December 17, 2024 • 52 mins
Julia Davis is back on the podcast to share updates about her life which now includes fostering kittens. Julia happened to move into a house with a cat living in a chicken coop and now in a new home, she has five cats in addition to a group of foster kittens. Julia’s community on TikTok has always been supportive of Julia giving back to her community and supporting the kittens’ journeys.
Connect with Julia:
https://www.tiktok.com/@julia_adavis
https://www.instagram.com/julia_adavis
Donate to the podcast: https://ko-fi.com/introducingmepodcast
Want to share your story and be a guest? Email: introducingmepodcast@gmail.com
Find all the podcast social media and more on the website: https://www.introducingmepodcast.com
Artwork: instagram.com/vashaundesigns
Music/Editing: youtube.com/colemanrowlett
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:15):
- Hello and welcome to Introducing Me.
I'm your host Sarah. Istarted this podcast to get
to know other people and lifestyles while
discovering more about myself.
Each episode I give a new guest a chance
to discuss their background,culture, interests,
or whatever they want to talkabout to help increase all
of our own worldviews.
In September around mypodcast anniversary,
I do a yearly check-in where I am more
of the guest than the host.
(00:37):
If you listen to that episode,
you heard me talk about myplans to continue the podcast
through to September,2025, in a similar fashion
as I have this past year.
However, a little over a month
after I recorded that episode,I decided that I wanted 2025
to look different for myself,and I decided to wrap up
and end my podcast this year.
So today's guest will be the last guest,
(00:57):
and next week I'll be back toagain, act more as a guest,
to give you some more updates.
Over the years when Ihave met with guests,
I have had plenty of them offer a chance
to record again and give an update.
So when I was planning outthis final guest episode,
I decided to do justthat, offer this episode
to a previous guest whoselife looks very different from
when we last heard from her.
We heard from Julia Davis in March, 2021,
(01:20):
less than a year out from hercollege graduation when she
was on various business endeavors.
Since then, Julia moved intoa home with a chicken coop,
which was home to a cat.
Now nicknamed Coop, sharing her journey
with Coop on TikTok.
Julia has establishedthe Coop Kitty Community,
which has brought a lotof good to the world
and truly changed Julia's journey.
So I'm excited to haveJulia back again today
(01:42):
to share more about what'shappened in these past couple
of years and where she is now.
So thank you so much, Julia.
Why don't you again, share withthe audience more about you
and what you're doing these days.
- Well, thank you so much for having me
back on the podcast, Sarah.
I believe your podcastwas the very first podcast
I ever did back in 2021,which was so exciting.
(02:04):
So it's such an honor tobe back on your podcast now
for the very last episode.
Uh, since we last talked,a lot has changed.
Like you said, I wasfresh outta my undergrad
and I was in the middleof my graduate degree.
I was planning to getmy master's in PR, look
for a job either in corporateAmerica or higher education.
And I was gonna work a jobfor 30 years and retire.
(02:27):
That was the plan. And you know,
the universe just put me on atotally different trajectory
and I could not be more thankful.
But it has been quite, quite the journey,
finding changes to this path
that I truly could not haveanticipated or even dreamed of.
I finished that degree in May of 2022,
(02:49):
and like you said, Imoved into a house, uh,
with a chicken coop in the backyard
and there was a scraggly white skinny cat in the chicken
coop, and I randomly posteda video on TikTok about him,
and I had no idea that thatvideo would change my life,
his life, and ultimately thelife of hundreds of people
(03:12):
and animals across the US and the world.
Uh, so that's kind of
where the journey startedfrom the last time we talked.
- And so then how has Coopkind of changed, you know,
not going into the corporatecareer, not following
that original trajectory.
(03:32):
What sort of made thosesort of things switch up?
- So when I found Coop
and posted the initialvideo, that kind of took off
and people took interest in his story,
I actually was working ajob in higher education.
That's why I moved to that house.
The house was, uh, the closestto what I could afford, uh,
(03:54):
close to the job that I got inhigher education at the time.
And, uh, I was planningto stay at that job.
And a little bit
after starting that job, I realized that
that was probably not thepath I wanted to be on,
but I did not want topursue TikTok full-time.
It just felt silly to leave a,
(04:16):
I got a job at a great stateschool right outta graduate
school, and I felt reallyfortunate to be able
to get a job like thatand start building my 401k
and building towards retirement
and hopefully, you know,start at the bottom
and work my way up to hopefullybeing a director one day.
That was kind of the goal and the dream.
And I absolutely loved the field I was in.
(04:37):
I didn't love the positionI was in at the time,
but I feel like everyone just kind of has
to pay their dues at thebeginning of their career.
Uh, working a job where youfeel like you aren't appreciated
and aren't making enough, Ifeel like that's just kind
of like you just do it at the beginning
of your career to get where you wanna be.
So that's where I was and I can't lie.
I was really unhappy.And then I found this cat
(04:58):
and this community on TikTokthat was following this cat,
and that brought me a lot of happiness.
And I never moved to monetize that account
because I, like, I gota degree to make money.
I worked my job to make money.That's what I'm gonna do.
And I'll post on TikTok on the side.
Well, 10 months after I started that job,
(05:19):
they had a massive budget cut
and one of the first things
to get cut was the salary for my job.
They said it was nothing personal.
It was one of those, you know,
it was the newest positionin the department.
I was the last one hired,so I was the first one out.
And so they laid meoff at the end of 2022.
There I was in a newcity with, at that point,
(05:42):
three new cats, uh, thanks tothe cat distribution system
and a chicken coop in my backyard
and about to have no job.
Uh, and my laptop died the day
that I found out I was getting laid off.
So that was an extra little,
like the universe just being like, here,
have a little extra fun today.
The MacBook I had had for six years
and no problems the dayI got laid off just died.
(06:06):
Um, I thought, you know, at
that point I had about a halfa million followers on TikTok,
which was really wild
because it was something I like stubbed
my toe and fell into.
It was never a goal or ambitionof mine to be a TikToker.
I don't like looking at my own face
or hearing my own voice that much.
It's really kind of grading to
watch yourself every dayand edit your own videos.
(06:29):
But I thought I could alwaysfind another job in PR as long
as people say dumb things on the internet,
I'll always be able to finda job in public relations.
But I didn't think I couldalways build off the momentum
from TikTok that I had at that time.
So I gave myself a timeline
and said, let's see if wecan make money doing this.
If we can, great. If not, I tried
(06:50):
and I'll look for another job in PR
and January 1st, of 2025will be two full years
of being a full-time TikToker.
And that is kind of the journey
of going from higher educationto full-time TikToker.
And I truly don't know ifI would've had the guts
(07:11):
to make the jump from state job
to TikToker if they had not laid me off.
I don't think I would'vebeen brave enough to do it.
I think I probably would'vefelt very silly leaving a state
job, even if one that Iwasn't particularly fond of
to be a TikToker.
So I'm really thankful thatthey did have that budget cut
(07:32):
and they, they let me go
'cause it let me spread my wings in ways
that I didn't think were possible.
- And so when you started, you know,
really focusing on TikTok saying,
can I survive financially by doing this?
What were you posting about?
How were you, you know,maybe growing your audience,
bringing in an incomethat you were able to say,
(07:55):
I can continue this?
- So when I started doing it full time,
I actually startedfostering cats and kittens.
Um, the initial journeythat I think everybody kind
of fell in love with on ouraccount was the story of the cat
and the chicken coop and thenthe second cat on the roof
(08:16):
of the chicken coop and then the two feral
kittens under the shed.
That story lived
and came to its naturalconclusion probably
around the time that I got laid off.
And up until then I hadbeen posting daily updates
of getting the older cats healthy.
We found out they were FIV positive
and I walked my community onTikTok through the journey
(08:39):
of learning what FIV was
and how we were gonna take care of that
through getting them fixed,
through getting their skin healthy,
through socializing these twoferal kittens to the decision
to keep the two adultsand one of the feral
and my parents taking the other one.
That story did come toits natural conclusion.
So I thought, I'm not sureif I'm gonna have these daily
(08:59):
updates to post anymore.
It was actually one of my best friends
and my tia, my, my aunt whosuggested that I start fostering
because not only would it give
my audience a look at another side of
what rescue can look like
and from the PR standpoint,if you can show somebody
what something can look like,they're more likely to do it.
(09:21):
And I was like, oh, Icould show people firsthand
what it's like to foster thecats will get something good
out of it and as a bonus it will give me
something to post about.
So in January I started fostering cats
and that's kind of beenthe journey since then.
Uh, with of course still showingthe original Coop kitties
are OGs and since thenwe've had between 20
(09:44):
and 25 foster catscycle through the house.
I've only foster failed once,
which I'm very proud of myself for.
So my total is now at five,
but we've had a lot of cats come through.
So that's what I do and post about now.
- And that one foster failure,how is that that, you know,
(10:04):
you have been able to notfoster fail more often
and you know, findthese kitties new homes,
but then you did, you didsay yes to one of them?
- Huh.
Saying goodbye is always the hardest.
It does not get easier,
but I try to think inmy head that I am caring
(10:26):
for somebody else's cat from the time
they come into my home.
I try to think that thisis somebody else's cat.
There's not even a possibilityof them being my cat.
And that helps. And I alsothink it's good for it not
to be easy to let go
because that means thatthey're getting love
and they're worth getting attached
people like, oh, I would get attached.
I'm like, and you should.It's worth it for them,
(10:48):
for somebody to show enough love to them
that you get a little bit attached.
It's good for their development
and their ability to connectwith a person, even if
that's not you, you know,with their forever family.
But there was something about this group,
this was my first group ofneonates that I had ever had.
(11:09):
I had had bottle babies once before,
but I got them at four weeks.
This group I got at fourdays old, they were,
they were closer to micethan they were to cats.
I mean they were trulykind of alien looking
and she was the only girl ofthe group and she was the runt.
And I honestly did notthink she was gonna make it.
(11:29):
She did not eat verywell for the first three
or four days, which at thatsize was just really concerning.
But she did, she made it.
And then we actually losther brother at six weeks.
So there was a little more trauma bonding
in that experience.
And that was my firstreally significant loss
with rescue and fostering.
And after that I just knewlike I cannot let her go.
(11:53):
If I thought I could havesix cats, I would've kept her
and her other brother.
But he's placed with oneof my very good friends
and that is the perfect place for him.
I don't wanna stretch myself too thin.
She also bonded with myother cats and my dog.
So in a way, like I kindof made the decision
and they finalize the decisionthat this is where she's
(12:14):
meant to be and now I'm good.
Five is enough.
- Five is enough.
So how do you get these various fosters
and you know, if it'slike, do you kind of work
with one organization?
Is it people just reachingout to you in your community?
Because it seems like youhave a bit of a revolving door
(12:35):
for other cats.
- Yeah, so in the beginningI did not want to foster
independently because thatmeans that I would be paying
for everything independently.
And while TikTok is a sustainable career
for myself, rescuingcan be very expensive.
(12:55):
When I decided I wantedto foster, I wanted to
pick a smaller nonprofit
because at that point I knew
that my community was bringinga lot of exposure to causes
that I was bringing to the community.
And shelters are really great
and they do a lot of great work,
but I wanted to bring exposureto maybe a smaller nonprofit
that didn't have as much exposure.
(13:17):
A lot of shelters inthe area already had a
lot of people that knew about them.
So I thought it would bereally cool to pick a nonprofit
that was smaller, maybe even one
that didn't have a physical location.
And luckily our vet, who I adore and love
and really credit withsaving these cats' lives
and helping me get them toa healthy point, they knew
(13:38):
of a very, very smallnonprofit that was just made
of foster homes and Istarted working with them
and that is who I usually foster through.
I did start making exceptions
and started fosteringsome cats independently.
And that is a very different ball game
because I pay for everything
and my community helps me pay for it,
but I also have to pick the adoptees.
(14:01):
And that is a very intimidating process,
or at least I find thatprocess very intimidating
because I feel so muchmore responsible for
finding the right family.
Whereas when I was fosteringthrough the nonprofit,
they adopted out all the kittens.
I just help them get tothe healthy point of ready
for adoption and they pick the families.
(14:21):
- Yeah, it sounds likeit would be something
that is a little bit like taxing
and figuring out the bestways to go about that.
And of course, as you have
so many cats in the backgroundin your house, you know,
we might hear some littledisruptions here and there.
My cats right now are beingnice, quiet angels, um,
which is not alwaysthe case when I record.
(14:44):
So how is it, you know,
that you do find these familieswhen you do end up taking in
cats for, um, without goingthrough this nonprofit,
are you mostly doingthings through like friends
or people you already know or
because like your TikTokreach is much larger
than just your area?
(15:08):
- Absolutely, yes.
So the first group thatI've adopted out myself,
I put an application throughGoogle Forms up on my linktree
in my bio and TikTok and I hadseveral, several applications
and just kind of felt drawn to one.
And I, at the time I had a group of two
(15:29):
and they were actually two boys
and they were not relatedto each other, um, at all,
but they were the same ageand I raised them together
and this family adopted both of them.
So that was wonderful.
And that's kind of how I went about it.
I got this lady's information,we talked on the phone,
learned about her and her family,
and felt that it was areally good match for them
(15:50):
to take both of those boys.
- And so then what are youkind of like doing now in terms
of how many cats you're willing to take?
- Well, Sarah, that is a great question
because I probably would'vehad a very different answer
(16:11):
even six months ago.
Now that I have fiveof my own, I'm not sure
where the limit is,
but prior to this,
the most I had ever hadin my house was eight.
I'd had four of my ownand I had groups of four
fosters coming through.
(16:32):
Currently there are nine in my house.
I have five of my own four fosters,
and I'm picking up anotherfoster kitten on Wednesday
of this week, which willbring my total to 10.
And something about thatdouble digits just like, okay,
girly, we should reevaluatewhat we can, what we can handle.
But um, I did move to a largerhome for the sole purpose
(16:56):
of having room to foster more cats.
So I have a dedicated foster room now.
Before I did not have a fosterroom, so now I have a room
that I can solely use for fostering.
I also have another sparebathroom that I can use
for fostering, which makesthe process so much easier
for me, easier for them.
And I have a basement now
where I can do our big donation drives
(17:17):
and I did not have that before,
so I'm not sure what the limit is.
I feel like once I reachthe limit I will know .
- That's, that's understandable.
As you've gotten into abigger space, figuring out,
you know, the ebbs
and flows now in a typical foster
timeline, now that you havespace where you can kind
(17:39):
of like segregate them,how do you integrate them
into life with other cats?
Life with a dog, making surethat like things are okay?
What is that timeline typically look like?
- It really depends on where the cat
(17:59):
is on their journey when they come to us.
So I had, when I had theneonates that were so young, um,
they were too young to bevaccinated against things,
but they also could have had something
that they could have passed to my cats.
Even though my cats were fully vaccinated,
you can't really preventthings like ringworm.
And we did have a ringwormoutbreak in the house, so
that was, that was hard.
(18:20):
And they were so little that they were
with us for much, much longer.
'cause they were so youngwhen they came to me,
they were on bottles for afull six weeks in, in my home.
So there's not much we can do with that in
that process though.
I, after they're healthy
and clear to meet mycats, I have a couple of,
I call like my foster superstarswho are really accepting
(18:43):
of other cats.
Like outside of our littlegroup, I have a couple
that want nothing to do with any fosters
and frankly kind of wantnothing to do with each other.
And they're fine just kindof doing their own thing.
But I also have a 60 pounddog who absolutely loves cats
and she's really wonderfulto have around foster cats.
(19:04):
So at least, even if thecats are not interacting
with her really, reallyclosely, they're used to being
around a dog.
I try to keep the cats
or get the cats as usedto as many situations
as possible when they're in my care so
that they can be adopted to families.
Not, we don't have to exclude families
(19:25):
because oh, they have a dog
or they have a small child,they have another cat.
I want them to be as usedto being around people
and other animals as possible
when they go to their forever homes.
- And you know,
because you said how sayinggoodbye is the hardest,
do you get updates about your cats
(19:47):
after they have found their forever homes
and left your foster care?
- Yes and no.
The family that I adopted directly to, not
through the nonprofit, sheactually posts about them on
TikTok and we're mutuals onTikTok, so I see them now
as adults, which is really, really cool.
(20:09):
The nonprofit that Ifoster with, um, is kind
of the middleman in between me,
the foster parent and the forever family.
So there's not always the like link in
communication between us.
Some people have reached outto me via TikTok or email
and that's really, really wonderful.
(20:29):
Um, but I get so many messagesthat sometimes those get lost
and I don't get to connect with them.
So the answer is yes and no.
The more I can see of them, the better.
The two boys that, uh, went to the family
that I adopted out, that was probably at
that point the hardest goodbye
because I had had them forthree full months before then.
(20:50):
I maybe had a group for10 days or three weeks.
Three months is a longtime to have these cats.
And it was a new element forme adopting them out myself
and paying for everything myself.
There was just a little bit ofa different connection there
and I actually flew them tothe Dallas-Fort Worth area
to meet with their forever family.
(21:12):
So then we had had thatexperience of flying together
and it was, it did my hearta lot of good to be able
to see them, uh, in theirnew home through TikTok
thriving and growing
and building connectionswith their new family.
So the more I can see the better,
but it's not always realitywhen it comes to fostering
(21:33):
and that is just somethingthat you have to go into it,
it's nice if you get it,
but it's expected that you won't.
- And so then how isit, you know, you have
to let these kitty cats go, you know,
they find their forever homes,you're bringing in new cats.
Um, what kind of is your hope
(21:57):
for fostering in the future?
Like is this kind of the planis to just kind of keep going
and keep documenting all oftheir journeys on TikTok?
- Right now, that is the plan.
If I have learned one thingover the last three years, it is
plans can go awry, um, at any moment.
(22:19):
And the best, the way
that I have found the bestsuccess is to go with the flow
and not put up
so much resistance whenI would think the path
should look different.
If you had asked me the lasttime I was on your podcast,
if I would be fostering cats, um,
living alone in a house in Birmingham,
(22:40):
I would've said absolutely not.
So going with the flow helps, helps a lot.
And ultimately my goalis to continue fostering.
It helps the cats, it helpsthe forever families who get
to adopt these kitties,
but it also helps inspireother people to foster.
(23:00):
And if, if I can inspire one other person
to take a chance on fosteringor even rescuing a cat
or rescuing an adultcat, taking in an adult
that might be FIV positive,then that makes all the time
that I spend doing it andposting about it worth it.
- So then, because you know,TikTok has become full-time
(23:23):
for you, you are, youknow, kind of working out
of your own home, how does fostering sort
of like disrupt daily life?
- Hmm, that is a great question.
Fostering is unpredictable
because they're, they'recats that we're not used
(23:44):
to having in our house.
Um, after a certain point,it's kind of like they're kind
of integrated into our, our daily routine.
But just like with my cats,I don't expect anything out
of the foster cats in terms of filming.
Um, I've always said these are animals
who have their own, their own autonomy.
(24:06):
They're not circus monkeys andI don't make them do anything
and I can't expect anything of them.
If I happen to capturesomething really cute while I'm
holding one of them, awesome,
but some days it just doesn't happen.
And I used to be really adamant about
posting every single day.
My mental health took a toll with that.
(24:26):
And sometimes cats are just not feeling it
and I'm not in thebusiness of making them.
So sometimes we get greatcontent, sometimes we don't.
But when we add fosters, it adds another
element of things that we can film of,
but it also adds another unknown.
(24:47):
I don't know how they'regoing to respond to things.
And right now I have threeferal kittens, so they
are not cuddly and sweet.
That has been a change
and I would love to showthat to TikTok,
but right now that's not reality.
So I'm showing them thereality of they want me
to keel over most days.
They would not like to see me.
(25:09):
They want nothing to dowith me for the most part,
but they've seen the, the journey.
So I had to shift to look how cute
and cuddly they are to lookat the progress we're making
from them hissing
and spitting at me to, they kind
of come up to me for a treat.
And that is some major progress,just kind of following,
following their leadand going with the flow.
(25:32):
- And so then for feral kittens,is it kind of like you have
to see through to ideallywhere they will come up to you
for treats where they willbe amenable, that then
that is when you'reable to adopt them out?
- That is the hope.
Um, ideally they would be not feral
(25:54):
at all, but at this point Ithink the best we can hope
for is that they will, well,it's different for all of them.
There's one that I think hisbest hope is he's gonna be
a one person cat.
And for him, I'm actually thinking
of finding his forever homesooner so that he can bond
with his person.
And that tends to be more ofthe case in my experience with
(26:18):
ferals, is they kind of bond to a person
and I don't want to be that person for him
and then take that away from him.
Whereas the other two, Ireally think they will become
snugly with anybody given enoughtime and working with them.
So that is ultimately the goal.
But sometimes it is not reality that they are going to be these perfectly cuddly, friendly,
(26:43):
sweet cats, they, one
of them I truly thinkwill probably be elusive
for most of his life.
He could surprise me.He has surprised me up
until now, I must say.
But I think he will probablybe a one person cat.
- We have a bitof an elusive one, but
after a couple years he'sslowly, slowly starting to
(27:05):
make some tides and being alittle bit more human amenable.
Um, he plays with hisbrother all the time,
but, uh, likes his personal space.
Now you mentioned a littlebit about, you know, how you
at one point were posting every day
and it took a toll on your mental health.
So what has your mentalhealth journey been like
(27:27):
with social media andmaking sure that you are
maintaining a good place to be in?
- It has changed over the last few years.
I, I feel as though I'm very fortunate in
that I have a really, reallysupportive, kind community
(27:49):
of people on TikTok.
Social media can be a really dark place
and people can sit behind a keyboard
and say absolutely anythingthey want about you.
And I can say to myself all day long,
they only see three minutes of my day.
They're not judging mebased on myself as a person,
but on those three minutesand blah, blah, blah.
(28:10):
But when somebody isthrowing insults at you
and honestly pretty personal ones,
it's hard not to take it to heart.
And posting every day
and seeing comments likethat every day did take a bit
of a toll.
But I also struggled with wantingto take a little step back
because my community is so awesome
and at the end of the day,them watching my videos was
(28:33):
what allowed me to pay my rent
and afford taking care of these animals
who I love and they love.
So I really struggled probablyaround the one year mark of
what do I owe myself versuswhat do I owe my audience?
Do I owe it to them every day
to share little bits of my life?
Do I owe it to them to share personal
(28:54):
information about my life?
Do I owe it to them to sharethe good, the bad, the ugly?
Is that cutting myselfshort by sharing things
that maybe I don't wantto share with my audience?
So finding that balance took time
and I don't think there's evergoing to be a perfect balance
of that, but, and it'llprobably change as time goes on
(29:14):
and as life ebb and flows and changes.
But finding a balance
and trying to stay true tomyself of what I want to share
with my audience, um, hashelped with my mental health
and my,
and also being upfront with my audience
that I'm having a hard time
and seeing them say,
(29:36):
we're gonna be herewhen you come back in a
few days, like, take some time.
That helped a lot.
Some people truly wanna post every day
and I totally get that,
but for the most part, theyreally are understanding
that I'm a person too,
and posting seven daysa week is a lot of work.
Um, and they're, they'revery understanding
and I'm very lucky witha really great audience.
(30:01):
- Yes. And I mean, the audienceI would say comes from,
you know, the content thatyou're putting out, the attitudes
and the information thatyou're putting out there.
You know, you want a collective community,
you want something positive.
So what kind of journeyshas your audience been able
to help support you on inthis last couple of years?
(30:26):
- Oh my goodness. We have
done more charitable work thanI ever thought was possible.
That's always kind of been where my heart
was, was to help people.
And that's something thatI really felt lacking.
Um, in my higher educationjob, I didn't feel
as though I was getting tohelp people or animals as much.
I've always been an animalperson getting to help animals
(30:48):
with the help of TikTok, likethese animals that I found
was the start of somethingreally beautiful.
And at the very beginningof our TikTok journey,
I never asked for help, but people
asked how they could help.
So I splashed up a GoFundMefor the initial vet bills
and put up an Amazon wishlist,
(31:08):
and we were probably gettinga hundred packages a day
for a while of cat food tothe point where I was like,
we're not gonna be able to use all this
before it starts going bad.
And so I told my audience
that I was gonna start giving it away to
other animals in need.
And even the money, theyraised so much money
that I thought we have enough,let's share this kindness.
(31:30):
Like it would be so selfish ofme to not share this kindness
with other people that we've been shown.
And my audience's reactionto that was, well,
if you're going to give itaway, we're gonna keep giving
and we're gonna helpmore people and animals.
So over the last two years,we have probably given away
between 80 and $90,000 in funds
(31:53):
to various nonprofits
and causes that we'reall passionate about.
And I would say between a hundred
and $200,000 of suppliesthrough Amazon wishlists
and donation drives.
And that is something that Iam so incredibly thankful for
and proud of, and it would not happen
without this community.
(32:14):
I put up the wishlist, butthey purchase everything.
I sort it, but they buy it,it would not be possible
without them.
And it all started because
of a little scragglycat in a chicken coop.
- Yes. It's, it's definitelybeen such a journey from
where you first came with that one video.
Now, you know, we, like onTikTok, you, you show the cats,
(32:38):
you show some of thesedrives and stuff like that,
but behind the scenesthere's, there must be a lot
of logistics when it comes to all of this
and getting donations
and giving out, you know,gifts and all of that.
So what does that look like for you
for maybe like if you havean established business,
(33:00):
like the legal
and business side of things,how do you manage all of that?
- There's actually a lot more
that goes into it than meetsthe eye as, as you said, um,
in the beginning when wewere getting a lot of, um,
monetary donations, I hadlegal questions of course,
(33:22):
you know, do I need to besetting some of this aside to be,
do I need to pay taxes on this?
What do I need to, you know,what do I need to report
and where, and then with the fiscal goods,
what do I need to be reporting?
What do I need to be keeping track of?
So I took care of talking tolegal teams at the beginning
(33:43):
to learn how I couldcross my t's and dot my i's
now the main logisticsof everything is okay,
we're gonna do this donation drive
and I have an audience that is incredible
and is going to gifthundreds of items per day
to this cause or that cause Awesome.
Where are those things going to go?
(34:04):
At my other house, I did not,I didn't have a foster room,
I didn't have a spare room,I didn't have a garage.
So over a hundred packages from Amazon
would come in every day.
They would go into mylittle bitty living room.
I would unpackageeverything, consolidate boxes
and put them aside as muchas I could into my shed
or into my carport and hoped and prayed.
It didn't rain. And wewould do the same thing,
(34:27):
or I would do the same thing the next day.
One of the huge selling points of moving
to a larger home was havinga room for fostering.
But I also have a finishedbasement that is purely
for donation drives.
That's where I can sort thingsstore things until it's time
to take them to wherever they're going.
And that takes a hugeburden off of figuring out
(34:47):
where these things aregoing to go in the meantime.
The other logistic, um, that has come up
with every donation drive is
how we're going to get them there.
More times than not, I'vehad to rent to U-Haul
to get donations to where they need to go,
which is such a great problem to have.
But what I did not account
for in the beginning was ifI'm collecting physical goods,
(35:09):
I wasn't collecting money,so I ended up paying
for the U-Haul myself out of my pocket,
which was totally fine.
And then all the time that Iwas spending opening packages,
I was not talking to brands
to work on brand contractsor making videos.
So I say that I lose moneyon every donation drive
that I do, but it's still so worth it.
(35:30):
But those are just somelogistics behind the scenes
that go into all the donation drives
and even the gifting moneyand keeping track of that.
It's been a, a learning process.
And if I was smart, I wouldprobably hire a couple elves
to help me around our Christmasand Thanksgiving drives,
but I just haven't done that yet.
But I'll probably getthere at some point.
(35:52):
- Yes. And so you just mentioned,you know, kind of working
with brands that you knowis kind of something that
comes up a lot in social media
and making sure you're staying afloat.
So what has brand dealslooked like for you?
(36:12):
- Brand deals are trulykind of what keep me afloat.
It's a mixture of brand dealsand the TikTok creator fund.
Those two things allow meto pay my rent every month,
set a little bit aside in savings.
Um, for the most part,I now am at the point
where I've got my brandsthat I love to work with
(36:34):
and I've built someconnections with the teams
that manage the influencermarketing for those brands.
A lot of brands will hirean influencer marketing, um,
agency to find theinfluencers, do the work,
do the contracts, and I felt connections
with those agencies.
So I've got my, my brands that I love,
(36:57):
like Arm and Hammer is one
of my absolute favorites to work with.
Ring, uh, doorbells Wellness,I just did a a campaign
with them and a wisdom panel.
I'm doing a holiday campaign for them.
I actually love doing the brands
and the contracts myself.
A lot of influencers willhave a manager who helps them
(37:19):
and I've, I've played aroundwith having managers before
and there's absolutely
so much value that theybring to the table.
But as someone with a publicrelations background who used
to study pitching to brands,getting to do that for myself
to brands is actually really fulfilling.
And I'm a bit of a PRnerd, so getting to come up
with the ideas andwriting up the contracts
(37:41):
and learning what to lookfor in contracts, kind
of scratches that itch
of now not working in publicrelations in a full-time job.
So it allows me to kindof still use my degree
while making money, doingsomething completely unrelated to
what I got my degree for,which is really nice.
And I absolutely love working with brands.
(38:04):
- Great.- Not all of them, but most of them .
- Well, and I I wasjust gonna ask, have you
had experience where maybeyou've gone sour with a brand
or needed to be like, absolutely not,
I'm not connecting with you.
Like what do maybe thoselesser sunshiny, uh,
(38:27):
uh, things like that,how do those fall out?
- Yeah, I, I don't wanna throwanybody under the bus bus,
but I do wanna be transparent.
Uh, there's only been onecontract that I ever did
where we got to the pointof the contract is signed,
we're in the production stage
(38:47):
and the posting where I almost backed out
because I was so angry.
But now I kind of know what to look
for in the contract aheadof time before signing
and know the questions to ask.
Um, transparency on thebrand side is the thing
that I value the most.
Uh, there have been a couple times where
(39:10):
I haven't gotten a lot of clarityupfront of what they want.
I film something, send it to them,
and then they send me a script back.
Actually, can you saythese points? Like yes.
However, if you had told me that upfront,
I absolutely would've done that.
And in my niche, I am usuallyworking with pet brands,
which means I'm filming with animals.
(39:31):
And like I said earlier,they're animals, not, you know,
I can't make them do anything.
They're not circusmonkeys and they're cats.
I mean, even my dog will belike, I'll sit for a treat.
My cats are like, no lady,what are you talking about?
Sit here and eat this food. No.
So getting a brand videocompleted with an animal
(39:53):
and then having to start it over
because the brand was notforthcoming up front with exactly
what they wanted was really frustrating.
Now I know to ask, you know,are there specific points
that you would like me totalk about in this video?
Do you want the cats to bewearing a collar in the video?
I had that come up, uh, for a brand
and you know, what kind
(40:13):
of things do you want in the background?
Do you want a voiceoverversus talking to the camera?
So I know to ask thosethings up front now,
whereas I didn't a littlebit towards the beginning
and I know how to look at the contract
and look for thingswhere someone might try
to pull a fast one on me.
I'll say for the most part,the brands that I work
with in this niche are very upstanding.
(40:37):
There are a few that brandsthat reach out that are kind of
outside of my niche that Idon't think are the most ethical
businesses and I don't wantto bring that to my audience.
I'm pretty picky with thebrands that I work with,
especially since I wanna beauthentic in using the brands
that I'm promoting to my audience.
Uh, so I just choosenot to work with those
(40:57):
and just kindly, kindly pass 'em up.
But of course there havebeen a couple of scenarios
where I've been pretty peeved with,
with some brands.
- Yes, I would never expect you
to throw a specific brand under the bus,
but I appreciate theability to be transparent
in something that, you know,it, it helps pay your bills,
(41:20):
but you have to be of theright mind to make sure
you are doing what youwant to be doing with them.
- Absolutely.- Now TikTok is more than just a place
where you're postingvideos, sharing cute things
that the cats are doing.
You've got this great communityof, um, viewers of people
(41:42):
who will donate to the variouscauses you're supporting.
What has kind of like theother side of the screen as
a creator connecting with other creators
and you know, receivingawards for your TikTok work,
what has all of that been like in this two
year full-time career?
(42:06):
- Being able to connect withother creators, I'll start
there, has been a game changer, I'll say
for being a content creator,
at least in my niche that I'm in.
I'm at home with my animals a lot filming
with my pets and that's wonderful.
I joke that I'm a stay at home cat mom
or a work from home catmom, which is really fun.
(42:28):
But the flip side of that is, a lot
of days I feel like I'mon an island by myself.
I'm not going into an office,
I'm not really interactingwith other people.
Or if I am interacting,like the days where I do get
to interact with brands, that's awesome.
But we're interactingfor, you know, a contract
and we're not, once that contract is up,
we're not conversing anymore
(42:49):
unless we're going to re-up that contract.
So then I'm kind of back tobeing on this island filming
and posting things on my own
and not having othercoworkers per se to talk to
or even commiserate withabout like, oh my gosh,
like this is terrible.
Or did you see this update or, or whatnot
or have you talked to this brand?
(43:11):
Connecting with other creatorsgives me an opportunity to
get off this little island
and talk to other peoplewho experienced this
very odd career that weare all experiencing.
And that has been really wonderful.
I have a few quoteunquote CatTok besties.
It's actually this past weekend.
(43:32):
One of my good friends Madeline,
she has the Fruit Cats on TikTok.
Uh, she came and visitedand that was a lot of fun.
And we just talked aboutlike, oh my gosh, she has,
what's Q4 been like for you?
Q4 for us is the busiest time of year
and she also works another full-time job.
So we talk about that versuswhat I do doing this full-time.
And oh, what are your plans for Q1?
(43:52):
Q1 is usually pretty slow and,oh, did you see this update?
And what about this time limit?
And are you repostingthings to other platforms
and yada yada yada,
and those things that Ican't necessarily talk about
with my friends who arenot content creators,
that has been incredibly valuable.
And um, what was the otherpart of that question?
- Uh, I mentioned the factthat you've gotten awards
(44:14):
for being on TikTok.
- Oh yes.
Which was a complete surprise, honestly.
And that is truly atestament to my community.
So these awards specificallyare the Cheer Choice Awards,
which is a nonprofit fundraiserfor spread the cheer, USA
and uh, in all transparency,I had never heard
(44:37):
of the Church Choice Awards before.
I was nominated for an award, um, in 2022.
And the awards for that are April the
following year or so, 2023.
And, um, people canvote every day for free
or they can donate to spreadthe cheer USA in the form
of purchasing votes.
(44:58):
And those, um, votes go to the creator.
They want to, but all thefunds go to the nonprofit,
which I thought was really cool
because at that point I knew I wanted
to expand more into nonprofitwork and spread the cheer
USA is a really, really awesome 501c3
and I went into it not expecting anything.
There are massive creators who are a part
(45:19):
of the Cheer Choice Awards
and really any award showfor content creators.
And, um, it's an elimination.
So you start with several per category
and you whittle it down to there's
five creators per category.
And at the end of 2022,which was around the time
that I was being laid off for my job,
it was a very dark time.
(45:41):
Uh, I found out that I wasgonna be in the top five
for Animal Advocate, whichwas just an honor to be
included in the top five at all.
And then we did not know whothe winner was going to be
until the next April, which was,
that was a long four months,very, very long, four months.
(46:02):
Um, and I, I did not expect to win.
I did not have a speechwritten, uh, at all.
And they announced my name is the winner
and I blacked out during,during that speech.
But I truly, it is a testamentto my community on TikTok.
They're the ones who nominated my account.
(46:23):
They voted every day.
They helped donate to spread the cheer USA
and I think that's a testament to
how wonderful they are.
And I say that our community won this
award, I didn't win this award.
'cause without them itwouldn't have been possible.
And um, then this lastyear we were nominated
(46:43):
for Top fundraiser
and we also won that awardas a community, which was
such an honor if there aretwo things that I wanted to do
with this platform that Iwas fortunate enough to,
to get it was help animals help people.
So animal advocate and topfundraiser are just, it was
a dream come true and youdon't need an award to know
(47:04):
that you're doing the right thing
and that you're on the right path.
But especially that first onewith Animal Advocate in April
of 2023 when I was so new to this career
and really kind of feelingout like, can I do this?
Am I on the right path? Itfelt like a sign that yes,
I am on the right path and notbecause I won this award,
but because I have acommunity who backs me up
(47:26):
and they, they like being here
and support me enough to,to get us to this point.
So I think we can, we can keepgoing on this, on this path.
So it means a lot, but it means a lot
because it's a reflectionof our community.
- Yes. Yeah. I wantedto make sure, you know,
that there's moments foryou we're highlighted here
(47:48):
'cause uh, you know,everything even you just said
with the fundraising
and the organization areso important, um, to,
to spreading, spreadingmore good in the world.
Now, before I start to wrapthings up here at the end,
is there anything else that you would like
the listeners to hear today?
(48:08):
- I think the only otherthing that, oh, well,
I mean there's so manythings that I wish I
could tell people.
I ultimately, I'm just sothankful for this career
and I hope that it is acareer that can stick around.
Um, just this week heard
that TikTok is up on thechopping block again.
(48:30):
And as a watcher of TikTok
and as somebody who usesthe platform to help people
and animals, it's very disheartening.
I understand some ofthe reasoning behind it,
but ultimately this appconnects people in ways
that some other platforms can't.
Video is so compelling in ways
(48:53):
that text and image-basedplatforms like Facebook
and Instagram, um, arenot, those have their place
and I think TikTok has its place
and the way that some peoplehave been able to use TikTok
to truly make a difference in the world,
I think is really astounding.
And it would be such a shame to see it go.
That being said, I dothink if TikTok were to go,
(49:15):
I think something very similarwould pop up in its place,
so I don't want people to lose hope there.
Um, but if, for what it's worth,
TikTok has been a place wheremy community has been able
to help people and animals in ways
that I didn't think were possible.
And I think it is a wonderful addition
to the social media platforms.
(49:36):
- Ah, yeah, the, the timing of recording
and hearing that news, um, is, is hard
and we don't know whatwill come in the new year.
So, um, you know, we, wewill hope for the best, um,
with, with all of that.
And as you know, social media sees changes
as it has even in just the past few years.
(49:57):
Um, so yes,
I think your communityhas been doing great work.
Um, and I'm, I'm so grateful you were able
to share all of that with us today.
But at the end of all my episodes,
I do ask my guests a randomquestion that doesn't have to do
with what we've been talking about.
Um, I did not look upwhat I asked you, um,
to kind of give an update there.
(50:18):
So I've got a differentquestion for you today
and that is, what is your go-to breakfast?
- Ooh, that is fantasticbecause my favorite genre
of food is breakfast food.
Currently I love eggs and toast.
(50:39):
It has been a staple in my
diet since I was very, very young.
So I would probably say Eggs and Toast.
There's a breakfast place or breakfast
and brunch place that a lot, it's a round,
a lot place called First Watch
and they have a really fabulous steak
and eggs, um, meal on their holiday menu
and it is really, really tasty.
(51:00):
So I've gotten that a few times.
Anything with eggs I would say,
but breakfast is appropriatefor breakfast, lunch,
and dinner and that is astatement I'll stand behind.
- All right, that bringsthis episode two of close.
So of course I'll be leavingJulia's TikTok in the
(51:21):
description, but I'll alsobe leaving her Instagram
handle as well.
It is the same as on TikTok,
but always good to leaveanother social media.
And she does also have a YouTube page
that she may startposting more on as well.
Of course, if you would liketo connect with the podcast,
our website is in the description as well.
Uh, it brings you toall of our social media
(51:43):
as we are on Instagram,Facebook and LinkedIn.
And of course my email is inthe description if you would
like to reach out and connectwith me, um, on anything.
I'm obviously not acceptingnew guests at this point,
but, um, that email address still exists.
Um, and there is also alink to support the mod,
the podcast monetarily, ifyou're interested in doing that,
(52:05):
as there will continueto remain some expenses
as I wind down the podcastand make sure that the website
and all of that continue to run.
So thank you so much, Juliafor spending time with me today
and to my listenersfor taking the time out
of your day to hear a new story.
Until next time, bye.
- Wherever you are in the world.
(52:25):
If it is morning, afternoon,evening, or night.
I hope you're having an amazing day
and talk to you next time.
Bye.
- Hello and welcome to Introducing Me.
I'm your host Sarah. Istarted this podcast to get
to know other people and lifestyles while
discovering more about myself.
Each episode I give a new guest a chance
to discuss their background,culture, interests,
or whatever they want to talkabout to help increase all
of our own worldviews.
In September around mypodcast anniversary,
I do a yearly check-in where I am more
of the guest than the host.
(00:37):
If you listen to that episode,
you heard me talk about myplans to continue the podcast
through to September,2025, in a similar fashion
as I have this past year.
However, a little over a month
after I recorded that episode,I decided that I wanted 2025
to look different for myself,and I decided to wrap up
and end my podcast this year.
So today's guest will be the last guest,
(00:57):
and next week I'll be back toagain, act more as a guest,
to give you some more updates.
Over the years when Ihave met with guests,
I have had plenty of them offer a chance
to record again and give an update.
So when I was planning outthis final guest episode,
I decided to do justthat, offer this episode
to a previous guest whoselife looks very different from
when we last heard from her.
We heard from Julia Davis in March, 2021,
(01:20):
less than a year out from hercollege graduation when she
was on various business endeavors.
Since then, Julia moved intoa home with a chicken coop,
which was home to a cat.
Now nicknamed Coop, sharing her journey
with Coop on TikTok.
Julia has establishedthe Coop Kitty Community,
which has brought a lotof good to the world
and truly changed Julia's journey.
So I'm excited to haveJulia back again today
(01:42):
to share more about what'shappened in these past couple
of years and where she is now.
So thank you so much, Julia.
Why don't you again, share withthe audience more about you
and what you're doing these days.
- Well, thank you so much for having me
back on the podcast, Sarah.
I believe your podcastwas the very first podcast
I ever did back in 2021,which was so exciting.
(02:04):
So it's such an honor tobe back on your podcast now
for the very last episode.
Uh, since we last talked,a lot has changed.
Like you said, I wasfresh outta my undergrad
and I was in the middleof my graduate degree.
I was planning to getmy master's in PR, look
for a job either in corporateAmerica or higher education.
And I was gonna work a jobfor 30 years and retire.
(02:27):
That was the plan. And you know,
the universe just put me on atotally different trajectory
and I could not be more thankful.
But it has been quite, quite the journey,
finding changes to this path
that I truly could not haveanticipated or even dreamed of.
I finished that degree in May of 2022,
(02:49):
and like you said, Imoved into a house, uh,
with a chicken coop in the backyard
and there was a scraggly white skinny cat in the chicken
coop, and I randomly posteda video on TikTok about him,
and I had no idea that thatvideo would change my life,
his life, and ultimately thelife of hundreds of people
(03:12):
and animals across the US and the world.
Uh, so that's kind of
where the journey startedfrom the last time we talked.
- And so then how has Coopkind of changed, you know,
not going into the corporatecareer, not following
that original trajectory.
(03:32):
What sort of made thosesort of things switch up?
- So when I found Coop
and posted the initialvideo, that kind of took off
and people took interest in his story,
I actually was working ajob in higher education.
That's why I moved to that house.
The house was, uh, the closestto what I could afford, uh,
(03:54):
close to the job that I got inhigher education at the time.
And, uh, I was planningto stay at that job.
And a little bit
after starting that job, I realized that
that was probably not thepath I wanted to be on,
but I did not want topursue TikTok full-time.
It just felt silly to leave a,
(04:16):
I got a job at a great stateschool right outta graduate
school, and I felt reallyfortunate to be able
to get a job like thatand start building my 401k
and building towards retirement
and hopefully, you know,start at the bottom
and work my way up to hopefullybeing a director one day.
That was kind of the goal and the dream.
And I absolutely loved the field I was in.
(04:37):
I didn't love the positionI was in at the time,
but I feel like everyone just kind of has
to pay their dues at thebeginning of their career.
Uh, working a job where youfeel like you aren't appreciated
and aren't making enough, Ifeel like that's just kind
of like you just do it at the beginning
of your career to get where you wanna be.
So that's where I was and I can't lie.
I was really unhappy.And then I found this cat
(04:58):
and this community on TikTokthat was following this cat,
and that brought me a lot of happiness.
And I never moved to monetize that account
because I, like, I gota degree to make money.
I worked my job to make money.That's what I'm gonna do.
And I'll post on TikTok on the side.
Well, 10 months after I started that job,
(05:19):
they had a massive budget cut
and one of the first things
to get cut was the salary for my job.
They said it was nothing personal.
It was one of those, you know,
it was the newest positionin the department.
I was the last one hired,so I was the first one out.
And so they laid meoff at the end of 2022.
There I was in a newcity with, at that point,
(05:42):
three new cats, uh, thanks tothe cat distribution system
and a chicken coop in my backyard
and about to have no job.
Uh, and my laptop died the day
that I found out I was getting laid off.
So that was an extra little,
like the universe just being like, here,
have a little extra fun today.
The MacBook I had had for six years
and no problems the dayI got laid off just died.
(06:06):
Um, I thought, you know, at
that point I had about a halfa million followers on TikTok,
which was really wild
because it was something I like stubbed
my toe and fell into.
It was never a goal or ambitionof mine to be a TikToker.
I don't like looking at my own face
or hearing my own voice that much.
It's really kind of grading to
watch yourself every dayand edit your own videos.
(06:29):
But I thought I could alwaysfind another job in PR as long
as people say dumb things on the internet,
I'll always be able to finda job in public relations.
But I didn't think I couldalways build off the momentum
from TikTok that I had at that time.
So I gave myself a timeline
and said, let's see if wecan make money doing this.
If we can, great. If not, I tried
(06:50):
and I'll look for another job in PR
and January 1st, of 2025will be two full years
of being a full-time TikToker.
And that is kind of the journey
of going from higher educationto full-time TikToker.
And I truly don't know ifI would've had the guts
(07:11):
to make the jump from state job
to TikToker if they had not laid me off.
I don't think I would'vebeen brave enough to do it.
I think I probably would'vefelt very silly leaving a state
job, even if one that Iwasn't particularly fond of
to be a TikToker.
So I'm really thankful thatthey did have that budget cut
(07:32):
and they, they let me go
'cause it let me spread my wings in ways
that I didn't think were possible.
- And so when you started, you know,
really focusing on TikTok saying,
can I survive financially by doing this?
What were you posting about?
How were you, you know,maybe growing your audience,
bringing in an incomethat you were able to say,
(07:55):
I can continue this?
- So when I started doing it full time,
I actually startedfostering cats and kittens.
Um, the initial journeythat I think everybody kind
of fell in love with on ouraccount was the story of the cat
and the chicken coop and thenthe second cat on the roof
(08:16):
of the chicken coop and then the two feral
kittens under the shed.
That story lived
and came to its naturalconclusion probably
around the time that I got laid off.
And up until then I hadbeen posting daily updates
of getting the older cats healthy.
We found out they were FIV positive
and I walked my community onTikTok through the journey
(08:39):
of learning what FIV was
and how we were gonna take care of that
through getting them fixed,
through getting their skin healthy,
through socializing these twoferal kittens to the decision
to keep the two adultsand one of the feral
and my parents taking the other one.
That story did come toits natural conclusion.
So I thought, I'm not sureif I'm gonna have these daily
(08:59):
updates to post anymore.
It was actually one of my best friends
and my tia, my, my aunt whosuggested that I start fostering
because not only would it give
my audience a look at another side of
what rescue can look like
and from the PR standpoint,if you can show somebody
what something can look like,they're more likely to do it.
(09:21):
And I was like, oh, Icould show people firsthand
what it's like to foster thecats will get something good
out of it and as a bonus it will give me
something to post about.
So in January I started fostering cats
and that's kind of beenthe journey since then.
Uh, with of course still showingthe original Coop kitties
are OGs and since thenwe've had between 20
(09:44):
and 25 foster catscycle through the house.
I've only foster failed once,
which I'm very proud of myself for.
So my total is now at five,
but we've had a lot of cats come through.
So that's what I do and post about now.
- And that one foster failure,how is that that, you know,
(10:04):
you have been able to notfoster fail more often
and you know, findthese kitties new homes,
but then you did, you didsay yes to one of them?
- Huh.
Saying goodbye is always the hardest.
It does not get easier,
but I try to think inmy head that I am caring
(10:26):
for somebody else's cat from the time
they come into my home.
I try to think that thisis somebody else's cat.
There's not even a possibilityof them being my cat.
And that helps. And I alsothink it's good for it not
to be easy to let go
because that means thatthey're getting love
and they're worth getting attached
people like, oh, I would get attached.
I'm like, and you should.It's worth it for them,
(10:48):
for somebody to show enough love to them
that you get a little bit attached.
It's good for their development
and their ability to connectwith a person, even if
that's not you, you know,with their forever family.
But there was something about this group,
this was my first group ofneonates that I had ever had.
(11:09):
I had had bottle babies once before,
but I got them at four weeks.
This group I got at fourdays old, they were,
they were closer to micethan they were to cats.
I mean they were trulykind of alien looking
and she was the only girl ofthe group and she was the runt.
And I honestly did notthink she was gonna make it.
(11:29):
She did not eat verywell for the first three
or four days, which at thatsize was just really concerning.
But she did, she made it.
And then we actually losther brother at six weeks.
So there was a little more trauma bonding
in that experience.
And that was my firstreally significant loss
with rescue and fostering.
And after that I just knewlike I cannot let her go.
(11:53):
If I thought I could havesix cats, I would've kept her
and her other brother.
But he's placed with oneof my very good friends
and that is the perfect place for him.
I don't wanna stretch myself too thin.
She also bonded with myother cats and my dog.
So in a way, like I kindof made the decision
and they finalize the decisionthat this is where she's
(12:14):
meant to be and now I'm good.
Five is enough.
- Five is enough.
So how do you get these various fosters
and you know, if it'slike, do you kind of work
with one organization?
Is it people just reachingout to you in your community?
Because it seems like youhave a bit of a revolving door
(12:35):
for other cats.
- Yeah, so in the beginningI did not want to foster
independently because thatmeans that I would be paying
for everything independently.
And while TikTok is a sustainable career
for myself, rescuingcan be very expensive.
(12:55):
When I decided I wantedto foster, I wanted to
pick a smaller nonprofit
because at that point I knew
that my community was bringinga lot of exposure to causes
that I was bringing to the community.
And shelters are really great
and they do a lot of great work,
but I wanted to bring exposureto maybe a smaller nonprofit
that didn't have as much exposure.
(13:17):
A lot of shelters inthe area already had a
lot of people that knew about them.
So I thought it would bereally cool to pick a nonprofit
that was smaller, maybe even one
that didn't have a physical location.
And luckily our vet, who I adore and love
and really credit withsaving these cats' lives
and helping me get them toa healthy point, they knew
(13:38):
of a very, very smallnonprofit that was just made
of foster homes and Istarted working with them
and that is who I usually foster through.
I did start making exceptions
and started fosteringsome cats independently.
And that is a very different ball game
because I pay for everything
and my community helps me pay for it,
but I also have to pick the adoptees.
(14:01):
And that is a very intimidating process,
or at least I find thatprocess very intimidating
because I feel so muchmore responsible for
finding the right family.
Whereas when I was fosteringthrough the nonprofit,
they adopted out all the kittens.
I just help them get tothe healthy point of ready
for adoption and they pick the families.
(14:21):
- Yeah, it sounds likeit would be something
that is a little bit like taxing
and figuring out the bestways to go about that.
And of course, as you have
so many cats in the backgroundin your house, you know,
we might hear some littledisruptions here and there.
My cats right now are beingnice, quiet angels, um,
which is not alwaysthe case when I record.
(14:44):
So how is it, you know,
that you do find these familieswhen you do end up taking in
cats for, um, without goingthrough this nonprofit,
are you mostly doingthings through like friends
or people you already know or
because like your TikTokreach is much larger
than just your area?
(15:08):
- Absolutely, yes.
So the first group thatI've adopted out myself,
I put an application throughGoogle Forms up on my linktree
in my bio and TikTok and I hadseveral, several applications
and just kind of felt drawn to one.
And I, at the time I had a group of two
(15:29):
and they were actually two boys
and they were not relatedto each other, um, at all,
but they were the same ageand I raised them together
and this family adopted both of them.
So that was wonderful.
And that's kind of how I went about it.
I got this lady's information,we talked on the phone,
learned about her and her family,
and felt that it was areally good match for them
(15:50):
to take both of those boys.
- And so then what are youkind of like doing now in terms
of how many cats you're willing to take?
- Well, Sarah, that is a great question
because I probably would'vehad a very different answer
(16:11):
even six months ago.
Now that I have fiveof my own, I'm not sure
where the limit is,
but prior to this,
the most I had ever hadin my house was eight.
I'd had four of my ownand I had groups of four
fosters coming through.
(16:32):
Currently there are nine in my house.
I have five of my own four fosters,
and I'm picking up anotherfoster kitten on Wednesday
of this week, which willbring my total to 10.
And something about thatdouble digits just like, okay,
girly, we should reevaluatewhat we can, what we can handle.
But um, I did move to a largerhome for the sole purpose
(16:56):
of having room to foster more cats.
So I have a dedicated foster room now.
Before I did not have a fosterroom, so now I have a room
that I can solely use for fostering.
I also have another sparebathroom that I can use
for fostering, which makesthe process so much easier
for me, easier for them.
And I have a basement now
where I can do our big donation drives
(17:17):
and I did not have that before,
so I'm not sure what the limit is.
I feel like once I reachthe limit I will know .
- That's, that's understandable.
As you've gotten into abigger space, figuring out,
you know, the ebbs
and flows now in a typical foster
timeline, now that you havespace where you can kind
(17:39):
of like segregate them,how do you integrate them
into life with other cats?
Life with a dog, making surethat like things are okay?
What is that timeline typically look like?
- It really depends on where the cat
(17:59):
is on their journey when they come to us.
So I had, when I had theneonates that were so young, um,
they were too young to bevaccinated against things,
but they also could have had something
that they could have passed to my cats.
Even though my cats were fully vaccinated,
you can't really preventthings like ringworm.
And we did have a ringwormoutbreak in the house, so
that was, that was hard.
(18:20):
And they were so little that they were
with us for much, much longer.
'cause they were so youngwhen they came to me,
they were on bottles for afull six weeks in, in my home.
So there's not much we can do with that in
that process though.
I, after they're healthy
and clear to meet mycats, I have a couple of,
I call like my foster superstarswho are really accepting
(18:43):
of other cats.
Like outside of our littlegroup, I have a couple
that want nothing to do with any fosters
and frankly kind of wantnothing to do with each other.
And they're fine just kindof doing their own thing.
But I also have a 60 pounddog who absolutely loves cats
and she's really wonderfulto have around foster cats.
(19:04):
So at least, even if thecats are not interacting
with her really, reallyclosely, they're used to being
around a dog.
I try to keep the cats
or get the cats as usedto as many situations
as possible when they're in my care so
that they can be adopted to families.
Not, we don't have to exclude families
(19:25):
because oh, they have a dog
or they have a small child,they have another cat.
I want them to be as usedto being around people
and other animals as possible
when they go to their forever homes.
- And you know,
because you said how sayinggoodbye is the hardest,
do you get updates about your cats
(19:47):
after they have found their forever homes
and left your foster care?
- Yes and no.
The family that I adopted directly to, not
through the nonprofit, sheactually posts about them on
TikTok and we're mutuals onTikTok, so I see them now
as adults, which is really, really cool.
(20:09):
The nonprofit that Ifoster with, um, is kind
of the middleman in between me,
the foster parent and the forever family.
So there's not always the like link in
communication between us.
Some people have reached outto me via TikTok or email
and that's really, really wonderful.
(20:29):
Um, but I get so many messagesthat sometimes those get lost
and I don't get to connect with them.
So the answer is yes and no.
The more I can see of them, the better.
The two boys that, uh, went to the family
that I adopted out, that was probably at
that point the hardest goodbye
because I had had them forthree full months before then.
(20:50):
I maybe had a group for10 days or three weeks.
Three months is a longtime to have these cats.
And it was a new element forme adopting them out myself
and paying for everything myself.
There was just a little bit ofa different connection there
and I actually flew them tothe Dallas-Fort Worth area
to meet with their forever family.
(21:12):
So then we had had thatexperience of flying together
and it was, it did my hearta lot of good to be able
to see them, uh, in theirnew home through TikTok
thriving and growing
and building connectionswith their new family.
So the more I can see the better,
but it's not always realitywhen it comes to fostering
(21:33):
and that is just somethingthat you have to go into it,
it's nice if you get it,
but it's expected that you won't.
- And so then how isit, you know, you have
to let these kitty cats go, you know,
they find their forever homes,you're bringing in new cats.
Um, what kind of is your hope
(21:57):
for fostering in the future?
Like is this kind of the planis to just kind of keep going
and keep documenting all oftheir journeys on TikTok?
- Right now, that is the plan.
If I have learned one thingover the last three years, it is
plans can go awry, um, at any moment.
(22:19):
And the best, the way
that I have found the bestsuccess is to go with the flow
and not put up
so much resistance whenI would think the path
should look different.
If you had asked me the lasttime I was on your podcast,
if I would be fostering cats, um,
living alone in a house in Birmingham,
(22:40):
I would've said absolutely not.
So going with the flow helps, helps a lot.
And ultimately my goalis to continue fostering.
It helps the cats, it helpsthe forever families who get
to adopt these kitties,
but it also helps inspireother people to foster.
(23:00):
And if, if I can inspire one other person
to take a chance on fosteringor even rescuing a cat
or rescuing an adultcat, taking in an adult
that might be FIV positive,then that makes all the time
that I spend doing it andposting about it worth it.
- So then, because you know,TikTok has become full-time
(23:23):
for you, you are, youknow, kind of working out
of your own home, how does fostering sort
of like disrupt daily life?
- Hmm, that is a great question.
Fostering is unpredictable
because they're, they'recats that we're not used
(23:44):
to having in our house.
Um, after a certain point,it's kind of like they're kind
of integrated into our, our daily routine.
But just like with my cats,I don't expect anything out
of the foster cats in terms of filming.
Um, I've always said these are animals
who have their own, their own autonomy.
(24:06):
They're not circus monkeys andI don't make them do anything
and I can't expect anything of them.
If I happen to capturesomething really cute while I'm
holding one of them, awesome,
but some days it just doesn't happen.
And I used to be really adamant about
posting every single day.
My mental health took a toll with that.
(24:26):
And sometimes cats are just not feeling it
and I'm not in thebusiness of making them.
So sometimes we get greatcontent, sometimes we don't.
But when we add fosters, it adds another
element of things that we can film of,
but it also adds another unknown.
(24:47):
I don't know how they'regoing to respond to things.
And right now I have threeferal kittens, so they
are not cuddly and sweet.
That has been a change
and I would love to showthat to TikTok,
but right now that's not reality.
So I'm showing them thereality of they want me
to keel over most days.
They would not like to see me.
(25:09):
They want nothing to dowith me for the most part,
but they've seen the, the journey.
So I had to shift to look how cute
and cuddly they are to lookat the progress we're making
from them hissing
and spitting at me to, they kind
of come up to me for a treat.
And that is some major progress,just kind of following,
following their leadand going with the flow.
(25:32):
- And so then for feral kittens,is it kind of like you have
to see through to ideallywhere they will come up to you
for treats where they willbe amenable, that then
that is when you'reable to adopt them out?
- That is the hope.
Um, ideally they would be not feral
(25:54):
at all, but at this point Ithink the best we can hope
for is that they will, well,it's different for all of them.
There's one that I think hisbest hope is he's gonna be
a one person cat.
And for him, I'm actually thinking
of finding his forever homesooner so that he can bond
with his person.
And that tends to be more ofthe case in my experience with
(26:18):
ferals, is they kind of bond to a person
and I don't want to be that person for him
and then take that away from him.
Whereas the other two, Ireally think they will become
snugly with anybody given enoughtime and working with them.
So that is ultimately the goal.
But sometimes it is not reality that they are going to be these perfectly cuddly, friendly,
(26:43):
sweet cats, they, one
of them I truly thinkwill probably be elusive
for most of his life.
He could surprise me.He has surprised me up
until now, I must say.
But I think he will probablybe a one person cat.
- We have a bitof an elusive one, but
after a couple years he'sslowly, slowly starting to
(27:05):
make some tides and being alittle bit more human amenable.
Um, he plays with hisbrother all the time,
but, uh, likes his personal space.
Now you mentioned a littlebit about, you know, how you
at one point were posting every day
and it took a toll on your mental health.
So what has your mentalhealth journey been like
(27:27):
with social media andmaking sure that you are
maintaining a good place to be in?
- It has changed over the last few years.
I, I feel as though I'm very fortunate in
that I have a really, reallysupportive, kind community
(27:49):
of people on TikTok.
Social media can be a really dark place
and people can sit behind a keyboard
and say absolutely anythingthey want about you.
And I can say to myself all day long,
they only see three minutes of my day.
They're not judging mebased on myself as a person,
but on those three minutesand blah, blah, blah.
(28:10):
But when somebody isthrowing insults at you
and honestly pretty personal ones,
it's hard not to take it to heart.
And posting every day
and seeing comments likethat every day did take a bit
of a toll.
But I also struggled with wantingto take a little step back
because my community is so awesome
and at the end of the day,them watching my videos was
(28:33):
what allowed me to pay my rent
and afford taking care of these animals
who I love and they love.
So I really struggled probablyaround the one year mark of
what do I owe myself versuswhat do I owe my audience?
Do I owe it to them every day
to share little bits of my life?
Do I owe it to them to share personal
(28:54):
information about my life?
Do I owe it to them to sharethe good, the bad, the ugly?
Is that cutting myselfshort by sharing things
that maybe I don't wantto share with my audience?
So finding that balance took time
and I don't think there's evergoing to be a perfect balance
of that, but, and it'llprobably change as time goes on
(29:14):
and as life ebb and flows and changes.
But finding a balance
and trying to stay true tomyself of what I want to share
with my audience, um, hashelped with my mental health
and my,
and also being upfront with my audience
that I'm having a hard time
and seeing them say,
(29:36):
we're gonna be herewhen you come back in a
few days, like, take some time.
That helped a lot.
Some people truly wanna post every day
and I totally get that,
but for the most part, theyreally are understanding
that I'm a person too,
and posting seven daysa week is a lot of work.
Um, and they're, they'revery understanding
and I'm very lucky witha really great audience.
(30:01):
- Yes. And I mean, the audienceI would say comes from,
you know, the content thatyou're putting out, the attitudes
and the information thatyou're putting out there.
You know, you want a collective community,
you want something positive.
So what kind of journeyshas your audience been able
to help support you on inthis last couple of years?
(30:26):
- Oh my goodness. We have
done more charitable work thanI ever thought was possible.
That's always kind of been where my heart
was, was to help people.
And that's something thatI really felt lacking.
Um, in my higher educationjob, I didn't feel
as though I was getting tohelp people or animals as much.
I've always been an animalperson getting to help animals
(30:48):
with the help of TikTok, likethese animals that I found
was the start of somethingreally beautiful.
And at the very beginningof our TikTok journey,
I never asked for help, but people
asked how they could help.
So I splashed up a GoFundMefor the initial vet bills
and put up an Amazon wishlist,
(31:08):
and we were probably gettinga hundred packages a day
for a while of cat food tothe point where I was like,
we're not gonna be able to use all this
before it starts going bad.
And so I told my audience
that I was gonna start giving it away to
other animals in need.
And even the money, theyraised so much money
that I thought we have enough,let's share this kindness.
(31:30):
Like it would be so selfish ofme to not share this kindness
with other people that we've been shown.
And my audience's reactionto that was, well,
if you're going to give itaway, we're gonna keep giving
and we're gonna helpmore people and animals.
So over the last two years,we have probably given away
between 80 and $90,000 in funds
(31:53):
to various nonprofits
and causes that we'reall passionate about.
And I would say between a hundred
and $200,000 of suppliesthrough Amazon wishlists
and donation drives.
And that is something that Iam so incredibly thankful for
and proud of, and it would not happen
without this community.
(32:14):
I put up the wishlist, butthey purchase everything.
I sort it, but they buy it,it would not be possible
without them.
And it all started because
of a little scragglycat in a chicken coop.
- Yes. It's, it's definitelybeen such a journey from
where you first came with that one video.
Now, you know, we, like onTikTok, you, you show the cats,
(32:38):
you show some of thesedrives and stuff like that,
but behind the scenesthere's, there must be a lot
of logistics when it comes to all of this
and getting donations
and giving out, you know,gifts and all of that.
So what does that look like for you
for maybe like if you havean established business,
(33:00):
like the legal
and business side of things,how do you manage all of that?
- There's actually a lot more
that goes into it than meetsthe eye as, as you said, um,
in the beginning when wewere getting a lot of, um,
monetary donations, I hadlegal questions of course,
(33:22):
you know, do I need to besetting some of this aside to be,
do I need to pay taxes on this?
What do I need to, you know,what do I need to report
and where, and then with the fiscal goods,
what do I need to be reporting?
What do I need to be keeping track of?
So I took care of talking tolegal teams at the beginning
(33:43):
to learn how I couldcross my t's and dot my i's
now the main logisticsof everything is okay,
we're gonna do this donation drive
and I have an audience that is incredible
and is going to gifthundreds of items per day
to this cause or that cause Awesome.
Where are those things going to go?
(34:04):
At my other house, I did not,I didn't have a foster room,
I didn't have a spare room,I didn't have a garage.
So over a hundred packages from Amazon
would come in every day.
They would go into mylittle bitty living room.
I would unpackageeverything, consolidate boxes
and put them aside as muchas I could into my shed
or into my carport and hoped and prayed.
It didn't rain. And wewould do the same thing,
(34:27):
or I would do the same thing the next day.
One of the huge selling points of moving
to a larger home was havinga room for fostering.
But I also have a finishedbasement that is purely
for donation drives.
That's where I can sort thingsstore things until it's time
to take them to wherever they're going.
And that takes a hugeburden off of figuring out
(34:47):
where these things aregoing to go in the meantime.
The other logistic, um, that has come up
with every donation drive is
how we're going to get them there.
More times than not, I'vehad to rent to U-Haul
to get donations to where they need to go,
which is such a great problem to have.
But what I did not account
for in the beginning was ifI'm collecting physical goods,
(35:09):
I wasn't collecting money,so I ended up paying
for the U-Haul myself out of my pocket,
which was totally fine.
And then all the time that Iwas spending opening packages,
I was not talking to brands
to work on brand contractsor making videos.
So I say that I lose moneyon every donation drive
that I do, but it's still so worth it.
(35:30):
But those are just somelogistics behind the scenes
that go into all the donation drives
and even the gifting moneyand keeping track of that.
It's been a, a learning process.
And if I was smart, I wouldprobably hire a couple elves
to help me around our Christmasand Thanksgiving drives,
but I just haven't done that yet.
But I'll probably getthere at some point.
(35:52):
- Yes. And so you just mentioned,you know, kind of working
with brands that you knowis kind of something that
comes up a lot in social media
and making sure you're staying afloat.
So what has brand dealslooked like for you?
(36:12):
- Brand deals are trulykind of what keep me afloat.
It's a mixture of brand dealsand the TikTok creator fund.
Those two things allow meto pay my rent every month,
set a little bit aside in savings.
Um, for the most part,I now am at the point
where I've got my brandsthat I love to work with
(36:34):
and I've built someconnections with the teams
that manage the influencermarketing for those brands.
A lot of brands will hirean influencer marketing, um,
agency to find theinfluencers, do the work,
do the contracts, and I felt connections
with those agencies.
So I've got my, my brands that I love,
(36:57):
like Arm and Hammer is one
of my absolute favorites to work with.
Ring, uh, doorbells Wellness,I just did a a campaign
with them and a wisdom panel.
I'm doing a holiday campaign for them.
I actually love doing the brands
and the contracts myself.
A lot of influencers willhave a manager who helps them
(37:19):
and I've, I've played aroundwith having managers before
and there's absolutely
so much value that theybring to the table.
But as someone with a publicrelations background who used
to study pitching to brands,getting to do that for myself
to brands is actually really fulfilling.
And I'm a bit of a PRnerd, so getting to come up
with the ideas andwriting up the contracts
(37:41):
and learning what to lookfor in contracts, kind
of scratches that itch
of now not working in publicrelations in a full-time job.
So it allows me to kindof still use my degree
while making money, doingsomething completely unrelated to
what I got my degree for,which is really nice.
And I absolutely love working with brands.
(38:04):
- Great.- Not all of them, but most of them .
- Well, and I I wasjust gonna ask, have you
had experience where maybeyou've gone sour with a brand
or needed to be like, absolutely not,
I'm not connecting with you.
Like what do maybe thoselesser sunshiny, uh,
(38:27):
uh, things like that,how do those fall out?
- Yeah, I, I don't wanna throwanybody under the bus bus,
but I do wanna be transparent.
Uh, there's only been onecontract that I ever did
where we got to the pointof the contract is signed,
we're in the production stage
(38:47):
and the posting where I almost backed out
because I was so angry.
But now I kind of know what to look
for in the contract aheadof time before signing
and know the questions to ask.
Um, transparency on thebrand side is the thing
that I value the most.
Uh, there have been a couple times where
(39:10):
I haven't gotten a lot of clarityupfront of what they want.
I film something, send it to them,
and then they send me a script back.
Actually, can you saythese points? Like yes.
However, if you had told me that upfront,
I absolutely would've done that.
And in my niche, I am usuallyworking with pet brands,
which means I'm filming with animals.
(39:31):
And like I said earlier,they're animals, not, you know,
I can't make them do anything.
They're not circusmonkeys and they're cats.
I mean, even my dog will belike, I'll sit for a treat.
My cats are like, no lady,what are you talking about?
Sit here and eat this food. No.
So getting a brand videocompleted with an animal
(39:53):
and then having to start it over
because the brand was notforthcoming up front with exactly
what they wanted was really frustrating.
Now I know to ask, you know,are there specific points
that you would like me totalk about in this video?
Do you want the cats to bewearing a collar in the video?
I had that come up, uh, for a brand
and you know, what kind
(40:13):
of things do you want in the background?
Do you want a voiceoverversus talking to the camera?
So I know to ask thosethings up front now,
whereas I didn't a littlebit towards the beginning
and I know how to look at the contract
and look for thingswhere someone might try
to pull a fast one on me.
I'll say for the most part,the brands that I work
with in this niche are very upstanding.
(40:37):
There are a few that brandsthat reach out that are kind of
outside of my niche that Idon't think are the most ethical
businesses and I don't wantto bring that to my audience.
I'm pretty picky with thebrands that I work with,
especially since I wanna beauthentic in using the brands
that I'm promoting to my audience.
Uh, so I just choosenot to work with those
(40:57):
and just kindly, kindly pass 'em up.
But of course there havebeen a couple of scenarios
where I've been pretty peeved with,
with some brands.
- Yes, I would never expect you
to throw a specific brand under the bus,
but I appreciate theability to be transparent
in something that, you know,it, it helps pay your bills,
(41:20):
but you have to be of theright mind to make sure
you are doing what youwant to be doing with them.
- Absolutely.- Now TikTok is more than just a place
where you're postingvideos, sharing cute things
that the cats are doing.
You've got this great communityof, um, viewers of people
(41:42):
who will donate to the variouscauses you're supporting.
What has kind of like theother side of the screen as
a creator connecting with other creators
and you know, receivingawards for your TikTok work,
what has all of that been like in this two
year full-time career?
(42:06):
- Being able to connect withother creators, I'll start
there, has been a game changer, I'll say
for being a content creator,
at least in my niche that I'm in.
I'm at home with my animals a lot filming
with my pets and that's wonderful.
I joke that I'm a stay at home cat mom
or a work from home catmom, which is really fun.
(42:28):
But the flip side of that is, a lot
of days I feel like I'mon an island by myself.
I'm not going into an office,
I'm not really interactingwith other people.
Or if I am interacting,like the days where I do get
to interact with brands, that's awesome.
But we're interactingfor, you know, a contract
and we're not, once that contract is up,
we're not conversing anymore
(42:49):
unless we're going to re-up that contract.
So then I'm kind of back tobeing on this island filming
and posting things on my own
and not having othercoworkers per se to talk to
or even commiserate withabout like, oh my gosh,
like this is terrible.
Or did you see this update or, or whatnot
or have you talked to this brand?
(43:11):
Connecting with other creatorsgives me an opportunity to
get off this little island
and talk to other peoplewho experienced this
very odd career that weare all experiencing.
And that has been really wonderful.
I have a few quoteunquote CatTok besties.
It's actually this past weekend.
(43:32):
One of my good friends Madeline,
she has the Fruit Cats on TikTok.
Uh, she came and visitedand that was a lot of fun.
And we just talked aboutlike, oh my gosh, she has,
what's Q4 been like for you?
Q4 for us is the busiest time of year
and she also works another full-time job.
So we talk about that versuswhat I do doing this full-time.
And oh, what are your plans for Q1?
(43:52):
Q1 is usually pretty slow and,oh, did you see this update?
And what about this time limit?
And are you repostingthings to other platforms
and yada yada yada,
and those things that Ican't necessarily talk about
with my friends who arenot content creators,
that has been incredibly valuable.
And um, what was the otherpart of that question?
- Uh, I mentioned the factthat you've gotten awards
(44:14):
for being on TikTok.
- Oh yes.
Which was a complete surprise, honestly.
And that is truly atestament to my community.
So these awards specificallyare the Cheer Choice Awards,
which is a nonprofit fundraiserfor spread the cheer, USA
and uh, in all transparency,I had never heard
(44:37):
of the Church Choice Awards before.
I was nominated for an award, um, in 2022.
And the awards for that are April the
following year or so, 2023.
And, um, people canvote every day for free
or they can donate to spreadthe cheer USA in the form
of purchasing votes.
(44:58):
And those, um, votes go to the creator.
They want to, but all thefunds go to the nonprofit,
which I thought was really cool
because at that point I knew I wanted
to expand more into nonprofitwork and spread the cheer
USA is a really, really awesome 501c3
and I went into it not expecting anything.
There are massive creators who are a part
(45:19):
of the Cheer Choice Awards
and really any award showfor content creators.
And, um, it's an elimination.
So you start with several per category
and you whittle it down to there's
five creators per category.
And at the end of 2022,which was around the time
that I was being laid off for my job,
it was a very dark time.
(45:41):
Uh, I found out that I wasgonna be in the top five
for Animal Advocate, whichwas just an honor to be
included in the top five at all.
And then we did not know whothe winner was going to be
until the next April, which was,
that was a long four months,very, very long, four months.
(46:02):
Um, and I, I did not expect to win.
I did not have a speechwritten, uh, at all.
And they announced my name is the winner
and I blacked out during,during that speech.
But I truly, it is a testamentto my community on TikTok.
They're the ones who nominated my account.
(46:23):
They voted every day.
They helped donate to spread the cheer USA
and I think that's a testament to
how wonderful they are.
And I say that our community won this
award, I didn't win this award.
'cause without them itwouldn't have been possible.
And um, then this lastyear we were nominated
(46:43):
for Top fundraiser
and we also won that awardas a community, which was
such an honor if there aretwo things that I wanted to do
with this platform that Iwas fortunate enough to,
to get it was help animals help people.
So animal advocate and topfundraiser are just, it was
a dream come true and youdon't need an award to know
(47:04):
that you're doing the right thing
and that you're on the right path.
But especially that first onewith Animal Advocate in April
of 2023 when I was so new to this career
and really kind of feelingout like, can I do this?
Am I on the right path? Itfelt like a sign that yes,
I am on the right path and notbecause I won this award,
but because I have acommunity who backs me up
(47:26):
and they, they like being here
and support me enough to,to get us to this point.
So I think we can, we can keepgoing on this, on this path.
So it means a lot, but it means a lot
because it's a reflectionof our community.
- Yes. Yeah. I wantedto make sure, you know,
that there's moments foryou we're highlighted here
(47:48):
'cause uh, you know,everything even you just said
with the fundraising
and the organization areso important, um, to,
to spreading, spreadingmore good in the world.
Now, before I start to wrapthings up here at the end,
is there anything else that you would like
the listeners to hear today?
(48:08):
- I think the only otherthing that, oh, well,
I mean there's so manythings that I wish I
could tell people.
I ultimately, I'm just sothankful for this career
and I hope that it is acareer that can stick around.
Um, just this week heard
that TikTok is up on thechopping block again.
(48:30):
And as a watcher of TikTok
and as somebody who usesthe platform to help people
and animals, it's very disheartening.
I understand some ofthe reasoning behind it,
but ultimately this appconnects people in ways
that some other platforms can't.
Video is so compelling in ways
(48:53):
that text and image-basedplatforms like Facebook
and Instagram, um, arenot, those have their place
and I think TikTok has its place
and the way that some peoplehave been able to use TikTok
to truly make a difference in the world,
I think is really astounding.
And it would be such a shame to see it go.
That being said, I dothink if TikTok were to go,
(49:15):
I think something very similarwould pop up in its place,
so I don't want people to lose hope there.
Um, but if, for what it's worth,
TikTok has been a place wheremy community has been able
to help people and animals in ways
that I didn't think were possible.
And I think it is a wonderful addition
to the social media platforms.
(49:36):
- Ah, yeah, the, the timing of recording
and hearing that news, um, is, is hard
and we don't know whatwill come in the new year.
So, um, you know, we, wewill hope for the best, um,
with, with all of that.
And as you know, social media sees changes
as it has even in just the past few years.
(49:57):
Um, so yes,
I think your communityhas been doing great work.
Um, and I'm, I'm so grateful you were able
to share all of that with us today.
But at the end of all my episodes,
I do ask my guests a randomquestion that doesn't have to do
with what we've been talking about.
Um, I did not look upwhat I asked you, um,
to kind of give an update there.
(50:18):
So I've got a differentquestion for you today
and that is, what is your go-to breakfast?
- Ooh, that is fantasticbecause my favorite genre
of food is breakfast food.
Currently I love eggs and toast.
(50:39):
It has been a staple in my
diet since I was very, very young.
So I would probably say Eggs and Toast.
There's a breakfast place or breakfast
and brunch place that a lot, it's a round,
a lot place called First Watch
and they have a really fabulous steak
and eggs, um, meal on their holiday menu
and it is really, really tasty.
(51:00):
So I've gotten that a few times.
Anything with eggs I would say,
but breakfast is appropriatefor breakfast, lunch,
and dinner and that is astatement I'll stand behind.
- All right, that bringsthis episode two of close.
So of course I'll be leavingJulia's TikTok in the
(51:21):
description, but I'll alsobe leaving her Instagram
handle as well.
It is the same as on TikTok,
but always good to leaveanother social media.
And she does also have a YouTube page
that she may startposting more on as well.
Of course, if you would liketo connect with the podcast,
our website is in the description as well.
Uh, it brings you toall of our social media
(51:43):
as we are on Instagram,Facebook and LinkedIn.
And of course my email is inthe description if you would
like to reach out and connectwith me, um, on anything.
I'm obviously not acceptingnew guests at this point,
but, um, that email address still exists.
Um, and there is also alink to support the mod,
the podcast monetarily, ifyou're interested in doing that,
(52:05):
as there will continueto remain some expenses
as I wind down the podcastand make sure that the website
and all of that continue to run.
So thank you so much, Juliafor spending time with me today
and to my listenersfor taking the time out
of your day to hear a new story.
Until next time, bye.
- Wherever you are in the world.
(52:25):
If it is morning, afternoon,evening, or night.
I hope you're having an amazing day
and talk to you next time.
Bye.
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