We recently connected with Shay Ramos and have shared our conversation below.

Shay, appreciate you joining us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

My parents instilled in me a strong sense of independence, autonomy, responsibility, and self-determination. My parents were very busy, both working full time out of the home and running their own businesses; they lead by example, in that regard. My mother didn’t have organization skills but she did teach me how to fold a fitted sheet properly and that has been invaluable to me! Many [of our clients] don’t know how to and we love showing them the way! It’s actually, surprisingly, a very simple task, once there’s a technique down pat (no pun intended.)

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born with an innate desire, interest, and ability to be neat, orderly, and tidy. I grew up in an extremely chronically disorganized home, yet I always kept my own belongings organized despite (and perhaps even because of) the environment around me. I’ve also always been a high achiever and self-determined to strive for lofty goals and disciplined to reach them. For a number of years, I was working in Corporate America as an executive assistant to many top executives in high-stress environments and managing a lot of different elements to their personal and professional lives. When I had my first child, I immediately felt an overwhelming sense of duty to be an engaged, present mother figure in her life, so I left the chaos behind and ventured into home organization as a career and never looked back. I now have two children that I am beyond blessed to be raising, and running my home organization business allows me to have the time and presence of mind and body that I deeply want to give my children.

I think something that makes me unique and sets me apart from other professional home organizers is that because of how I grew up, I understand what it’s like to live in a dysfunctional household and how that kind of environment effects every facet of a person’s life, including their mood, well-being, health (and weight,) relationships, sense of self, etc. The impact of having an organized space is a lot more expansive than the room and items themselves. People’s entire lives are changed when their homes are calm and orderly.

In addition to having first-hand experience of what it’s like to live in clutter, I also come without judgment. I know how busy families are, I know how hard it is to maintain tidiness. I don’t think anything negative about people who have difficulty with upkeep or organization. My clients appreciate that they’re able to be vulnerable with me and open their home to me, in their worst state, and let me in to help them. It’s really hard to ask for help, and many people feel ashamed at what their house has become over the years. When they call me and we have our initial phone conversation, they feel a profound sense of relief; and that is a truly humbling and rewarding experience for me, to know that I can serve others in such a powerful and critical way.

My business slogan is, “We change lives by changing the way homes function for busy humans,” because that’s exactly what we do. We come in and change the way the home situation currently is and improve it to function at its potential. Many people just need better systems in place to support their lifestyles, schedules, and all the demands they have. Once that’s all taken care of, maintaining a tidy and calm home should be relatively quick and easy. That’s also where my business name comes from; HOME by Shay stands for Home Organization Made Easy.

To many ordinary people, organizing their homes is a daunting task; yet I’m determined to make my clients’ houses into homes they feel proud of and want to return to at the end of a busy day or even invite people over instead of feeling dreaded by the thought. Our homes are sacred; the way they feel to us when we walk in and look around should reflect that and be a peaceful, grounding place to be. I absolutely love providing my clients with this proverbial sense of HOME that can’t really be put into words but only felt. After all, ‘home’ is the most important place in the world.

Something I want all potential clients/followers/fans to know is that no matter how bad you think your situation is, we’ve most certainly seen worse. And not only does it not scare us, it excites us! We love a challenge, we love monumental improvements for you, and we genuinely love doing what we do. It’s a real passion and a joy for us to transform your cluttered house into a functional home. In fact, if our clients were organized, we wouldn’t have jobs. And there is nothing else we would rather do than this very important work we are led to.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Managing a team and maintaining high morale can be a challenging element to running a business, especially one that has a strong interpersonal component to it. As much as we’re working in someone’s home, we’re being welcomed into their most personal space and we get to know our clients in a very personal way. So, it’s really important to find empathetic organizers who are respectful and sensitive to people on a deep level. A fun, relaxed working environment and dynamic between team members also ensures that my assistant organizers want to continue working with us. I try to be the kind of boss I always wish I had when I was working under others’ leadership, keeping in mind the aspects that I appreciated as well as what may have not been pleasant and doing what I can do to ensure my organizers are happy and satisfied. If a team member really enjoys working on a specific area, I will schedule them for projects that they really like doing. I check in with my team frequently, get feedback from them on what works and what doesn’t work well, and implement changes or modifications as needed. We invest a lot of time, effort, energy, etc. into each other, making sure we’re supportive of one another. When people feel cared about, know they are appreciated and valued, and are compensated appropriately, they stick around longer. The old adage of treating people how you’d want to be treated goes a long way.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Like I mentioned earlier, I used to work in very demanding, stressful environments; and I l started my professional home organization business to afford my children the kind of mother I envisioned being: present, peaceful, and proud. In the same vein, I also moved to Tennessee from New York about 2 years ago with my family, consisting of my husband and two small children, seeking a more wholesome, calmer existence and lifestyle. It goes without saying that Tennessee is very different from New York in more ways than one; we’ve pivoted a lot in a relatively short amount of time in order to give ourselves a better life experience, and while all changes come with trials and tribulations, we can honestly say we are so grateful to call this state our home. We’ve met so many wonderful people – the southern hospitality is not a rumor, my business has blossomed to more than I can keep up with at times (and we are always looking to grow and expand our team so we can service all those who reach out to us!) and my children are thriving here. What more could a mom ask for?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.homebyshay.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/home_byshay
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homebyshay
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/328201788894827

Image Credits
HOME by Shay