to drop her soap opera role and create a web series.

[8] Michael Logan of TV Guide appreciated the web series, calling it "terrific and audacious" and saying that "there's never a dull moment in the life of Michelle Stafford".

[11] Giddens also stated that he was "screaming with laughter the entire time", and "her adorable, talented, dream-drop of a daughter, Natalia Scout Lee, also appears, threatening to steal the show from her mommy".