The Move That Changed Moving

Every year when International Women’s Day comes around, I find myself thinking about the ways women change the world that don’t always make headlines.

Not the speeches or the spotlight moments, but the moments of insight. Like the times a woman looks at a situation everyone else accepts and thinks, there has to be a better way.

That’s exactly what happened with Mercedes Gunderson.

What began as a daughter helping her mother would ultimately lead to something far bigger: a new way of supporting older adults through one of life’s most emotional and complicated transitions.

And like many meaningful ideas, it didn’t start with a grand plan. It started with someone noticing that something important was missing.

In 1990, Mercedes was helping her mother move. If you’ve ever helped an older relative or friend through that process, you already know what she was up against: moving later in life is almost never just about the move. It’s about the memories tucked away into drawers and closets, the things someone has saved for decades, sometimes for reasons even they can’t quite explain. It’s that proverbial elephant in the room…when someone realizes they’re leaving a home that has shaped their life story.

Suddenly the focus on logistics fades and the emotions take over.

Mercedes experienced all of this firsthand as she helped her mother through the process. What she hadn’t expected was how emotional it would be – not just for her mother, but for her too. The decisions felt heavier than they should have. Not because they were complicated, but because every object seemed to carry a memory. What do you keep? What do you let go of? And how do you balance practicality with a lifetime of meaning attached to a place someone has called home for the last 40 years?

As Mercedes guided her mother through those days, she began to notice something. There were plenty of companies that could move furniture from one house to another. But no one was there to help families through the human side of the experience – sitting beside them as they sorted through decades of belongings, or giving them the time and space to process what those decisions really meant. People didn’t just need help moving. They needed help letting go, deciding what mattered, and stepping into the next chapter with confidence and dignity.

Out of Mercedes’s experience grew a completely new way of supporting people through one of life’s most overwhelming transitions – one grounded in patience, compassion, and deep respect for the life someone has built inside their home. What makes this story so impactful for me is that Mercedes never set out to change anything on a grand scale. She was simply helping her mother through something difficult and recognized that families going through the same thing deserved a more thoughtful, compassionate way forward. That’s why I think it’s so fitting to share her story on International Women’s Day, because it reminds us that the ideas that shape the world often begin in ordinary moments…when someone notices another person’s struggle and finds a way to make things better.