Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Wilde.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Nicole. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m a solopreneur who wears many hats and needs another 24 hours in the day! The thread that connects everything I do is a love of animals. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. Although we lived in an apartment building, my family always had dogs. My childhood was a somewhat difficult one, and those dogs were my friends and the highlights of my days. I moved to L.A. in 1987 and began playing bass guitar in a band. Soon after, I met my husband at, of all places, a rock club on the Sunset Strip. Two years later we married, and completed our family by adopting dogs from the shelter.
During my time in New York I had trained my own dogs and friends’ dogs, and now I began to volunteer for the city shelters in L.A. while training dogs professionally part-time. I also met a woman who rescued wolves and wolfdogs in Agua Dulce, a small town in the desert northeast of L.A. I went to visit and there was an instant, incredibly strong understanding and bond between me and those animals. The woman and I became friends, and I quickly went from volunteering to co-running the rescue.
Fast forward ten years. I’d continued to co-run the wolf rescue, and three of the residents who needed a place to go had come home to live with my husband and me. We had two dogs indoors as well as three wolves who lived in a large outdoor enclosure. I had opened Gentle Guidance Dog Training in Santa Clarita, which is where we bought our house 25 years ago. I also began to write books. My first two were about wolfdogs, and the subsequent ones were about dog behavior. I never planned on being an author, but each book I wrote filled a niche. For example, there were no comprehensive books on the market about wolfdogs, and none on how to become a dog trainer, how to help fearful dogs, and so on. With the possible exception of Hit by a Flying Wolf, which is more of a biography about my rescue work with wolves and dogs, my criteria was that the books had to help people and animals. Today I am preparing to publish my eleventh book! I also blog for the Huffington Post and my own Wilde About Dogs blog, and write articles each month for Modern Dog magazine. Oh, and did I mention that I self-publish? That alone is a full-time job! My books have been translated into German, Spanish, and Polish, which does my heart good because I know ultimately it will benefit so many dogs.
In addition to writing, I’ve traveled and lectured about dog behavior for the past twenty years, teaching upwards of 15 seminars a year in the States as well as internationally. But in 2015 both of my parents became very ill and my traveling stopped. Unfortunately, they both had dementia as well as other maladies, and after a prolonged struggle, they passed months apart. That entire year was crushingly difficult, not only emotionally, but because as the only remaining child (my brother died of AIDS in 1995), it was my role to deal with the finances, legalities, and such, which added greatly to the burden. To keep my sanity, I turned to art. I had learned photography five years prior and had dabbled in Photoshop, but now I took a deep dive into the world of digital art. I learned through online video tutorials how to combine my photographs and enhance them digitally to turn them into works of art. It was a healing experience, and being creative remained my happy place even after my parents passed. It’s been gratifying to see my artwork hanging in galleries and to have people purchase my art to have in their own homes. Knowing that my images touch people emotionally means a lot.
I am passionate about using my photography and art to benefit animals. I photograph for a local deaf dog rescue as well as others to help the dogs’ chances of adoption. I also donate my artwork to various organizations to help them fundraise. Three of my pieces were recently auctioned off by the Painted Dog Conservancy in Australia, which made me very happy! My husband and I still live in Santa Clarita with our two rescue dogs, and I continue to train dogs and write books. I realize that doing all the different things I do sounds a bit crazy-making and all over the place, but hey, normal is overrated! Besides, although my love of animals has provided me with a career or three, my greatest reward is the satisfaction I get from helping them.
Great, 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?
Back when I was co-running the wolfdog rescue, I got a reputation as the “wolf lady,” and received tons of advice-seeking emails from people who had wolfdogs as pets. While wolfdogs do not make perfect pets and I don’t advocate getting one, I wanted to help those who needed it. Soon, I was spending two to three hours answering emails. I realized that education was sorely needed. I approached a group of wolf-savvy people I networked with online to propose writing a book together. One person could write a chapter on containment, another on training, and so on. The response was unanimous: “Great idea! Let us know when it’s done.” I had no experience writing books and certainly none in publishing. But I learned as much as I could about self-publishing, and wrote my first book, Living with Wolfdogs. I honestly didn’t expect it to sell many copies, but figured I could refer people to it instead of spending so much time answering the same questions over and over. The positive response surprised me, as did the demand for a second, more in-depth book on the topic. Somehow, after that I just kept going, writing books on dog behavior and titles aimed at professional trainers. I’m so glad I took up that initial challenge, as well as the challenge of learning about self-publishing. I have exactly zero training in business, but have learned a lot along the way. I believe a large part of my success is due to listening to my instincts, and using my heart as well as my brain to determine the best and most ethical courses of action.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nicolewilde.com www.photomagicalart.com www.gentleguidance4dogs.com
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credits:
Monty Sloan
Sheryl Sellards Mann
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
