Episode #44 – Dr. Karen Shenoy

Top of the Hill
Dr. Karen Shenoy, Chief Veterinary Officer for Hill’s US, shares insights from her extensive Veterinary career, spanning roles in small animal practice, wildlife rehab, and Veterinary innovation. Discover her passion for mentorship, dedication to animal health, and the unique journey that shaped her leadership in Veterinary medicine.

Transcript

Stacy Pursell:
Do you work in the animal health industry or veterinary profession? Have you ever wondered how people began their careers, and how they got to where they are today? Hi everyone. I’m Stacy Pursell, the founder and CEO of the Vet Recruiter, the leading executive search and recruiting firm for the animal health industry and veterinary profession. I was the first recruiter to specialize in the animal health industry and veterinary profession in the United States and built the first search firm to serve this unique niche.

For the past 25-plus years, I have built relationships with the industry’s top leaders and trailblazers. The People of Animal Health podcast highlights the incredible individuals I have connected with throughout my career. You will be able to learn more about their lives, careers, and contributions. With our wide range of expert guests, you will be sure to learn something new and every episode. Thanks for tuning in, and enjoy the episode.

Welcome to The People of Animal Health podcast. Today we are thrilled to welcome Dr. Karen Shenoy, Chief Veterinary Officer for Hills US to the People of Animal Health podcast. Since joining Hills in 2008, Dr. Shenoy has held influential roles across commercial and professional teams bringing her wealth of experience to the company and the wider veterinary community. She’s also a dedicated advocate for veterinary innovation and diversity serving on several advisory boards, including the AVMA’s Food Safety Advisory Committee. Dr. Shenoy balances her passion for animal health with her life in Kansas City, where she and her family care for their beloved pets and cheer on the Minnesota Gophers. Welcome, Dr. Shenoy.

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Thank you so much for having me, Stacy. I know it’s taken a little bit of work to get this scheduled, and I just so appreciate you having me on.

Stacy Pursell:
Yes. Well, I’m so glad to have this opportunity for us to talk today. Let’s start off at the beginning. What was your life like growing up, and where did you grow up?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
I grew up in Minnesota, and I always joke I only have an accent when I say the word Minnesota. I’ve got a bit of a long O. But grew up living in a town called Stillwater that’s on the St. Croix River, on the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin, a suburb of St. Paul. And had a very quintessential Minnesota upbringing living on a lake, it is the land of 10,000 lakes. And we had a wooded lot with a lake not far from the house, and so I spent an awful lot of time outside in nature around animals, and you can see where I’m going with this. It was very key to me having the career path that I have had.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, can you share your journey into veterinary medicine, and what initially inspired you to pursue this career?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Yeah. I think it goes back even as I think about my parents and their interests, that both of them love or loved animals. My mom is especially a cat person, and we always grew up with at least three or four cats in the house. And then my dad was an engineer, a chemical engineer, and really into the science and problem solving, and so I almost feel like I was destined to be a vet with the animal loving from especially my mom and the science from Dad.

And earliest when I probably was first able to articulate what I might want to do in life as a profession, I would have said wildlife biology. I just loved being outside, I loved animals, I was even just such a nerdy child. So interested in zoology that I was a member of the American Association of Zookeepers, and the Minnesota Herpetologic Society, was really into frogs especially, and just anything I could learn about animals, I was there.

And then later, probably in my later elementary school years, my parents enrolled me in an Explorers Program where I had the opportunity to get exposure to different careers in animal health and agriculture. And I was thinking about this this morning. I can’t even tell you any other experience I had as part of that program outside of the one where we visited a vet clinic, and I know we did a bunch of different things. But when I got into a vet clinic and spent time at a local practice that actually wasn’t too far from my house and just got a little bit of a spark and exposure to what veterinary medicine is, I was just hooked instantly.

And I asked the owner of the clinic if I could come back that summer and I think about once a week got to go, just hang out as this very awkward shy kid and observe and learn about the vet clinic, probably in my junior high years. And in particular, I remember a day that I got to shadow and watch him do an amputation and blood squirted across the room and I thought it was the coolest thing ever and came home and told my parents about it, and my dad especially was squeamish and just never appreciated those kinds of stories. But they could tell instantly that I had found my niche, and from then on it was what I knew I was going to go do.

Stacy Pursell:
Wow. Well, you have held various roles at Hills Pet Nutrition over the years. How has your experience there at Hills shaped your approach to veterinary medicine and leadership?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
I think both because I’ve had a number of experiences prior to Hills, and then because of the types of varied experiences I’ve had within Hills, I think what I bring to my role even today is very much a grounding in the day-to-day life of the veterinary team. I spent even during my time at Hills and industry, seven years in field-based roles where I was visiting, I’ve been in hundreds of veterinary clinics visiting veterinary schools.

And I remember as I stepped into this role as our chief veterinary officer for the US business and got input from others about what I should be thinking of their advice on things that I should keep top of mind as I take on this new role, I had a couple of people say, “You know, Karen, it’s really important that you stay really grounded in that day-to-day perspective. Don’t lose sight of the experience of the field team or the veterinary professional on the ground,” because I had come from that. And as we rise and get kind of farther into leadership roles, it can be easy, I think, to lose sight of that and to find ourselves talking to ourselves instead of staying grounded in kind of the reality of what it’s like out there in the trenches.

So, that would be one key thing is just as I’ve gotten exposure to all these different parts of our business and been able to spend quite a lot of time out in veterinary clinics, I think it just keeps me really grounded and I’m trying to maintain that as best I can.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, as Chief Veterinary officer for Hills US, what are some of the key initiatives you’re currently focused on?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
A couple really important things come to mind here. One thing that I’ll highlight is just the way in which our PR team has been keeping me extremely busy lately. One of my roles really is to be the face of Hills to the vet profession and the industry in the US. And as part of that lately, one of the biggest things I’ve been doing is serving as a spokesperson talking about our State of Shelter Pet Adoption Report. And that’s been a really neat thing for me to kind of see shelters and how shelter medicine is advancing as a real field within veterinary medicine, and then the vet profession, those worlds colliding a little bit.

At Hills, we both have the veterinary profession at the heart of all we do, and take our role in supporting animal welfare and shelters very seriously. And so, it’s the first time we’ve had our chief veterinary officer, somebody that’s more on the veterinary side of things, playing this big a role in what we’re doing towards shelters. And it’s just been a really great learning for me and a fun way to give back and to really shine a light on some of the great work that’s being done in the shelter space, but also the huge amount of opportunities and some of the big challenges that group is facing.

And so specifically, we commissioned this survey and have written this report and shared the findings from the report as a way to dig into looking at barriers to pet adoption. We’re recognizing that fortunately intakes into shelters are starting to come down a bit, which is great, but we’re not seeing animals get adopted out of shelters at the rate that we would like. And so, we dove into some of those barriers to pet adoption to help shelters themselves have more actionable data that they can use to address some of those barriers and get more pets out in the loving homes.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, I’ve been reading about that. In fact, the Fountain Report had an article about that this morning, and didn’t you all partner with an author? There was a book that I saw about cats.

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Yeah, Hannah Shaw, the kitten lady, also right now is releasing a book, and so we’ve been doing a lot to help support her and get the word out about cats, and do a lot of great things to again bring attention to some of the challenges in the shelter community.

Stacy Pursell:
Okay, that’s so interesting. Karen, you’ve worked in wildlife rehabilitation and small animal practice. How have these diverse experiences influenced your perspective on animal health?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
I think the thing that comes to mind there for me is the power of the human-animal bond, and that gets talked about a lot. But I think for most if not all of us that are in the animal health industry, that’s what got us here, that we really recognize the importance of animals in people’s lives. I think many veterinarians, and again, other than the animal health industry, probably have a story about a special animal that touched them in some way. I wrote my statements of intent for vet school around a cat that meant a lot to me growing up, but I can see that from different angles.

Having worked in a variety of roles in the profession, in my clinical experience prior to coming to Hills, and so specifically in the wildlife space, I would sometimes think a little bit philosophically about the work that we were doing in wildlife rehabilitation medicine. And it’s easy to say, “Well, in the grand scheme of things, is it important to save the life of this one songbird or one rabbit that’s come into the facility that I was working in?” But at the end of the day, time and time again, we would see just these amazing heartwarming stories of people that had just gone through amazing steps to save the life of, or address the needs of an animal that they found, or they encountered in some way. And we always had the approach that if somebody cared enough to bring an animal in that we were willing to help either ease that animal’s suffering or help to rehabilitate them and try to get them back out into the wild if we could.

And just time and time again, I can think of stories whether it’s there, or in the work I did in small animal practice, or in the exposure I’ve had to students through a variety of roles, just the way animals have touched so many different people and their lives, and how it’s just amazing as veterinarians that we get to help play a role in that relationship and support that bond between people and their pets, or people and animals. And hopefully in the case of pets, help pets live longer, higher-quality lives so that their animal families are also benefiting from that long-term.

Stacy Pursell:
What is the most memorable story that you can share about your work in wildlife rehabilitation?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Oh my gosh. I’ve got some crazy stories. I guess the go-to one that I’ll share is about the orange opossum that I treated one day. So, of course I was filling a late night shift or late into the evening hours, shifted a clinic, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota where I worked, and I wasn’t even supposed to be the vet on staff, I was covering for the other veterinarian who was unable to be there that day. And we got a call from an animal control officer and were asked to stay open a little bit late so that he could come over with this opossum.

And it ended up being a poor opossum that had fallen into a vat of taco grease behind, I’m guessing it was a fast food restaurant, and the poor opossum was just bright orange, Cheeto colored, and really stinky, it was like rancid taco grease. I’ve got all kinds of gross stories. And it was a mother opossum, I think she had some dead babies in her pouch that we had to remove. But ended up getting her cleaned up and it was a positive story in the end. But man, was that about the closest I’ve come to growing up because the poor animal I was working on smelled so horrendous. It’s quite the case.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, it’s such rewarding work, I’m sure. And I know that you are actively involved with several boards and advisory committees, including the AVMA’s Food Safety Advisory Committee and the Veterinary Innovation Council. How do you balance these responsibilities with your role at Hills?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Yeah, I actually, thinking of this question would say that the question’s more how do I balance it in my overall life, and against trying to find time for myself and time for my family? I don’t really have too much of a challenge day in and day out with balancing some of the professional activities, because Hills is so very supportive of me and my involvement in the various organizations that I do play a role in. And so, from a professional lens, I see it all as tied back to my role as Chief Veterinary Officer.

A big component of what I’m able to do in this role is give back to the profession that’s given me so much, and some of that is the volunteer work I do with the AVMA, being on the Veterinary Innovation Council. I think we might also dive into work with the Diversified Vet-Med, Coalition. All of those are things that I think Hills would see as important endeavors and tied into the work that I do in my role. And so again, it’s more about the day-to-day work-life integration and how I make that all happen, which is not always easy, but something I strive for.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, I’d love to hear more about your tips as we continue our conversation. And I was going to ask you, the Diversified Veterinary Medicine Coalition aims to create greater representation for underrepresented groups in veterinary medicine. Can you tell our audience more about your work with this organization and its impact?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Yeah, this is one of the organizations that I do some volunteer work for that I’m incredibly passionate about. Actually, when I first accepted this role as Chief Veterinary Officer for the Hills US business, my predecessor, Dr. Yola Kurpenstein, who’s moved into our global chief veterinary officer role, said to me, “Karen, we’ve just signed on as supporting sponsors for the Diversified Veterinary Medicine Coalition, and you’re going to sit on the board of directors.” I mean, literally, it was like the number one task was, “You’re going to pick this up where we left off.”

And at that time, the Diversified Vet-Med Coalition was I think maybe about a year into its origination, and already starting to make some positive steps towards some of the actions that they wanted to take, but was still a fairly new organization. And it’s a group that is focused on obviously diversifying the veterinary profession, and specifically focused on the BIPOC community, so black, indigenous, people of color, ensuring that individuals that are from those backgrounds that are traditionally very underrepresented in veterinary medicine, that we are taking some steps that are necessary to help reduce especially some of the financial barriers that may exist to navigating the pre-vet years, and then getting into veterinary school and being successful and thriving in vet school.

The group does do some things like try to connect scholars with the right network, provide mentoring and educational support and different things. But a huge part of what we’ve tried to focus on is the financial aspect, knowing that we can’t boil the ocean and do everything, have been very focused on what specific action-oriented steps we can take to make a real meaningful difference. And there’s now been three cohorts of scholars brought into the program, and we’ve been successful already in getting three veterinary students, really students that are pre-vet students into veterinary school. Three scholars that are already actively in their roles today as veterinary students. And it’s just amazing to be a part of that.

And then also I will say that those of us that are actively involved in the organization, myself especially, I think, I learned so much from the students. It’s wonderful to have them to learn from and to recognize and hear what their experiences have been, and to honestly see our future leaders in the profession, what their perspectives are and help them grow and learn. But I learn as much from them as they learn from me, I think. And currently I lead their scholarship committee, and really proud and excited about the work that we’re doing.

Stacy Pursell:
No, that’s fantastic. And I know that that ties into mentorship, and I know that mentorship is a significant part of your career through your involvement with WILMAH. What advice would you offer to young veterinarians and other professionals, especially women looking to advance in this field?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
First, I’ll say that I really think mentoring others and giving back is so very important. I talked about the especially one veterinarian in particular who allowed me to shadow in his practice and how that set my whole career trajectory. I feel like there are so many people that have given me a leg up, or supported me along the way that I just really try to give back and give to the profession that’s given me so very much. And so, in terms of mentorship, there’s a lot of different aspects to it. I think sometimes it’s informal conversations with individuals. Sometimes it’s more formal mentorship programs that I’m a part of.

But some of the key advice that I would offer to up and coming veterinarians, or other women looking to get into the field is definitely be sure you’re not getting in your own way. And what I mean by that is, first of all, don’t be afraid to be yourself and quiet that inner voice. I think we talk a lot about imposter syndrome, I definitely at points in my career even today sometimes, feel imposter syndrome creeping in, and it’s really easy to have a negative narrative of, “Oh, I’m not good enough,” or, “Oh, I don’t really belong here,” or whatever that might be. I think it’s just really important to not be your own worst enemy, your own worst critic and not get in your own way, but just kind of have a willingness to get out of your comfort zone, try new things and the rest will follow.

Stacy Pursell:
That’s great advice. I had an appointment this morning outside of the office, and I walked by somebody’s computer, and she had a sign on her computer and it said, “You’re doing a great job.” And I said, “I love your sign.” And she said, “Sometimes you need a reminder that you’re doing a great job.”

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Yes, that’s wonderful. I love that.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, you have a strong background in both academic and practical aspects of veterinary medicine. How do you see the relationship between research, education, and clinical practice evolving in the future?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
I think this is a really tough question. It’s hard to give some real specifics about how things are going to evolve. But what I will say is that our profession, our industry in the world right now, we’re facing some really significant challenges. And as the veterinary landscape evolves and the world around us evolves so rapidly, I think it’s going to become more and more important for various facets of the industry to come together, and for us to work collaboratively.

And so, your examples here are spot on that I think industry, academic, government partnerships are going to become more critical. That no one sector, no one facet within the profession can kind of independently tackle some of these challenges, but it’s going to take a lot of collaboration, diversity of thought, a variety of individuals coming together to really make sure that we’re evolving and continuing to meet the needs of society as an industry.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, that’s fantastic. I love to see the collaboration, just like the work that you talked about earlier that Hills is doing with the shelter community. What role do you think innovation plays in the future of veterinary medicine? And how is the Veterinary Innovation Council contributing to this?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Yeah, building off of the answer to the last question there, is these different challenges come to light, and we work to continue to evolve as an industry in order to continue to meet and better meet the needs of society. I think innovation is critical. And that can come in so many different ways. It’s I think just important to keep an open mind about new ways of doing things, and until we often try to take kind of a future back approach to things, where do we see things heading five, 10 years from now? Or where do we want to be five to 10 years from now? And then come back to today and kind of think about the steps that might be needed to get to that future place.

At the Veterinary Innovation Council, I sit on that board, the council tends to focus on a specific issue usually each year or so. And so, recently we’ve been very focused on access to care, more recently, the group’s focusing in on artificial intelligence. And I think what’s unique about the Veterinary Innovation Council as it tries to look at an aspect of these core topics or challenges that have come to light that nobody else is focused on and find a new angle or create the right dialogue around a portion of an issue that, again, is not being talked about or where the right partners aren’t coming together to have conversation.

And I’ll be frank, sometimes I may not fully agree with some of the different perspectives that come together. I think we’ve got a pretty diverse group that’s involved in the Innovation Council, but I’m really proud to have a seat at the table, and glad that I can use opportunities like that, other groups I’m a part of, to understand the different perspectives. I think being curious as a leader and being open to innovation and new ways of doing things is so important. And so, it’s just I think important to me to, again, get out of my comfort zone a little bit, get out of my usual lane, and get exposure to some of these other voices and perspectives as I try to think about what might be right for Hills or for myself and develop my own perspectives about things.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, you’ve done so many things up to this point throughout your career in the veterinary profession. What has been the most surprising thing to you during your career up to this point, working around and in the veterinary profession?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
I knew you were going to ask this question, and I think this might have been the hardest one to think of how I might answer it, and maybe a week from now I’ll think of a better answer because I am an introvert who needs time to ponder and think about these things. But I think it’s really actually that I’ve surprised myself, that as a veterinary student, I was very focused on wildlife medicine, knew that was my passion, and would have told you probably in vet school that’s what I was going to do my whole career.

And a role in the industry wasn’t even really something I knew about. Maybe there’s one person that came and talked to us during vet school about a career in industry, but it certainly wasn’t something that sparked interest in me and that I thought I was going to go after. And I would have never dreamed that I’d be where I am today, have achieved what I have in my career. Even if I knew it was something I could dream about, I wouldn’t have believed I could get here.

So, I guess I will say I’ve surprised myself. And I know I should maybe not sell myself short and speak to the fact that I’ve been very intentional and worked really hard to get here but, honestly, I just feel so lucky and still sometimes I have to pinch myself. I’m pretty honored to have over time moved up into this role as Chief Veterinary Officer at Hills, and it’s just a great place to be and a very wonderful position where I’m so proud to be able to lead in the way that I can and to give back to the profession.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, that’s great. And I know that during the time that you’ve been in the profession, the profession has gone through some changes throughout the years. How have you personally seen the veterinary profession change throughout the years that you’ve been involved?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Probably the easiest way to think about this is if I remember back to my first years at Hills. So, I’ve been at Hills 17 years, and I can remember where when I was a veterinarian supporting our sales team, some of our initiatives at the time, one of the things we were talking a lot about is how we were seeing more multi-doctor practices. That there were not one, two doctor practices as much anymore, but it was practices with three or five or six veterinarians and how that might change our approach to working with those clinics.

And that seems so crazy now when you think about how veterinary medicine has become more corporatized, how more recently practice models are changing and we’re seeing care delivered in different ways. We’ve got telemedicine and technology coming into practices more and more and just how we deliver care and the sort of model of veterinary practices has changed a lot over the 17 years that I’ve been even at Hills, let alone the 20 years I’ve been out of vet school.

Stacy Pursell:
And what does your crystal ball say about the future of the veterinary profession?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
So, here my optimism will come through. I’m ever the optimist, maybe almost to a fault. But I would say my hope for the future is that as we continue to tackle this challenge of access to care, that we see more pets and pet families benefiting from veterinary care and that we as a profession continue to advance the way that we are delivering care. And that in the end that if that’s done well and in the way that we need it to be done, it should all result in animals living longer, healthier, happier lives. I think our mission at Hills is to enrich and lengthen the special relationships between people and their pets, so this kind of touches on a number of things we’ve talked about today. It’s that human animal bond and how we celebrate that and our role as veterinarians, it’s all about lengthening life and ensuring the quality of life is there.

So, my hope for the future is that as we continue to evolve as a profession, that we’re able to do that even better and reach more animals, reach more pet families. And then, of course, as a veterinarian working at Hills Pet Nutrition specifically, I have to say that my hope and what I would love for the Crystal Ball to say is that we continue to think about ways that nutrition plays a really key role there, that every pet eats, and that we’re able to influence health and longevity so dramatically by what the pet eats, influence gene expression, influence health outcomes, that I just have a lot of passion around how we can help pets and their pet parents through nutrition.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, just a moment ago, you were talking about your career and how you started, and you thought you were going to stay at wildlife medicine, and then to the role that you are now. And so, successful people, they don’t just magically appear in this role overnight. You had to do some things to get there. Successful people have daily habits that help them achieve success. So I’m curious, what are some of the daily habits that you believe have allowed you to achieve success along the way?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
I think I’ll talk about two things here. One is by nature I am quite an organized person, and I’m also quite structured in my thought process, and in my work life and my home life, and just how I balance my time. I try to be really intentional about where I put my energy and my time. And my team knows that I think, it’s just the way I’m programmed, I think in terms of the big rocks mentality, which is a Stephen Covey principle. I think he may not be the one that invented that concept, but he certainly popularized it.

And so, it’s the idea of you have a jar and you can only fit so many rocks of various sizes in the jar, and if you fill up your jar with all kinds of tiny pebbles that are the random tasks that get thrown at you that maybe don’t make as big a difference, that you won’t have room for the big stuff. And so, I think very much in this big rocks mentality of what are the key things? If I do nothing else, what do I need to get done this year, this month, this week, or today? And try to prioritize my time accordingly.

Now, that’s a work in progress and not always easy, and there’s always urgent things that come up, but I’m pretty good about maintaining a very intentional, structured approach to how I spend my time, and I think that’s helped me get where I have.

And then more on a personal level, I try to just develop really healthy habits. Lately I’ve been trying to focus on drinking 64 ounces of water a day, and I try to bite off these very simple, realistic things that I truly can fit into my busy life, and make myself and my health a priority. Again, not always easy, but I try to develop those healthy habits. Take the stairs at work instead of the elevator, little things that can help me maintain my energy and stay healthy.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, two very good things. Prioritizing your time, because you can spend time on things that really don’t matter. So focusing on the things that are the most important, and then taking care of your body, very important things.

Well, outside of your professional life, you enjoy outdoor activities and competitive swimming. How do these personal interests influence your professional life and vice versa?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Yeah, swimming means an awful lot to me. And one of the positives out of many negative things that came from the pandemic is me getting back into swimming. So I, at various points in my life, have been a competitive swimmer. I actually was a synchronized swimmer also in high school, little known fact about me. And I’ve swam with adult master’s programs and things over the years, but I really had gotten so busy in my work life, and we haven’t talked about my daughter yet, but I am married, have a husband named James and an 11-year-old daughter and keep plenty busy. And certainly for a period of time, I think it got hard to prioritize my own health and wellbeing.

And then during the pandemic when I was not having to commute and was working from home for a couple of years, basically, I ended up finding my way to a master’s swim team that was practicing at our local gym and got involved with that group. And it’s one of these great things that’s just become a habit where I’ve got … And it’s the accountability partners that have made me stick with it. So, I’ve got people I swim with who expect me to be there, and if I’m not showing up, we text each other and say, “Hey, where have you been lately?” But I really make it a priority to swim. And again, I try to be super realistic about the pressure I put on myself about how often I get to the pool.

So, my secret is that on Monday mornings, before I get sucked into the work week, before I’m even allowed to look at my email, I go and I swim. And then I start the week with this fresh, positive outlook because I’ve spent that time re-energizing and focusing on myself. And then on Saturday mornings, I just don’t even think about it, it’s become habit. I get up early, I go to the gym, I spend an hour-and-a–half with this group, we swim, and it just clears my head and helps me transition from the work week into the weekend, so that I can show up and be less stressed and a better family member at home. And just that entry into and exit from the work week with some healthy habits has made all the difference for me.

Stacy Pursell:
I enjoy watching the synchronized swimmers. And when I was in high school, I was on a high school drill team, a dance team, and our coach had been a former synchronized swimmer, and she incorporated that into our dance routines. It was a lot of fun.

Well, Karen, what advice would you give the younger version of yourself?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
That one’s pretty simple. It would be just be yourself. I think I had to learn, took a long time the hard way over a number of years to realize that that’s what it all comes down to. If you aren’t just being your authentic self, then how can you expect people to follow you and lead you? Or for them to allow you to lead them? You make your best contributions, you’re your most creative and energetic when you just are yourself. So again, it’s not been something, again, that’s come super easy to me, but I’ve over time learned to be much more confident and comfortable in my own skin and the importance of just being my authentic self.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, that’s very good advice. And some of our guests say that they’ve had a key book that really helped them with their approach to success. Do you have a key book in your life that has impacted you the most? I’d love to hear that story.

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Yeah. Here, I would love to have some really intelligent, amazing recommendation to share. I’m going to be vulnerable and share that I learned about myself in vet school that I am a kinesthetic learner, so I don’t really learn as well as I would like, at least by reading or by watching things. I’m one of those people that will watch a movie, and then I have to ask my husband a month later, “Have I seen this movie?” It’s just not how I learn and retain information. If I read, I’m most often drawn to leadership books and things, and I have to really sit and highlight and rewrite things or write notes in the margins or talk about the information with somebody to retain it.

And so between that and just my busy life, I don’t do a ton of book reading. What I do a lot of is trying to stay up on all the things happening in the veterinary landscape. And so, I consume a lot of information, but it’s through daily newsletters, maybe more of podcasts, and then reading books. And so just a couple of favorites, many have probably heard of, but the Fountain Report you actually mentioned a little while ago. I’ve gotten most into that report recently, find it to be the most comprehensive place where I find information about what’s happening in animal health. It’s very current, the current issues, or current activities, and go to that regularly. And then the Veterinary Innovation Podcast is another favorite. If I have some time in the car and want to just stay up on some of the new emerging companies, new emerging thought leaders in the industry, I find that to be a really good one too.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, those are both really good resources.

Well, Karen, you’ve got the mic. What is one thing that you want to share with our listeners of the People of Animal Health podcast before you drop the mic today?

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
So, I’ve talked about the importance of being yourself, I think that’s a key thing to emphasize. Getting out of your comfort zone we’ve talked about a little bit. I definitely think that I’ve gotten where I have in my career by doing that just one small step at a time, and it’s over time led to me getting to do some really cool things, and stepping up and moving along into bigger and bigger roles.

But I think the other thing that we haven’t talked about yet that I’ll finish with is that as an optimist and collaborative person, I feel like the right answer is most often somewhere in the middle. I think we’ve got a lot of really challenging things that we’re working through as an industry right now, and there’s some specific topics we won’t get into today that are quite contentious, and I always just look at some of these things and go, “You know what? It’s not that this group is right, this group is wrong. But the real answer often I think, is somewhere in the middle.” And I just hope that we can all have open dialogue about these different perspectives, welcome diverse opinions, and that a world in which there’s collaboration amongst a variety of parties, I think helps us get to the real challenge and solve some of these amazing but difficult problems that we’re facing as a profession.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, that’s a great point. Well, Karen, thank you for being here. I know how busy you are with all of the things that you’re involved with. I really enjoyed having you on the People of Animal Health podcast today and sharing your story. Thanks for being here today.

Dr. Karen Shenoy:
Thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here.