About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2011)
EMILY PATRICK JULIA MARLOWE. PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER Julia Marlowe thought she would always be a professor in UGA's consumer economics department, but when her grand children were born, she realized she wanted a more flexible schedule so that she could visit them. Through research and planning, she carved out a career for herself as one of Athens' two professional organizers. Not only does she arrange fur niture and design storage options, she also helps with her clients' finances and records and resolves conflicts between spouses with different organizational styles. When Julia isn't working, she might be playing tennis, scrapbooking, publishing organizing tips on her website or traveling the world. She has lived in Texas, New Mexico, Tennessee, Virginia and Lesotho in Africa, and she recently traveled to Churchill, Manitoba, to see polar bears and to England to visit friends and family. Julia is also a member of the Athens-Clarke County Community Tree Council. undergraduate degree was in home economics education, and my specialty within that was home management, so it's really like going back to my home management roots to be a profes sional organizer, and I do feel like my formal training has given me a lot of skills that I use in my current profession. FP: What was your experience with the home economics major like? That's kind of a controversial degree. I don't suppose it's still offered? JM: That's true. They don't. They do still offer family and consumer sciences education, and it's run through the col lege of education here at Georgia, and the students take some classes in the various areas of family and consumer sciences, but there's not a huge demand for that in the public schools like there used to be. However, some of the specialties are still offered. You know, it's not cooking and sewing and cleaning anymore. Flagpole: How did you become a professional organizer? Julia Marlowe: Well, I was a professor at the university, and I loved my job, and I had thought that I would probably work at the university until I was 70. And then my husband FP: What else do you like to do besides organizing? JM: Well, I do scrapbooks. That's my inside hobby, and so, today being a rainy day, I did a little of that riiis morning, and that's fun to do. I started doing those when I was in second grade... It's pretty, you know, basic—not very good. I have one I did in high school. I have one I did my first year in college, and then I just did some photo albums. But I did—my husband had a Fulbright to go to Lesotho in southern Africa one year, and our two young est sons were with us that year. The three older ones were in college. So, the two younger ones went with us, and they went to school in Africa, and I did a scrapbook ' that year. And then, it wasn't until '97 that I started doing them pretty intensely. FP: So, you lived in Africa for a year? JM: Just a year. My husband was teaching at a uni versity over there. retired, and we have grandchildren, and I was envious that I couldn't go see the grandchildren or take cate of them and was tied to a schedule. So, I started thinking, "All right, I like this job, but what else could I do that would give me a flex ible schedule?" And somebody from out of town said, "Oh, I just had to hire a professional organizer..." And everyone had always told me that I'm really organized ever since I was really little, you know, and I loved organizing. So, I started doing some research, and I found the National Organization of Professional Organizers, and I saw that they had a Georgia chapter... I started researching it, and I worked on a website, and I did things so that when I retired, I would be ready to go. And I retired January of '07, so I've been retired for four full years, almost five. FP: So, what had you been teaching? JM: I was teaching consumer economics and family resource management. FP: That’s not too much of a jump, then. JM: No, it's actually not a jump at all, because a lot of peo ple hire me to work on their home offices and financial records, and "What should I keep?" and that sort of thing in respect to their paperwork, so that's real closely associated. And my FP: Did living in Africa change your perspective on liv ing in America? JM: I'm sure it must have changed me a little b , just the idea of living abroad. It actually has given me some insights that help me as an organizer, because when we lived in Lesotho, we hired a housekeeper. Any ex-patriot working there is kind of expected to hire a housekeeper, because it creates a job... The interesting thing about that is that these housekeepers would ride the little taxi to work, because nobody had cars—at least, very few people had cars. And they would dress up like they're going to a corpora tion to work. And when they got to the place, they would take their clothes off and put on a white housecoat... and when they got ready to leave, they'd put their nice clothes on to go home. And they were so proud that they had a job. And it's considered a good job. For one thing, you had to speak good English to work for an English-speaking ex-patriot, and I'll tell you, the one we hired was just excellent. She was fabulous. So anyway, the way it helps with organizing today is that I have clients who are afraid to get rid of things or they're sentimen tally attached to them... They'll say, "Well, these suits cost a lot. I don't want to just give them away and have them wind up with just anybody." One person even said to me, "The things that don't sell down at the Salvation Army, they just ship them to Africa," like that was a bad thing, like they didn't want their clothes to end up in Africa. And I said, "You have no idea how much pleasure and prestige it may bring to somebody in Africa who could buy this suit." So, I've seen that happen. I've seen people who actually appreciate things that someone here wouldn't think they would. So, that's helped a little. Emily Patrick FP: Was that your first time living out of the country? JM: Yes. FP: What was that experience like? JM: It was very good. Very, very positive. Lesotho's a nice place. It looks a lot like New Mexico, so it's very dry, and it's very high elevation. The people were all very nice. It's all one tribe, so they don't have any ethnic disagreements. I www.georgiatheatre.com I 215 North Lumpkin St. * Athens, GA 18 & over / ID reqd. Tickets available online and at Georgia Theatre Box Office WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 40 WATT AND GEORGIA THEATRE PRESENT ROBERT RANDOLPH AND THE FAMILY BAND with PON DEROSA DOORS 8:00 • SHOW 9:00 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 | COREY SMITH with AMERICAN AQUARIUM DOORS 8:00 • SHOW 9:00 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 ^ BUCKETHEAD with LYNX V,£ DOORS 8:00 • SHOW 9:00 I SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 MATT KEARNEY with LEAGUES DOORS 8:00-SHOW 9:00 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 Z006MA AND ARCHNEMISIS with WICK-IT DOORS 8:00 • SHOW 9:00 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 PIGS ON THE WING-"PINK FLOYD TRIBUTE" DOORS 8:00 • SHOW 9:00 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 ZED'S DEAD with LIVING EXPERIENCE, D:RC, TROGDOR DC DOORS 8:00 • SHOW 9:00 ll [Mu PI r/1 iVM ivM 2? 1 2(] 21 j 2| J 23J Jiyjl 2a 33 SEPTEMBER 14,2011 • FLAGPOLE.COM 31
