194 | When Careers Collide: Jenny Albertini, Organizing Journeys and Becoming a Published Author
I am so thrilled to welcome Jenny Albertini, who is one of the very first professional organizers I ever met, and who was a great part of my organizing life, to the pod! She is the author of Decluttered: Mindful Organizing for Health, Home and Beyond--and it's a book that will help organizers with clients by connecting health (mental and physical) with the organizing process.
You can listen here, read the full transcript below, or find us on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you love to listen to podcasts!
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
Hey pro organizers. It's Melissa. And if you go back in the, uh, super way back machine of the Pro Organizer Studio Podcast, I think it's episode 60 or 61. I can't remember, and I'm not looking it up. I'm just going on on a memory, but. Jen interviewed me about my journey into organizing. That was kind of your first introduction to me, on this podcast.
And one of the things I talked about as kind of my journey into organizing, which is a, a long meandering story, I'd be happy to tell anyone anytime they wanted to know it, but. Part of my story was that I was, as I call myself a trash Panda, my house was a complete chaotic, disastrous mess. And I decided that I needed to get organized.
And I did that using the KonMari Method. And I did it very faithfully. We said goodbye to about 60% of the things that we owned. Um, by the way, that does not make me a minimalist. As I described myself, I'm a medium-ist, but we had a lot of stuff in our house. But the point of the story is. When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my career. I happened to be on social media.
And I found out that Marie Kondo was certifying consultants. And I just said, oh my gosh, I think this is my path. I just had this gut feeling that it was my path. And I can't explain that feeling, but I am a big believer that you always trust your gut. And so I said, okay, I'm going to take the sleep.
I'm going to make this investment. And I flew to New York city in April of 2018. And I took the seminar and there were some people there who had already been certified by Marie Kondo. And like the very first before Marie was famous in the United States. They had taken the leap in the very first KonMari training class. And one of those people was Jenny Albertini. And Jenny was at my seminar.
And I remember her extremely vividly. I remember so many things about that seminar vividly, I think because it was my first leap into. What is my future career going to be? And so I just remember it, like it happened yesterday. And it, because organizing has been, just such a beautiful part of my life's journey, and now I get to help all of you be on your own organizing journey.
And I'm so grateful for that. And I really, I take that very seriously.
So Jenny, my guests on the podcast today was one of my instructors at that training course. And so she had a very formative part of my organizing journey,
and the, she had no idea at that time. And by the way, now did I to figure out what my organizing journey was going to be. If I am part of your organizing journey, I cannot explain what an honor that is to me. So I am interviewing someone that was on my journey and then I am so appreciative of, and she and I reconnected in person recently in long beach, California at the NAPO annual conference. And she told me that she had a book publishing and that book published this week. And I want her to tell you all about it.
And by the way, this is a book that is not just going to help clients, but is going to help organizers work with clients and she has a very unique perspective on organizing.
So I am thrilled to introduce you to my friend and one of the very important first people on my organizing journey. Jenny Albertini of Washington, DC. And she is the author of Decluttered: Mindful Organizing for Health Home and Beyond.. And I'm so excited for you to hear her story. Have a great day, organizers.
Melissa Klug: Okay. So I want to tell a little story. Back in the day, way back in the day when I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. And the only thing that I could think of was I really wanted to help people in their house.
So I jetted off to New York city, and one of the people I met at my KonMari seminar was Jenny, who was one of the instructors of that course, and it was just one of those things where I was like, oh, okay, yeah, people do do this as a business.
And so you are one of the very, very, very first people I ever met in organizing. And so I am thrilled that you are here with us on the podcast because you like started my journey.
Jenny Albertini: Oh, Melissa, that's so kind. I'm so happy to have been there at the start of your journey too. I, I had a similar like realization that this was the next right step for me.
So I, we're, we're quite in sync like that. Yes.
Melissa Klug: So I'm just absolutely thrilled that our paths have crossed again in human person. We were at the, the NAPO conference together. And so, you told me something very exciting at that, which was you published a book. It was your book birthday on Tuesday this week.
Yes, it was. Thank you. And so I wanted to have you on the podcast just to talk about all things organizing and to talk about your book and that process, because I think a lot of people think about like, Oh, this is something that I might be interested in doing. But I want to go back to because you to me have a super fascinating.
History and backstory like you're like, I love how your career you know, trajectory has gone. So can you tell us a little bit about how you got started in all this?
Jenny Albertini: Oh, sure. So I had been working in public health with the government for practically 20 years. I worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
I worked for the State Department based in Africa for a while in the U. S. And I, I worked mainly on women's health and HIV AIDS programs. And I think like a lot of us, we, like, I just kept taking the next right job for myself until it was 2016. And I was like, wait, where am I? This job feels terrible. And I had a relationship that was failing and I just didn't even want to get up and go to work every day.
And I was like, what would feel better to be doing? And I had read Marie's book. tidying up a few years earlier and I was like, Oh, this method is so cool. And then I saw that she was going to start training people in her method, and it was I swear it was like a light bulb went off. I was like, Oh, this, you know, I could do this, and getting trained by someone felt like, Oh, then I'll kind of know how to do this new thing because I'd never thought about starting my own business before.
But I did it. I was like, I'm gonna leave my job. I joined her first training program. in 2016 and set up my business shortly thereafter. And so since then, I've been running my company. I live in Washington, D. C., so mainly I see clients around here or online. And I've gone back and forth and done some public health work in between and at the same time.
But really, I've been just working with clients, practicing the KonMari method. And then about two years ago, this book journey started as well.
Melissa Klug: So tell us a little bit about like, did you decide to write a book? Did you just have this, you know, kind of urge to write it or was it something that someone came to you?
Like how, tell us a little bit about that book journey.
Jenny Albertini: Yeah. So I, I like writing and had been, you know, taking notes and kind of writing little bits for myself over the time, but I never thought of myself as like a writer. And, and I think this is in part because I knew some like, Professional writers in my life.
I was like, Oh, that's what they do. That's not what I do or who I am. But in 2021, I was doing a rebranding of my website and my company. I work with this cool group. They're called the design good. They're based in Texas. And they really asked me, they're like, What do you want to do? And I thought, Well, you know, I kind of might like to write a book one day.
And they're like, Oh, that's really cool. Like, let's Put that out there as part of what you're working on. And then someone from their team referred me to an agent who thought that I had a cool story and she started sort of figuring out if there were any publishers who might be interested in that, like really my career transition journey from government, public health into KonMari consultant and spoiler alert, no one was interested in that story or that book which is a whole other process.
But one of the publishers said. Hey, actually, we looked at Jenny's website, and we'd like her to write that book. Because if you go to my website, I talk a lot about the health related issues around clutter. That's where my background comes from, and so I talked about clutter in health, at home, and in work situations.
And so that started the process of, well, what would that book look like? And that was nearly two years ago where we started that, and I got started on that writing journey with them.
Melissa Klug: That's cool. I love that, that you have found a way to really merge the two parts of your life because all of us, you know, any of us who have done this work for any length of time know there is so much about your, your personal, physical, mental health that is affected by clutter.
So I just, I love that you were able to really merge those two things together.
Jenny Albertini: You know, when I started off switching into KonMari work, I thought, oh, this will be so different, right? From my public health job. But then the more time I was spending with clients, I was like, no, wait, we've got behavioral challenges, relationship issues, structural things, health conditions that aren't being treated.
And so I kept having these deeper discussions with my clients. I was like, Hey, are you like, getting served for this issue? Are you talking to this provider for that? Do you need some help negotiating with your in laws who keep sending you too many things for your house? Stuff like that. And so that really became like the genesis of like, oh wait, I am like using all these skills and things I've learned in my time with my clients.
And so why not? Put those messages into a book that will reach more people.
Melissa Klug: I love that because I, I think that there are a lot of people who really don't, they, they see the surface problem, right? Like I have clutter. It annoys me. They do not necessarily understand until we start to clear it. What the other implications of that are it really is like I always say it's 90 percent therapy and 10 percent putting stuff in bags It there is so much underneath What the clutter is right and it is so much more than just we're gonna donate this thing
Jenny Albertini: Absolutely.
And I, you know, I bet you see this with your clients all the time, but so many of my clients blame themselves for the clutter. Oh, yeah. And right. And it's a personal failing on their part that there's clutter around. And I hate that for them because It's not really their fault. It's usually a function of, you know, challenges with depression, executive functioning, ADHD, no one doing their fair share in a household, things like that.
And so I really want to like, dismantle the idea that like just moving stuff around on a shelf is what addresses the clutter problem. Because we can do that all day long, but that's, you know, just taking time and resources away from people that they could be devoting to addressing some of these underlying issues.
Melissa Klug: Yeah, for sure. So from your public health background and just for people who might, I just, I think that we should probably define like what public health is like, can you talk a little bit about what public health is like as a career as a concept and then how it relates to organizing?
Jenny Albertini: So public, public health is basically the practice of keeping groups of people healthy and trying, especially with public health, we're trying to like mitigate or prevent illnesses or diseases from happening. So it's the really unsexy stuff of health medicine, because if you're doing public health right, Then nothing is happening
Melissa Klug: and no one knows who you are unless you're off the rails.
Jenny Albertini: And that's boring. And you know, it doesn't trend well on social media. And it wasn't really until COVID happened that people were like, Oh, wait, who are all these people like doing things and sending masks out and tracking data? Like those are public health people. And when COVID started, I was still in a global health office at the state department.
So we had a really integrate that into our work. So for me what it meant a lot of the job functions I had were working with community groups or ministries of health or state departments figuring out what were the health problems that certain communities were facing. So like for me I worked a lot with pregnant women and women with cervical cancer and then we'd talk with those women or other clients and figure out what their needs were and then Because I worked from the government side.
Then we try to design a program or send funding to meet those needs. And so that that's kind of how things are. So, you know, and when I take that into decluttering, I'm doing that like on an individual household level or within a workplace culture.
Melissa Klug: So what are some of the biggest things that you take into your organizing world from your other life?
Like, tell us a little bit about, you know, what that journey looks like and how you help your clients with your other knowledge.
Jenny Albertini: I think that one of the main things is how to ask questions and how to really listen.
Melissa Klug: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Jenny Albertini: Because, you know, when you're with a client in their home, you've got to ask things in a certain way that they will feel what the response is, that they, you know, I might ask something like, Let's talk about how often you're going to use these 10 coffee cups, you know, that, that you just can't let go of.
And then that prompts them to think, Oh wait, really, how am I integrating them to their life? And so if you can have those sorts of conversations over and over and in different ways, then the client is going to change their internal belief, hopefully towards You know, the the behavior that's most helpful for them, which in our line of work is living a decluttered life having and maintaining a decluttered home.
And then the listening is so important too, because I think our clients are always giving us clues about. what's really going on, what's causing the clutter, how they're managing their schedule and their life. And and that can come in handy because if you're listening and remembering for certain things, then you can help guide them towards addressing them in specific ways.
So those are really important. And then, you know, working in the government, I did a lot of, you know, God, like diplomacy and negotiation. Oh, yeah. So I have to say
Melissa: that
Jenny Albertini: as well you know, being able to I, I have some clients who are like, well, can we, can you come and help talk to me with my partner, with my in law and help them understand that?
And I figured out like, You know, I could probably explain or promote decluttering to anyone at this point. It's about knowing where someone is coming from, trying to make the message meet their needs. And honestly, that comes in handy more, more than you would think with, with people. So I, I like those skillset from my, my past life helping out today.
Melissa Klug: I totally agree. I, I said this on another podcast a few weeks ago, but there was a thing I did years ago for a work thing. And it was an acronym of you had to listen. And then the acronym was L A E R. And the first thing was listen. And then a coworker of mine joked, Melissa goes straight from listen to attack.
And I was like, that like stuck with me. That happened when I was like, I don't know, 25. And I'm like, I'm a lot older than that now, but like you realize, especially in this work. You have to listen and then ask additional questions and then listen to that answer. And then you might need to ask additional questions.
Like I'm very much a like, Hey, let's go solve this problem kind of person. And you're like, no, no, no, no, no. In order to solve the problem in this work that we do, you have to keep digging down through all the layers.
Jenny Albertini: Absolutely. I mean, there's so many questions that we can ask as organizers and that are also helpful for the client to ask of themselves.
So you'll see in the book, I included a lot of exercises for this type of introspection. So Writing prompts, journaling ideas, and they're meant for, you know, let's say a reader or client to do on their own. They're also something an organizer could do with their clients, frankly, because it really helps create that connection and sort of understanding where the clutter is coming from, how we're dealing with it, what we want to see differently in the future.
Melissa Klug: Yeah. And that's what I was going to say is obviously your book is written more for a client facing, you know, but it's also something that organizers can use as a tool. That's why I wanted to talk to you because I do think you have a very unique perspective on organizing. And so it's something that you could say, Hey, I'm going to get this book and then I'm going to really go through it and really learn, especially for newer organizers, learning some of that listening skill, by the way.
Well, experienced organizers needed to, but just going through and really working through it with them. Cause sometimes those skills I think are harder for some people than others.
Jenny Albertini: Yeah, and that's a lot of the discussion I had with other organizers at the NAPO conference, which was one of my first opportunities since the book just came out to talk about it with a group of people, but that, you know, organizers know what they're doing, but I think that there's some prompts in the book that help explain things, especially from like a health or science background that make it really accessible and easy for someone to share a new idea with a client that maybe just hadn't come through in the language they were using already.
Melissa Klug: Yeah. Can you talk to us a little bit about like what, what is in the book?
Like, how's it structured? Like how, how do you kind of weave all the things together?
Jenny Albertini: So I set up the book as an introduction, which really, tells my story about how I got into this work and lays out what you're going to find in the book. But then the meat of the book are in three chapters called health, home, and beyond.
And within each of those chapters, I dive into underlying reasons why and how clutter shows up related to our health or in our environments or in our workplaces and communities. And then I have some practical tips offered for how to deal with that. And the tips take different shapes. So I do you know, I have writing exercises, creativity exercises, communication scripts for each of those sections.
Because for me, I really wanted people to like feel a little differently reading this book and find some different types of ways to understand and really take in the lessons.
Melissa Klug: Yeah, I just, I think that anything, because there are a million organizing books, right? Like, we all know, because every house we're in, we're like, oh, look, there are 22 organizing books.
But I do think the key is actually doing those exercises to get underneath all the stuff. Like, it's easy to read. It's harder to go like, oh, I actually have to do some, like, self examination. And I think with our clients, it's easier to have someone to help them through that.
Melissa: Right.
Melissa Klug: It's just, it's a lot easier to have them be like, Hey, you can't ignore this.
Let's just, let's just do this and let's have this conversation.
Jenny Albertini: Absolutely. I mean, in, in what you say is I I'm not an expert at shelf styling or, you know, new folding techniques. Like I, I use Marie Kondo's following mix, right? So like that's, that's just who I am. And so I, I, I say that in the book, like there, get those other books.
I have a list of books I recommend in the book when we talk about like decluttering stuff. I'm like, no, literally I use the KonMari method and like, and the order for clients and things. And so the book talks about different ways to think about decluttering and go through these exercises, just as you said.
Melissa Klug: Tell us a little bit about the process of writing the book. So for anyone who is thinking about this is, this might be a fun journey that I want to go on, or I have a unique perspective that I want to offer. Like what was that actual, writing process? Did you find it hard or what did it start to flow?
Like once you got started?
Jenny Albertini: Can I say it was both? Yeah, you can say whatever you want. And it both and all of the time. I mean, I was excited at first, I will say I didn't know what I didn't know, and that was probably prevented me from getting some of it done faster, maybe in a smoother journey, like one thing I didn't know about was develop, were developmental editors and developmental editors are these, Amazing people who exist to help you like format and structure your ideas and sort of make sure you're going at a good pace and sort of timing thing.
I didn't know about that. And so I did you know, spent six months writing my first draft and I thought, Oh, the editor at my publishing house will help me with this. And they were like, Oh, no, that's. You need to fix it. Right. Yeah. And I was like, Oh, okay. I just, I thought you were the editor and you were going to help me with that.
So then I joined a writing class cause I figured, Oh, that, that will be really helpful. And it was taught by Amber Ray, who's an amazing author and writing teacher. And I learned from Amber about a developmental editor process. And that was magical. So last year I hired Allie from sunlight editing shout out to Allie, who was you know, by my side for the second draft of my book and really helped me figure out from a reader's perspective, how I could make my ideas fit together smoothly because, you know, although Melissa, I might be like really good at organizing spaces.
I I had trouble, you know, with the book and I, I couldn't quite tell what the right balance of stories and research and activities was because I was too close to it. And while I was writing those stories, I was like, ah, maybe they should all be in here. And working with Ali as a developmental editor really helped me pull out what would be most impactful for the reader.
I'm very happy with how the book wound up. It just took a while to get there that I think if I'd known about something like that, that support ahead of time might have made it easier.
Melissa Klug: Yeah, it, I think there's a huge difference. Any of us know, like, I mean, one of the things I hear from organizers a lot is like, don't tell me to blog because I don't like writing and I don't, and then you think about, okay, if you don't want to write a blog, like a whole book is like 700 blogs, right?
Like it's a lot. And so, I think that for people thinking about, Hey, I want to write a whole book, just knowing that it's not just a, Hey, I'm going to throw some ideas out on a piece of paper. It's really, there's a whole process to it. And you do have to really think about. What is the structure you want?
Just like organizing. What, how do you, how are you going to organize with someone? You have to have that structure. And I also think that if you're going to traditionally publish as you did, like with an editor and, you know, all of the things, like knowing that it's a long process too, it is not a, I'm going to write a book and then three weeks later, it's going to be out.
Jenny Albertini: Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, it is just about at the two year mark from when this started. And someone said to me last year, they're like, when you want to write a book, make sure it's on a topic you want to talk about for five years at a long time. Yeah, because not only like it's just coming out into the world this week you know, I've got things lined up for a couple months to be talking about like I'm going to be talking about this for a while, so I, it has to be something I really like I will say last year when I was working on my first and first draft my mother asked.
Also when is it coming out is it coming out this summer I said no you know it's probably like spring of next year, and she said, Oh, won't it be out of date by then. Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Mom. Actually, people like talking about decluttering
Melissa: all the time.
Jenny Albertini: And I am, you know, I'm hopeful that my messages will still come across clearly.
And they do. I mean, they're, you know, evergreen. I will say, I made a reference last year to the Scandaval. Bravo, because I was deeply invested in, I mean, I am deeply I am also invested in that, by the way, we could have another podcast about that. Totally. And I was like, I know I'm putting this in and this is a very like this year moment, but I have faith that like my fellow Bravo fans will will see it and it will still be okay.
Melissa Klug: Absolutely. Well, and I love what you're talking about with that developmental editor too. Cause I think that's something that we see in our businesses. Like you build a website and you're like so close to it that you don't even see that the word organizing is spelled wrong or like whatever. Right? Like you have to have someone outside of you that's like, Hey girl, we need to just like, we need to do X, Y, and Z.
And then you go, Oh my gosh, why didn't I see that myself? And that's just like our clients. They sometimes don't see the simplest solutions that are right in front of them. Like you have to be away from it. To really see what it is.
Jenny Albertini: Exactly. You know, having that accountability, having that external view is, is so great.
And honestly being able to like ask for and get help from different places, that's also part of the journey that's been interesting to me sort of. Which of my clients are, you know, like gung ho supportive of the book, who never wants to talk about it because they're afraid their story is going to wind up in something I write, and yeah, and then like media teams and stuff.
I think that there's a possibility of working with it. a lot of different people to support you in a book writing journey and once you let people know that's what you're doing and also what kind of help you need which is often hard especially as like business owners to, to ask for the people will come and the help is available.
Melissa Klug: Yeah. What is your favorite part about this process? Like, has it been actually the writing or has it been like, I'm so happy to launch this into the world? Like, it just launched this week. You had a book party. Very well known people came to your book party. Like, you, like, was that a fun thing or was that just kind of like, oh my gosh, it's, it's over.
Jenny Albertini: It doesn't feel done. I will say, yeah it feels, this feels like a really exciting week and I'm very happy and I will say the pre orders started getting to people a couple weeks ago and one of the highlights really has been people who I've known for so long who are reading it and like noticing parts of me.
I mean, my best friend of, you know, 30 years messaged me and he said, Oh my gosh, I see all the like Jenny Easter eggs throughout the book. It's so great. And like that was heartwarming. And cause cause those are, you know, the people who matter to me, those are the opinions I like hearing. And things like that.
And and, and for my clients who, like, have read and been like, reading the book is like spending time with you. And so I feel like I was able to get out, like, what's an authentic version of, of what it is like to work with me. And so that feels good. I did feel really good last year when I finished my second draft.
It felt like getting through, I mean, it was very tough for a while. You'll see in the book, I mean, there's a lot of. really personal stories about my life and stories that I shaped from client examples that I was trying to do thoughtful justice to and write compassionately. And that's not easy. And so I went through a lot of emotional struggles up and down, getting those out in a way that felt good.
And I'm glad I did, but I learned how to wrestle with a lot of feelings while I was doing it. So that, that was tough at times.
Melissa Klug: Yeah, sure. So you live in a pretty well known metropolitan area. You live in DC, like you said. And so obviously without giving details, do you have a lot of, like, are a lot of your clients, like high powered people that don't have time for stuff?
Are they people that are like, listen, I really want to work side by side with you. Tell us a little bit about your clients and who you love working with.
Jenny Albertini: So I, I love working with clients who are making time to do this hard work. And oh, for sure. I mean, there's you know, in D. C. You know, as as in many places, but everyone is over scheduled and overworked.
And why would you want to spend your time decluttering? But some people know that it will help them. And, you know, when I get a call from someone who's like, I don't have time to do this, I just need you to do it, like, that's not my client, I refer them to someone else because that's not the work that I do.
And so you're right, you know, like this week I had some of my White House clients host a party for me and attend and do work. And that's you know, it's really exciting in part because it's cool to work on interesting things Documents declutter documents that came from White House issues. You know, like, you know, it's, it's interesting, but it's for me, I really look at it as like, wow, like my clients are doing amazing things for the world and for themselves.
If we can declutter their homes or their offices, they're going to feel better and they're going to do better work for all of us as citizens. And you know, when I started my business eight years ago, I was first called declutter D. C. Cleaning up the capital one home at a time. Oh, I love
Melissa: that.
Jenny Albertini: You know, I've rebranded since then.
But but, but that message is why I did it because I was like, Oh, I'm, you know, I work amongst these government offices and people are stressed. I don't want stressed people to Making policy decisions that affect my lives, my, my life and my friend's lives and stuff. And so, you know, not always do I agree with the politics or beliefs of people who reach out to me, but I, I actually ultimately think like if those people felt better, maybe they'd make better, you know, choices more grounded in, what's really good for, for humans.
Melissa Klug: Well, I love that philosophy too. I'm with you. I'd like those people to be a little happier.
Jenny Albertini: Absolutely. And, and also I, I think there's the, it's this culture of.
Like office culture in D. C. where it's like, oh, I can't possibly take time aside for decluttering and organizing but in actuality, I mean, you know this, other organizers know that if you do this work up front and you make it an ongoing part, it can make things easier for you, and so one thing like at this event we had earlier this week, which had a lot of women in government there, my client who hosted asked the question of, like, what should we do People who are living history and doing things do now in our offices and our schedules so that we don't have a build up.
And I think the idea of really trying to integrate into workplace culture, regular time for decluttering, whether it's digital or hard copy. And also, are we thinking about how we want to archive and save these memories and projects that we're working on? Because now I'm doing this with some clients of.
Really cool work things that they did 20, 30 years ago. And it's like, Oh, you have this like stuffed in boxes for two decades. Like this is historical. Let's get this out. And, you know, and also it helps them feel proud of what they've done. So I think on any level with any type of client we're working with, everyone has those things that if we took them out of the garages and the basements and brought them into our lives, it would make us feel better about letting go of some of the stuff that isn't as
Melissa Klug: important.
Yeah, and digital, you mentioned something, and I know that we all know this, but digital clutter is sometimes more insidious than regular clutter because it makes it impossible to find things. And this is a total side note. I have a friend, a very dear friend in D. C. who is a historian, and I talked to her one time about the change in historical and I think it's really cool that you're talking about like how historians work because everything now is digital versus, you know, they used to have the ability to archive people's papers and, you know, memos and whatever, and that has changed the whole scope.
So you really are working with clients who have impacted history, which I think is really cool.
Jenny Albertini: I think so too. And I think I think I want to make sure that in the same way, I don't want people to feel shamed by the clutter around them. I want people to feel proud of what they've done, because I think it helps them.
continue to do good in the world. And one of the ways that that happens is pulling out these materials and creating these, these archives.
Melissa Klug: Yeah. I love it. So, so what are you excited? Like what's next for you? What are you just gonna continue organizing? Do you have the, I mean, I know you just published a book.
Like, do you think like, I'd like to do another one or I'd like to like, what's next on your journey? Do you think, or are you just leaving it open?
Jenny Albertini: I, so right now, I mean, I am going back to, you know, I took a couple days off from seeing clients and I'll be back there tomorrow, you know, with client work. So I, Look forward to seeing all my in person and virtual clients and doing now I'm doing some workshops that are specifically focused on the topics in the book.
So that'll be cool. And I'm looking forward to some presentations coming up in the fall that will also weave in these messages to different audiences because I I'd like to bring. topics around decluttering and mental health kind of out of the closet and onto a wider surface and stage because it's just affecting all of us and all of our clients so much.
So I want to help give those issues more attention. So that's a hope. And I, I don't know about writing another book. I will say I have ideas. But if I were to do it, honestly, I'm like, Maybe I'd write like a romance novel next. Oh fun! Like, you know, from a professional organizer perspective, but like, I enjoyed a lot of the writing process, but I kind of want to use my brain differently and like write in a slightly different way.
So I think that might be next up for my writing projects list.
Melissa Klug: That's totally fun. And I think too, as a public health expert myself, just kidding.
I'm not. One of the things that I feel like that, you know, a lot of people, like you said, learned about public health as a concept during COVID, but one of the, I think the most challenging outcomes of COVID Is mental health and we realize we have, I think we have a huge mental health crisis in this country and probably not enough resources to help with that.
And so I love that you're really connecting that. And it's not just, depression, anxiety. I mean, so many of our clients are dealing with that. But also, you ADHD diagnoses, all of those types of things like decluttering.
We, All know is huge for mental health and just really spreading that message. We're more comfortable talking about it than we've been before. And I think that making that connection between organizing and mental health as a public health crisis is, is really important.
So I love that you're doing it.
Jenny Albertini: I also just want to maybe flag for the audience if anyone hasn't heard about it, but the U. S. Senate has a special committee on aging. And about six weeks ago, they had a call out for information related to the impact of hoarding disorder among older people.
And so there's probably going to be some more stuff coming up, and I would just urge people if they're interested in it, you know, try and follow it, check out if your local senator is involved with that, because a lot of organizers have data and information on what's happening around hoarding disorder for their clients or their clients families and things like that, and we can really be a voice that helps shape what comes out of a committee like that.
Melissa Klug: That's an interesting thought like I've never really thought about organizing hitting the Senate, but it it's important.
I mean, talk about a place that needs some decluttering. Yeah, no kidding. I also think about the amount of paper that must exist like in the these are just random things I think about just the volume of paper and other stuff that must exist on the Capitol.
Jenny Albertini: Yes. I mean, and some of those paper stashes have been in the news. People are getting in trouble for not dealing with their paperwork. And yeah, it's, it's a paper problem in the city. And I have dealt with that.
Melissa Klug: We didn't really consider I didn't consider until right now like disorganization can possibly be treasonous depending on who you are.
Jenny Albertini: It absolutely is. And there are statutes and, you know, term limits for certain pieces of paper. So, you, you got to really know your, your rules around here with paperwork.
Melissa Klug: Kind of fascinating. I love working with paperwork and I love talking about it.
But yeah, you have a whole different level of like, oh, this says top secret. I don't think I should be looking at it. So,
Jenny Albertini: yes, yes, we, we put certain things aside and, you know, I use my secret clearance as needed and as appropriate.
Melissa Klug: I love it.
Okay. So give us all the details. What's the name of the book? Where can people find it? All of the things.
Jenny Albertini: So the book is called Decluttered, Mindful Organizing for Health, Home, and Beyond. And it's available online wherever books are sold. And also it's in certainly some local bookstores in Washington, D.C. where I live. And I'd encourage anyone else who's interested in having it at their local bookstore to reach out to me, to reach out to the bookstore, and find different ways to talk about it and grab it.
Melissa Klug: And I would just encourage organizers. I understand that we're all organizers and we don't necessarily need a book about organizing.
We know how to do that, but I just encourage people that this is a very different book and I wouldn't have you on here talking about it. If I didn't think that it was something that was really going to be impactful for organizers themselves, or for you to even gift a client,
it's really important as we know to physical mental health, all of that. And I just, I love it. So we are going to be doing a, I feel like Vanna White right now, we're going to be doing a giveaway or like, I don't know, Bob Barker or something. We are giving away a copy of Jenny's book. And And if you go to proorganizerstudio.com/links, you will have it. They're very simple. Just put your name and name and email down and we will get you taken care of. And I am just so excited that you are on this amazing journey and that you're really going to help a ton more people than you help in person. So I love it.
Jenny Albertini: Thank you so much, Melissa.
It's been so
Melissa Klug: fun talking with you today. And I'm excited to see what comes next for you. So thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.
So I am reading and loving Jenny's book, and I hope that you do too. And I hope that whatever you have going on in your organizing business or in your dream of an organizing business comes true this week. Thanks for listening as always to the pro organizer studio podcast. And if you need anything, I am@helloatproorganizerstudio.com. Have a great day.
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