Meant To Be Together w/ Birgitte Philippides-Delaney

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How Being A Dog Mother Helped Birgette Philippides-Delaney Realize That Was All She Needed

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About The Episode

Birgitte Philippides-Delaney studied Film & Television but ended up becoming a hair and makeup artist when an opportunity came up. Through this new path, she ended up achieving a lot of success. She was traveling around the world, doing tons of jobs, and having an accomplished life. However, she was also coming back to an empty home in New York City and found that she wasn’t happy.

At the same time, she had always wanted a dog. It was then, in her thirties, that she decided it was time. It was a combination of all the factors of her job and personal life, mixed with seeing a Brussels Griffon dog at one of her gigs, where she fell in love with the breed. Birgitte researched around it and decided that would be the best fit for her (size also being a consideration) and she got one, her first dog named Pattycake.

This was in March 2001. People were telling her two dogs is better than one and she felt busy enough taking care of just Pattycake at first. But then 9/11 happened and made her reconsider things. Not long after, she decided it was time for another. Cricket came along, who was the same breed as Pattycake but opposite personalities - yet they worked well together.

All of this amounted to change her business and her life. Birgitte started traveling less, being more specific on the jobs she wanted. She connected her with her community in NYC more and was paying attention to her environment. It even gave her a sense of motherhood that fulfilled her and also helped make her realize that it was enough to make her heart full, she didn’t need kids. Later on, she met the man who is now her husband. The dogs were a profound part of their relationship, during both the good and bad times – including at the end of each dog’s life, which was a hard but growing time for each of them. So much so, that they ended up moving in together and getting married after Cricket got sick. Both dogs have since passed away, but she and her husband were also closer than ever afterward.

Having the void of being without a dog for the first time in a decade and a half, Birgitte was figuring out what came next in her life. The idea came to her to finally do the non-profit work she wanted to do. She started the Trans Beauty clinic and now, four years later and counting, the organization has had a positive impact on hundreds in the trans community. She also has another non-profit, West 13th Street Alliance, which is a community organization to help improve life in and around the neighborhood (which is something dogs can also benefit from). But her push to do this work, and the right outlook to do it, was something she feels she would have never done without the lessons she learned from her dogs, Pattycake and Cricket.

About The Guest - Birgitte Philippides-Dela

Birgitte Philippides-Delaney is a beauty expert and non-profit founder who has worked with big names like Beyoncé, Anna Wintour, Mick Jagger, Natalie Portman, Jerry Seinfeld, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and more. But after finding professional success, she still felt like something was missing. After wanting a dog since she was young, she finally got her first dog in her 30s and it brought her a sense of fulfillment that she had never experienced before. Now, while the two dogs she had over the years are gone, they are still impacting Birgitt to live a better life. In recent years, she was also inspired in their wake to start the Trans Beauty Clinic, which has made a positive impact on hundreds in the trans community.

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