Hello, I’m Rabab, professional clutter clearer and personal organiser

Everything I've done in my life comes together in what I do now.

  • Deep listening

    Years working in community settings taught me to meet people where they are, building care and trust in the process. As a coach, facilitator and deep listening practitioner, I’m attuned to listening, not just advising or prescribing.

  • Artistic eye

    As an artist I bring a keen eye for design, colour, and how spaces can be arranged to feel both stunning and functional.

  • Trust the process

    Running an arts organisation for 8 years showed me how to hold space for transformative processes — including the messy uncertain bits before clarity emerged!

  • Understanding balance

    And as a practicing Buddhist for over three decades, I've spent years exploring the balance between the spiritual and the material, and what truly, deeply nourishes us.

Creating order in the midst of chaos.

Working in the arts, community development and facilitation work for over 30 years means my work’s always been about people - collaborating alongside individuals and groups, listening deeply, supporting people exactly where they find themselves. I adored my work and still do, but after 8 years of running a successful arts organisation of my own, I found myself exhausted and burnt out. Stepping back gave me time to notice what’s always been there in the background: a deep love and instinct for creating order in the midst of chaos.

And where chaos is concerned, I know it first hand. For decades I lived with the constant exhaustion of overwhelm, scattered attention, and environments that utterly drained me. Until I finally had to start building strategies to gain control, create direction, and bring clarity to what was a painfully chaotic existence both personally and professionally. Now I draw on all these experiences to help people shift their own version of ‘stuck.’

I work with people who are neurodivergent; who are going through significant life transitions; are in their later years and yearning to leave behind some order for loved ones; or are simply feeling fed up and don’t know where to start.

“More valuable than treasures in a storehouse are the treasures of the body, and the treasures of the heart are the most valuable of all.”

Nichiren Daishonin (1222–1282)

I adore this quote from a 13th century Japanese Buddhist monk. For me it captures what feels more precious than anything else - our heart connections to others. We live in a world where the constant messaging is to buy, own and accumulate more. This is not only destroying how we live, it’s also destroying the unimaginably beautiful planet we live on. Changing our relationship to our ‘stuff’ isn’t just about rehauling our environment to reclaim energy, time, and freedom. It’s about funds shifting our relationship to the material. This shift is more radical than we can imagine. And will usher in new ways of contributing to our lives, the lives of our loved ones, and the world around us.

Akoo Maku — there is something, there isn’t

Why “Akoo Maku” as a name for a clutter clearing business?

In Arabic “akoo maku” literally means “there is something, there isn’t”.

It’s a play on a common Iraqi greeting “shaku maku” which carries a similar meaning -  “what’s here, what isn’t?” - in other words, “how are you, what’s happening?”

One of the most beautiful things I learnt from my childhood growing up in Iraq was the value of hospitality. Whether you had a lot or next to nothing, being hospitable to friends and strangers alike was held in the highest esteem. I believe when we clear away what’s clogging up daily life we create space to become - literally - more hospitable: to ourselves, to others, and to what wants to come through in our lives, but keeps getting sidelined. It’s about pausing for long enough to ask: What’s here? What no longer needs to be? What am I yearning to welcome in?

Understanding the balance

Akoo Maku captures for me how our spaces are always a product of what’s present and what’s not. The art of clutter clearing is about understanding the balance that’s right for us, and building the spaces that are going to profoundly serve our lives.