Women PetPreneurs

Mary interviews one of her favorite veterinarians, Dr. Callie Foley Harris, of Pooch Perfect and The American Rescue Dog Show. Listen as we discuss the importance of representation in the pet industry.

Manessa Donovan graduated from the Florida Institute of Animal Arts in Orlando in 2010. She continued her studies and in 2013 became a “National Certified Master Groomer” through the National Dog Grooming Association of America, NDGAA. Manessa has experience in mobile grooming and in shop grooming. After receiving that certificate she became an instructor at ITA grooming school and worked there un...

Dawn LaFontaine is a lifelong animal lover who always seems to have a little pet hair in her keyboard. Her blog, Kitty Contemplations, helps cat guardians better understand and care for the special beings they share their lives and homes with. Her cat-products business, Cat in the Box, sells beautiful, well-made, and award-winning products that she designed to meet the biological needs of cats.

Brittany's whole life has been passionate about spending time with animals of all sizes. She loves the outdoors and exploring new places with my pets by my side. I groom dogs on the side along with transporting pets to a low cost clinic. I always strive to find the answers to everything and love to learn new things along the way.

At age 17, Amy attended the Great Lakes Academy Dog Grooming school. She competed in creative styling grooming competitions and won many awards for her creative designs, including the cover of Groomer to Groomer magazine and was even on the morning news with my fallen soldier design. Amy was ranked one of the top 10 groomers in the country on GroomTeam for 6 years, as well as won many awards for h...

Mary and Angela discuss many things during this podcast, but maybe nothing as important as whether or not you can leash walk your pet snake.

Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, MA, ICMG, PGC, CCE is the owner of Love Fur Dogs in Glencoe, Illinois, and was named Best Groomer in Chicagoland by the Chicago Tribune in 2015. Jennifer is an award-winning educator and has been a Master Groomer since 1985. Jennifer is a retired schoolteacher who has dabbled in the dog show world for forty years, where she learned to groom. Jennifer founded the Illinois P...

Mary and River discuss the trajectory for the professional pet industry and options for life after grooming.

Haley has been a groomer for 6 years, working in corporate, a vet hospital, and now a doggie day care. She recently moved from Oklahoma to Washington state and is starting a new career as a Real Estate Agent in Washington, but hopes to keep up with grooming in some capacity, just not full time.

Alex Hammersla has been professionally grooming since 2013 and is an AKC SAFE Certified Groomer. She has experienced many different work environments including corporate, private, within a veterinary clinic, and house call grooming. With all of her varying experiences, Alex has pivoted herself to be an advocate for the everyday groomer. Through the years she worked at Barkleigh Productions, she ha...

We talk franchising as Khris is ready to launch the See Spot franchise. Khris's See Spot brand was established in 2012, driven by Khris’ 33 years in pet services, including the grooming industry, her training as a canine behavioralist, and many years of offering grooming education and training industry-wide. She has a number of industry credentials and is an active advocate in trade associations f...

Liz Tunstall is a pet groomer of almost 25 years. She is married and has 3 chinchillas and a scruffy mix named Grace. Her love of animals and pursuit and study of them is a testament to the nature vs nurture theory, having grown up without pets for most of her life. A placement in the Northwest Grooming Show Poodle Competition in 2013 led to purchasing The Groom Room, in Veneta. A diagnosis of MS...

Chanel Owens-Hardin is a second-generation groomer who has been in the industry for over 35 years. She is a mom to 4 beautiful children, one them being special needs and she prides herself on balancing family and a career. Chanel’s mother, Donna Owens, was a member of GroomTeam and bred and showed German Wirehaired Pointers. Growing up surrounded by dogs, Chanel developed a passion for grooming at...

An animal lover from a very young age, Carol worked with horses from her early teens through her thirties, including race horses and three day eventers. In 1982 she saw an advertisement for Pedigree Career Institute in Lynn MA, attended, and fell in love with grooming cats and dogs. She’s been involved in the pet industry since then in various capacities, including grooming in and owning a busy su...

Brittany is currently a groomer in Puyallup Washington who specializes in Hand-stripping and Social Media Marketing and Networking. Brittany is currently a Zolitta ambassador. She is certified in Non-Sporting & Terriers, and a Division C competitive groomer. She hopes her knowledge and advice can bring confidence to your social media posts and salons.

Mary and Meg discuss Meg's Plan B for remaining in the pet industry without the back breaking work of grooming. Let us introduce you to Elevation Media Management, where Meg takes something off of your plate and let you concentrate on your business.

Mary interviews mother-daughter dynamic duo grooming partners Daryl Conner and Rachel Goff, as they work from there home based shop raising the 3rd generation of groomer.

Kristie Reisenweaver is a Second Generation Groomer and a successful Owner Handler Breeder of Pointers. The Captain of the PetSmart Competition GroomTeam, Kristie has revolutionized what Life at PetSmart looks like for stylists across the company, launching many continting education programs and incentives. Kristie finished 9th overall in GroomTeam USA points for the year 2021 and won a Best in Sh...

Behringer House Consulting began in 2007 as a real estate consulting business. The primary purpose was to assist the sellers and agents to accelerate the sale of houses through shifting the energy and promoting properties to make them more available to prospective buyers. Over the years this same approach has expanded to include clearing and energizing places and events for best outcomes. This may...

Riza Wisnom is an Asian Freestyle grooming expert with three published instructional books on the subject. Her work has been featured on the cover of Groomer to Groomer magazine in the USA, Toilettage magazine in France and online in The Huffington Post. She has been industry nominated for several awards and was also a contestant on the ABC TV pet grooming show Pooch Perfect. She has taught in con...

Stephenie has been grooming for 10 years. She is the Training manager of Calling All Paws, a certified Nash Academy instructor, Former Illinois State Grooming Team Captain, and Owner of The Meditative Grooming Academy. Stephenie lives with her husband John in Waukegan with her cockapoo, Nibbler, Irish wolfhound mix, Addison, 2 cats, Chiana and Fry, and 2 turtles. Stephenie is obviously passionate...

Brianna Burns ( soon to be wellendorf ) started in a corporate environment and knew she had to do bigger things . She progressed later in life and started doing trade shows where she found her passion for teaching . Since then she's opened and created a successful grooming business in Des Moines Iowa called Clipper-Doodle-Do and created a trade program for her local community college and is openin...

Michelle Knowles, MPAI, ICMG, owner of All Things Paw, has over 30 years of experience as a private and professional pet care provider. Michelle is a Certified Master Groomer and a Master Pet Aesthetician. She has apprenticed, volunteered, worked, owned and managed in salons, kennels, zoos, and veterinary hospitals across the country. Michelle has also been trained in Tuscany, Italy in therapeutic...

Samantha Palya started her grooming career in the year of 1996 at Great Lakes Academy of Professional Pet Styling. She entered her first competition at the All American Grooming Show in 1996. From then she earned placements in poodles, and handstripping in her division. She was awarded Best Groomer and Best Groomed Dog in Show for a handstipped terrier at Groom Expo in 1998. At the age of 21 she o...

Gabby Phinney began her entrepreneurial journey into the dog world at 13 years old starting her first business making and selling homemade dog treats. At the age of 18 she started her own pet sitting business, Gabby’s Whole Pet Care. While pet sitting on the side, Gabby worked full time at a farm and garden store running the pet department. There she became certified in Pet & Equine nutrition and...