We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katie Wade a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Katie , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Resilience is the remarkable capacity of individuals to bounce back from adversity, navigate challenges, and adapt positively to life’s setbacks. It goes beyond mere toughness; it embodies the ability to maintain one’s equilibrium in the face of adversity and emerge stronger from difficult experiences. I personally believe my resiliency was built early on in my childhood. I was a child of divorce and my family struggled financially so I am sure you can imagine the trivial situations we all traversed to ensure each of us met our basic needs. Growing up with very little, you learn to take the word “no” less personally and more as a “not now”. I learned over the years that bad things do not necessarily happy TO me, but FOR me because each seemingly negative life event has always taught me something about myself. I think resilience is something we grow into, and as we learn to manage our thoughts these “setbacks” become more like little gifts to teach us a lesson in perseverance.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am the owner of BarkPark! Philly LLC. We are a canine enrichment center located in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. We offer dog daycare, boarding, grooming, training, and also offer in-home cat visits. I started BarkPark! out of a complete love for dogs. Throughout my childhood dogs were often my closest friends, I became obsessed with them and wanted to learn everything I could about them. This catapulted me into the world of Positive Reinforcement at the age of 11 years old. When I was a child it was a popular belief that we should punish our dogs for “disobeying” us, to force them to “respect” us by doing silly and sometimes harmful actions to the dog. As I grew up, I continued learning about dog behavior and the science behind dog training. In 2017 alongside by business partner, that we would open a space to offer city dogs proper enrichment in a safe space, to really be dogs. I can now use my skills to teach dog owners that they do not have to abide by these harmful “traditional” standards to have a well trained dog! We use only Positive methods for handling and work with our dogs to offer them the love and respect they all deserve.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I believe the most impactful quality for achieving my goals has been optimism and ambition. I am a firm believer of manifestation and managing our thoughts, so staying positive has been vital. It can be really easy to get wrapped up in negativity as an entrepreneur and it can be challenging bringing yourself out of the rut once you’ve fallen in. Im not sure I would be where I am today if I was not so sure footed and optimistic in the (many) steps towards reaching my goals. If someone early in their journey asked me for advice I would tell them to harness their optimism, ambition, and most importantly confidence. They need to truly believe that they are capable of achieving their goals, otherwise we have a tendency to push our dreams to the sidelines. Every day is another chance to work on ourselves, whether that be through manifestation, exercise, or steps towards financial comfort; it’s the small accumulation of steps that eventually bring us to the finish line.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I personally love a challenge! I find myself focusing on the things I don’t do well rather than continually practice what I am already good at, as I found I often get even stronger in both areas when I focus on my weakness. This goes for mental and physical growth for sure. In my spare time I practice the beautiful art of pole dancing, where strength and skill are not linear. While I may be able to do a specific move or trick with little effort it is always the skills that look impossible that snag my interest. There is a line from Baz Luhrmann’s “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen” (1997) where he writes “do one thing every day that scares you” and often when I’m feeling like something is a bit over my abilities I reflect on that quote. Becoming stronger in anything starts with your mindset, I think we could all be a little less afraid of being “weak” at something especially if it is in the interest of gaining strength or skill.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BarkParkPhilly.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/barkparkphilly
- Facebook: facebook.com/barkparkphilly
