Meet Nicole Smith

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nicole Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I have always been an empath. I have had a great love to make humans feel happy with humor or however I could connect and also have always had a huge love of animals since I was a child.
My mother and father were definitely hippies and I grew up around many cats and dogs and always had a passion for animal welfare.
After graduating college in psychology I ended up in an internship in human resources…..which landed me in over 22 years in Corp HR in the fields of technology & entertainment/toys. I learned so much from the business experience that helped prepare me to be a small business owner of not only a business that supports animal rescue, but also a restaurant (food & liquor).

Corporate life of 16 hour days and overall very difficult & challenging day to day experiences had me do a check in on myself, to ask, ‘life is short’ / ‘what is really important’….. I took a huge leap to invest all i had into to Whiskers & Wine. I was inspired after a trip to Charleston for a vacation with family for the full eclipse in 2017 that we discovered ‘Pounce Cat Cafe’ they had adoptable cats in an open environment and beer and wine…. to me this was an amazing business idea and one that struck a chord for me personally. One, the cats are being socialized by guests and they are not in cages, and two (2), they are providing therapy to the guests, there is physiological proof of human response to animal interaction. This is the best of both worlds AND right now we all need this more then anything with everything going on in the world.

Right after that vacation we started working on the business plan. Then looking for a location, which landed us in North Park in San Diego on Adams Avenue, such a unique and upcoming location that we are so happy we found.
We started building out the location in 2019….then pandemic happened. The build out ended up taking 3.5 years. We finally opened in August 22 and since we have opened….we have adopted out 260 kitties in little over 2 years.

We are all about supporting our local community. We try and feature local wines/spirits. We have local artist mixers.
We have fun events like cat yoga, bingo, wine tastings and more.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I feel like I may have included that in the first question. 🙂

Our mission is to support cat adoption and provide them an amazing space, we call it their resort, until they are adopted to their furever home, while also providing a unique experience for humans to enjoy kitties, food & drinks in an aMEOWzing space to get their cat therapy.

We created a unique atmosphere to feel like a cool lounge space, that happens to have cats that live there. We built out the space such that it is catified but looks super cool.

Having an especially clean space for cat & humans are so important for not only for animal welfare but for human experience. We pride ourselves on the cleanliness, filtration and experience for all.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1) Curiosity, Dedication & Belief in my capabilities & determination to make it happen

2) Business 101

3) Giving back to a great cause to help save animals and at the same time humans

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

This is a whole new experience for me. I didn’t have experience as a restaurateur or a rescue and throwing myself into it and learning hands on has been the best way forward AND all of the amazing people along the way….no matter the experience everyone has been a teacher. At whiskers and wine I have built so many relationships with employees, volunteers, vendors, neighbors, guests….. They all teach me something, and I am grateful for all of the experiences I have had so far whether amazing, challenging, etc…. no matter what I try and learn from all experiences.

What I know is that I LOVE what I am providing for these sweet rescue cats, their future homes, our volunteers, employees, business neighbors, vendors, yoga instructors, guests and more… Whiskers and Wine is slowly but surely building a loving community built around hope, love & happiness for all.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.whiskersandwinebar.com
• Instagram: @whiskersandwinebar
• Facebook: @whiskersandwinebar.com
• Twitter: @whiskersandwinebar.com
• Yelp: @whiskersandwinebar.com
• Other: Our general handle is @whiskersandwinebar.com

Image Credits

I can send you a link to our media google photo drive