Mission Inspired w/ Lizz Whitacre

You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all the other podcast platforms. New episodes post on Tuesdays.

Everyone Deserves Their Own “King”

DSTP Lizz Whitacre Cover.jpg

About The Episode

Moving around Central America before settling Nebraska, where she went for college, there has been a constant in Lizz Whitacre’s life of her love for dogs and animals in general.

Even though she was allergic, that didn’t deter her. At the age of 13, after fulfilling her promise of getting good grades for a year in exchange for being able to get a dog, Lizz’s mother took her up on their deal and told her to find the right one. Lizz went on Petfinder and went searching for the most unadoptable dog she could find, so she could give them a home.

That dog turned out to be a dog named Sandy, who she named Rex for being her king. Their time together was short, but his impact will be felt in her forever. When he died after two and a half years from cancer, Lizz was 15 and it sparked a seed in her that she didn’t want to just have a normal life – she wanted to pursue this mission she felt was so important of getting all dogs into homes and having none left behind.

After volunteering from that point on at a shelter in Minnesota, called Adopt-A-Pet, she manged many different programs and became the co-owner of the company by her senior year of high school. In college in Nebraska, she also started the No Kill Advocacy student club and started other projects over the years after, including the Family Pet Project to safely rehome pets and her own rescue, the Progressive Animal Welfare Rescue.

Through all these endeavors, she learned all the intricacies and details of how the shelter and rescue system worked – and, more importantly, what it had to do better. Her current company, Pawlytics, is a culmination of all of her experience, with the mission to make sure all shelters and rescues to run with the most organized and effective digital infrastructure possible so that they can be the most impactful at what they do best: saving our pets. Their current goal is for No-Kill by 2025 for the United States.

During all this time, Lizz has also grown her own pack. They now include Teddy, Hooch, Turner, Scout - all adopted from different states - and mostly pit bulls. They keep her going, along with Rex’s legacy, and bring the comfort and love we all need.

About The Guest - Lizz Whitacre

Lizz Whitacre is the Founder and CEO of Pawlytics, a cloud-based software for animal shelters and rescues who want to save more dogs. Lizz has always been interested in animals and got her first dog at 13, the oldest and most unadoptable one she could find. And while she gave them another chance at life, that dog then inspired her within the short few years they were together. A fuel started within Lizz, then 15, for a mission to help dogs and animals everywhere. By her senior year of high school, she became the co-owner of a Minnesota rescue shelter that she had started volunteering at. After pursuing different self-started companies and endeavors over the years within the industry, that all led to her current company of Pawlytics (a culmination of all her experience) with the aim of implementing an innovative and modern software system for the animal welfare industry in order to help have the most efficient process in place everywhere to find homes for every dog that needs one.

Featured Links

InterviewJack SommerRescue / Service