APOI, not just Italy, but much more

It was 2013 and I had just begun to take my first steps in the world of professional organizing when the phone rang, it was a sunny voice, vibrant with positivity, that of Sabrina Toscani, proposing me to join theProfessional Organizers Association Italy - APOI, born a few months ago and first in the Italian reality.

I had the distinct feeling that something good was about to happen, and I was not wrong! From that moment on, side by side with the founders of APOI, Sabrina Toscani, Irene Novello and Silva Bucci, my life took a different turn: a wonderful adventure began that continues to surprise me and all of us with satisfaction and incredible achievements, the latest of which was to join the IFPOA - International Federation of Professional Organizing Association.

APOI's external relations

I felt the desire to give concrete support to the association, we strongly wanted, the founders and I, to divulge as much as possible the profession with the unmistakable Mediterranean style, which differentiates us from all other associations, and so I proposed myself as head of external relations. As a matter of fact, APOI reflects our culture of origin both in the proposals we bring forward and in our ethics: we love our country, aware and responsible for how our work is a tangible testimony of Italian excellence.

I wished, I as well as the entire board, for APOI to have a broad international outreach, certain that exchange with foreign communities of professional organizers would create positive synergies.

The meetings that made me and APOI grow.

My first trip abroad was to London for the annual conference of theAPDO, "Organized for life," was March 27-28, 2014. Thanks to APOI I was catapulted, overnight, among the most famous figures in professional organizing: during my first international conference, next to me sat professional organizers with decades of experience, who had passionately cultivated the profession and had grown knowledge about the various aspects of the profession. What a wonderful occasion!

I met Ingrid Jansen, who was later elected president of APDO from 2014 to 2016, now a dear friend; Patty Cruz Fouchard, then head of external relations, with whom an understanding was immediately born and who enthusiastically agreed to be our guest speaker at APOI's first Italian conference, held in Bologna in May 2014. There were more than two hundred and fifty people in attendance and APOI had a foreign P.O. as a guest speaker, witnessing how fast the profession abroad was growing!
Today APDO's head of external relations is Isabelle Lamy, from France, whom I have known since 2014 and with whom we are still in contact.

Also present at the APDO conference were. Karen Kingston, a source of great inspiration and reference for all P.O.'s around the world through her books; Marla Dee, an American, who gave me a concrete understanding of what it means to set up a business and entrepreneurial activity in this profession; Sarah Cottman, an Australian woman, who sparks from standing still and who started a large business in Sydney in 2006, also working with Peter Walsh; and finally the wonderful Hilde VerdijK, from the Netherlands, who specializes in the world of "chronic disorganization," a truly delicate and complex area in which our Vice President Irene Novello also works.
Both Hilde and Irene, in fact, are enrolled in and have taken courses at theInstitute for Challenging Disorganization, imperative for those who want to pursue this complex path within the world of professional organizing.

The importance of meeting P.O. from different cultures

The 2014 APDO Conference was certainly an important showcase for APOI, but my first contacts with the world of professional organizing occurred when I was living in New York City in 1989. I was studying design at the time and never thought that I would one day dedicate myself to this profession that is so naturally related to me. In fact, in 2013, a college classmate of mine, Lisa Viscardi, who works as a P.O in Los Angeles, pushed me to take my first steps into the world of professional organizing and it is thanks to her that I am a P.O today, I can only thank her!

But it didn't end there; in 2017, I had the pleasure of meeting Dorothy Breininger, who lives and works in Los Angeles, certainly one of the best known American P.O.'s in the States, author of several books and regular guest on several TV programs. Dorothy Breininger is an exceptional person in terms of charisma and human charge, and she will be our guest speaker at a multimedia training event for our members on October 23, 2020.

Finally, mentioning the American P.O.'s with whom APOI maintains relationships, I want to mention the following Lisa Zaslow, whom I met in Rome and who works in both domestic and business settings.

But there are not only American P.O.s, a few months ago I was contacted by a Brazilian P.O, Ana Paula Andreoni, who will soon move to Italy and will probably become our future associate. I was very happy to meet her, it was a pleasant exchange and I was able to gather information about the profession in Brazil, noting the differences in relation to Italy. Any exchange with P.O.'s from different cultures is always enriching!

My last fruitful meeting took place a few weeks ago in London with the current president of theAPDO UK, Katherine Blackler, and, once again, I was confronted with a woman of depth who, in just four years as president, has increased membership from one hundred and sixty to three hundred and eighty! We discussed various plans for the development of the associations, with the intention of finding points of synergy that would help in the growth and development of our associations.

My role as APOI's external relations manager has given me, over the years, the invaluable opportunity to meet so many professional organizers, all really interesting women. Of course, there are P.O. men as well, but at the international level I have not yet had the pleasure of engaging with any of them, I really hope it happens soon.

One thing is certain: if there is one thing that unites most P.O.'s, beyond the different cultures of origin, it is the desire to share, the generous attitude, the mutual curiosity and the desire to grow the profession "all around the world"!