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

On this episode, you'll hear how Haley Hernandez finds balance as a vet assistant in the intense field of veterinary medicine, how the pandemic has impacted the VetMed industry, and her journey to discovering a greater purpose in life. Haley has worked with dogs for over five years and has had to overcome imposter syndrome to finally start building her own dog training business, Emerson The Dane Dog Training, a business inspired by her heart dog, Emerson.

Website: www.ETDdogtraining.com
Instagram: @etddogtraining and @emersonthedane
Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG): https://veterinaryemergencygroup.com

On this episode, you'll hear about how Akira Bradley built her dog-walking business while working a full-time job, her struggles with imposter syndrome, and how her business, inspired by her first dog King, was affected by the pandemic. Akira is a reliability engineer by day, and by night, she and her husband Alton run Barking with the Bradley’s, a dog walking, boarding, and dog-sitting business in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, where every pup is treated like King.

Website: www.barkingwiththebradleys.com
Instagram: @barkingwiththebradleys
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barkingwiththebradleys
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/UhKira

What do small business owners and dog owners have in common? We all make mistakes and learn from them! That, and as a small business owner with a reactive dog, these are two topics I'm incredibly passionate about. In this episode, I introduce myself (your host, Michelle Chu) and the Space to Fail podcast, a show about creating space to fail in order to empower growth.

The more we embrace failure, the less power it holds over us.

In upcoming episodes of Space to Fail, I'll be chatting with and sharing stories from other small business owners, dog owners and dog trainers, and give you a behind-the-scenes look at what may seem, on the surface, to be an unattainable image of success.

Welcome to your new favorite podcast <3

Find me on Instagram @konosconsulting (for your small business needs) or @itskonoskitchen (for the best freeze-dried raw dog treats!).

Websites:
www.konosconsulting.com
www.konoskitchen.com