My business and work combine a variety of disciplines, including professional organizing and decluttering, the psychology of people’s relationships with their homes, and interior and space design. Therefore, the spectrum of people who have influenced and inspired me is quite diverse.
One of the first people to inspire me in the early stages of my business development was Steve Jobs. As a hard hitter, I was deeply touched and motivated by his commitment to excellence and high standards, as well as his sincere belief that great design can empower us all and transform people’s lives. He wasn’t known to have particularly good interpersonal skills, but I was deeply moved by his vision to create products that were innovative, beautifully functional and with the highest design values. His perseverance and faith in the face of setbacks, buying back Apple after being kicked out, and transforming himself into an industry titan were extraordinary. I love how his determination and vision for all Apple products to seamlessly combine sophisticated design and user-centered features became so deeply embedded in the company’s culture that it lasted until his death. This is what I strive for in my own way when I redesign and organize people’s homes.
Another inspiration was the designer and creator of Habitat, Terence Conran. His vision to revolutionize the way we live and use our home spaces and make modern design accessible to more than just a few has had such a far-reaching impact. This corresponded to my goal of making living spaces simpler and more functional. As part of his interior design process, he famously advised people to take everything out of the room and put it in the garden to properly assess the space: something now routinely done on television shows. I share his belief that clearing a space is essential to gaining clarity about how it can be. From experience I’ve had with hundreds of people, I know that beneath their piles of clutter are rooms and homes that offer endless possibilities. It is my passion and calling to free my clients and their spaces from clutter and to help them rethink and redesign them. I love transforming homes from places that drain people’s energy into places that empower and inspire them every time they walk in the front door.
In my early days of business development, I had the opportunity to work with Daniel Priestley from Dent Global. His masterful way of explaining business concepts in a very understandable way helped me understand the steps I needed to take to build a solid business. His work and teaching were instrumental in building a business that would ultimately grow into something I never imagined possible. Daniel talked about the importance of developing the 5 Ps! Pitch, profile, partnerships, product and release. This inspired me to create my Home Declutter Kit, a product that people can use to help themselves or friends declutter. And to publish my book, The Secret Life of Clutter, a way to connect with people about the need to understand personal stories surrounding the meaning and purpose of our homes and possessions. I would add another P: purpose. In writing my book, I discovered that my goal is to break down the wall of shame that surrounds disorder and to educate and empower people to have more compassion for themselves and others because there is always a reason why we get stuck.
Oprah Winfrey has continued to inspire me as a powerful and successful woman. She shows that it is possible to be both strong and vulnerable and to lead with ambition and passion. I love how, throughout her professional life, she has delved deeply into people’s struggles and has consistently shown such compassion and care for the human experience. In her later years, it was a constant inspiration for me to interview great writers and bring revolutionary ideas and concepts into everyday consciousness. I love this quote because it reminds me to appreciate my own unique mix of skills and interests: “No one does it as well as you, and to understand that what you have to offer is what you want to give to the planet “Your gift is your offering in a way no one else can, and how important that is.”
Finally, as a working psychotherapist whose practice informs so much of my other work, I must mention the depth psychologist Carl Jung, whose life’s work was based on his fascination with the archetypes of the psyche. His exploration of his own dreams and how he translated these concepts into reality had a profound impact on my approach to understanding how people interact with their homes and the deeper factors at play when they struggle to create spaces that really encourage and support them. I so often feel that when I am in someone’s home and working with their possessions in a profound way, I am also entering their inner world, their psychological space. I am always amazed as the story of her life unfolds before me. I owe this deep understanding to my studies and my work as a therapist. I was particularly influenced by Jung’s own deep inner journey when building his house, the Bollingen Tower on Lake Zurich. One of his many insights that resonated most with me was the idea that our homes are an expression of our deep selves. The most important living areas are the face we present to the world. the lower ground floors or basements that reveal our cultural influences, our history and our unconscious; and the attic and the attic, or in his case the tower, reflect our spiritual life and aspirations.
I believe it is the diversity of these influences that has organically led to the development of my unique company, the way I work with both people and their homes, dancing between the sacred and the everyday. I truly love my work, every day is an adventure and every client is a privilege to work with.
