On this episode, you'll hear about how Melissa Vega-Magbitang, a branding and social media professional, finds joy and community on social media and how she creates space for herself when it isn’t a joyful place. You’ll also hear how she adapted to bringing her adopted dog Frank home almost two years ago. Melissa is Filipino-American and a passionate supporter of small businesses, especially those owned by women of color, and I’m proud to call her an early supporter of Kono’s Kitchen and more importantly, a friend in the Instagram dog community.

Resources mentioned:
Melissa's Instagram: @heyitsfrank_thetank
Pawfect Match Rescue + Rehabilitation
Kolorete Cosmetics
cocokind
Mina Baie
MANDRN
Dagne Dover
Kono's Kitchen
Botanical Bones
Hemlock Goods

On this episode, you’ll hear how Natalie Papademetriou left a job that was affecting her mental health with no job lined up, and how she eventually started Luna’s Pet Collective with the encouragement of friends in her community. Natalie developed her own three-step vetting process for new clients, and we chatted about what body language to look for when integrating a new dog into her pack, and what it means to accept dogs for who they are as individuals.

Instagram: @lunas_pet_collective

On this episode, you’ll hear from Martina Mascarenhas about what it’s like to start a business that focuses on sustainability in Sri Lanka, the challenges of training a reactive dog without proper support, and the importance of valuing your worth as a woman in business. Martina started her stationary company, Trinco Island Pups, in the midst of the pandemic. While she came from a family of entrepreneurs, her parents were also immigrants from India who taught her to keep her head down, so she had to learn herself how to ask for what she wanted in the business world.

Instagram: @trinco1982_islandpups