A young, Brooklyn-based, Jamaican-born entrepreneur is providing professional commercial, residential, interior cleaning and painting services to the community.
Tashany Brown, who founded Nueratrend Maids and Pros in 2011, told Caribbean Life that her company was established to “cure a need in the community” by providing “professional cleaning and interior services at an affordable cost to consumers and businesses while creating employment for members of the community.”
“Over the years the company noticed a growing issue among elderly clients, where they garnered years of items that have created a health issue in their homes, putting them at risk for eviction; so, shortly after, the company started offering hoarding cleaning, decluttering, and organizing,” said Brown, stating that the company serves all five boroughs of New York City, as well as Westchester County, parts of New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island.”
She said her company’s objective is to continue providing the most innovative services, attract the best and build a high-performing team, and “create a culture of leaders who are focused on social changes and environmental issues.”
Brown — who was chosen by Meta, formerly Facebook, to be a part of its “Leaders Network,” a small, exclusive group of professionals nationwide — said Nueratrend Maids and Pros was recognized twice for Best of Brooklyn Cleaning Service, in 2018 and 2019, by Expertise.com, and was the first to be a part of Amazon’s Home Cleaning Services, when they launched that program in 2015. That program, however, has been closed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nueratrend Maids and Pros has partnered with social service agencies, such as JASA, Coop Village Norc, Education Alliance and Cases, to provide hoarding cleaning services to their clients, Brown said.
She said the company also works with property owners, estate planners and attorneys. In 2020, the company was chosen by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce as one of several cleaning companies to provide services to businesses that were awarded grants for cleaning services, so they could reopen.
During the height of, and after, the pandemic, Brown said Nueratrend Maids and Pros was also considered “an essential service when most businesses were closed.” She said it was, therefore, able to provide disinfecting, sanitizing and deep cleaning services to businesses “so they could safely reopen and boost employee morale.”
Brown said Nueratrend, which also has been providing hoarding cleaning services for almost years, “realized that most of the people who hoard are elderly, disabled and, sometimes, people suffering past trauma and maybe some mental health challenges.”
She said most people who have these challenges are women.
“Some of these people live alone, with little to no family members,” said Brown, adding that, “This is a serious health hazard.
“There is also a huge disparity, the ones from low-income backgrounds, who cannot afford to get help and are more at risk of getting evicted than their counterparts,” she continued, stating that minorities are also less likely to get help with funding in hiring a hoarding cleaning service, and that social service is not always readily available.
“That is why Nueratrend Maids and Pros started offering a social service component, after each project is completed, a few years ago by offering a free two-week follow-up to help families and social workers by providing a detailed plan for upkeep and lifestyle maintenance, where the clients can stay safe in their home,” said Brown, stressing that “hoarding is a pressing issue in NYC, though not talked about and the main victims are women and minorities.
“These people are also at risk of abuse and theft,” she added.
Brown said her company has contacted Medicaid, Medicare, the Department for the Aging, among other social service agencies, to help this vulnerable population.
“There doesn’t seem to be any way to help these elderly and mentally disabled people,” she said. “The company would love to see more social services provided to help these individuals, allocate funding for hoarding services and have it underwritten as a health service, and be treated as a public health issue by health officials, especially since it indirectly affects others.”
Brown – a big supporter of elder, veteran services and food sovereignty — said she developed this passion during the years of running her cleaning business, catering to seniors and elderly who are hoarders and at risk of eviction, and working in human services with the mentally disabled, veterans and the homeless population.
The mother, scholar, entrepreneur, community food justice advocate and radio host, is also the owner/chief executive officer of Serviced by Pros Paralegal and Consulting Services, and the founder of PRISH (People’s Resource Initiative for Success and Humanitarianism), a nonprofit and home to Meals Xo, a food program founded in 2020 during the pandemic to help with food insecurity.
Brown has background in public administration with Master’s and Bachelor of Science degrees from Rutgers University in New Jersey and Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, respectively.
She said she “operates at the intersection of aging, mental and health issues to address disparities in under-resourced communities, where people suffering from hoarding tendencies are not treated with the same type of care as their counterparts with the same problem.”
Brown can be reached at 718-782-PROS (7767) or at info@nueratrend.com, Facebook and Instagram: @nueratrend
