Denise Allan

Denise Allan, CPO, CPO-CD is a Certified Professional Organizer who started her business, Simplify Experts, in 2007.

It was Denise’s kindergarten teacher who first saw her potential as a professional organizer. She knew long before Denise did, that helping others simplify and organize their lives would be her biggest passion. On Denise’s report card, she commented that “Denise should stop organizing her table mates’ art supplies and work on her own projects.” Even at age six, Denise was at it organizing other people’s stuff.

For many years Denise worked in the non-profit sector doing fundraising. In 2006 she craved a career change and circled back to her passion for organizing. One day it occurred to her that she had been timing her gym workouts to coincide with specific TV shows, such as TLC’s reality series Clean Sweep and HGTV’s Mission Organization. On these programs, professional organizers such as Peter Walsh worked with families over two days to clean out and transform their cluttered spaces. She always stayed around at the gym long enough to see the big reveal at the end of the episode. Denise was so inspired by these transformations that she took a leap of faith and started her own organizing company.

Denise is super passionate about her work. Today Denise has a team of professional organizers on staff at Simplify Experts who all share her passion for organizing and empowering others to declutter and thrive.

Denise is a member of the National Association of Productivity and Professional Organizers (NAPO). She is very active with the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD) and has earned their highest accreditation of Master Trainer in Chronic Disorganization that only 23 organizers share worldwide. She has specialized training for Attention Deficit Disorder and is the past president of the ADD Resources board. She is a frequent and popular speaker in the Seattle area. She volunteers her time with the Washington Women’s Foundation. Reach Denise at denise@SimplifyExperts.com.

Vlasta Hillger is a Seattle-based writer, blogger, professional organizer, wife, and mother to two teenage sons. She believes organizing is about simplicity and practical spatial placement of the items in our homes. It wasn’t until Vlasta had children that she realized just how much being organized helped her cope with the demands of motherhood. When her son was in third grade he was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety. He had always been an energetic child who couldn’t sit still long enough to eat dinner and was happiest doing any active sport. But he became anxious at school and impulsive and frustrated at home. When he began to struggle at school and received his diagnosis, Vlasta educated herself about ADHD and anxiety and used her organizational skills to create a home environment where her son could thrive. She reduced distractions in her home to help her son focus on homework and daily routines. She worked on consistently practicing daily routines, fostering self-reliance and independence in her son. She continually reduced clutter and any other visual noise, to reduce her son’s anxiety. She began to understand that more than ever, maintaining a calm, organized home was critical for her son and family.

Vlasta credits her Czech heritage for her pragmatism and no-nonsense approach to home organizing. She finds solitude in reading and sanity in practicing yoga. Vlasta is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. Reach Vlasta at vlasta@SimplifyExperts.com.