Life & Work with Samantha Bell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Bell

Hi Samantha, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Oh my gosh my story is so weird! So many different jobs have led me to where I am today! As a kid I was raised as a performer (dancer and actor). I loved being on stage, but I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up. These things will all come into play later in my story.

I started out college with every intention of becoming a vet… and then Disney came along. Michael Eisner was the head of Disney at the time, and he’d attended my college. He made sure that Disney heavily recruited there to work at Disney during the summers on the College Program. And that was the end of any career aspirations I entered college with. My summer Disney job was as a performer (a bandit) on one of the rides. I loved everything about it, and went straight back to Disney after I graduated.

I got a fabulous full time job with Disney in Broadcast Production right out of college. But while I was working on their Holiday Parade filming, one of the Entertainment managers told me I should be in front of the camera instead of behind it. So I auditioned and was cast as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I loved every minute of performing at Disney, and even got to spend two years performing at Tokyo Disneyland!

My favorite part of performing at Disney was talking with the children who wanted to meet me. There were magical, heartwarming moments daily! That prompted me to get my masters in education and teach. I spent about 7 years teaching first grade in Orange County, and then Disney called me back to them. This time I wasn’t on stage, but was helping create stage magic at Disney Imagineering in Glendale.

While I was working in Imagineering, I saw an ad on facebook asking for volunteers to bottle feed baby kittens at a brand new kitten nursery in the valley. That nursery was run by Best Friends Animal Society. I signed up and was volunteering, feeding baby kittens, several nights a week after work. And then I fell in love with a very sickly baby kitten named Yohan. I was worried the other volunteers wouldn’t give him as much time and love as I did because he looked so gross. All the other kittens were fluffy and beautiful, but Yohan was pointy and crusty and lived all alone in an incubator because he was so sick. My love for Yohan had me volunteering almost every night, getting to know the staff, and realizing how amazing this organization was. Yohan helped me realize that this could be my full time job! I could help care for baby kittens every day!

I quickly applied for a job with Best Friends and was hired as a cat caregiver. I also adopted Yohan and another orange kitten named Desmond. I quit a cushy office job in Disney Imagineering to clean cat cages and medicate homeless cats, and I finally knew this was where I belonged, in animal welfare. It was exhausting, physically and emotionally. But I’ve never felt happier in my heart because the blood, sweat, and tears were literally saving animals’ lives.

During that first year as a cat caregiver, I noticed that many of the cats did not cope well in a shelter environment. I wanted to help them, but cleaning, feeding, and medicating them was all I had time for. We had hundreds of cats to care for every day! So at night I’d study cat behavior to learn how I could help them if I ever had a moment to do so. I got really into cat behavior and read every book, article, and study I could find. And then one day in 2013 Best Friends LA announced that they were hiring a Cat Behavior Lead. And I got it.

In my next position with Best Friends I was able to help hundreds of LA’s homeless cats cope with shelter life so that when people met them, they wanted to take them home. And after my first year as Cat Behavior Lead, our adoption center saw a 60% increase in cat adoptions. But it definitely wasn’t all my doing. I had a team of amazing volunteers out there every day helping the cats. While I was Cat Behavior Lead, I found myself working with so many other departments at Best Friends. I’d help the Marketing team come up with ways to get long-term cats adopted. I’d do interviews and TV appearances to talk about cats for our PR team (my on-stage experience really helped me). I’d help with kitten-handling for celebrity events. I realized there were so many different ways I could help save cats’ lives on a national level.

So in 2021 I created my own job description where I could help all the departments at Best Friends with their cat needs. And that’s my job now! I create educational videos for our social media, helping cat owners understand their cat’s behavior. I do interviews with national outlets all over the country about cats – I was on The Today Show for National Cat Day, I was on E! for National Kitten Day – always educating the public on how they can save cats’ lives. So I’m using my performance background and my teaching background to help save cats’ lives on a national level from right here in LA. I have the best job in the world and my weird and interesting life led me exactly to where I am today.

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?
It has definitely not been a smooth road, but it’s been an incredible one. I lost my dad to cancer when I was 9. My full-time working single mom couldn’t afford to put me through college, so I had a lot of pressure on me to get a full tuition scholarship (which I did get!). I got to spend a year of college studying in Spain thanks to the scholarship. I got to live in Tokyo for two years thanks to Disney. I’ve gotten to do so many cool things but i’ve spent my life working really hard to get them.
I also went through a cheating-ex-husband rough divorce about five years ago and had figure out how to make rent in LA as a single person on a nonprofit salary – not an easy feat here. But I hustle, so I get by. I’m a cat influencer on social media (@SamanthaBellCats on Instagram & Tiktok) and I’m starting to get brand partnership deals, and finally starting to see the light at the end of this lifelong financial tunnel. The road has not been smooth by any means but it’s been an adventure!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am the Cat Content Strategist and Cat Expert for Best Friends Animal Society. I think I have the best job in the world. My job is to inspire people to foster and adopt cats, and to educate cat owners so they understand their cats, ultimately keeping cats in homes and out of shelters. I get to save lives by making cat videos for our social media (@BestFriendsAnimal Society on IG). I write the scripts, shoot the videos, and edit them. There’s a YouTube playlist called “CatsRule” on our @BestFriends YouTube where you can see over 100 of my videos, if you’d like. I also do a couple PR interviews per week about all things cats – sometimes written, sometimes televised. I create written resources for our website (resources.bestfriends.org) on topics like litter box issues and introducing cats, to help cat owners who are having issues with their cats. And I’m there for every department in the organization that needs me. “Is this new cat toy that we want to sell in our store safe for cats?” “Ask Samantha Bell.” “A celebrity is having a tough time introducing a new cat to the household.” “Samantha can help them.” Every day is a different LA adventure. Did I mention i love my job? And living here gives me the coolest opportunities!

I am really good at communicating with people. I understand their needs and how to present the information they seek in an easily digestible, positive way – a skill which I got from my years teaching first grade.
I’m also really good at speaking on camera, which is not super common for people who work with animals. So I get a lot of fun opportunities because of that!

I think the fact that I performed at Disney sets me apart for sure. The entirety of my twenties was spent conversing with thousands of strangers, finding ways to create magical connections in 2-minute conversations, and being the literal face of a legendary company. I feel so lucky that i got to experience that!

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I think in the next few years we won’t have to see pets killed due to lack of space in shelters. I’m working so hard to ensure that’s the case. I think more people will spay and neuter, I think TNVR efforts will increase, and I think more people will understand that adopting homeless pets instead of buying them from breeders will help get us to the point where shelters don’t have to kill pets for space. But people will always need help with their cats, so I don’t see my career changing. And personally I’m hoping to build my personal “Samantha Bell” brand so I have a larger platform to help more people with their cats and ultimately save more lives.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @SamanthaBellCats
• Youtube: @SamanthaBell
• Other: TikTik: @SamanthBellCats Threads: @SamanthaBellCats

Image Credits
Lori Fusaro took the one with the orange cat in the foreground and me in the bg, and she also took the one of me holding a treat up for a cat