From academia to holistic canine nutrition, meet Alexia Mellor
In today’s episode, we’re talking with Alexia, a holistic canine nutritionist who made an unexpected career flip, thanks to her dog. Alexia started her journey deep in the world of academia and art in the sustainability sector, researching, writing, and painting. But then her dog (yes, her sweet pup, Lucky) flipped her whole life upside down in the best way possible.
Now? She helps dogs thrive, feel better, eat better, and live longer—with a perfect blend of heart, soul, and science. It’s the ultimate plot twist!
We dive into how Alexia transitioned from thinking she was locked into a creative and academic career to discovering her true calling in canine wellness. She talks about embracing discomfort, leaning into the chaos, and the identity shift that comes with going from “I thought I’d be doing X forever” to “Wait, maybe I’m meant to help dogs heal instead?”
We also get into how Alexia created Mystic Dog Mama, her podcast and community focused on holistic pet care and personal growth, all while leaning into the weirdness of following unexpected paths. Whether you’re someone questioning everything or you’re just looking for a little inspiration to follow those furry breadcrumbs in your own life, this episode is for you!
Tune in for a real, raw, and inspiring conversation about career pivots, trusting the process, and following your passion (even when it leads to a totally different destination than you expected).
Takeaways:
Connect with Alexia
Doing these kinds of flips of following what feels right and trusting what kind of shows up in life as a gift rather than something that is necessarily like a punishment can be so rewarding and can open up things you never imagined. Hello and welcome to the Career Flipper podcast. I'm your. Jenny Dempsey, just a regular human here, scavenging through the wild work of work life and all that messy, unexpected in-between stuff.
I started this podcast because I was literally picking everyone's brain about career changes and life pivots, and let me tell you, it was so helpful. Full to get insight from people who've actually done the damn thing. So I thought, hey, why not share the good stuff with all of you, because maybe it'll help you on your path.
So consider this. You are behind the scenes peek at what happens when you try to navigate life's curve balls. With a bit of humor, a dash of hustle, and maybe a little unhinged charm. Okay, so for today's episode, picture this. You are deep in the world of academia and art in the sustainability sector, researching, writing, painting.
Then suddenly your dog. Yes. Yeah, I, I said it. Your, your dog flips your. Whole life upside down, and you don't realize it at the moment, but it's in the best possible way. That's what happened to our guest, Alexia Mallu. She started out in the academic and creative world, building a career around intellect and expression, and now.
She's a holistic canine nutrition and wellness consultant. Basically, she helps dogs thrive, feel better, eat better, and live longer. 'cause we need them around for as long as we can, and she does it with heart, soul, and science. Total plot twist. In this episode, we talk about what it means to fully shift your identity.
To go from, I thought I was going to do X job forever and ever and ever too. Ooh, I think I'm supposed to help dogs heal now. Okay. And we get into how Alexia leaned into that chaos, embraced all the weirdness and created Mystic Dog Mama, a podcast and community built around holistic pet care and personal growth.
It's weird, it's inspiring. It's so real, and it's for anyone who's ever questioned everything and decided to follow the furry breadcrumbs. Anyway, grab your dog an extra treat. Get your earbuds in and let's get listening to the show now. Hi Jenny. Well, thanks so much for having me. I've been looking forward to this.
It's good. Thanks. How are you? So good. So good. I got my puppy joint sleeping right behind me and kind of, well, for anyone listening, they can't see, but he's here. He's paying attention. Glad to see you again too. Bless him. There be lots of talks and dogs in this episode, which. I am selfishly so excited about it.
Tell everybody about you, who you're, where you're, and what you do. Well, thank you for that. I'm Alexia and I am a holistic canine nutrition and wellness consultant, and we'll get into how I so randomly got into this. It was not necessarily a plan of mine, but definitely something that was inspired by my little munchkin.
Lucky that kind of kicked all this off, but I have to say that this era of my life is probably one of the most exciting and enriching. Feels the most fulfilled that I think that I've had. So I'm really excited to talk to people about this whole process of like taking, not it's, it's not so much about the specifics of my journey, but like the general things that people can apply.
Because I think doing these kinds of flips of following what feels right and trusting what kind of shows up in life as a gift rather than something that is necessarily like a punishment can be so rewarding and can open up things you never imagined. And you would ever do in your life. So, so I'm on that part of the journey of going down the road of like, never thought I'd do this, but oh my gosh, is this amazing?
Yeah, I love that. That resonates. 'cause you never know, those sometimes really hard moments, those curve balls that we get thrown can really knock us down. And to be able to look at them from the angle of like, okay, where is this gonna lead? And making moves in a direction that, yeah, we never saw it coming.
So let's get into Alexia. How did you get to be where you're at now? Talk about your career clips. Okay, well I've had many in my life, but I, and I think that I used to see that as a failure, like there was something wrong with me. But I think at this point I've really come to an understanding that this is actually something that really fuels me, and that each time I make a change, it allows me to explore a different part of myself.
And that is actually so. Expanding. And now that I've kind of taken that perspective of like, it's not a failure. This is actually like a, a superhero skill. Like this is amazing. You know, and, and like how exciting, um, that is for me and it opens up so many different things. I am much more open to saying yes as a result of having made these.
Flips and having the confidence of knowing that I've gotten through them that, um, it's, it's, it's been a really big gift in my life. But the most recent flip, so into K nine, holistic canine nutrition and wellness, uh, came, I had, so my previous career right before this, I was a practicing artist doing participatory art and design helping communities.
Look at issues of climate change. And off the back of that, I did my PhD in that. And then off the back of that, I was hired to do a postdoc project where a company wanted to work with me to use those same sort of skill sets for them as they were developing sustainable approaches in their business. And I thought, yeah, finally I, I found that track because like I said, I've made many career flips in the past.
And I thought once I decided on art and I went back to art school at 30, I thought like, this is the path. I've finally done it. And I had this moment of like. Oh my God, I don't wanna do this anymore. Like, and I was really not happy with the direction that this career was gonna be going. So I knew I had to either make a change within the career or be open to something else.
And I've been on the spiritual path, my. Entire life. Life. And I think this, this coincided for me where I had what many in the spiritual community refer to as like a dark night of the soul where you just sort of feel like everything is crashing around you, that the rug has been pulled from underneath you.
And I used to feel when this would happen in the past, very down, I mean, it is a down, it's not a, it's not a fun time to go through. I'm not gonna lie about that. But I did see that this was an invitation to something else. I just didn't know what the something else. Was, and I was invited to spend some time in Mexico to kind of gain some perspective, to be able to travel around a little bit, take a bit of a break before making a new decision.
And it was on that trip that I was still in this really down place. And I went to see a local co andro who, like a local healer who I thought I was going to just to have my chakras unblocked, like I just need some energy work doing. And he just laughed at me, was like. No, you don't need a chakras on blocking.
You're a bruja, a witch, an energy worker. You need to learn to work with your energy differently. And by the way, pay attention to dogs and cats that cross your path because they're healers for you and. The kind of backstory to the dog thing was that I had always wanted a dog, but I've been so nomadic my whole life.
My family is originally from the uk, went over to the US for my dad's job, moved around all the time. I've kind of continued that pattern as an adult, and I always would say to myself one day when I'm settled, one day, one day, one day, and this one day showed up. In a way, in a time, in a place that was actually really inconvenient to my logical mind, but ended up being like the biggest gift.
And literally a couple of days after that meeting with the ero, I got a knock on the door. We were going into COVID, the hard lockdown, and somebody said, can you foster this puppy? And I was like, oh, here he is. Here's my little healer. And that's, that's been the journey, my gosh, like keeps feet chills, just.
And, and you know, I know more about the story and your pup and so just that moment when it, that knock shows up and to be able to look back and think that was that, I mean, that was that pivotal moment. Like, yeah, everything changed. But wanna hop back to something you said, you know, when the career flips that you made and kind of the shame around them.
It's very obvious in the job market that there is a stigma around career flips. And I don't know, you know, it's similar for you, but like I didn't really see anyone changing careers when I was a kid. A lot of the people that I looked up to always had the same job and they just, it was taught to stuff to stick with it, go to college, get the job, stick with it.
And so I didn't really think anything differently. I feel like when you brought that up, it just, it makes sense. I never thought I would change my career either. And when you get into this moment where it just dips down and you're like, okay, now I have to figure something out, but I don't know what to do.
Working through the shame while trying to find this new way can be challenging. And so it sounds like you time to. Go to Mexico to take yourself out of your current situation and really give yourself time to think and to process and tune in. And so I wonder if you could talk a little bit more specifically about what gave you kind of that nudge to make that time away?
Because I think a lot of us think, well, we gotta figure it out overnight. We gotta like just do it because we gotta make money. And so I'm curious, how did you kind of give yourself the grace to work through that shame? And the time away to really process things. Uh, I think those are such good questions and I think.
First of all, you don't have to take time away in order to make these kinds of adjustments or to take the time out. You don't even really need to take the time out. I think it's a shift in consciousness. It's a shift in awareness and it, so even if it's like five minutes a day or it's just a different way that you start to look at, um, your everyday life, it that's totally possible.
You don't have to go to Mexico and have like, you know, some sort of VA vacation kind of experience. I had friends and family in Mexico, and so that made it a lot easier. It was around the holiday time as well, so I already had a kind of good window for starting that, but that wasn't the start of the journey for me, really.
It was. When COVID was announced, my, my mom and I were talking about like, what should I do? Where should I be? Because of course, nobody knew what was gonna happen. It was just like, this thing is happening, there's gonna be lockdowns. Nobody knew for how long, and so we both decided to stay and stay together so that we at least had one another.
And it was from that forced retreat that. A lot of this growth happened for me and a lot of it was really uncomfortable. And I, I think that's the thing going into it is, is remembering that just because it's uncomfortable doesn't mean it's wrong and it doesn't mean you're on the wrong path or anything like that.
That when we hit those growth edges, and for me it was like, I love that you've used the term like figuring it out because I think that's what we think we're supposed to do. Like I've gotta figure something out. But the reality is when you're in those places, well, as humans in general, we have very limited.
Experience and knowledge, right? We're coming from our own lens and perspective or like what you alluded to, what has been demonstrated for us. And it can be really hard to problem solve from within the problem. And that's what I kept running up to where it was my, like I like to joke that I am a Virgo son and a Pisces moon.
The Virgo in me is like spreadsheets, figure it out. 10 year plan if you can, right? Like really once everything kind of nailed down and the Pisces part of me is like, just leave it all up to chance and connect with your intuition. And tho that, that interplay can be really difficult for me. But I've come to a place where actually I can harness both sides of, of that um, kind of double-edged coin.
Double-sided coin for myself and what I was forced to do in this. Iteration of the flip that I hadn't been in past ones was that there was nothing I could do to figure it out because the world was shut down. Everything else that I normally would've tried, all my normal go-tos weren't available to me.
And so it was like the ultimate surrender. I literally had to just be like. Alright. I have to trust that there's something else at play. I have to trust that, that I need to navigate this differently, that I need to learn to show up differently. And so how do I get comfortable with that discomfort? And that was a big part of the process for me, was getting comfortable, comfortable with being uncom.
Not making that wrong. I, and I think that was a, a big thing for me, and that then ultimately led to huge growth spurts for myself that allowed me to be much more flexible in the way that I was thinking about my life. And even when it came to things opening up. Me being able to go back, I caught myself using, I was, I'm very big into language and I, I was noticing the things I kept saying to myself and I was like, I'm gonna be going back, I'm going back, I'm going back.
And I was like, what am I going back to? Can I go forward? To something, even if that means returning, but to the place, but like going forward into something. And when I started using that language with myself, it really opened me up to thinking about, so what does that look through? A lens of curiosity?
What does that look like for me? So instead of trying to make something happen out of fear and desperation. I became curious about what could it potentially look like? And then things started coming to me that I would never have looked at, looked for. They wouldn't have been on my figuring out list. They just wouldn't, it wasn't in my frame of reality whatsoever.
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Keep rambling, right. You can check them out and sign up over@thecareerflipper.com slash courses. Your clients and your creative energy might just thank you again. That link is the career flipper.com/courses. All right. Now back to the episode before I get distracted by a squirrel. That's a really great way to put it.
And I think that that pressure to figure it out is, it runs, it runs rampant, and we, we have to rethink the way that you're explaining it. Otherwise, we're just gonna get caught in the loops. I know, I've, I've been there like that fear, that scarcity mindset that. How, my gosh, how am I gonna pay my bills and making decisions out of that, which that's a very relevant and, and mm-hmm.
Normal, natural, important thought to have. But to make decisions based out of that sometimes doesn't necessarily support us on the path. So, um, yeah. And so, okay, so you get the knock at the door and you open the door. Tell what happens next. I actually wasn't the one that opened the door. My mom opened the door and she said she saw the puppy and she was, she was like, Lex, this is for you.
Like this isn't for me. This is for you. And I was like, oh my God. But I, again, I was so unprepared. This wasn't like I had made the intention of going and adopting a dog. Like I didn't, I didn't have any, I didn't, I did not know what to do. With a puppy at all whatsoever. And all of a sudden this was thrust on me.
I was like, oh my gosh. And it very quickly became apparent that this was a foster fail. Like I was very aware that this was gonna, this was the root. Um, and again, it challenged, so going back to that idea of figuring it out and what we're using to figure things out, like what is the construct, what is the conditioning that we're using as our guide for this?
Recognizing it is all conditioning. I was like, this doesn't fit my plan. I'm here temporarily. I don't, I'm a nomad right now. We're in the middle of a pandemic. I don't know what life is gonna look like. My industry collapsed during the pandemic 'cause it was all based upon people getting together in groups.
Mm-hmm. So that die, it was like all of these things that I would've used to say, okay, this, this now indicates it's the appropriate time to get a dog. None of them were there and yet he still showed up. And so I had to be really flexible with that and really open to that. And then where things got really interesting, so when we think of my idea, when I was told by the Coto that dogs are your healers.
I, I had this vision of like unicorns and rainbows, like this was gonna be so great. Like those visions of like you and a dog running together in slow-mo like in a field like with the golden sun. That was my vision of what this was gonna be like. And it was anything but. Anything but he started, so he was 12 weeks old when he came to me, and 12 to 16 weeks.
For those who are familiar with dog kind of growth stages. That's the time you wanna expose a puppy to everything to socialize them so that they don't develop fears. Well, we were shut off. We could, I couldn't expose 'em to anything. So behavioral issues started to occur as a result of that. But the big thing that really kind of took me down the path that I'm on now was he started developing really serious gastrointestinal issues and kidney problems.
And my vet, he stopped eating. He wouldn't eat any. Like commercial food. And I always knew I was of the mind that it doesn't make sense to me that we are told in the human industry or community not to eat ultra processed foods. Like we know that that causes disease states, and yet the veterinary industry is literally the only medical industry that's, that promotes ultra processed foods.
For like every meal, for every day of the dog's whole life. Like it just, it, I knew it didn't make sense, but I didn't have the confidence to be able to switch him onto fresh food because I didn't feel like I knew enough. And it got to the point because he just stopped eating. He wouldn't eat any of the, the kibbles or the canned foods even, but he would eat fresh food toppers I was giving him and my vet said to me, you're gonna have to make his food, but I can't guide you on this 'cause I'm not knowledgeable enough on it.
'cause vets aren't really trained. Nutrition. So I was appreciative of the fact that she was very straightforward and upfront with me and I had to figure this stuff out on my own, but not just like, how do you feed a healthy dog, a fresh food diet? I was dealing with like severe gastrointestinal issues and kidney issues and having to navigate that all by myself.
So I basically, but this is where like the flip is interesting in that you carry forward every experience and skill you have ever gained through anything you're doing. So I'm a really good researcher. I know how to read papers. I know how to look for things. I know how to ask questions. I know how to think critically.
And so I repurposed all of those skills to figuring this out for me and my dog, and. I was looking for community. I was looking for support. I wanted more than just a recipe, which in the canine nutrition world is often what you would do is you just go and buy a recipe and have a couple weeks support from somebody.
But I didn't want that. I wanted more of a package because I also recognized I need to honor that. This experience is hard. It's hard for me. It's not just about like, how do I make the food? Like I need support in this. This is terrifying and I'm feeling overwhelmed and we're in a pandemic and this, you know, it was all of it.
And so that led me actually to creating Mystic Dog Mama First as a podcast, uh, to sort of. Create the community I was looking for and start the conversations I was looking to have, and then has led into my business as a holistic nutrition and wellness consultant. So it's, I didn't lose anything from my past.
It's just when been repurposed and serving a different need and helping other people than I was doing with my art practice. So I think that's an important reminder too, that you carry everything forward. You, it is you, you own it. It's you showing up in a new way. And that's exciting. So exciting. The repurposing of skills and experiences that you've had along the way.
It's like, I like to come like cookie crus. They're left, they're part of the path. And I think sometimes, you know, especially like early in your career, like I remember thinking early in my career, like, oh, I'm never gonna use this. I'm just gonna learn how to do this and I'll forget it. But no, like literally where I'm at now, I am reusing some of these things and I think it, it goes to show to exactly what you said.
That there are things that we will learn along the way in our career journeys that may seem like just a blip on the radar, but they will eventually become some of the biggest, you know, accessories to our knowledge down the road, and to lead us in another direction and to not discount any of those. Yeah.
And um, I think that I, I remember, I mean, even silly little things like when I was in college, I learned how to use, and this was a, a while ago, but like a recording software where I'd record songs and like put 'em on my computer and I learned how to edit. A friend taught me how to edit and I thought, oh, I'm just recording silly songs and put 'em out.
And never did I think that that skill would eventually help me be able to do this podcast and edit episodes. It's just little things like that that think are silly, but they help us and so I love that you brought that up because it sounds like the skills that you have used and really developed over the years have led you to help Lucky as well as so many other dogs.
Totally. Totally. And I think it's, it's also, it's not just the skills that you are learning in your jobs, it's, it's realizing everything you're doing is shaping you, so there's total value. I know that, you know, you and I talked about how you went and volunteered at a dog shelter and that kind, like even those things that you choose to do that seem outside of your career path or hobbies or whatever, they're building skillsets and ways of being and thinking.
And seeing the world that come into your career flips as well, that you can draw upon. So it's not just the things that you think that are coming from, like from your resume in one job to your resume in the next, in the next job. Like it's, it's looking at everything you're doing is adding value is is informing who you are.
And so the more you get curious. About all of that and see value in all of that. The more you're gonna show up with all of that to whatever your next career is that you choose to, to create. Absolutely. And I, I love how you also brought the curiosity mindset because, so, you know, as you mentioned, like you didn't know how to take care of a puppy.
There are so many, you're just like, what? I dunno what to do. It's all experimenting. And I don't think that that could have been possible had you not had the curiosity mindset of like, I'm gonna ask questions, I'm gonna test things out. You know, if you're kind of in that figure, it all out mindset where it has to be figured out right away and it's coming from that, you know, fear place, it would've been even harder.
I think that we put these blocks on ourselves to really, I mean we, I think I say this from personal experience 'cause I do it myself, but to to know how to do all of these things and to have to do them so well and show up like, yeah, I know what I'm doing, but we really don't and that's actually perfectly fine.
Yeah. Let's just go in and asking questions and pick people's brains and figure it out and then build community around it. You literally took something. You did? Yeah. You built a community around it. Can you talk a little bit more about the podcast and how, like, how is that community that you've built thriving at this point?
Oh, thank you for asking about it. Mystic Dog Mama is like one of the biggest gifts that came to me, honestly, because it came, like I said, it came at a time where I really needed to create the community, so it was coming from that place of. Wanting to host the space, like wanting and wanting to hold that space and not waiting for somebody else to do it was me going ahead and doing it, but I had like an inspired download.
The words Mystic Dog Mama just popped into my head and I was like, mystic Dog, mama, mystic Dog, mama. Interesting. And then, and then, um, I didn't necessarily think I was gonna make a podcast. I knew I wanted to create a community, but then po it's, it's that thing of like the universe, plants, breadcrumbs, like you're talking about.
Along the way, something kept popping up about podcasts or I'd hear somebody on the street say something and they mentioned podcasts or, so I started just paying attention. It was in my kind of field, if you will. And then. An opportunity to do a podcast bootcamp, which we both did, showed up in my feed and I was like, interesting.
And so I just decided to do it and that gave me the confidence and the kind of, um. I guess like loose base for me to start doing it and, and what I loved about that particular kind of bootcamp was that it was one of the big things that was pushed with it was like, just do it messy. And for somebody, like I said, I'm a Virgo, like I can be really like detail oriented, but.
In a negative way, right? Like it will stop me doing things sometimes. And that's been something I've had to like, because I want it to be perfect and that's something I've, I've wrestled with, uh, and come to a different relationship with. But I love this idea of just do it messy. And so it gave me permission just to start where I was at, not waiting for having the perfect equipment and the perfect studio and whatever.
And I just, to my surprise, I just started thinking about who do I wanna have conversations with, whose work. Has impacted me and my journey with Lucky that other people would benefit from. So I reached out to a variety of professionals that had inspired me in some way, and to my total surprise, they all said yes.
And so I had a set of, um. Episodes recorded before the podcast went live, and I got to Tessa and I got to deal with like my whole fear around being seen and feeling like I was gonna be judged and all, you know, all of that stuff came up, but it was an amazing opportunity for me to say, but I'm gonna do it anyway.
And I'm gonna do it anyway, and I'm gonna do it anyway. And I think even building that skillset, that set of that kind of resilience has led to where I'm at now. And it's a thriving community. I mean, within three months, it was one of the top 10% podcast globally. Like it just took off because the, the feedback that I get is that I've created a safe space for people.
I talk candidly about my experiences and my struggles with Lucky as well and where I do things wrong and what's worked for me and, and all of that. And I think other people feel seen. That's, that's a common, um, comment I get for PE from people is that I feel seen and it's a space. For us to explore.
What's unique about it, I think, is that it's not just about behavior. It's not just about food. It's really about walking the spiritual path with our dogs and our dogs being our sacred mirrors and how we nourish them is a reflection of how we nourish ourselves, and it's an invitation. To become curious about that relationship, to become curious about ourselves and to step into a more empowered version of ourselves.
And that's, that's essentially what what I am doing for myself through it and inviting other people to come along the path with me. So it's just been a really exciting experience. That's incredibly exciting and I can speak from experience listening to your podcast. I leave every single episode of like, oh, I never thought of that.
And to me that is incredibly eyeopening because I've had animals my entire life. How much, how many opportunities to connect with them on other levels have I missed out on? And I think it's, it reminds me of, you know, when you're walking your dog and sometimes if you're feeling anxious, you know, dogs pick up on this and we talk about that type of behavior.
But to think about it even on a deeper level of how that shows up. Everything we do from even our tone voice, summer speaking, or how much time we spend on our phones and our dogs are watching us not pay attention to them or the food that we nourished ourselves with and how we then in tune in, in, you know, change for them.
And so I think it's, yeah, you just open up people's eyes to a new way even. And I think some people listening may think, well, I'm not into woo woo, but let's get real. The relationship with our dog is incredibly deep. And profound dogs are, and all animals can become part of our family. They become our best friends.
And so we have to look at the relationships from this way. It is not about, it goes so much deeper. It's all about, yeah, the relationships and the mirror. It's so true. It's just so reflected upon that, and I am glad that you followed your path and that you took the time to go through these, these challenging moments.
Lean into what was presented to you and during a crazy time in the world, nonetheless, like, yeah, and, and I, because sometimes I hear about it from others, you know, with the stigma and the, and the shame of career changes, was there ever a moment where people around you were not supportive of what you were doing?
Yeah. Have a very strong support network. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit more about that and how you dealt with it? Well, I think every career path I've chosen has been met with why are you doing that? You're never gonna make money at that. Like that was when I chose to go down the art route. I had always wanted to be an artist.
I should say to you that my first degree, like I'd never have chosen things that are easily translatable into jobs because I also. I was with the mind, like I saw going to college as an opportunity to expand myself as a human being. It wasn't job training in my mind. And luckily, like my mom was really supportive of that.
My dad, not so much except he liked the degree that I picked because it was a French, I did my degree in French and medieval studies, and my dad is a huge Franco file. So he was okay with that. Yeah. And then he was like, and you can use that in business context. I was like, yeah, but that's not why I did it.
But anyway, but yes. But um, you know, and like my uncle was like, what are you gonna do? Like, give tour guides to like castles for French people? Like what are you gonna do with that degree? And I've been, I always met with the same kind of thing when I went into the arts. It's like there's no, there's no career in the arts and all that kind of stuff.
And, um. I think I have gotten a bit of a thick skin when it comes to that and, and being okay with doing things against the grain. But even when I started the podcast, the first question people ask me is, well, how are you gonna make money from that? And I find that interesting that the, and it's, I understand the question, right?
I understand. I'm not denying that we need money in this world. It's not that at all. But I think that there's an invitation for us to look at different definitions of success and also looking at how the different pieces of the puzzle come together for as like, is the podcast making me money right now?
No. And that's not why I set it up. But looking at the value that I'm creating for myself and others through doing that, it's like, it's. It's such a rich experience, and that is leading me to understanding what do people actually need that I can then create, create offers for, you know, so it it, it's like, um, an indirect way of informing a business.
But I think that. The, the whole experience of every time I've made a flip. I think when I was younger I was much more sensitive to people's judgements. But I, I have always, I think despite my own insecurities at various stages in my life, I've always had this real knowing and this real drive of I operate differently in the world.
And at times I was. I felt that was a bad thing and uh, other times I felt it was a really good thing and I've always lived my life from the perspective of like, what would I regret not doing? What would I regret not doing, not what would I regret doing, but what would I regret not doing? And I, even if I, if that has created some problems in other areas of my life, I still look at like, I have had such an incredibly rich life by willing, by being, willing to say yes to things that scared me.
So even like I mentioned, I had, my first degree was in French right after I graduated. I was offered the opportunity to, the French government was looking for, uh, native English speakers to come into the school system, to work alongside English language teachers as assistants so that the kids had native speakers to work with.
And the way the whole application process worked was like you did a general application, you picked three regions of France that you would be interested in as your top choices. They could place you anywhere. I got placed at the south of France, which was amazing, but I, I both was, I was terrified of it. I was so terrified to do it, and I knew I had to do it, and that was another choice moment for me where I was really aware of my intuition.
I knew I had to do it despite the fact that I felt sick to my stomach about having to like navigate living in another country, in another language. And like, even though I majored in French, like there's a, there's a difference between like learning French in school and then like being on the ground in the country.
And I was just afraid that I wouldn't be able to do it, but I still did it anyway. And every time I've had those kinds of opportunities, I've just said yes, despite the fear anyway. And I think that's something to take away. Like when you're thinking about a flip or how a career flip offers you the opportunity to step back and say, how, what role do I want my next career to play in my life?
And so that you are prioriti prioritizing what your life looks like, what you want from your life, and the job aspect is one aspect of that that you can kind of. Backend into it, if that makes sense. Like instead of making your, like, work around your job, make your job, work around your life, and then you can be creative with what that looks like, you know?
Yeah. That's such good advice. It's a, it's a mindset shift. It really all comes down to a mindset shift, and then anything as cheesy as that sounds, anything is possible. Like, yeah. And you never, you never know how the scary choices that you make. Can actually lead to so much more growth and experience and opportunities.
Mm-hmm. I mean, what incredible opportunity that you had and you took it and you navigated it and you survived. I think that's something, yeah. I tell myself, I'm like, that was really scary. I don't think I could get through this. Oh, no, I, I survived. I'm here. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And, and also like as you're making that decision to say yes to something, like, I didn't know where any of these things were gonna lead.
I didn't know the outcome. And so it wasn't about being outcome focused, but can I concentrate on the journey? And that's been hard. That's not an easy thing. That's scary. But can I be with the fear and do it anyways? And that translates into such a strong sense of self that extends well beyond the job sphere.
Like you just become a magnet for all kinds of amazing things. And even with me going into the canine nutrition professionally, I just started taking courses. Because I wanted to help. Lucky, and then I was like, I actually love this so much. I didn't, never, never would I have thought that I would be interested in canine nutrition.
Like if you had said to me like, you know, in like, we were in high school or whatever, and you had to do the Myers-Briggs test and like careers, you know, talking with your career counselor or whatever like that. That wasn't even a thing that would've come up for me, but to see, like the joy I got out, I get out of it.
I got out of it then, and then I pursued particular, um, opportunities that would allow me to become certified in it, and I found the perfect programs for exactly what I was looking for. I've created a community of friends out of that that's just been amazing and like I never would've envisioned it, I never saw that as the outcome.
It was just that taking each step of like, what feels good to me next. What feels good to me next and just follow each of those steps. I didn't have to know, part of me wanted to know where is this going? Yeah. And other people were saying to me like, where is this going? But I was like, I don't know. And can I, it really was a question for myself and a kind of challenge, can I be okay with the discomfort of not knowing?
Yeah. That is, that's, that's such a tricky part is when we dunno them, we're like, well, it goes back to those fear questions. How am I gonna pay my bills? How am I gonna put food on the table? All of these little things. And when we don't know that and making decisions, yeah, place can be tricky, but to go lean into it and know that it's probably gonna end up okay.
It's gonna be a little hard, but it's gonna be, it's gonna be okay and or not. Yeah. Right. Or not 'cause. Like, because like, you know, so I've, I've had those same concerns of like, so where's the money gonna come from? And it's amazing, like, when you are open, somebody will literally, this happened to me like last month.
Somebody showed up to and said like, is is it possible for you to, could you do this for me? I just need somebody to do this thing for me. And I was like, yeah, sure. And like, money comes in from that. Or like, pe people contacting me. I, as a result of my course I had done, um. Case studies, like free case studies for people and then those people referred other people.
And so other people are coming to me and saying like, any chance you have availability for this? Or What about this? Or like, just random stuff shows up and it's like, okay, universe, I get it. Like you're showing me. I don't have to be afraid of the, of the how. Like that's not my job. The how is not my job.
My job is just to show up and be open and things. Totally unrelated will just show up for you. That might be the thing that pivots you. Right? Right. Like that might be the thing that actually supports the pivot that you're like, oh, I never knew this existed. Right, right. And just going back to what you said a moment ago too, of when it, if it doesn't work out, that could potentially also be the thing that helps you pivot or guide you direction.
Yeah. It just wasn't, it wasn't what it was gonna be like. What? Yeah. It's like they say like, um, rejection is the universe's way of redirecting. Yes, exactly. Yeah, totally. It is. When we're not able to make that choice, the universe will make it for us. Yeah. Whether we wanted to or not. I feel that very much and yeah.
And, uh, it's just your, your wisdom and your ability to put it into words that everyone can understand. I feel like. You have just a way of sharing your story that's so relatable and so real, and so, so genuine because getting vulnerable and coming out and sharing that like this was hard. There were really hard moments and there were things I didn't know.
And now I'm in a place where I'm creating community and I'm helping humans and dogs alike just by showing up and being curious. And to me, that just says like so much about you and I want. I want everyone to listen to your podcast, first of all, and I know there's other ways to connect with you, Alexia.
How can everyone connect with you? Where can they listen? Share all the good things. Thank you and thank you so much for those sweet words, Jenny. I really take that to heart that I'm very grateful for that. Um, yes, you can find Mystic Dog Mama anywhere that podcasts are streamed. I also have a YouTube channel if you prefer to watch and you can find more about me and the offerings that I have@mysticdogmama.com.
And I'm excited by the time this podcast, uh, comes out, I will have created a membership space with my friend and colleague Stacy Ey of Hoso Hounds. We have, um. In, in our workings with different dogs and, and pet parents, we've realized again, this need for community needs to extend into another area too, where you might need more information and support, especially if you're dealing with a health condition with your dog or you just, you're interested in moving into the fresh feeding realm, but you want a little bit more support.
So keep your eyes open. We're we are gonna be launching that. Over the next few months, so by the time this comes out, there will be a membership space. If you want some extra help, you just want a community of other people who are feeding their dogs and caring for their dogs and themselves holistically.
It's a support network for you. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Career Flipper podcast. To connect with Alexia, check out the links in the show notes. If today's story hit home, or if you know someone who's also stuck in a career flip limbo, share this episode with them. Seriously. It might be exactly what they need to hear to keep going when things get really messy.
And if you've got your own career flip story, or maybe you know someone who has one of their own head over to the. Career flipper.com to see how you can be part of a future episode. And hey, just remember every tiny step counts, even when it doesn't feel like it. You got this. What's the best that could happen?