As Seen In...

Sonya Weisshappel, Professional Organizer
Order...One Step at a Time

Sonya Weisshappel (Class of 1988) has come to her business naturally — it is second nature to her. Even now, her friends’ mothers recall how when she came to visit her classmates, the first thing she would do is suggest that they put all the toys away! Combining that instinctive sense for order with a sweet and unthreatening personality attuned to the needs of her clients, Sonya has just established her own corporation for her professional organizing.

Her first major job out of college, where she majored in film communications arts, was as an assistant for a film producer. This job, which she said gave her some 21-hour days, involved so many organizational details that it was a kind of stressful training for the work she would do later. She found her first job as a Professional Organizer by “using her fingers,” looking in the Yellow Pages. She claims she was hired for her first job over the telephone, and sent on an assignment sight unseen! After two years working for others, she has just branched out on her own, and though the work level is somewhat uneven she says her jobs generally come by word of mouth, from satisfied clients.

Describing how she approaches a new client, Sonya talks about how she tries to find what will work for that individual, not trying to impose an order that will not work. When she goes through a client’s possessions, she never throws anything out without consulting the client, and often works closely with the client (she spent eight days organizing a classmate’s home office, and has the pictures to prove what a job she had tackled there!).

Though she has done some party organizing, that is not her main specialty. Her motto is “Order...one step at a time,” and among the jobs she will tackle for you are:

Closet Organizing; Collections/Memorabilia/Photographs (yes, you really can keep these things, and will be better able to enjoy them if they are properly arranged); Errands/Personal Shopping; Filing Systems (setting one up is a major hurdle for some people, and she recognizes that there are those who simply have to work with “piles” rather than “files”); Health Insurance Claims (those who have dealt with a sick relative know how complicated that can be); Home Office; Kitchen Organizing; Moving/Relocations (including household inventories); Office (Naomi Campbell and Turner Broadcasting have been clients); Paper Management (the age of the computer has increased rather than decreased paper, she finds); Records Management; Space Designing; and Wardrobe Consulting. Though she feels the computer is not her strength and has people she contacts if a client has complicated needs in that area, she has set up Quicken files for people and is intending to take more computer training.

Sonya also tries to determine each client’s best time of day to do work, since time management is part of being organized. She finds that some people simply try to do the wrong type of work at the wrong time of day for themselves, and thus do not get as much accomplished as they would like to.

She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and has written articles for the newsletter published by the New York branch, but finds that she is by far the youngest member of the organization! Most of the other Professional Organizers have come to this as a second or third career. And how much does she charge for her services? $75 an hour, and she gives you an estimate ahead of time for each job you would like her to do.

We ended our interview with Sonya’s making a suggestion about rearranging my office — which I promptly did the moment she left!