Martha Hayes

After almost two decades working with consumer publications and commercial brands, I launched my own home organizing business, Rework The Room, at the beginning of 2024. 

Why? Because it's not just something I'm passionate about, it's an inherent part of me. As a child with anxiety (before there was a name for it!) bringing order to chaos always made me feel better, and it has continued to serve me; from having a 'tidy desk, tidy mind' as a journalist on deadline to parenting a threenager.

I was lucky enough to be trained by Dilly Carter, the professional organiser behind the hit TV show, Sort Your Life Out (basically London's answer to Marie Kondo!) and I now work with clients all over Los Angeles. You can find more information about that here.

Some might think it an unusual pivot to go from journalism to professional organizing but the skills I've honed working in the media - communication, attention to detail, persistence and empathy to name a few! - are, I think, what ultimately set me apart as a home organizer. As a journalist I have a reputation for putting people at ease; the actor John Goodman once described an interview with me as like a therapy session. I like to think I have the same impact on my organizing clients!

I still love writing and take on commissions when I can. As a freelance print and digital journalist, my cover stories, zeitgeist features and first-person essays have been published everywhere from glossy magazines (Elle, Porter, Who What Wear) to broadsheet newspapers (The Telegraph, The Times.) I was Entertainment Editor of Marie Claire UK for a number of years before joining The Guardian as a Commissioning Editor. More recently, I've consulted for Grazia UK as their US Editor-at-Large. I also create content - for example, a press pack or advertorial campaign - for leading brands (HBO, Channel 4) and agencies (Guardian Labs, Studio Primer).

I love telling stories. I sometimes overshare. I am currently documenting ordinary-life-in-an-extraordinary-place in my lighthearted Substack newsletter, That’s so LA. My husband, Chris, and I moved from London to Los Angeles in 2019. We met on a blind date, for an article in Marie Claire, would you believe. We now live in Santa Monica with our anxiety-ridden rescue dog, Sebastian and our - you could say, "miracle" - daughter, Maggie. I've definitely got a story or two out of that, as well. 

The photo above was taken by the super talented LA-based photographer Yuri Hasegawa. I was newly pregnant with Maggie at the time and felt so sick I almost vomited in that hedge. Did I mention I sometimes overshare? Or as I prefer to call it, putting people at ease.