This article appeared in the Nov. 20, 2003 Jewish Advocate.

Dot com survivor helps people save time

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

Lisa Schreider was a Marketing and Public Relations manager at many cutting-edge companies during the fast-paced internet boom era. Now, she helps people secure quiet, quality downtime.

Hands of Time, Schreider’s creative concierge, personal shopping, organizing, and errand-running business, allows her to help to manage individual lives instead of quarterly reports. While she still does freelance feature writing for the advertising departments of several Boston newspapers and magazines and brainstorms public relations strategies for several small businesses, she is busy helping families organize their personal agendas.

“Time is one of the most precious commodities people have,” says Schreider. “My clients appreciate the time that I free up in their daily lives to spend on themselves, their children, parents, or extended family.” Shopping, party planning, travel arranging, pharmacy management, gift-giving, internet and phone research on products and services, and developing organizational systems are among the tasks she performs for her clientele, who are mainly Newton, Needham, Brookline and Chestnut Hill residents. She will work on scrapbooks or photo albums, do varied creative projects, light bookkeeping and check writing or public relations and marketing consulting. “No task is too small,” she says.

Previously, Schreider was Manager of Marketing and Public Relations at iPROMOTEu.com. Before that, she was the Public Relations Specialist at Linx Communications, a Newton telecommunications firm. She worked in the Boston World Trade Center’s events planning department, and held freelance feature writing positions with the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and Community Newspaper Company’s advertising departements. Schreider holds a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Brandeis and a master’s degree in Corporate Public Relations from Boston University’s College of Communication.

A Newton native, Schreider grew up as a Reform Jew at Temple Beth Avodah, Newton, where she was bat mitzvahed and has been a member since 1984. She attended Hebrew school there up to her senior year at Newton South High, and worked as a kindergarten aide at the Religious School on Sundays during high school as well. She won the Margaret K. Miller (named for the Rabbi’s wife) Award for Academic Excellence in 1992. While at Brandeis, she wrote a final paper on “The Migration of Jews from Boston to the ‘Burbs” for a Judaic Studies class.

Schreider comes from a vital, people-oriented family. Her great-grandfather, Samuel Quint, was a founding member of the Crawford Street Shul in Roxbury. Her grandfather, Stanley Schreider, who was the first married man to be drafted from Wakefield to fight in WWII, owned Quint Furniture in Dorchester for 37 years. He and his wife Judy Schreider met at Colby College; they were members of Temple Emanuel in Newton for 56 years (Judy still is). Her father, Edward Schreider, who is in his 34th year at Hingham High School as a 9th grade European History teacher, was bar mitzvahed and married there. Her mother, Linda, is a retired French teacher and runs after-school programs in Newton. Her sister, Wendy Schreider, is active in the Boston Jewish community, and works for the largest DJ/entertainment company in New England, helping to plan Bar/Bat Mitzvot every weekend.

From the handicapped, to single parents, large families and busy business professionals, doctors, lawyers, etc., Schreider’s clients are wide-ranging. Increasingly, she assists seniors with errands and planning, often easing these worries for their children. Hands of Time’s services also aid people recuperating from surgery or injury and those who are not able to leave their homes. “People are often reminded, especially during the winter season, just how vital the few hours I can give them are, year-round,” Schreider observes, with enthusiasm.

“I love what I do because every day is different,” she says. “Each new client is an adventure. I meet wonderful people, who welcome me into their lives and homes.”

“I found Lisa to be consistently helpful and very creative in developing organizational systems for my overflowing papers,” says client Sara Young. “She has been extremely instrumental in helping me to find a greater sense of control in my life.”

“I don’t know what we would do without Lisa in our lives,” says Joan, a Newton resident and parent of two young children. “She has so greatly helped me to manage and organize a very busy professional and home life.”

Schreider’s assistance alleviates stress as it maximizes time spent with family members or doing other enjoyable activities. “The positive changes that I see in the individuals and families I help give me the greatest satisfaction,” she says.

Schreider can be reached by calling 617-325-1985 or emailing handsoftime1@lycos.com.