We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shaniece Jones. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shaniece below.

Alright, Shaniece thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My mission is to help people transform their space and their life by discovering the root of their clutter, starting with decluttering and organizing their closets. So many of us find ourselves stuck in cycles where we try to hold it all together on the outside, while quietly crumbling on the inside. Whether it’s shame, guilt, grief, or insecurity, we carry things that never get addressed, and for many people, the closet becomes the space where it all hides.

It’s the place we feel most safe, but it’s also where we store the things we don’t want anyone to see both physically and emotionally. And yet, I believe the closet holds some of the greatest potential for transformation.

I say that because I was my own first client. I used clothes and titles to portray what I thought success looked like the Pinterest-perfect version of having it all together. My closet was always organized, but my inner world was unraveling with anxiety, insecurity, and unprocessed grief. I wasn’t just mourning the people I’d lost, I was grieving old versions of myself.

For me, decluttering and organizing became the doorway to healing. That’s what I offer my clients: not just a clean closet, but a moment of truth. Because when you confront what’s been buried in your space, you begin to break free from the patterns that keep you stuck. Closet Therapy was born out of the patterns I began to see in the closets of A-list celebrities to everyday people that shared a common thread that social status or finances didn’t separate. It’s not about should you fold your sweaters or color coding, it’s about confronting what’s been buried under the clothes, the shame, the purchases, the pressure to have it all together. I believe the closet is the most overlooked space in our home, yet it holds the most weight.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My favorite quote is by Ralph Waldo Emerson “Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and make a trail.”

My path was far from traditional. My mom’s side of the family is from Jamaica and Cape Verde, and my dad is from the South, so growing up, fashion was not a “real” career, but becoming a doctor or lawyer was. So, when I went to college, I took the practical route and I became a scientist, graduating with a degree in biology from St. John’s University. But the creative itch and my love for how fashion can take you into a magical world never left. I started interning in the fashion industry and eventually worked as a wardrobe styling assistant, which is where I discovered the closet as more than just a space, it was a story. While styling, I noticed clients often had closets filled with items they didn’t love, didn’t wear, or didn’t even remember buying. Behind the beautiful clothes were patterns of avoidance, insecurity, or grief. That’s when it hit me, “our closets say more about us than we think”. The closet is not just a storage space for clothes; it’s a storage for the real versions of ourselves, our emotions, and the things we don’t want people to see. That realization changed everything.

Closet Therapy blends organization, science-backed research, and storytelling. I offer 1-on-1 organizing services, digital tools, and will soon release a podcast and a community, all rooted in the idea that your physical space, your built environment, is a mirror. It reflects your habits, your healing, and your mental wellness.

What sets me apart is that I don’t just make things “look nice.” I help people interrupt and break habits and cycles that have kept them stuck, and then build systems that work for their real lives. I bring my background in science, my lived experience, and my gift for seeing the “why” behind the mess. I am on a mission to bridge the gap between science, architecture (our built environments), design, and our overall mental wellness.

What I’m most proud of is turning my pain into purpose. I have dealt with grief, anxiety, panic attacks, insecurities, and while everyone, from strangers to the people who know me, would echo that I look like “I have it all together” it wasn’t until I confronted the skeletons in my own closet, understood my journey as a scientist, that I realized I am the bridge to help people transform their lives and break free from consumption cycles and emotional overwhelm because I did it for myself. This work is bigger than me. I’ve been featured in The New York Times and brought into the homes of incredible women, who have become friends, but more than that, I’ve helped people cry, release, and reclaim joy in a space they once avoided.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Resilience should honestly be printed on a t-shirt I wear.

Along my journey to where I am today, I’ve walked through immense grief; my brother was murdered while studying at university, my sister passed away suddenly during my third year of university, and I lost my mother 5 years ago, the woman who meant the world to me.

I’ve battled anxiety, panic attacks, insecurities, and impostor syndrome. But something in me refused to quit on myself. I always believed there was a reason I was still here. And I now understand that without those experiences, the grief, the loss, the moments of identity confusion, I wouldn’t be able to do the work I do today.

The closet is more than a storage space. It’s a mirror. It holds stories, secrets, and sometimes sorrow. And because I’ve lived it, I can meet my clients in that space with empathy, truth, and transformation.
I used to wonder why I had to carry so much. Now I know it wasn’t just for me. It was so I could help others find peace on the other side of the mess.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Yes, my side hustle turned into my full-time business.

After graduating from college, I worked at a hedge fund in Connecticut. But outside of work, I was still chasing my passion and dream of working in the fashion industry. I enrolled at The Fashion Institute of Technology, earned my certification, and started volunteering backstage at New York Fashion Week. That opened the door to styling opportunities, and I eventually joined the team of a celebrity stylist and an actual celebrity years after that experience.

One day, the stylist, that took a chance on me, asked me to organize the closets of her clients, and that’s when everything clicked. I realized I had a gift not just for style, but for creating order in the most personal space in someone’s life. Word started to spread, and I became known as “the closet girl.”

I spent 8 years working in ministry, while maintaining my side hustle and branching out to do custom closet designs and installations. Since then, I’ve grown my business from word-of-mouth organizing to a deeper mission, helping people take control of their space and their life. I’m now preparing to launch a digital arm of my business for those who want to work with me but may not be able to get me physically in their closets, as well as a newsletter that builds a real community around this work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shaniecejones.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaniecemjones/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaniece-jones-nycla/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShanieceJones/featured