February 20, 2024 • 16 mins
Tara Robertson of PupStars Pet Care stops by to share all about their one-stop pet shop. Tara has been working in the animal care field for over 20 years, so her and her fantastic team are ready to take great care of you AND your pet.
Find more information at https://www.pupstarspetcare.com/!
Find more information at https://www.pupstarspetcare.com/!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Putting the spotlight on chicago Lands growingblack businesses. iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Brilliantly
Black Podcast. Here's our host,Jasmine Bennett. Hello everyone, and welcome
back today. I'm here with TaraHill of pop stars peg Care. How
are you today? I'm great,Thank you for having me. Of course,
of course, thank you for comingin. So let's dive right into
(00:22):
first. I'm sure we all wantto know. How did you get into
the peg care business? Where didthe passion for that come from? I'd
say probably from not being able tohave animals growing up. We grew up
poor, and that was we hadto feed ourselves. There was no feeding
you know, cats, dogs,or anything else. So I've just always
had a passion for animals. Andin my second year of high school,
(00:44):
I was in the work program andhad an opportunity to switch jobs with someone
else. So I went to theirinterview, they went to mine, and
I got my first job working ata animal hospital. Wow. Okay,
and how long ago was that?Oh the eight now I'm dating myself.
Yeah, that's good. High school. It was very cool. I worked
(01:06):
at that animal hospital for about sixyears and then found out that there was
another side of working with animals outsideof the veterinary field, and that was
the dog daycare, boarding, grooming, stuff like that. So yeah,
I went and managed a couple ofkennels in the city of Chicago, and
I was like, I can dothis, and I can do this better,
(01:26):
and yeah, that's the rest ishistory. That's always good when you
get into like a situation where you'relike, Okay, this is good for
me to get the experience and whatnot, but I think I can make this,
you know, my own thing andbranch off. That's awesome. So
what would you say? The missionof popstars is to be a one stop
shop for you know, people andtheir pets. I want, you know,
(01:49):
I want you to have access toeverything under one roof. That's always
been the goal, and I wantto be the best at what I do.
There is a lot of money,this is a growing industry, and
some people seem to make that apriority over the pups, you know,
and so I definitely wanted to makesure that you know, obviously we all
need money, right, but thatwasn't my biggest concern. It was making
(02:09):
sure that these dogs are happy.That we have you know, cohesive playgroups
that you know, we're just we'rea part of the family. We're helping,
you know, the families grow withtheir pets and learn, you know.
So yeah, I think that's reallythat's really what did it for me,
and the speaking of the we part. So I'm assuming you have a
(02:30):
good team behind you. Yes,How did you get that team together?
I know that could be really difficultwhen running a business. Yeah, I
mean I have been blessed to haveamazing people around me from the beginning,
passionate individuals. You know. Istarted off as a one man show,
home based six am till ten pm, you know at night. And then
(02:51):
finally, you know, I wasable to hire my first person, my
first walker, and then it wasa second walker and a third one.
It was like I had the fantasticfour for a very long time, and
they were all equally as passionate,you know as me. Until this day,
we are still you know, intouch. They helped me, you
know, grow into that first brickand mortar in twenty fourteen, we leased
(03:12):
out a four thousand square foot spaceand now you know, we've grown into
a ten thousand square foot owned space. So it's amazing, that's an amazing
journey. And definitely, yeah,to have a team. You can't do
it without having the right Oh yeah, absolutely. That can really sink a
ship, you can yeah, yeah, it can make or break you for
sure. Yeah, and you don'twant that. So any advice for someone
(03:34):
that would think about starting to getinto this type of business. You know,
I have a lot of people thatsay, oh, I love dogs,
you know, I want to dothis even, you know, people
that I will give them a shadowday to come try it out, and
before we actually officially hire them,it's like, are you sure it's not
all pe and puppies all day?You know, it's a lot of hard
work. You know, dogs havebad days just like humans. You know,
(03:59):
dogs don't clean up after after themselves. So it's a lot that goes
into it. So it's like,get your feet wet and do a you
know, an internship or a youknow, get a little job at a
vet something in the field, soyou have a little idea on what to
expect, and then you know,I just if you want it, go
for it. That's it. Youknow, don't get discouraged. You just
you push for what you want.I feel like everybody should push for what
(04:23):
they want. Yeah, they cancome see me, you know, if
they want someone in from I'm anopen book, you know. I've had
people come to me all the timethinking, you know, telling me they
want to start a business, sometimespet related, sometimes not, and just
asking me all kinds of questions likeI'm willing to, you know, tell
you anything you want to know,and hopes that you will avoid some of
(04:44):
the hurdles you know, that Ihad when I started. Yeah, speaking
of that, what were some ofthe challenges that you had when you first
started and how do you get overthat hill? Oh my goodness, no
pun intended with the last name.Yes, Well, you know, money
is always a thing, right,So initially when I started my business,
I still was working, you know, part time. I think that getting
(05:08):
to you know, going to thebank and getting the know we can't fund
you, the know we can't fundyou, and then finally figuring out alternative
methods. So I used a lotof credit cards, self funding, I
bought my own, you know,company vehicle, and then all of a
sudden, when I went back tothe bank and they saw I had skin
in the game, they had tolook at me differently. You can tell
me no all day, that's notgoing to stop me. I will figure
(05:30):
it out. That's just the kindof person I am, you know.
So that's that was definitely a bighurdle. And then it became the family
hurdle. I had my you know, first child, and I thought I
was going to be super mom,strap around me, walk these dogs.
Yeah, it did not work,especially in the city of Chicago with this
weather we have. Oh yeah,I had to rethink that. You know.
I had an amazing Lydia, Icall her my angel. She watched
(05:51):
my child like a lot, youknow. And then when I got married,
it was like trying to find thatbalance of home time and work time
because my business was there first,like I love my business, but I
need you know, I'm married nowI have kids. That was that was
a big, big struggle. Myhusband was super supportive, but it took
(06:14):
a toll. I mean he waspicking up the kids, dropping off the
kids, and he worked midnight.So you know, it was a lot.
So you just got to be reallyresilient and tenacious and just you know,
go for it, and you know, if there's a will, there's
a way, and yeah, that'spretty away. That's it. Yeah,
people have, like I've noticed onthis podcast when we talk about the home
work life balance is everybody's always sayingthe same thing, like it's a work
(06:39):
in progress, working on it allthe time, especially when you have kids,
Like that's just it's a lot todo well. It takes time,
you know, but if you reallytry to, you know, give yourself
an outline or framework for what youwant to do and by what time you
want to accomplish it, then Ifeel like the pieces start to fall together,
you know. I mean I cantake vacations and not worry, you
(07:00):
know, because my staff. I'veput in all those hours of creating the
you know, standard operating procedures,spending the time there with the staff and
teaching them how I want it done, how popstars does it, you know,
in comparison to other places they havebeen. And then once you have
that solid you have more breathing room. And when you get a taste of
that, like that breathing room andyou feel that yeah, like okay,
(07:23):
you know, then you get alittle motivating you just keep going. I
mean, it's like life, period, It's always going to throw you curveballs,
you know, and it's just howyou kind of you know, navigate
those and keep going. That's itexactly. That's like the you know,
the pandemic put a halt on everybody'swhatever they had going on. Yes,
it's like it was twenty nineteen andthen we blinked. Now twenty twenty four.
(07:44):
That's yeah, that's super scary.I mean, COVID affected everyone,
you know, some good, somebad. You know. I think everyone
needed a reset. So I lookat COVID as more positive than negative.
Yes, you know, it hurtus. My staff went, you know,
from working five days a week,you know, full time, to
like two days a week part time, and we all figured it out.
(08:05):
We all weathered the storm, andI will forever be grateful for that.
But you know, it's also verycool to see all the new businesses that
you know, sprouted from this andpeople realizing I'm gonna turn my passion into
a business. Like I think that'sa beautiful thing, you know. But
again, I mean in life andin business, you just have to keep
going. Yeah, I definitely agreewith that. So when you started,
(08:28):
did you have any of course,there were the challenges, but did you
ever have to deal with like selfdoubt or like doubt from other people?
Because you know, I've noticed,which I really dislike, I'm gonna be
real when people tried to like rainon your dreams, like they'll think they're
too big. Well, you know, so when I was first starting out,
(08:50):
no, I've lived on my ownsince I was fifteen, so it
was just me. No one couldreally tell me anything, you know.
Yeah. I took advice from teateas, you know, and the teachers
were always very motivating, like misterDavis, I'll never forget. He stressed
so much, like just entrepreneurship andjust you know, going for your going
(09:11):
for your dreams, reaching for thisguy. And I don't know that just
kind of stuck with me. Yeah, and I just always I did it.
I'm like, I'll figure it outas I got you know, older
and married and have kids. Youknow. My husband was like, I
wanted this huge dream facility, likeyou know, a big warehouse like PetSmart,
and I want to do this,this, this, and you know,
we toured a couple of those places, and when he heard the dollar
(09:31):
amount that I'd have to come upyou know in monthly rent, he was
like, maybe you should rethink this, maybe you should go small. No,
I want big, you know.Yeah, and then finally, after
some roadblocks and some clothes you know, uh, failed deals in terms of
looking at properties, I was beingI don't want to say harassed, but
(09:52):
somebody was approaching me consistently about thisone specific spot and I'm like, no,
no, it's too small. SoI think in my mo of just
weakness desperation. I finally went tothis place again and I sat a chair
in the middle and I was like, everyone just leave me alone. And
I was like, can I makethis work? So I had my little
sketch book and I was just tryingto figure things out. And I did.
(10:15):
I ended up, you know,securing that space, and the rent
amount was a fraction of what itwould have been, you know, And
I chose you, yeah, thebigger spots. And I'm glad because if
I would have, you know,bit off more than I could chew,
I would have fell flat on myface with COVID, with some of the
like dog illnesses that go around.So I'm definitely grateful to my husband for
(10:37):
making that recommendation. Just grateful that, you know, I had the opportunity.
It was a VET, another VETthat wasn't operating out of the facility
anymore. So he's like, hey, I'll lease it. So I'm grateful.
That's awesome. Okay, came through. Okay, and you would say
something about expanding or expanding this year. Yeah, so again through COVID,
(11:00):
you know, just I had alot of opportunity to just be quiet with
my thoughts and figure things out andwhere I want things to go. So
we're opening. God, it's afew feet from our current location, a
thirteen thousand square foot facility called theCanine Corridor, And what that is is
a incubator slash coworking place since slashlike dog aquad accent, that's the best
(11:24):
way that I can describe it.It'll have two indoor dog pools so that
people with their pets can come in. They can swim, both for therapy
and leisure. Obviously, Chicago's weather, you know, it's snowing crazy.
Yeah, dogs can't be out allthe time, so they'll get to come
indoors. And the cool thing aboutthis space is there's five other businesses working
(11:46):
in there with me. So theyall have their own businesses, some smaller,
some bigger, and this will bea space that we all share.
So the networking, the marketing,just the shared collaboration is amazing and we're
going to offer internships for the community, So anybody who wants to come in
and learn about dogs. I meanpeople think about dogs or animals in general,
(12:09):
and usually their mind goes to veterinarianright right there. You could be
a trainer, you could be avet you could be a massage therapist.
You know, you could be anagility instructor. There are so many things
that the you know, people don'tknow about when it comes to this,
you know, pet industry, andit's a big deal. Yeah, I
think you know, so many ofthe trades have been taken out of schools.
(12:33):
This is this is a trade,this is a profession. Totally do
this and be sustainable. And youknow, if you love animals, I
mean, it's not work if you'redoing what you love, right, so
oh yeah, absolutely, exposing everyoneto that and you know, getting them,
you know, just that realization likeOkay, this is out there,
let me pursue this further, orthis is what I want to do.
You know. Every year we gointo uh we go to an expo it's
(12:56):
called Global Pet Expo in Florida andit's so is classes, it's new products,
I mean, it's all these things, and I think if people saw
that and they realize what it's lacking, I think it's a lot more of
us, you know in that grain. For sure. It's definitely growing from
the first year I went till now, and it's such a proud thing to
(13:18):
see. Yeah, like, hey, here we are, here we go,
you know. And the fact thatyou all are doing that community aspect
with the internships and as you say, collaboration, that is beautiful. That's
amazing. I'm so like, Ithink that's one of the things I'm most
excited for because it's so hard totry to figure out. Again, it
comes down to balance, right,I need to have a roof over my
(13:39):
head, so I kind of needto work, but I need to dive
all into my business to grow it. Well, all this time I spent
so much time, you know,having you know, getting employees and you
know, doing the normal daily grindof offering our services for a fee paying
employees. It's nice to do somethingthat doesn't necessarily have a dollar amount attached
to It's like, hey, you'regiving your time, I'm going to give
(14:03):
you the knowledge and let's see whereit goes from there. And hopefully,
you know, if everything works outwell, we'll be able to employ some
of those people. I mean,you know, there's a huge drought right
now for groomers. Oh my goodness, Like it's so hard to find a
groomer. So I think that trainingand showing these people what's out there and
getting everyone to you know, comein, it should come full circle and
(14:24):
it should definitely, you know,elevate you know, us as a people
and the industry itself. So saythat, say that, yes, okay.
Now my favorite question, what isbeing brilliantly black mean to you man?
Surviving every day? Yeah? Driving? Yeah, what I mean?
It's just every day, you know, there's so many obstacles, so many
(14:45):
knows, so many things that couldmake you like throw in the towel.
And with everything going on in theworld, the fact that we get up
every day and we push forward andwe do what we do, that's brilliantly
black. Ooh that was a goodone. Yes, yes, okay,
So I want to say thank youso much again for joining me today.
But before we go, of course, tell people where they can check you
(15:07):
out, social media, website,phone number, email, whatever you want.
Absolutely, Popstars PetCare is located attwenty three thirty seven Westlake Street on
Chicago's Near West Side. Our phonenumber is seven seven three three two two
three one six zero and the coursesocial media pop Stars, PetCare on TikTok,
Instagram, Facebook, website www dotpopstars dot com. Boom, there
(15:31):
it is. Thank you so muchfor joining me today. So much.
Of course, thanks for listening toThe Brilliantly Black Podcast. Produced by Jasmine
Bennett and Ryan Lath. Executive producedby Eco Robinson and Derek Brown. If
you're a black business and would liketo be featured, register your business or
service now at V one o threedot com slash brilliant. The Brilliantly Black
(15:54):
Podcast is a production of iHeartMedia's Chicago
Putting the spotlight on chicago Lands growingblack businesses. iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Brilliantly
Black Podcast. Here's our host,Jasmine Bennett. Hello everyone, and welcome
back today. I'm here with TaraHill of pop stars peg Care. How
are you today? I'm great,Thank you for having me. Of course,
of course, thank you for comingin. So let's dive right into
(00:22):
first. I'm sure we all wantto know. How did you get into
the peg care business? Where didthe passion for that come from? I'd
say probably from not being able tohave animals growing up. We grew up
poor, and that was we hadto feed ourselves. There was no feeding
you know, cats, dogs,or anything else. So I've just always
had a passion for animals. Andin my second year of high school,
(00:44):
I was in the work program andhad an opportunity to switch jobs with someone
else. So I went to theirinterview, they went to mine, and
I got my first job working ata animal hospital. Wow. Okay,
and how long ago was that?Oh the eight now I'm dating myself.
Yeah, that's good. High school. It was very cool. I worked
(01:06):
at that animal hospital for about sixyears and then found out that there was
another side of working with animals outsideof the veterinary field, and that was
the dog daycare, boarding, grooming, stuff like that. So yeah,
I went and managed a couple ofkennels in the city of Chicago, and
I was like, I can dothis, and I can do this better,
(01:26):
and yeah, that's the rest ishistory. That's always good when you
get into like a situation where you'relike, Okay, this is good for
me to get the experience and whatnot, but I think I can make this,
you know, my own thing andbranch off. That's awesome. So
what would you say? The missionof popstars is to be a one stop
shop for you know, people andtheir pets. I want, you know,
(01:49):
I want you to have access toeverything under one roof. That's always
been the goal, and I wantto be the best at what I do.
There is a lot of money,this is a growing industry, and
some people seem to make that apriority over the pups, you know,
and so I definitely wanted to makesure that you know, obviously we all
need money, right, but thatwasn't my biggest concern. It was making
(02:09):
sure that these dogs are happy.That we have you know, cohesive playgroups
that you know, we're just we'rea part of the family. We're helping,
you know, the families grow withtheir pets and learn, you know.
So yeah, I think that's reallythat's really what did it for me,
and the speaking of the we part. So I'm assuming you have a
(02:30):
good team behind you. Yes,How did you get that team together?
I know that could be really difficultwhen running a business. Yeah, I
mean I have been blessed to haveamazing people around me from the beginning,
passionate individuals. You know. Istarted off as a one man show,
home based six am till ten pm, you know at night. And then
(02:51):
finally, you know, I wasable to hire my first person, my
first walker, and then it wasa second walker and a third one.
It was like I had the fantasticfour for a very long time, and
they were all equally as passionate,you know as me. Until this day,
we are still you know, intouch. They helped me, you
know, grow into that first brickand mortar in twenty fourteen, we leased
(03:12):
out a four thousand square foot spaceand now you know, we've grown into
a ten thousand square foot owned space. So it's amazing, that's an amazing
journey. And definitely, yeah,to have a team. You can't do
it without having the right Oh yeah, absolutely. That can really sink a
ship, you can yeah, yeah, it can make or break you for
sure. Yeah, and you don'twant that. So any advice for someone
(03:34):
that would think about starting to getinto this type of business. You know,
I have a lot of people thatsay, oh, I love dogs,
you know, I want to dothis even, you know, people
that I will give them a shadowday to come try it out, and
before we actually officially hire them,it's like, are you sure it's not
all pe and puppies all day?You know, it's a lot of hard
work. You know, dogs havebad days just like humans. You know,
(03:59):
dogs don't clean up after after themselves. So it's a lot that goes
into it. So it's like,get your feet wet and do a you
know, an internship or a youknow, get a little job at a
vet something in the field, soyou have a little idea on what to
expect, and then you know,I just if you want it, go
for it. That's it. Youknow, don't get discouraged. You just
you push for what you want.I feel like everybody should push for what
(04:23):
they want. Yeah, they cancome see me, you know, if
they want someone in from I'm anopen book, you know. I've had
people come to me all the timethinking, you know, telling me they
want to start a business, sometimespet related, sometimes not, and just
asking me all kinds of questions likeI'm willing to, you know, tell
you anything you want to know,and hopes that you will avoid some of
(04:44):
the hurdles you know, that Ihad when I started. Yeah, speaking
of that, what were some ofthe challenges that you had when you first
started and how do you get overthat hill? Oh my goodness, no
pun intended with the last name.Yes, Well, you know, money
is always a thing, right,So initially when I started my business,
I still was working, you know, part time. I think that getting
(05:08):
to you know, going to thebank and getting the know we can't fund
you, the know we can't fundyou, and then finally figuring out alternative
methods. So I used a lotof credit cards, self funding, I
bought my own, you know,company vehicle, and then all of a
sudden, when I went back tothe bank and they saw I had skin
in the game, they had tolook at me differently. You can tell
me no all day, that's notgoing to stop me. I will figure
(05:30):
it out. That's just the kindof person I am, you know.
So that's that was definitely a bighurdle. And then it became the family
hurdle. I had my you know, first child, and I thought I
was going to be super mom,strap around me, walk these dogs.
Yeah, it did not work,especially in the city of Chicago with this
weather we have. Oh yeah,I had to rethink that. You know.
I had an amazing Lydia, Icall her my angel. She watched
(05:51):
my child like a lot, youknow. And then when I got married,
it was like trying to find thatbalance of home time and work time
because my business was there first,like I love my business, but I
need you know, I'm married nowI have kids. That was that was
a big, big struggle. Myhusband was super supportive, but it took
(06:14):
a toll. I mean he waspicking up the kids, dropping off the
kids, and he worked midnight.So you know, it was a lot.
So you just got to be reallyresilient and tenacious and just you know,
go for it, and you know, if there's a will, there's
a way, and yeah, that'spretty away. That's it. Yeah,
people have, like I've noticed onthis podcast when we talk about the home
work life balance is everybody's always sayingthe same thing, like it's a work
(06:39):
in progress, working on it allthe time, especially when you have kids,
Like that's just it's a lot todo well. It takes time,
you know, but if you reallytry to, you know, give yourself
an outline or framework for what youwant to do and by what time you
want to accomplish it, then Ifeel like the pieces start to fall together,
you know. I mean I cantake vacations and not worry, you
(07:00):
know, because my staff. I'veput in all those hours of creating the
you know, standard operating procedures,spending the time there with the staff and
teaching them how I want it done, how popstars does it, you know,
in comparison to other places they havebeen. And then once you have
that solid you have more breathing room. And when you get a taste of
that, like that breathing room andyou feel that yeah, like okay,
(07:23):
you know, then you get alittle motivating you just keep going. I
mean, it's like life, period, It's always going to throw you curveballs,
you know, and it's just howyou kind of you know, navigate
those and keep going. That's itexactly. That's like the you know,
the pandemic put a halt on everybody'swhatever they had going on. Yes,
it's like it was twenty nineteen andthen we blinked. Now twenty twenty four.
(07:44):
That's yeah, that's super scary.I mean, COVID affected everyone,
you know, some good, somebad. You know. I think everyone
needed a reset. So I lookat COVID as more positive than negative.
Yes, you know, it hurtus. My staff went, you know,
from working five days a week,you know, full time, to
like two days a week part time, and we all figured it out.
(08:05):
We all weathered the storm, andI will forever be grateful for that.
But you know, it's also verycool to see all the new businesses that
you know, sprouted from this andpeople realizing I'm gonna turn my passion into
a business. Like I think that'sa beautiful thing, you know. But
again, I mean in life andin business, you just have to keep
going. Yeah, I definitely agreewith that. So when you started,
(08:28):
did you have any of course,there were the challenges, but did you
ever have to deal with like selfdoubt or like doubt from other people?
Because you know, I've noticed,which I really dislike, I'm gonna be
real when people tried to like rainon your dreams, like they'll think they're
too big. Well, you know, so when I was first starting out,
(08:50):
no, I've lived on my ownsince I was fifteen, so it
was just me. No one couldreally tell me anything, you know.
Yeah. I took advice from teateas, you know, and the teachers
were always very motivating, like misterDavis, I'll never forget. He stressed
so much, like just entrepreneurship andjust you know, going for your going
(09:11):
for your dreams, reaching for thisguy. And I don't know that just
kind of stuck with me. Yeah, and I just always I did it.
I'm like, I'll figure it outas I got you know, older
and married and have kids. Youknow. My husband was like, I
wanted this huge dream facility, likeyou know, a big warehouse like PetSmart,
and I want to do this,this, this, and you know,
we toured a couple of those places, and when he heard the dollar
(09:31):
amount that I'd have to come upyou know in monthly rent, he was
like, maybe you should rethink this, maybe you should go small. No,
I want big, you know.Yeah, and then finally, after
some roadblocks and some clothes you know, uh, failed deals in terms of
looking at properties, I was beingI don't want to say harassed, but
(09:52):
somebody was approaching me consistently about thisone specific spot and I'm like, no,
no, it's too small. SoI think in my mo of just
weakness desperation. I finally went tothis place again and I sat a chair
in the middle and I was like, everyone just leave me alone. And
I was like, can I makethis work? So I had my little
sketch book and I was just tryingto figure things out. And I did.
(10:15):
I ended up, you know,securing that space, and the rent
amount was a fraction of what itwould have been, you know, And
I chose you, yeah, thebigger spots. And I'm glad because if
I would have, you know,bit off more than I could chew,
I would have fell flat on myface with COVID, with some of the
like dog illnesses that go around.So I'm definitely grateful to my husband for
(10:37):
making that recommendation. Just grateful that, you know, I had the opportunity.
It was a VET, another VETthat wasn't operating out of the facility
anymore. So he's like, hey, I'll lease it. So I'm grateful.
That's awesome. Okay, came through. Okay, and you would say
something about expanding or expanding this year. Yeah, so again through COVID,
(11:00):
you know, just I had alot of opportunity to just be quiet with
my thoughts and figure things out andwhere I want things to go. So
we're opening. God, it's afew feet from our current location, a
thirteen thousand square foot facility called theCanine Corridor, And what that is is
a incubator slash coworking place since slashlike dog aquad accent, that's the best
(11:24):
way that I can describe it.It'll have two indoor dog pools so that
people with their pets can come in. They can swim, both for therapy
and leisure. Obviously, Chicago's weather, you know, it's snowing crazy.
Yeah, dogs can't be out allthe time, so they'll get to come
indoors. And the cool thing aboutthis space is there's five other businesses working
(11:46):
in there with me. So theyall have their own businesses, some smaller,
some bigger, and this will bea space that we all share.
So the networking, the marketing,just the shared collaboration is amazing and we're
going to offer internships for the community, So anybody who wants to come in
and learn about dogs. I meanpeople think about dogs or animals in general,
(12:09):
and usually their mind goes to veterinarianright right there. You could be
a trainer, you could be avet you could be a massage therapist.
You know, you could be anagility instructor. There are so many things
that the you know, people don'tknow about when it comes to this,
you know, pet industry, andit's a big deal. Yeah, I
think you know, so many ofthe trades have been taken out of schools.
(12:33):
This is this is a trade,this is a profession. Totally do
this and be sustainable. And youknow, if you love animals, I
mean, it's not work if you'redoing what you love, right, so
oh yeah, absolutely, exposing everyoneto that and you know, getting them,
you know, just that realization likeOkay, this is out there,
let me pursue this further, orthis is what I want to do.
You know. Every year we gointo uh we go to an expo it's
(12:56):
called Global Pet Expo in Florida andit's so is classes, it's new products,
I mean, it's all these things, and I think if people saw
that and they realize what it's lacking, I think it's a lot more of
us, you know in that grain. For sure. It's definitely growing from
the first year I went till now, and it's such a proud thing to
(13:18):
see. Yeah, like, hey, here we are, here we go,
you know. And the fact thatyou all are doing that community aspect
with the internships and as you say, collaboration, that is beautiful. That's
amazing. I'm so like, Ithink that's one of the things I'm most
excited for because it's so hard totry to figure out. Again, it
comes down to balance, right,I need to have a roof over my
(13:39):
head, so I kind of needto work, but I need to dive
all into my business to grow it. Well, all this time I spent
so much time, you know,having you know, getting employees and you
know, doing the normal daily grindof offering our services for a fee paying
employees. It's nice to do somethingthat doesn't necessarily have a dollar amount attached
to It's like, hey, you'regiving your time, I'm going to give
(14:03):
you the knowledge and let's see whereit goes from there. And hopefully,
you know, if everything works outwell, we'll be able to employ some
of those people. I mean,you know, there's a huge drought right
now for groomers. Oh my goodness, Like it's so hard to find a
groomer. So I think that trainingand showing these people what's out there and
getting everyone to you know, comein, it should come full circle and
(14:24):
it should definitely, you know,elevate you know, us as a people
and the industry itself. So saythat, say that, yes, okay.
Now my favorite question, what isbeing brilliantly black mean to you man?
Surviving every day? Yeah? Driving? Yeah, what I mean?
It's just every day, you know, there's so many obstacles, so many
(14:45):
knows, so many things that couldmake you like throw in the towel.
And with everything going on in theworld, the fact that we get up
every day and we push forward andwe do what we do, that's brilliantly
black. Ooh that was a goodone. Yes, yes, okay,
So I want to say thank youso much again for joining me today.
But before we go, of course, tell people where they can check you
(15:07):
out, social media, website,phone number, email, whatever you want.
Absolutely, Popstars PetCare is located attwenty three thirty seven Westlake Street on
Chicago's Near West Side. Our phonenumber is seven seven three three two two
three one six zero and the coursesocial media pop Stars, PetCare on TikTok,
Instagram, Facebook, website www dotpopstars dot com. Boom, there
(15:31):
it is. Thank you so muchfor joining me today. So much.
Of course, thanks for listening toThe Brilliantly Black Podcast. Produced by Jasmine
Bennett and Ryan Lath. Executive producedby Eco Robinson and Derek Brown. If
you're a black business and would liketo be featured, register your business or
service now at V one o threedot com slash brilliant. The Brilliantly Black
(15:54):
Podcast is a production of iHeartMedia's Chicago
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