
The story of a corporate denizen leaving her cubicle to start a small business has become common to the point of banality.
Usually, the subject sustains years of creative suffocation in a regimented, fluorescent-lit office building before breaking free to start a trendy restaurant or adorable clothing boutique.
The story of Ana Peterson, a professional home- and office-organizer, resembles this narrative arc, but it differs in an important way: she was quite happy as a big-company employee, thank-you-very-much. “I was very much into the corporate world,” Peterson said. “I was motivated and driven to make things happen within my division.”
But when Peterson’s company merged with another, the ensuing layoffs cost the Edison resident her job.
Photos by Brendan McInerney