A professional organizer who helps celebrities like Jordyn Woods and Jay Shetty shares 4 secrets to decluttering your closet

• Janelle Cohen is a professional organizer who's worked with A-list celebrities.
• Cohen founded Straighten Up by Janelle and published "The Folding Book" in April 2022.

Even before Janelle Cohen became a professional organizer to the stars, she had an innate talent for decluttering and streamlining spaces.

According to Cohen, her organizing prowess began when she was just a toddler. She — like the rest of us — had quite a bit of downtime during the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to copy her childhood VHS tapes over to DVDs.

"I found a video of me at two years old," Cohen, 29, said. "I was perfectly folding and ironing a pair of underwear with a toy iron — I was like, 'what the heck?' I immediately called my mom and asked, 'Do you remember this?' She said, 'I never used an iron. I don't know the last time I picked up an iron.'"

To Cohen, the video only confirms that she's doing exactly what she's supposed to do.

"It's clearly who I am, and it just took the right circumstances for it to flourish," she said.

As a young adult, She studied at UCLA's theater program and pursued acting, but eventually found her way back to organizing. At 25, Cohen reorganized and created a system for her parents' pantry as a Mother's Day gift, which led to other people asking for her insight. Soon, business took off and she founded Straighten Up by Janelle.

The venture set her on a successful path, allowing Cohen to work with clients like the founders of ClassPass and internet maven Charli D'Amelio. She's also published "The Folding Book," in which she shares her organizing techniques and advice.

Cohen shared organizing tips she's gleaned over the years in a conversation with Insider.

Cohen has her clients, including Jordyn Woods, 'edit' their closets to get rid of unnecessary clutter

Cohen worked with Woods, founder of Woods by Jordyn, to transform her basement into a walk-in closet reminiscent of Cher Horowitz's closet in "Clueless." She knows that celebrities tend to amass a lot of products, so she helps them get rid of things they don't need.

"I go in once a season with Jordyn and we edit," Cohen said. "We go through every single piece of clothing she has. There's a lot that we say, 'Okay, we're going to keep this for one more winter and if you don't wear it this winter, we're going to get rid of it.'"

Cohen said editing a closet can help people feel excited about the space again.

"I remember all of the details," Cohen said. "I edit with her so that she doesn't feel overwhelmed and her closet excites her and feels manageable."

She said each closet should have 'prime real estate' for a client's go-to clothes

According to Cohen, prime real estate refers to "things you have really easy access to so you can immediately grab them."

"Then we have shelves that we need to get onto a stool for hanging space that's not as accessible. I'd call that less prime real estate," she added.

Cohen recalled working with podcast host and author Jay Shetty to divide his closet.

"With Jay, he loves suits and chic t-shirts, so that will be prime real estate. Anything that he doesn't wear as much, that doesn't need prime real estate," she said. "That's just how I do it. I'm not going to organize based on looks. I'm going to do it based on life. Otherwise, it's just not going to be able to be maintained."

When it comes to organizing space for couples, Cohen said it could help to keep each person's items separate, even if it's in the same closet

Cohen knows firsthand that cohabitation can be difficult.

"I live with my amazing boyfriend and we are in the tiniest closet of all time," she told Insider. "Every once in a while, he'll say, 'Hey, your clothes are moving into my space,' and I'll have to reevaluate."

It's an obstacle she tackles while working with couples. In the past, she's worked with actors Matthew Noszka and Inanna Sarkis, in addition to Shetty and his wife.

"I get told at least once a week that I'm a marriage counselor. Even if you're very similar, even if you are soulmates meant to be great communicators, it's very difficult," Cohen said. "I approach everything as individuals. So we figure out what space is for which person."

She added: "Person A is never going to make decisions about person B and person B is never going to make decisions about person A."

Cohen also has experience working with athletes, who she advises to avoid using 100% of closet space

While larger sizes aren't a deterrent to Cohen, she recognizes there's a difference between size 13 shoes and size 20.

"I always tell people that I can't make more space, so you have to have the right amount of space for the stuff that you have," Cohen said. "At 75% or 80% capacity, you always have a buffer and room to Tetris the dead space."