Melissa Autry is an industry advocate working to transform how we see clutter, care, and the profession of organizing itself.
While working full time, Melissa earned an associate degree in Management Science and a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management from UTSA. Today, her education continues through national conferences and certification programs focused on professional organizing, aging, mental health, and brain science.
She is a proud member of many trade associations but dedicates most of her attention and philanthropic focus to: NAPO, ICD, CSA, Rotary International, and The Biggs Institute and UT Health San Antonio.
Melissa shares time between San Antonio, Texas, Little Neck, Queens, and Litchfield, Connecticut, where she co-manages a tiny home community with her daughter and continues caregiving support for her mother.
She has a large family and is very close to her four siblings, nieces and nephew, cousins, and the family cat, Max!
She shares a joyful life with her husband, RJ, a home care physical therapist assistant, she reunited with at their 30-year high school reunion (though they met in grade school). They love any time they get with their four busy adult children and grandchildren, have a hobby of singing way out of key into wooden spoons to any Elvis tune, dance in the kitchen, and fly Delta Airlines until the day Melissa gets to call Kolin Jones and fly private with Amalfi Jets (lol).
The mission is to establish a path for organizing professionals to become Licensed Professional Organizers (LPOs), supported by a national board that ensures clinical standards, ethical care, and professional oversight. She envisions a future where physicians can diagnose clutter-related health risks, prescribe organizing interventions as treatment, and where licensed professionals are trained to deliver individualized plans with measurable results.
What is a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)?
AMO works with many older adults and solo agers who decide to age in place and need managed in-home care or who are moving to assisted living or other residential communities. The Society of Certified Senior Advisors offers this certification to professionals who demonstrate an advanced knowledge of senior care, the aging process, and the specific concerns facing the senior community. The CSA certification is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).
Certified Professional Organizer: (CPO) About the Accreditation
This certification is offered through the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO). As a CPO, you must have completed more than 1,500 hours of professional work in the field. Certified Professional Organizers also are expected to abide by and fully comply with the NAPO Code of Ethics.
Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization
(CPO-CD)
The Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD) offers the CPO-CD certification; this specific designation is different from the Certified Professional Organizer certification. Professions with this designation work with clients in the field for nearly two years to build their expertise and learn the fundamental processes of managing cases of chronic disorganization.
The CPO-CD designation is designed as a program, and admission requires that applicants hold several other certificates in related specializations. Applicants also are required to have managed cases for at least five challenging disorganization clients, have two years of experience, and they must currently manage at least three client cases.
