‘We each have a message in our mess’: Super-organizer Angèle Tanyeri is here to help

Angèle Tanyeri calls herself a “recovering perfectionist.”

The founder of Reclaim Professional Organizing, LLC & Lifestyle Boutique, has got an uncanny knack for stepping into a home or business, sizing up the situation, and, before you know it, transforming it into an optimally utilized space.

“Truly, the rewarding part is folks trusting me to invite me into their home and together reclaiming their space and sanity,” she said.

But it wasn’t always that way.

In 2013, corporate work required that Tanyeri, who is originally from Dover, move to London with her then-husband and three sons. After almost four years of life across the pond, the family moved back home — and that’s when Tanyeri’s perfectionism was put to the test.

“Upon our return stateside in 2016, we decided to purchase a new home in Sparta,” she said. “The five of us came to Sparta along with 11 suitcases to our new home.”

Nine weeks later, 99 moving boxes arrived.

“Unfortunately, my family lives out of state,” she said. “I had no one to help me set up my new home.

“During that transition, when I moved back, I truly recognized the importance of maintaining balance while juggling the demands of life,” she said. “From renting to selling, packing to unpacking, and tackling the never-ending piles of paper and laundry, the emotional and physical toll it took on me wasn’t pretty. In fact, I was a mess and needed help.”

But out of that experience came a reckoning that would change her life.

Compassion is key

Tanyeri decided to do some good with her lessons learned. Why not help others reclaim their own lives? After all, she had the background needed to create a business, and was well able to navigate organizational challenges. While abroad, she studied psychology at Liberty University, which further sharpened her insights.

“My plan was to get into counseling others,” Tanyeri said. “It took about a year to settle us all stateside, and my passion for helping others took a different path.”

She learned about professional organizing as an industry and a profession, taking training courses through the National Association of Professional Organizers and Productivity. In 2017, she opened her own professional organizing company.

“I started out only a few days a week, advertising locally and establishing a cyber footprint,” she said.

The business took off. She’s established a niche in Sussex County, helping people bust their own messes and get back on track. She gets calls for all kinds of organizing projects, including staging homes for sale.

“Like many small businesses, the pandemic certainly affected my business,” she said. “While we were slow during lockdown — along with everyone else — as things slowly improved, the real estate business began to grow with folks moving and downsizing. This offered us the opportunity to develop a full-service, bespoke, ‘Move Management’ package, helping sellers with packing, de-cluttering, staging, estate sales, new home setup and more.”

Tanyeri says compassion is key to her business success.

“One of the specialties I feel I carry with me to every project...is my empathy,” she said. “I’ve personally lived through challenging times, from moving to health scares and loss. We all need help, and that isn’t a sign of weakness. Meeting clients in their space and together helping them reach a goal is my specialty.”

Seize the season

Danielle Mazuy is one of Tanyeri’s clients.

“Somehow fall was slipping away and with no time to decorate,” said Mazuy. “Angèle came in and made magic happen. Within a few hours my home went from summer to fall. Pumpkins, touches of autumn colors, and my house is super cozy for the season.”

Tanyeri took what Mazuy already had, like artwork and accessories, and moved it around for a fresh new look. “I have a feeling if she didn’t stop by, I would have just skipped fall and went right to Christmas decorating. Highly recommend for the busy mom or working mom.”

Client Linda Bertorelli Jennings was staring down a half-century’s worth of familial accumulations.

“She genuinely cares about her clients and their needs making the daunting task of clearing out 50 years of family things much easier, especially since she could donate most to a family in need,” she said. “Angèle was a true blessing to us.”

Smell the roses

“Now I get the best of both worlds working with others and helping them reach their goal while talking about life and our own unique beliefs,” she said.

Her favorite quote by another great self-improvement advocate, writer and lecturer Dale Carnegie: “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”

Tanyeri says being organized means having greater confidence, positivity, and sense of control over one’s environment.

“I believe we each have a message in our mess,” she said.