The Easemakers Podcast

How do you manage an extensive wardrobe — especially when you’re working across multiple properties?  In this episode of the Easemakers Podcast, personal stylist Natalie Decleve shares her tips for private service professionals tasked with managing their principals’ wardrobes. Natalie started her career in fashion, and in 2009, started helping CEOs, celebrities and more create the perfect wardrobe...

As the President of Luxury Estate Managers of Aspen, Sarah Korpela has had countless difficult conversations with her high net worth clients. In 15 years managing high end properties in Aspen, Colorado, and now in Scottsdale, Arizona, she's learned how to manage everyone's expectations, what to do when something goes wrong, and why brutal honesty is key. In this episode of the Easemakers...

As a Director of Properties in the Bay Area, Jeffrey Konen has helped a number of families navigate the challenges of scaling their household operations after a wealth event. In this episode of the Easemakers Podcast, Jeffrey shares what it's like to work with a high-growth family office, covering everything from questions to ask in an interview to how to keep morale up on your team. Tune in...

Today, Phoebe Maddrell is a freelance lifestyle manager and estate consultant based in the UK, but she's worked in just about every kind of environment you can imagine — from guest homes to superyachts and estates. Over the years, she's honed her ability to create effective systems for communication, helping households operate seamlessly and create a historical record that keeps things r...

This month marks the beginning of hurricane season. How do you make sure a property — and all of the fine art, antiques, and other valuable assets within it — are safe from risk? In this conversation, we talk with Tom Burns, Chief Operating Officer at Fortress — the Boston and Miami-based storage and preservation company that specializes in fine art, antiques, and more. Tom shares best practices f...

Tony Gebely spent a decade running information technology for the ultra-high net worth membership organization Family Office Exchange. He became the team’s subject matter expert on cybersecurity, and started meeting with members about security measures. Soon, he realized that many of them shared a common problem: they wanted to reduce their vulnerabilities, but no one knew where to start. Today, a...

How do you move a priceless chandelier? What should you know before moving internationally? Do you really need to inventory a home when you're moving? Every move is challenging, but high end relocation is even more complex. As a move concierge and relocation specialist and the Founder of Bond and Des Voeux , Eve Ward has seen it all — and in this episode of the Easemakers Podcast, she's...

Naomi Sosnovsky always knew she wanted to work in private service — specifically, with people who have a passion for collecting. She's studied art history, archaeology, and fashion, and she's worked in museums and on red carpets, all to give her a deeper understanding of the world's most beautiful objects and the people who collect them. Now, in a new episode of the Easemakers Podca...

Rose Jolis' career in private service has taken her all over the world. She  started out as a chef, and after cooking and catering on land with Martha Stewart, she spent 27 years on private yachts.  She fell in love with creating unforgettable trips — and now, serves as a Charter Broker with Denison Yachting.  In this episode of the Easemakers Podcast, Rose shares her tips for any private ser...

In a high net worth household, security is a top priority. If you support a celebrity, a dignitary, or a well-known corporate executive, you may be highly familiar with VIP protection and security services or work alongside a secret service or executive protection agent. But even households without a dedicated private security team need to get ahead of vulnerabilities and ensure they’re taking pro...

Whether you're asking for a raise or negotiating your salary for a new role, navigating money conversations in private service is challenging. As the Founder and CEO of Personal Touch Career Services, Career Coach Donna Shannon has supported countless private service professionals through the job search process with writing services and coaching, and she's passionate about helping PSPs l...

In his decades long private service career, Rey Flemings has learned that principals want unique experiences no one else can find. He started out working in family offices, then built the off-market concierge services firm, The Blue. Now, he's the Co-Founder and CEO of Myria , a private marketplace that offers goods, services and experiences you can’t Google.  This week on the Easemakers Podc...

Hybrid roles are a hot topic in the private service industry. Every week, household staffing agencies post new job descriptions for nanny-family assistants, house manager-chefs, etc. Some seem reasonable, and others leave private service professionals shaking their heads, wondering how any one person could be expected to take on so much work. Why are we seeing an increase in demand for hybrid posi...

Catherine Smith and her husband Stuart Smith have built a career in private service side by side. They were living in the Virgin Islands when they stumbled upon a job in private service. For two years, Catherine managed the house while Stuart managed the property. Then, a hurricane changed everything — setting them on a new path to building their own fractional estate management business in their...

Memorial planning is a tough subject, but it's even trickier for estate management teams. Jeff Lambert has seen the impact of being prepared — first in a family office role, and now as a consultant.  He spent 24 years with the RDV Corporation, a multi-generational family office in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There, he spent 10 years leading the planning and implementation of the funerals and rela...

In our final episode of 2022, members of the Easemakers community share what they've learned this year, what they're grateful for, and what they're looking forward to in the New Year. Thank you to Jared Miles, Jean Weiss, Shelby Boudreau and Brooke Lawrence for being a part of this special episode, and to everyone who's been a part of our show this year! Thank you to our guests...

You want your household staff to work together seamlessly — but sometimes, different communication styles get in the way. In years of working with teams of household staff to make sure everyone's trained properly and working together seamlessly, Tejai Singh has found some unexpected resources to help team members understand each other better. When she starts working with a new team of private...

A new generation of principals is starting to hire household staff — so what does that mean for private service professionals? In this episode of the Easemakers Podcast, Philippa Smith, the Founder & Managing Director of Silver Swan Recruitment and the host of the Life in Private Staffing podcast, shares what she's learned about younger principals, and how PSPs can stand out in the hiring...

Like most estate managers, Bobbie Halminiak learned everything she knows on the job — which means she's learned a lot of lessons the hard way. In this episode of the Easemakers Podcast, Bobbie shares the story of one the biggest challenges of her career, how she stayed persistent to find a solution, and what she learned about working with vendors along the way.  Subscribe to the Easemakers Po...

John Christensen is a 25-year private service veteran, who grew up with service mindset. John's parents owned hotels and restaurants in Denmark, and he worked his way up, starting as a dishwasher at his dad’s restaurant when he was 14. He planned to eventually take over the family business, but when he left Denmark to get experience in hotel management, he fell into private service instead. ...

Jean Weiss spent 15 years in entertainment, doing costumes on shows like ER, the West Wing, and Parks and Recreation. Today, as an estate manager, she says her TV career prepared her for private service. Her keen attention to detail and ability to move at lightning speed help her feel ready for anything. In this conversation, Jean shares the story of a recent crisis — and how she was able to navig...

In a special bonus episode of the Easemakers Podcast, expert estate manager shares steps for getting started with household operations, and her tips for turning chaos into predictable work. In a new household operations workshop starting October 19th, Shelby will dig into the themes she covers in this bonus podcast. Modern Household Management: How to Streamline Operations for Homes and Estates is...

Brianna has spent her entire career in private service — but over the years, she's grown and evolved, right alongside her principals' families. She started out as a nanny and a family assistant, but knew someone needed to take on the role of managing the household.  She started taking on more and more, and over time, she became an estate manager. For the last 10 years, she's worked...

In February, 1981, on his 18th birthday, Chris Ely started his first job out of school: serving as a footman to Queen Elizabeth II. Over the next three years, Chris catered state dinners at Buckingham Palace, learned the intricacies of each of the Queen’s homes, traveled on the royal yacht, and had a front-row seat to history (sometimes, with a view from the Queen’s carriages). Today, as the world...

One week, three holiday dinners, no notice. When Holy Week turned into 'hell week,' Latricia Friend made the impossible possible for her principals — and now, she's sharing how she did  it in the latest episode of the Easemakers Podcast. In this conversation, Latricia shares the story of how she was able to juggle three holiday dinners for three different families, all in the same w...