Hi, I’m JZ, and welcome to Minimalist in the Bay Area (MBA)! To answer the most obvious question, yes, I do have an MBA. From MIT (to which the most common question is: MIT has a business school?) I have lived in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area since leaving for college (and meeting my husband!) at age 17, with a stint on the East Coast thrown in. I am an interior design enthusiast and accidental minimalist, having adopted the principles (if not the title) after moving every other year for 15 years to enable my husband and me to pursue our education and careers. At some point, I grew tired of packing and unpacking our belongings repeatedly, so I figured out how to make every item in our home pull double, triple, or quadruple duty so that we can live with fewer but smarter things. We now reside in a 1-bedroom, 800-square foot apartment with our two young kiddos, after I decided that we should downsize from our 2-bedroom, 1,000-square foot townhome because it felt like more space than we needed.

I’m also a former McKinsey management consultant and ex-corporate banker, so I like to start my posts with an executive summary and whip out the occasional Excel or PowerPoint for fun (nerd pride)! Welcome to this place where I publicly ponder and pontificate (including on topics beyond strictly minimalism or interior design), while alliterating every chance I get. I am here to supply smart and simple solutions for stylish small spaces, while simultaneously seeking to reduce the stigma surrounding a less conventional living situation. So stoked that you stopped by!