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SPRING <strong>2022</strong> | 37<br />
Squared away<br />
the Susan way<br />
BY ALENA KUZUB<br />
Susan Parziale left the corperate world to become is a<br />
professional organizer and autism-awareness advocate.<br />
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK<br />
Don't let Susan Parziale's big<br />
blue eyes and a radiant smile<br />
fool you: She is a determined<br />
commander of shelves, closets<br />
and attics, who will make you get rid of all of<br />
your clutter and dust-collecting trinkets.<br />
That is because Parziale is a professional<br />
organizer, who has been named among the<br />
best of Boston for the fifth time in a row by<br />
Expertise.com.<br />
Parziale decided to try organizing in 2008<br />
when her daughter, Jenna, started going to a<br />
private autism school, the Nashoba Learning<br />
Group, at the age of 5.<br />
Parziale had worked for 10 years at Goodwin<br />
Procter as an administrative assistant<br />
before and missed being around people. At<br />
the same time, she was good at organizing<br />
and people told her that she could be a professional<br />
organizer.<br />
“I was driving Jenna back and forth from<br />
school and I (thought) either I can shop every<br />
day or I can take this little thing that I’m<br />
really good at, which is organizing, and make<br />
it into a career,” said Parziale.<br />
Parziale got her first clients after sharing<br />
her interest in organizing with her running<br />
group, and then little by little built her business<br />
by getting work from friends of friends,<br />
advertising on Craigslist and later joining<br />
Facebook and real-estate groups. She still<br />
has a couple of clients who were attorneys at<br />
Goodwin Procter that she worked with.<br />
Today, among the services Parziale provides<br />
are residential organization of attics,<br />
garages, kitchens, help with downsizing,<br />
moving, estate-sales oversight, small-business<br />
and home-office organization including work<br />
zones, filing systems and office relocation,<br />
management of charitable donations, as well<br />
as specialty services like wine-cellar setup<br />
with barcoding, remote administrative assistance<br />
and concierge services.<br />
Parziale said listening to the client and<br />
what they want, and being patient is one of<br />
the traits that helps her in her work. The<br />
client has to be ready to purge, she said.<br />
“You just don’t want to shuffle things<br />
around. They have to be ready to let it go,”<br />
Parziale said.<br />
Parziale will listen to clients' stories about<br />
every photo, but will also keep them moving<br />
along, and help them save the special things.<br />
It can be especially hard on older people<br />
who have to get rid of a lot because they are<br />
downsizing and going to an assisted-living<br />
facility.<br />
PARZIALE, continued on page 38
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