An Inspired Chat with Dawn LaFontaine of Metrowest Boston

We recently had the chance to connect with Dawn LaFontaine and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dawn, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: Would YOU hire you? Why or why not?
Of course I would hire me! I’d hire two of me, if I could find another one.

I’m always thinking of better ways of doing something. I don’t take the shortcut, unless the shortcut is the way that makes the most sense. I work hard and I go over and above – for my family, for my customers, for my pets, for myself.

I have integrity. I do the right thing, even if it’s hard, even if it costs me something. I have the highest standards for my own conduct and I know that I’m always watching myself to be sure that I live up to them.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Cat in the Box designs and sells unique pet products that fulfill indoor cats’ biological and psychological needs, while also meeting their guardians desire for attractive, well-made products that can be proudly displayed in the home.

I’m not your typical entrepreneur: I’m a middle-aged, former stay-at-home mom, who hadn’t held a traditional job in 23 years when I started this business.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My maternal grandmother saw me first.

I knew I wasn’t cut out for traditional employment, for the kinds of jobs my parents thought I should be happy doing. They saw me working for a big corporation, so that I’d get good benefits. Benefits seemed to be the most valuable thing a person could earn in exchange for most of the waking hours of their life. Any questions about whether work should be fulfilling, satisfying, or stimulating were not questions worth asking.

I had an unusual love for animals, an extreme love, as a child. I told everyone that I wanted to be a veterinarian. But my parents told me clearly that they would pay for college, but not graduate school. They didn’t explain that there were other ways to pay for more education, or that they would help me find a way. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the confidence to forge ahead anyway. That’s on me, not them.

My grandmother wanted me to fulfill my dreams, but I wasn’t really listening to her. She had some mental health issues that made it hard to take what she said seriously sometimes. But she heard me and she saw me, and I remember that she wrote a letter to a famous TV personality, who was a veterinarian, on my behalf. She wanted to find out for me how to become a veterinarian, and this celebrity actually wrote back to my grandmother with advice.

I wish I’d seen that gesture for it was: belief in me and who it was possible for me to be.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There was never a time in my life that I nearly gave up.

Perseverance is my very best quality. I know I can do whatever hard thing is standing my way. I just keep at it.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
What does the “real” you even mean? Aren’t we all multi-faceted? Don’t all we present different sides of our real self to different people and under different circumstances?

For example: I would say that I’m a true introvert who knows how to be extroverted. Like most introverts, I tend to have deep, intimate friendships, rather than hoards of friends. I have a long marriage that represents my deepest friendship of all, and I’m close with my grown children. I like to read and walk my dogs alone in the woods. I recharge at home.

But I’m capable of being in a room full of strangers, and making quick connections with people I’ve never met before. I’m not shy. I come across (I think) and very self-confident and comfortable in what might be an uncomfortable situation for some. I think people who know me like this might be surprised to hear that I’m introverted.

But that friendly, open, confident me, is the real me, too, isn’t it?

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
I would do nothing differently if I knew I only had a certain number of years left to live.

That’s because I live intentionally now. I’m 60. I already know I don’t have forever, and that this is the only life I’m ever going to get.

I’m already doing what I want to be doing, and I love my life. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Shelbylyn Subia
Mark Rogers
Kelli Hiser
Mattie Simas
Nicole Anderson

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