10 Questions with Co-Founder, Sofie: The Heart Behind Welcome Home Organizers

When you start a business with someone, you probably don't expect one of the things that brings you together to be…cats.

However, that was one of the early connections between founders, Cait Fitzpatrick and Sofie Gakopoulus. 

They discovered that they both rescue cats, love cats, and have a particular soft spot for the ones who need a little extra patience and care. It may seem like a small thing, but those little discoveries are often what tell you something about a person. They quickly realized that they shared more than a love of animals. They shared a similar way of looking at the world.

Sofie and Cait both care about creating calm where there is chaos, and they like finding practical solutions. They notice the little things, and they genuinely enjoy helping people.

That combination eventually became Welcome Home Organizers.

Rather than give you a traditional biography, Cait decided to ask Sofie a few questions so you could get to know the person behind the organizing.

1. Let's start with the important question: will you show us your cats?

Interviewer (Cait) note: If you know Sofie, you know that cats are a pretty important part of her life. Her love of rescuing animals says something about her personality, too: she has a natural instinct to notice what needs attention and to step in when she can help. That same instinct shows up in her work.

Meet Marley, my scaredy-cat (left) + Bobby, my fierce warrior (right):

2. What made you interested in organizing and helping people in their homes?

Organizing is about much more than putting things away. It's about making life easier.

There is something I find incredibly peaceful about walking into a room that is truly in its best working order. When everything has a purpose and every item has found its home, the space itself feels different. There is a sense of calm and serenity that comes from knowing things are where they belong and that the room works the way it should. It removes some of the visual noise and mental clutter that can create stress and anxiety.

That is exactly what excites me about creating these spaces for our clients. I want them to experience that feeling of walking into a room and feeling calm, settled, and completely at ease in their own space.

That is also where our work with personal assisting comes into play.

Many of our clients need someone to help coordinate the details, make calls, schedule a pickup, run an errand, research a solution, or simply help move a project forward. We like being that extra set of hands.

3. What is something you notice when you walk into a home that other people might not notice?

I notice how people actually live.

Where do they drop their keys when they walk through the door? What gets left on the kitchen counter? Which cabinet is always frustrating to open? What items are constantly being moved from one place to another?

Those details tell a story, and they often point directly to the solution.

Rather than imposing a system on someone's home, we try to understand the person first. The goal isn't to create a picture-perfect home that looks like it belongs in a magazine. It's to create a home that works for the people living in it.

4. What's one of your favorite kinds of organizing projects?

I think my favorite projects are the ones where you can really see and feel the transformation.

I love walking into a space that feels overwhelming to someone and figuring out where to begin, then watching it gradually become functional, organized, and manageable. There is something incredibly satisfying about getting to the end and hearing a client say, “I can't believe we got this done.”

The transformation can be dramatic, such as a major downsizing project or helping someone through a move after decades in the same home. Other times it's much smaller: a kitchen that finally functions properly, a closet that's easier to navigate, or a room that can finally be used for what it was intended for.

For me, the size of the project doesn't necessarily determine the impact. It's that before-and-after feeling, and knowing we've made someone's everyday life a little easier, that I love most.

5. What do you think makes someone a good organizer?

Being organized yourself helps, but it's not the most important quality. We think a good organizer needs to be curious, patient, observant, resourceful and, above all, nonjudgmental.

People don't hire us because their homes are already perfectly organized. They hire us because something isn't working. Maybe life has changed, a move has happened, a parent is downsizing, or work and family have simply gotten in the way.

Our job is to meet people where they are and help them move forward, and complete their unfinished projects that have become harder to tackle.

6. How does personal assisting fit into what Welcome Home Organizers does?

We've learned that organization doesn't stop at the walls of someone's home.

Life itself often needs a little organizing.

A client might need help managing a long list of errands, coordinating household details, preparing for a move, arranging services, or simply getting through the things that have accumulated on their plate. That's where personal assisting comes in. We can help with the practical details that take time and mental energy, freeing clients up to focus on the things that matter more to them.

In many ways, it's the same philosophy as organizing a home:

Figure out what needs to happen, create a plan, and take care of the details.

7. What is something people might be surprised to learn about you?

I've always loved international films and television and will happily watch something from just about anywhere in the world. Some of my favorites have come from Sweden, Mexico, France and the UK, but somehow Korea has worked its way to the very top of my list. I've been watching Korean dramas for years, have always enjoyed Korean music and, more recently, somehow became a BTS fan! I've also developed a real love of Korean food and have become pretty proficient at making some of my favorite dishes at home.

I've also become surprisingly handy over the past few years. I've refinished a hutch, an entire dining set and two armoires, and I've become a bit of a do-it-yourselfer around the house. My instinct is usually to see if I can figure something out myself before calling for help. I really enjoy learning as I go and the satisfaction of seeing the finished result.

That probably connects to a funny part of my organizer personality, too. I can walk past something in my house that's just slightly off and tell myself, I'll fix that later, only to turn around five steps later and fix it. Once I see it, apparently I can't unsee it.

I also love to cook and entertain. I genuinely enjoy having people in my home and making them feel welcomed and taken care of. Every year I host a big Christmas dinner for a group of longtime friends, which has become one of my favorite traditions. And I'm definitely someone who will tinker with a recipe until I get it exactly the way I want it.

I also try to give some of my time to the Bridgeport Rescue Mission when I can. I've volunteered with their food drives, Thanksgiving drive and coat drive. I enjoy being able to pitch in, especially when it's something practical and hands-on where you can see that what you're doing is helping someone. 

Something especially meaningful to me is that I recently became a Greek citizen. Both of my parents were born in small villages in Greece, and this year I had the opportunity to visit my father's village in the far northern part of the country, about an hour from the Albanian border. I've become fascinated with digging deeper into my family's history and uncovering the stories of the generations who came before me.

There's a little more to me than organizing!

8. What is your favorite part of working with clients?

It's the moment when people feel the weight lift.

Often times, it's visible as our client looks around a newly organized room and takes a deep breath. They often tell us they haven't been able to use a particular space in years.

Almost every time, we hear that our client have been putting off a difficult transition and finally feel they can take the next step.

We love hearing:

"I feel so much better."

That's the part that stays with us.

9. What do you hope clients feel when they work with you?

Supported.Not judged. Not rushed. Not overwhelmed.

We want clients to feel like they have someone in their corner who can help them figure things out, whether that means organizing a room, preparing for a move, downsizing a lifetime of belongings, or taking a few things off their personal to-do list.

Ultimately, Welcome Home Organizers isn't really about stuff. It's about making space for life. Sometimes that means making physical space in a home, and sometimes it means making mental space by taking something off someone's plate.

Either way, it always means helping someone move into a new chapter with a little more clarity and a lot less stress.

10. Finally: what does "welcome home" mean to you?

Home is about feeling comfortable, settled, and supported in the place where you live. It's a place that works for your life, not the other way around.

That's really at the heart of what we're building with Welcome Home Organizers. Whether we're helping someone downsize after decades in the same home, settle into a new space, organize a kitchen, tackle a long-overdue project, or simply take a few things off their plate, we're here to make life a little easier.

And if there's a cat nearby? Even better.