Today we’d like to introduce you to Elita Kalma
Hi Elita, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have always been an animal lover for as long as I can remember. I grew up with dogs, birds, fish, guinea pigs and rabbits as pets. As an adult I always had a dog and considered myself a dog person. When my son was around 4 he asked if we could get a kitten. I was totally against it because I had never had a cat before and like many other people, believed all of the terrible cat stereotypes. But as fate would have it, a cat my mom was feeding in her neighborhood had kittens, so we decided to adopt one and that led me on the path to becoming a cat lover. When my son entered high school in 2022, we knew he’d need some volunteer hours in order to graduate and decided to get them out of the way as soon as possible. He found out he could foster kittens for his hours and we applied with a local rescue, Lady Luck Animal Rescue. Shortly thereafter we got our first two fosters and I’ve been smitten with kittens ever since. I was inspired to start an Instagram account in order to help my kittens get adopted and it has become not only a fun creative outlet, it has also blossomed into a side business creating content for cat brands.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Fostering kittens is extremely rewarding but of course there are difficulties. Sometimes the kittens are sick and need multiple vet visits and to be given medications. I once had to rush a kitten to the emergency vet in the middle of the night which was extremely difficult. Thankfully he recovered but it was scary. We had a special needs kitten once with a mild case of cerebellar hypoplasia. We have also had adoptions that fell through or didn’t work out where a cat was returned to us. We have been very lucky that we have never lost a kitten and any issues have been ones we could resolve.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’ve always been a creative person and used writing as an outlet. I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida and I had a fairly popular “mommy blog” in the early aughts about breastfeeding. I now run my own content creation business, creating ads for brands, mostly in the cat niche. My kittens and I have gotten to work with lots of amazing brands including Litter-Robot, Chewy and Arm & Hammer. Making content with kittens can be difficult as they definitely have a mind of their own. However, I love doing it and it’s so much fun. Plus it’s a great way to remember my fosters. Their new parents get a kick out of seeing them in the ads as well.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I am definitely not a risk taker in general, but I did go out on a limb when I decided to create this business. I had no idea what I was doing but used my background in library science to research how to get started, how to reach out to brands, best practices for creating content, contracting and pricing work, etc. I sometimes think it would be amazing to quit my job and do this full time, but I am not ready to take a risk like that just yet!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitafosters
