#APOIinternationalguest: meet Nacho Eguiarte from Mexico

After introducing you to the project #APOIinternationalGuest. I am pleased to introduce you to our latest 2022 guest, who, like his predecessors, deeply involved Associates in the live webinar at the end of November.

How Nacho Eguiarte became a #APOIinternationalGuest host

I met Nacho Eguiarte during the online event Personal Organizer Brasil in 2020.

This important Brazilian event gave me the opportunity to meet great professionals in the field. In particular, I was able to share with Ingrid Jansen and Barry Izsack a discussion table moderated by Nacho himself.

Thus, after Ingrd and Barry, who have already been our guests at #APOIinternationalguest, Nacho was also an important acquaintance for APOI's international relations.

Nacho, a native of a country I love very much, Mexico, immediately caught my attention; in fact, I was curious to find out about the evolution of the profession in this part of South America.

I knew that as an expert on chronic disorganization trained at theICD - Institute for Challenging Disorganization, he was a member of the International Committee, as was Irene Novello, our Vice Chair, and that for the Committee he had committed himself to translating important content so as to reach more and more EOs by overcoming language barriers, but I had yet to fully discover his incredible story.

Before I share it, I'd like to mention that in 2022 Nacho, as well as Irene Novello, was awarded the much-deserved Judith Goldberg Award for the great work accomplished and contribution made to the growth of the organization profession worldwide.

What we learned from listening to Nacho

Nacho Eguiarte, unlike other speakers before him, comes from a background where there is no Professional Organizer association. To this day in Mexico he is the point of reference for POs. The group of POs he has assembled can rely on his vast experience in the field and his thorough preparation, due to years of training and collaboration with the two most prestigious circuits of the profession; NAPO and ICD.

If I had to describe Nacho with one word, I would choose "resourcefulness" his ability in this regard is exemplary!

Nacho's first step was in 2012 to create his personal Spanish-language website and blog, which enabled the popularization of the profession to the Hispanic population around the world, as well as opened many other doors for him, not the least of which was being asked to translate important NAPO training courses and content for ICD into Spanish.

Nacho took his first steps on his own, without the support of South American colleagues with whom to compare himself, and without a reference association in his country.

He has followed an intuition and his passion for the organization, combining them with his consistently high level of professionalism and always demonstrating an attitude of great humility and eagerness to learn from those who, before him, had started the profession in the United States.

As an architect he initially showed a natural interest in space management, but over time he realized how much organization was also more, specializing in chronic disorganization and lifestyle useful in achieving physical and mental well-being.

As he repeated several times during the webinar, it is only by training that one can become a valuable professional , and he fully respects this approach.

His curiosity, his putting himself out there, and his use of social media both as an "observer" and as a content user have created many new opportunities for him.

He read, informed himself, followed experts in the profession, and treasured his native language as a tool to compare and make himself visible, and the step that naturally followed was to be able to collaborate with highly experienced American colleagues.

In just a few years, Nacho burns up the stages

It is difficult to make a brief summary of Nacho's professional growth; there are many and varied aspects of the profession that he has touched, but I will try to recount them to give you an idea of how much his "resourcefulness," in just a few years, has made him grow and mature as a professional.

As I recounted, it all started in 2012, and, in the following year, after attending the three basic courses, Nacho became a member of NAPO, the first and most prestigious Association of Professional Organizers in the world.

In 2014, he began to collect his first significant results: Helena Alkhas, a well-known US EO, invited him to collaborate for her blog, and Rachel Seavey of ICD asked him to translate the ICD Disorder-Accumulation Level Scale.

This important recognition leads Nacho to volunteer in ICD, despite not being a member.

Nacho's education continues, always demonstrating his commitment and resourcefulness: he graduates in Clinical Thanatology to work alongside clients dealing with bereavement and, also in 2015, enrolls in ICD.

It was then in 2018 that he obtained the NAPO (technically CPO - Certified Professional Organizer) certificate and created his first training course for those who want to become Professional Organizers. Participants come from Mexico, Latin America, the USA, Spain and Israel.

In 2020, he specialized by obtaining certification in chronic disorganization (for completeness, the title is: CPO-CD - Certified Professional Organizer Chronic Disorganization), obtained the Barry Izsak-Glorya Schklair Scholarship and certification from the Mexican Ministry of Education to become a trainer and create courses. In 2021 He graduated as a certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization. , CPO-CD.

But Nacho doesn't stop, not even in international relations, and so in 2019 he joined the ICD Board of Directors and theInternational Compulsive Hoarding Panel. Also in the same year, together with other colleagues, he founds theInternational ICD Committee and finally participates in the POB Brasil Conference. The following year he is then invited to participate in the JALO conference in Japan as the International ICD Committee.

His willingness to weave relationships did not stop even during the pandemic when he conducted a series of interviews with Mexican POs in an event called Status QVO.

Our Mexican colleague's contribution to the Spanish EO culture is extremely relevant: he has in fact translated Conquering Chronic Disorganization, having purchased the rights to it, the Accumulation-Quality of Life Level Scale and the ICD Information Sheets, and no less than three basic NAPO courses, including Starting an organizing business.

Nacho's story is truly inspiring because of his commitment, perseverance, and professionalism, not only for the Mexican reality, where he is a solid reference point, but for all EOs, including us.

Like the other guests before him, Nacho was generous in his webinar for APOI, enthusiastically sharing his experience, both human and professional, emphasizing the importance of outreach to the profession.

I can only thank him and commit myself in turn to this task, which I always do with great enthusiasm and passion by taking care of APOI's international relations. And the #APOIinternationalGuest project makes me even more proud because it allows me to bring this value to APOI webinars and share it with all Associates.