Collector Care Interviews: Barry Izsak Organizing Expert, Author & Philanthropist

Collector Care Blogs with Barry Izsak

Hello Collectors! I have  a fascination with the pioneers in the industry, and always love to gain knowledge. So when I attended the NAPO LA Organizing awards last January, a certain guy by the name of Barry Izsak caught my eye.  Winner of the philanthropy award, certified organizer and a man.  Who is this guy? I had to learn more about him. I also kept hearing about this scholarship … and how much he has helped the industry.

I initially connected with Barry via social media and we carried our convo over to email where he signs his name with this very cute “{:->====< “. That I had not seen before,  did this certified male philanthropist mega organizing guru have a sense of humor? I hoped so, as we scheduled a time to chat on the phone.

When I called Barry Izsak I was laughing within minutes. I asked him how his day was, and he told me this fabulous story of one of his elderly clients and the exhausting day he had moving her. He was quite comical in his story, and I felt at ease immediately.

Rachel: Barry please tell me more about your Barry Izsak/Glorya Schklair scholarship, and what inspired you to create it?

Barry: I was inspired because I wanted to give those that might not be able to afford it, the opportunity to attend a conference. For me, it was truly a pivotal moment in my decision to become an organizer. When I went to my first conference in 1996 in Santa Clara, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be an organizer. A friend of mine told me if I really wanted to do this with my career, then I had to check conference out. Back then there were probably 200 people at the conference, and NAPO had a membership of probably 800. I went to conference, and  I was really impressed. I decided to become an organizer and the rest is history! The (NOLA NAPO 2013 Conference) was my 18^th conference since 1996. I have not missed one since. Secondly, I had left some money in my will for NAPO.  I thought, why don’t I just give it to them now, why wait until I die?  I figured why not create my legacy when I am alive? Where I can actually see what the money does. I added Glorya Schklair who was a member of the NAPO-LA chapter. I met her at my first conference, and she inspired me because of her passion for NAPO and her vision for industry certification. After she died I thought about how much she had meant to me, and what a great way to memorialize her - so I put her name on it as well.

Rachel: Certified male Organizers there are few and far between, is this correct?
Barry: There are a few – Scott Roewer is one. I don’t know how many guys are certified, but you’re right probably not many.
Rachel: I <3 Scott Roewer!
Barry: I feel like being a guy in this industry of predominantly women, is actually an advantage because some people would rather work with a guy. Since there aren’t a lot of guys, they don’t have as many choices.

Rachel: Who is your ideal client?
Barry: A senior couple wanting to move that really realizes life is not about the stuff and just wants us to handle their entire move from start to finish. I have been part of NASMM for over five years now. I like working with seniors because that’s the one segment of the population where they really need you. They just don’t have the physical stamina or the emotional where withal to do it all themselves.

Rachel: Do you have any tips for new Professional Organizers?
Barry: People need to realize early that they need to take care of their bodies. Don’t wait before it’s too late!
Rachel: That's for sure, I like to bring a gardening knee pad or a stool if I know I am going to be on the floor decluttering for a while. Bad backs are no help in this business.

Thanks so much for the great interview Barry!

Diva

More fun facts about Barry!

It turns out that Barry is quite close with Rhonda Elliott a local organizer and good friend of mine. She was his conference buddy at his first conference in 1996!

Barry has a maine coon cat named Diva - this is a picture of her that Barry was kind enough to share. She sure looks like a DIVA! That expression is priceless meeeooow!

Barry works when he is not traveling.

Organize your Garage - Buy Now!

Barry Izsak, Certified Professional Organizer®, and founder of ARRANGING IT ALL™ in Austin, Texas, has been helping corporate and residential clients nationwide get organized since 1996. He is the author of Organize Your Garage in No Time (Que, 2005) and co-author of Exploring Productivity (Dawson, 2006).

Having served two consecutive terms as President of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) from 2003-2007, Barry is recognized as an articulate leader, advocate and spokesperson for the professional organizing industry. He has been quoted in hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Washington Post and the New York Times and has been featured on CNN, HLN, FOX, CNBC, ABC, NBC and CBS.

In 2007, Barry was one of the first professional organizers in the world to become a Certified Professional Organizer® (CPO®) and in 2008, he earned the Certified Relocation and Transition Specialist (CRTS) credential. 

Barry is a member of NAPO’s Golden Circle and has received three of the association’s highest honors: President’s Award (2010) and (2002), Service to NAPO Award (2008), as well as the NAPO Founders’ Award (2005). A member of the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) since 2008, he was inducted into the Circle of Service in 2013.

He has also been recognized several times at the NAPO-Los Angeles Organizing Awards: The Philanthropy Award (2013), Most Innovative Organizer (2007) and his book, Organize Your Garage in No Time, as Best Organizing Book (2007).

Collector Care Interviews Organizing Expert Regina Lark - A Clear Path

In doing research on the upcoming 7th Annual NAPO Organizing Awards, I came across the name Regina Lark. Holy cow, what a remarkable human being. Just like the songbird, her name sang quietly in my head over the last month. How could I approach this amazing woman for my blog? What would I say? How would I do it?! 

The words came right to me when I was left with an extra ticket to the actual event. Knowing no one in the NAPO LA Chapter, that beautiful name sang once again "Reg-iiin-aaa". 

I decided I would reach out to Regina in hopes to find a good home for my ticket. One week away from the awards, on a Saturday afternoon, Regina responded immediately. What a relief! Besides being prompt upon her response, she was pleasant and kind, finding the perfect home for my ticket.

While I had her hooked, she kindly obliged to be featured on my blog ... but first a bit about Regina!

Regina Lark is founder and president of A Clear Path: Professional Organizing for Home, Work, Life. 

Regina Lark, Ph.D., CPO®

As a Certified Professional Organizer she specializes in working with people with chronic disorganization, ADHD, and hoarding disorders, as well as the folks with way too much stuff!

She chairs the Education Committee for the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and serves as Professional Development Director for NAPO-LA.  

Dr. Lark is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer on issues ranging from hoarding to time management. Her book, Psychic Debris and Crowded Closets: The Relationship between the Stuff in your Head and What's Under your Bed is due out February 2013.

Collector Care Interviews Organizing Expert Regina Lark - A Clear Path

Rachel: What is your favorite thing about working with people with chronic disorganization?
Regina: What I enjoy most about working with the chronically disorganized is helping clients believe that change is possible.
A lot of my CD clients are women with ADHD. They have fallen victim to the "super mom" or "super woman" myth of what it means to be female in the U.S. As a result, really smart, well-educated, successful women are shamed, embarrassed and bewildered by the fact that they have a really hard time getting it together at home. I get a lot of pleasure "meeting people where they live" so I can come up with systems to organize for their brain type (and not mine!).

Rachel: What is your ideal client?

Regina: My ideal is client is the person ready to commit to making big changes in their lives -both behaviorally and cognitively. I want to help them picture their ideal life so we can get there together. My ideal client is also working with a therapist who is knowledgeable about CD, or least understands the relationship between how one thinks about their "stuff" versus their relationship with their stuff.

Rachel: Can you tell me a little bit about testing for ADHD and ADD? Some of my clients are concerned that they may suffer from one of these, how can they find out?

Regina: The only way an adult or child can learn if they have ADHD (see note about ADHD below) is by testing with a mental health professional who can assess, through a series of in-depth questions about time-management and relationships (with people, stuff, environment). It's a relatively simple process. Knowledge is power, for sure, but what one does with the knowledge is where the power really comes into play. The acronym ADHD is the what is used for the diagnosis, not ADD (which became the 'short-hand' over time).  The official diagnosis is Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder with Hyperactivity or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder without Hyperactivity.

Rachel: What do you do to relax after a long job?

Regina: Oh jeez... I'm such a type-A personality (without the high blood-pressure!) so after a long day in clutter I can usually be found at my desk creating the next workshop or tele-seminar. I love marketing and I'm usually networking at least 3-4x/week.

Rachel: What hobbies do you enjoy?

Regina: I happened to be born with a good singing voice and sang tenor with a chorus for a few years. Now I'm learning how to country-western dance. Working out at Curves, and riding my bike to the beach are also fun and good for my overall emotional and physical well-being. And, while not really a "hobby" - I journal every morning about, well, everything!

Rachel: Local knowledge - What are your 3 favorite restaurants in LA?

Regina: Gaby's Mediterranean Cafe; Kabuki Sushi, Maria's Italian Kitchen

More fun facts about Regina!

Regina ran for the office of Lt. Governor in California in 1998, and she earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Southern California. Her doctoral research will be published this winter. For fun, she teaches U.S. History at Los Angeles Pierce College.

For more information, visit her website: http://www.AClearPath.net

Regina Lark, Ph.D., CEO

A Clear Path: Professional Organizing for Home, Work, Life

PO Box 241941 Los Angeles, CA 90024

	Watch Dr. Regina Lark on A&E's Emmy nominated show "Hoarders" - Select episode 44 - Billy Bob/Jean

Rachel Seavey, Professional Organizer
I am located in Pleasanton Ca, and serve the San Francisco Bay Area.I specialize in Hoarding Disorder, Chronic Disorganization and helping the overwhelmed with clutter. I love what I do, and I provide realistic expectations and timelines. Don't suffer in chaos any  more. Every breath is a new beginning! Please visit my site at www.collectorcare.com
Tweet me on Twitter : Like my Facebook page : Find me on Pinterest

Collector Care Interviews A&E's "Hoarders" Experts: Geralin Thomas and Cory Chalmers

Collector Care's Rachel Seavey Interviews Emmy-Nominated A&E's Hoarders Experts: Geralin Thomas and Cory Chalmers

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to interview A&E's Emmy Award Nominated Show "Hoarders" Specialist's Geralin Thomas  and Cory Chalmers  before they arrive at the 7th annual NAPO Organizing Awards in Los Angeles CA. 

If you watch A&E's  "Hoarders" show often, these two have very unique and effective styles.

Geralin Thomas, often labeled “Steel Magnolia” by viewers, comes across with a gently lady-like manner and grace. Dr. David Tolin has called her, “Our Lady of Perpetual Patience” which she demonstrates on the show time and time again.
I am honored to ask her some personal questions.

Cory Chalmers looks like he should be in a Lands End Catalog (right ladies)!
Besides being easy on the eye, Cory conveys our thoughts, to the client with kindness and class. He truly cares about everyone around him, and he is absolutely awesome for allowing me to ask him personal questions. 

With no further delay, let’s get this interview started!

Rachel:  How many hours a night do you typically sleep?

Geralin:  Typically I sleep about six hours per night; I'm most definitely a morning person and can barely function after 11 pm however, if you need something at 6 am, I'm your go-to gal!  I'll be wide-awake and fully-functional.

Cory: Well, this varies quite a lot due to our business phones. Since we are one of the largest biohazard companies in California, we have a lot of calls for immediate service to clean crime scenes, suicides, and other bad things that happen throughout the day and night. I would be perfectly happy getting 5 to 6 hours of sleep at night, but whenever that phone rings it usually cuts at least 2 hours out of my sleep. After I receive the call, I have to dispatch a couple of my techs, then when they get on scene they call me to give an estimate on the job based off their description. I typically get a couple of calls throughout the cleanup as well from my techs with questions or concerns so just one job after hours can totally screw up my sleep.  

Rachel:  If you've got five minutes to organize something, what's it going to be?

Rachel Seavey and Cory Chalmers

Cory: My short organizing spurts are usually spent in my closet. That is the one place that can get disorganized quickly and I can't stand it so I am constantly doing small regular maintenance type work in there just to keep it nice and organized.

Geralin:  The fridge!  I start in the upper left, make my way across left to right, top to bottom - like reading a book.  I'm also pretty enthusiastic about organizing my own pantry too.  I it's rewarding, or therapeutic, or whatever to have the fridge and pantry in bristol condition.

Rachel Seavey and Geralin Thomas

Rachel: Name one "go to" fast-food that you depend on when home.

Geralin:  It's gotta be cous-cous! It cooks in five minutes, it's inexpensive, plus it's very healthy.
I always have it in my pantry and it goes well with everything.

Cory: Cereal! I will always eat a bowl of cereal when I don't want to have to cook. It is just too easy. Plus, having a 9 year old at home, his cereal is like desert. I mean small little chocolate chip cookies, Lucky Charms, Captain Crunch? While not the best for me, it is pretty delicious :)

Rachel:  The best thing at the end of a long, hard day after working in a hoarded house?

Cory:  Ok, this is not a canned answer I promise but for me, it is the appreciation from the customer that makes it all worth it. When you can turn total chaos into a comfortable, functional, safe place for them to live, there is no better feeling. After that, an ice cold beer is great too!

Geralin:  Getting into a nice, fresh, clean, comfy bed after a long, hot shower; even better if there's a bar of scented soap and conditioning shampoo. 

Rachel:   What is the worst thing about a Hoarders shoot?

Geralin:  Airports without free wifi!  It drives me crazy when airports want to charge passengers to use wifi? And typically huge airports tend to charge while smaller airports offer it for free. Now, about the shoot itself, I'd have to say the s-l-o-w pace of filming.  There are a zillion interruptions. Background noise is unacceptable which means there's a lot of stopping and restarting due to a dog barking down the street or an airplane flying overhead. Of course this can't be controlled, but, it's frustrating.

Cory:  This is an easy one...the starting and the stopping. I am wired to work and get the job done. On a typical hoarders shoot, the producers tell us to stop working at least 70 times throughout 3 to 4 days. Just when you start to make a little progress, you have to stop because they have to interview someone, film something in the next room and need it quiet, or a number of other reasons. It is really difficult in the short time we are there to get the job done, but with the constant stopping of all work, it honestly makes it so much more difficult.

Rachel:  Well, I asked you about the worst thing, now I want to know about the best thing. What do you like best about traveling and working on the show?

Cory: There are a few things I like about Hoarders shoots. First, I know we are helping (or attempting to) someone that has been very resistant in the past and probably would not be getting help otherwise.   The very best part for me on a  shoot is when you are watching the last 2 minutes and we open the door and show them their new home. The look on their face, as well as their family and friends, is priceless!

Geralin:  Both before and after the shoots - hanging out with the organizers.  I've had a lot of great, memorable evenings with organizers. I've gone to dinner, to their homes, to their offices and often I'm invited to see the local scenery, through their eyes.  The POs have been exceptionally hospitable and I've made a lot of new friends all over the country.  In addition, I enjoy knowing that we have helped change a few lives.  There are a few people with hoarding disorders that have continued working with therapists, organizers and aftercare providers. They've made slow, steady progress and continue managing and maintaining a healthier, happier life.


Rachel:  Name at least one show on TV you are absolutely hooked on and watch regularly.

Geralin:  Downton Abbey on PBS.  I love historical fiction and everything about this show is a feast for the senses. The music makes me swoon, the landscaping is luscious, the costumes are beautiful, the decor of the house is amazing.  It's total escapism.  Other than that, I love documentaries so that's typically what I watch on my computer in the hotel rooms. 

Cory:  I can't name just one! My two favorites are Sons of Anarchy and Suits. Totally different shows from one another but they both have me addicted!

So there you have it folks! Fresh from the specialist’s mouth to my blog.

If you haven’t voted for  Nominees Geralin Thomas or Cory Chalmers (or any of your other favorite organizers) please go to the NAPO website and cast your vote!

I am excited to be attending the event and plan on keeping you all posted throughout.
Stay tuned for more celebrity profiling before, during and after the event.

Rachel Seavey, Professional Organizer
I am located in Pleasanton Ca, and serve the San Francisco Bay Area.
I specialize in Hoarding Disorder, Chronic Disorganization and helping the overwhelmed with clutter. I love what I do, and I provide realistic expectations and timelines. Don't suffer in chaos any  more. Every breath is a new beginning! Please visit my site at www.collectorcare.com
Tweet me on Twitter : Like my Facebook page : Find me on Pinterest