Meet MAI

Hi, I AM MAI 

I was born and raised in Japan, where organization, simplicity, and respect for our surroundings are part of everyday life. 

From a young age, I learned that an organized home creates peace, clarity, and calm.

Helping people has always come naturally to me. 

After traveling and living abroad, I returned to Japan, where I became the person people turned to—not only for organizing but also for helping foreigners build successful lives in Japan. 

In 1999, I moved to Los Angeles to study Child Development.                   I worked with families, teaching parents and caregivers how to create organized routines and peaceful home environments. 

Professionally, I was thriving.

Personally, I was struggling.

Although my home looked perfect, my life felt anything but.                My marriage was difficult, my blended family faced enormous challenges, and after the sudden loss of my stepdaughter, everything changed. My family struggled with grief, addiction, mental health issues, and serious health problems. I felt overwhelmed, angry, and disconnected from myself.

Eventually, I realized something important:

You can organize your home, but if you don't heal what's inside, lasting peace remains out of reach.

I began the journey of accepting myself, healing old wounds, and living authentically. 

As I changed, my relationships changed. My home changed. My life changed.

Then in 2024, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer while my husband faced multiple life-threatening health crises. Those experiences taught us deeper compassion, resilience, and unconditional love. 

Today, our relationship is stronger than ever.

These experiences transformed the way I work.

I don't simply organize homes.

I help people create environments that support healing, clarity, healthier relationships, and a life that reflects who they truly are.

Because I believe when you transform your space, you create room to transform your life.

I am Nancy Riordan. I’ve been organizing and helping people edit their homes for 15 years.  As a young kid, I was drawn to the peaceful feeling in my childhood home, created by my mother, the original minimalist.  Years later, 

I met a Japanese grandma, whose daughter had hired Marie Kondo (before she was a household name) to edit her New York apartment. “Instead of having ten serving platters, you only keep the two that you love”. 

I went home and spent 40 hours over the next few weeks, organizing our storage room which was full of junk.  But I didn’t accomplish anything.  I was depressed.  

Five years later, “the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” came out, and I understood my mistake.  

So I took everything of each category out, held each item in my hands to determine if they sparked joy, and in one day, I got rid of 80% of the items in there.  

I was hooked.  I love, really love the feeling of unhurried spaciousness that comes with a curated living space.  

I have been helping family, friends and clients ever since. 

Since working with Mai, I have come to love the 

“Swedish Art of Death Cleaning” as well.