By Mi-Ling Stone Poole –

Recently, I interviewed Marsha Haygood, one of the authors of “The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women.”

Haygood is president and founder of Step Wise Associates, a career and personal development consultancy in New York.

Before starting her company, she worked as a human resources executive at New Line Cinema, a division of Time Warner, and at Orion Pictures.

Haygood told me that she had two home offices, one in New York and one in Florida. I asked her to describe them for me.

Q: You’re fortunate to have two home offices. How does your New York office differ from your Florida office, from a lifestyle perspective?

A: The New York place is an apartment and is comfortable but smaller. It is however right next to the Hudson River, so I can look out and see water.

The Florida office is a large room. The entire room was custom built, and there is more than enough cabinets and space for everything.

Q: What colors did you select for each office?

A: The New York office has cream-colored walls, a black desk, bookcase and file cabinets.

The Florida office has yellow walls, custom wood cabinets and a bookcase. The green desktop compliments the small sofa. I have a small cork bulletin board in this office as well as a fairly large vision board, inspired by “The Secret.”

Q: What advice can you offer on how to organize a work space?

A: I think that the best advice that I could offer is to keep everything that you need close so that your thoughts are not interrupted when you need something.

Marsha and her co-authors included MAMAisms at the end of each chapter in their book. These life lessons given to children from their mothers, grandmothers or other family members served as a moral code to living life.

When asked what her favorite MAMAism was in reference to the design of her home offices, Haygood replied, “Positive energy yields a positive attitude.”

Do you have tips for organizing your home office?