Meet Nina Jenkins

We were lucky to catch up with Nina Jenkins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nina, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I most definitely got my. work ethic from my mom. A typical morning in the life of my mom was waking up before the sun rose, getting two girls dressed, walking blocks to catch the bus to work, getting breakfast for my sister and I, and then taking a short break from work to drop my sister and I off at school. She worked at a coffee bar at the hospital and I remember watching her converse and interact with her regular customers, the hospital staff, and with the patients who were visiting loved ones. She was this majestic breath of fresh air to all who she served at that coffee bar!
I watched my mom give one hundred percent while she was at work; at home; to her family and friends. Not only did she teach us how important it was to give our all to whatever task that we were given,, but most importantly, she took the initiative to show us how to put our best foot forward; she led by example.
By the time that my sister and I were in middle school, my mom had enrolled in a medical vocational program that she attended at night after a full day at work. My mother’s picture should have been in the dictionary as the definition of work ethic!

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I like to describe what I do as decreasing the chaos in my client’s lives while bringing more sanity to their day-to-day activities by providing tips to get and stay organized. The process that I use is very simple: I spend time with the client in order to really get a feel for their habits and to see what items they use the most in their homes and/or in their workspace. I then spend the bulk of my time sorting items into piles to help the client de-clutter. There is a purging and letting go of everything that provides more stress than functionality and/or enjoyment to the client’s day. And finally, every item that has been chosen to remain in the client’s space must have a place to be put away in, whether it is inside of a basket, on a shelf, inside of a cabinet, or in a closet.
The most exciting part of my job is definitely shopping for the client and giving the client options to choose from. Every person has a unique way of moving through their day and I happily accept the challenge of helping them find the most efficient way to do so.! Of course, the benefit of working is to provide financially for yourself and your family. However, the most rewarding part of my job is when the client sees the final results of the project and I can see the big smiles on their faces! I fell extremely fulfilled knowing that I am able to use my skill-set to help others. At the end of the day, my job helps me to create room to connect to others.
In the month of November, I have decided to offer a promotion giving a 20% discount on all closets to new clients.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Looking back on my journey-that I am still on, by the way- I feel that the quality of being empathetic and sympathetic; the skill of active listening; and gaining more knowledge by keeping up with as many technological advances as I possibly could has helped me to start and to remain on my journey.
Whenever I am having a conversation I make sure that my lips are moving less than the person’s who I am speaking to. How else will I be able to truly hear what the other person is saying? The best advice that I received was to learn how to navigate the social media sites. The old school method of seeking in-person contact has become less important than using the social media websites as your platform to reach as many people as you possibly can. I chat with extremely bright young adults who were born in the late nineties to the early two thousands simply because they have their fingers on the pulse and this is my key to staying current on trends.
My advice to anyone at the beginning of their journey would be to schedule time every single day to self-care. Whether it looks like taking a walk, spending time with loved ones, cultivating a hobby, etc., you must carve out some time in your day to relax and restore your energy.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

I believe that it is better to focus on improving in the areas that you are not as good in versus the areas that you excel in. Your strengths are what have gotten you where you are, but improving on your weaknesses will get you one or two steps closer to where you want to go. I have always been highly organized, but it wasn’t until I got my first real job at the Oregon Zoo that I was told that I was a perfectionist and my need to do everything just right was hindering my ability to use my time more wisely. I took this feedback from my supervisor and to heart and her advice has served me well in every job that I have had since.
I worked at Macy’s where my key responsibilities were to keep the sales floor clean and to keep the stock rooms organized. However, my supervisor told me that if I wanted a more promising career with the company that I would have to learn how to delegate more so as not to overwork myself. I remember learning the true definition of burnout before I heeded her advice.
If I would have continued to focus more heavily on my strengths then I would never have been able to take the risk of leaving the well-established retail companies that I worked for to fly solo.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @kee.organizers
• Other: kee.organizers@gmail.com

Image Credits

Nyla-Teana Porter- Photographer