[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/myrescuerocks/0000-15_06_15_my_story_podcast_intro_mixdown.mp3″ title=”My Rescue Story – The Introduction Episode of My Rescue Rocks” social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” ]
Before we get into the first official episode of My Rescue Rocks, I thought you might want to get to know me a little, so this is my story and an introduction to the podcast you’re about to hear.
To sum my life up in three words… I’m a dreamer.
I often find myself contemplating all the paths I’ve taken and how they all got twisted and tangled together into what I now call my life, but I’ll spare you the long story and cut to the chase.
My whole life, I’ve been determined to find a career that I’m in love with. From my high school job at a boarding kennel to my adventures in writing and photography, I chased dream after dream after dream only to discover that working for someone else always ended up turning my daydreams into nightmares.
Chasing My Dreams to be a Photographer
So in 2010, I decided to start my own business, and that’s the beginning of my rescue story. That summer I arrived at Woofstock to mingle with pet people and promote my pet photography for the first time ever. I had no idea what I was doing and at the last minute I found out that there would be another pet photographer at the event.
I had already been working various jobs in the photography industry up to that point, and trying to learn what I could in online forums so… I’d already seen more than one instance of a seasoned, pre-digital, photographer ripping apart a newbie for, and I have huge air quotes going here, “ruining the business.”
So you can only imagine the dread I felt at meeting another pet photographer on, what I could only assume, was her turf. All my fear melted away, though, as soon as Lisa introduced herself… she told me all about this organization of pet photographers that she’d created and then she invited me to join. She was talking about HeARTs Speak, which is now a global network of artists who volunteer their time and services to animal shelters in order to give adoptable pets better first impressions, which actually leads to higher adoption rates and then more room to save more lives.
Waking Up to What’s Important
That moment was the catalyst for so many things, I can’t even imagine where I’d be without it. It’s sad for me to think that I might never have met my Gracie Lou. I love her to pieces, she’s my soulmutt.
From photography to fostering I volunteered as much as I could. Then came my foster failure with Gracie and then the commercial photography work I was doing went from sporadic to full time. I volunteered less and less until I barely volunteered at all, I struggled to find time and I struggled with the guilt that I couldn’t help as much as I wanted to.
So began a long brainstorm on how I could pursue my passions and support rescue with the little time that I have now. Slowly but surely, my photography business has been transforming from a self-serving passion project into… well it’s still a self-serving passion project but now it’ll benefit homeless pets just as much as it benefits me.
I decided to make a public pact with the animals. The more passion work I get to do, the more I’ll share with them. I have two big goals to work on, one is to raise $10,000 for my favorite animal rescue organizations with my art and pet photography, and the other is to increase my profit-sharing all the way to 50%. I don’t want to be just a volunteer anymore, I want helping animals to be my job, and I want my job to be full of all the things I’m passionate about doing. It’s like all those little dreams I’ve been chasing are finally coming together, and now it’s turned into one big dream.
If you want to track how much I’ve raised so far or get the detailed scoop on how I plan to increase profit-sharing over time, you can go to rebekahnemethy.com/givingback
Gimme the Mic
So why a podcast? Well because of Lisa’s kindness at woofstock that day, and the compassion she obviously felt for the cause, I was inspired to join in the rescue movement.
Before I met Lisa and visited the HeARTs Speak website… I was totally clueless about the alarming number of animals that get killed every year across the U.S. Back then… I didn’t even know what a puppy mill was.
As I became more and more involved in the rescue world I started to meet more people and animals who had such inspiring stories. So I wondered… if these stories could motivate me to do something, who else could be motivated to volunteer, or donate, or even adopt their own rescue… and how far could these stories travel? Well that’s why I’m here today, and that’s what we’re about to find out.
You can expect to hear two new episodes every week. There will be one narrative style rescue story episode, so far this has been just one guest with several stories, but in the future I plan on having themed episodes with lots of short stories from multiple guests. I’ll also put out a more informal episode every week. It won’t be heavily edited like the story episodes are. For that one I’ll come up with a new question every week and then I’ll give you some time to post your answers. This episode makes you the expert… and I’ll be reading your thoughts on the show.
I already have the first four episodes uploaded to iTunes so you can get a true taste of what you can expect in the future. If you enjoy them, please be sure to leave a nice rating and review in iTunes… it’s really the best thing you can do to support the show and if you’re listening to this before September 25th, you’ll also be entered in my raffle for lots of awesome rescue gifts. I’ll be announcing new prizes at the end of each story episode, and on September 25th I’ll randomly pick the winners and announce them.
Much Love and Gratitude Goes Out to:
Before we move on to the show, though, I want to give a few shout outs to all of those who supported me, inspired me, and taught me how to rescue like a rock star.
Thank you Lisa, for introducing me to HeARTs Speak and all of the wonderful artists and photographers who’ve made it the supportive, giving community that it is today.
Thanks to all of the volunteers at the Westchester SPCA who walked me through my first foster experiences and taught me everything I needed to know.
Every single volunteer at Pets Alive and Pets Alive West were always the most supportive people I’ve ever met. There are so many of you, I’m sure I’d forget someone if I tried, so I’m just naming those I’ve really kept in touch with:
Trudy, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support in every single thing I’ve done since I met you. Darcy and Aimee, the same goes for you, thank you for your constant support.
Erin, it didn’t matter if you were a volunteer at Pets Alive or the Executive Director of Pets Alive Westchester, you always reached out to me as a humble servant of the animals in need.
Thanks to Misa and Ali for helping me work with Gracie and selflessly giving out your training expertise.
Jen, I’m so grateful that you trusted me to foster and then adopt our Gracie Lou.
Liz, and everyone from Karuna Bully Rescue deserve a sincere thank you for teaching me and so many others how to be a responsible dog owner in more ways than one. Having a supportive group of people who understand what it’s like to be a pit bull parent, especially when it comes to the challenges of dealing with the harsh stereotypes has been invaluable. Maybe one day our kids won’t have to sit in the back of the bus…
A huge thank you goes to Mark Herman for creating the most perfect theme song I could have imagined for this podcast. If you’re looking for custom music for your podcast, video, or eBook trailer check out rockandrollzen.com and click on the “zen for hire” button. I’ll admit it… I was really nervous hiring someone to create the sound that will come to be associated with this show… I’m a bit of a perfectionist. Mark agreed to one revision, but his 1st draft was so spot on to what I asked for there was no need to go there. You heard his music at the beginning of this episode and you’ll hear it again in a moment. Again, if you’re interested that’s rockandrollzen.com
The voice you heard accompanying Mark’s awesome music was Tim from timthepaige.com, thanks so much to Tim and Liam for making me feel like a rock star!
I had best support team ever with my accountability partners Ricardo, who is in the process of creating his podcast Entrepreneur Americano and Mark, who is busy with his Rock and Roll Zen podcast. I really look forward to our chats every week and appreciate all the insights you two have to offer.
I also want to thank all the awesome members of the Podcaster’s Paradise facebook group for helping me with so many of my podcasting woes, telling me what I needed to hear, and offering such awesome resources.
I really could be here all day thanking people, especially my rescue people. So just one final thank you goes out to everyone who’s already shared their story and to all of you future storytellers, I’m thanking you in advance!
Ok… that wraps that up… now it’s time for you to dive into the first few rescue stories, go ahead, do it! I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Subscribe to the show on iTunes… and if you like it, I’d absolutely love a rating and review!
