About Victoria Roberts-Russell

Dedicated, Compassionate, Confidential

Who am I and why am I organizing?
Education
Member and Affiliations
Seminars and conferences that support my professional certification

Who am I and why am I organizing?

I have been organizing “things” since childhood; my brothers’ trucks, my pretty stones, and especially my mother’s cupboards. Those cupboards were probably formative in my appreciation of people’s collections and memorabilia. And they taught me the important difference between collections and clutter.

But sharing a bedroom with a very messy sibling probably triggered my initial quest for order. As an organizer, I’ve seen far greater degrees of clutter, but I know from that personal experience that diverse “organizational” styles can have a big impact on family members.

By the time I left home for college, I’d learned how to set up an effective homework and study zone that worked for me. Now I understand why each of us has unique needs and preferences when it comes to our living and working environments. I take special care in finding out what will work best for my clients and their children to learn and play and rest.

Acquiring a Bachelor of Arts with a major in art and psychology wasn’t a very strategic career pursuit, but in retrospect it has served me very well. In spite of my best efforts to simply enjoy life, I learned a lot of organizational and problem solving skills working for some very successful companies. Among them: Rock Resorts, Hawk Mountain Corp., The American Academy of Ophthalmology, Booze Allen & Hamilton and Montgomery Securities. Leaving the corporate world I went to work for myself doing event planning, catering and eventually film/photo styling. The constant demand for creative solutions, aesthetic judgment and physical endurance were challenging, stimulating and more often than not - really satisfying. What I learned in all those offices and kitchens, I share with my clients!

In 1998, I stumbled into this work while doing something else fun. I always heard “do what you love and success will follow.” As luck would have it, I simply helped a relative get her cluttered, overstuffed house sold in four days. That’s only remarkable because it had been on the market for six months without an offer. In six hours, my shang-hai’d team of three de-cluttered and rearranged and purged. It became a totally different home. It was beautiful, stylish, functional and sellable. It was also--almost ready for the move. We purged so much unwanted stuff and packed up the excess to prepare for the sale, so the move felt simple. The results were so successful that I got addicted to making houses look their best. And in the process discovered how much more functional they were. Often my clients liked the results so much they didn’t want to move. So I started helping people make their homes look and work better. I made it a goal to give my organizing clients the same experience of loving the way their home looks and functions.

I quickly found The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and then the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD). They provide professional development, a certification program and a great network of colleagues with whom I share resources.

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Education:

BA University of New York at Oneonta *Studio Arts and Psychology Major
Berkeley Extension and College of Marin

bookeeping
basic Feng Shui in home and garden
kitchen design
Home Chef Series

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Member and Affiliations

CPO
(Certified Professional Organizer®)
In April 2007, I was one of 150 organizers worldwide who passed the exam of the Board of Certification for Professional Organizers earning CPO status. I continue to pursue learning and teaching opportunities, dedicating myself to offering the highest level of organizing service and consulting.

NSGCD
(National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization)
450 members nationwide
1/3 have first level certificate in certification program
Provides professional education and networking support

NAPO
(National Association of Professional Organizers)
4200 members worldwide and around 200 in the
San Francisco Bay Area
Provides professional education and resource sharing

ADDA
(Attention Deficit Disorder Association)
Helps adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) lead better lives by bringing together science and the human experience for both adults with AD/HD and the professionals who serve them.

Anne Marie’s Angels
A group of about 20 local volunteers who fund raise to provide caretaker hours for a young quadriplegic bankrupted by her illness.

Rebuilding Together - San Francisco
Construction Captain for a remodel and reorganization at Larkin Street Youth Center Facility’s basement. Organizing consultant on projects for three private home renovations and one public school.


Donated food for shelter - before Not conveniently located to kitchen and difficult to see what they had	Food Donations in new Pantry Visible, clean and flexible storage

A jumble of crowded, unsorted clothing made it difficult to find sizes at the Larkin Street Youth Center.

After engineering the installation of heavy duty plumber's pipes to serve as hanging bars, long rows of double hung clothing were sorted by size and color--just like a department store. The increased hanging space got things out of boxes on the floor and provided more clothing options for the youth being served at this agency.

Larkin St. Remodeled

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Seminars and conferences that support my professional certification:

On October 6, 2007, I will be on a panel of organizing experts at the ADDA’s day-long Regional Conference in San Francisco. Each of the panel participants have successfully worked with clients challenged by ADD/ADHD. Our goal is to demonstrate that AD/HD people's "creativity" is often both the cause and the best solution to their clutter and chaos.
More details (PDF)

On October 27, 2007 the National Association of Professional Organizers’ San Francisco Bay Area Chapter will offer a day of workshops to improve skills and resources for it’s members and other professionals providing organizational services to the public. I will be teaching a workshop at this conference.
More details

Annual Educational Conference - San Francisco Bay Area and National
NSGCD-Level II Certificate - CD Specialist
Basic Chronic Disorder Symptoms & Causes
Pack Rat & Hoarding
Heirs of the Chronically Disorganized
CD, ADD, HD & OCD
Phone Consulting
Cooperative Collaboration with Therapists
Personal Safety and On the Job Safety with CD clients
Working with the Elderly
Trends with the Elderly
Resources for Physical and Mental Conditions
Kinesthetic Learning Styles
Professional Boundaries
Understanding Mental Health Conditions Affecting the CD Client
Tools for Working with CD & ADHD Clients
Medications For Chronically Disorganized
Strategies to Improve Focus
Time Management
Working with sight impaired & physically challenged clients
Illnesses & organizational effects (Chronic Fatigue & Fibromyalgia)
San Francisco Mental Health Association (mha-sf.org Hoarding & Cluttering Conferences 2005-2006)

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