In the future, “Carol Novello” will likely make the transition from mere proper noun to verb. Want something difficult done that requires both head and heart? You’ll have to Carol Novello it.
I was privileged to meet Carol when we were both guests on Bonnie D. Graham‘s show a while back.
I bought Carol’s book, Mutual Rescue, the same day. An actual physical copy. Then I bought a second one to send to my daughter and her family. Yep, that good.
Prior to founding Mutual Rescue™, Carol was a business-line president for Intuit in Silicon Valley. She’s a Harvard MBA and is now on the board of CUDDLY, a for-good startup organization dedicated to giving all animals a healthy life and loving home.
Carol graciously accepted my request for an interview. Please enjoy this conversation.
- Tell us about the high school Carol. Band geek? Science Nerd? Secret member of the Hellfire Club/DnD group?
Yearbook geek with an 80s perm – yikes!
- You’ve had both cats and dogs, but it looks like you’re more a cat person. How do I get my rescue cats from waking me up at 4AM? I don’t want to yell at them and wake up my wife, but, I mean, c’mon! Wait a couple hours and I’ll feed you.
You’re right – I’m a cat person first even though I love dogs, too. Ironically, my dog sleeps with me but my cats do not! Precisely for the reason you mention!! My bedroom is on the main level and my cats have a room on the lower level where they eat, sleep and have their litter boxes. Prior to figuring out that I sleep much better without the cats, I had a cat who in the middle of the night bit my eyebrow! I must’ve leapt up 3 feet off the bed. My theory is that I was in REM sleep, my eyebrow was twitching, and my cat thought it was a caterpillar! Needless to say, my advice to you is to find a solution where your cats don’t have the opportunity to bug you in the middle of the night. Otherwise, it’s a lost cause.
- Who was your first rescue? How did they come into your life?
When I was about 5 years old, my parents and I went to a Christmas tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. Someone had dumped a champagne colored kitten there who decided to befriend me. I begged my Mom to take him home and much to my surprise she said yes!!! I was thrilled and so began my life long love of rescuing animals. We named him Nicholas Quattromano (after St. Nick obviously) and Quattromano was my Dad’s nod to our Italian heritage (four hands).
- On the cover of Mutual rescue, is that your hand? Who’s the pup?
Sorry to disappoint you but it is a stock photo!! However, I have had two German Shepherds and it does look like their paws. So I like to tell myself it is one of my GSDs – Kayla or Tess
- You made a major pivot from a senior exec at Intuit to running a local Humane Society organization. Please tell us about that change.
It was purely serendipitous. I had no plans to run a non-profit organization. I had taken some time off and was re-assessing my next professional move when I had the opportunity to join the board at Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV). I loved the work the organization was doing and thought that joining the board would be a great chance to give back while I still continued my career in high tech. Six months into serving on the board, I was asked if I wanted to become president of the organization. Since I wasn’t trying to put kids through college, I decided this was a unique opportunity to use my skills in a really meaningful way. I ended up running HSSV for nearly a decade. During my leadership, we became the first organization to meet the standards set forth by the association of Shelter Veterinarians, we nearly doubled the number of animals the organization took in every year, and we achieved world class save rates. I transitioned the organization to a fabulous leader in 2020 and I am very proud that he is continuing to build on the organization’s legacy.
- Eric & Peety has been a huge success. How’d you decide to do that video? Why them and why then?
Eric adopted Peety from HSSV and had sent us his story via email. I had asked him if I could share his story in a presentation I was doing in the community called “Why Helping Animals Helps People.” Subsequently, I met with the former producer of The Tech Awards in Silicon Valley, David Whitman, who wanted to do something with animals. I asked him how we could make the concept of helping animals to help people more magical. He came up with term “Mutual Rescue” and suggested we make short films illustrating the concept. We knew right away that Eric & Peety would be the first film because of how people were responding to the story when I shared it in local presentations. We had no idea that the film would end up being viewed more 100 million times on social media platforms around the globe or that it would be named the #1 video news story out of California in 2016 by The NY Times.
- Star Trek or Star Wars, and why?
Neither actually – Much more inclined to watch Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks. One of my favorite movies of all time. Love the line “Failure is not an option.”
- Most animal rescue programs focus on the emotions, or “feels.” Mutual Rescue very deliberately hits that button and then goes on to give us the scientific “why” of the mutual benefit. How did you come up with that perspective?
I think my training as a business person (“head”) merged with who I fundamentally am as a person (very heart oriented). They both matter and I felt like it was important to bring “head” into the equation in a way that would elevate the cause of animal welfare. Of the $490 billion Americans gave to charity in 2020, only 3% went to animal and environmental causes combined. I feel that in order to shift the conversation from “people OR animals” to “people AND animals”, there needs to be a compelling mix of both head and heart.
- I’m a sucker for rescues. I’ve got four (two dogs and two cats) in my house. Let’s think about gateway rescues. How should people looking to adopt for the first time go about picking a pet/species?
Think about your lifestyle rather than what an animal looks like. Finding an animal whose activity level and temperament meshes with you and your family is most important. If you work a lot and live alone, get two cats so they can keep each other company while you’re at work. If you consider a dog, make sure that you and your family can provide the level of physical activity that the animal requires to be happy and healthy. Fostering is a good way to have an animal experience without making a lifetime commitment to that animal. Also, there are Doggy Day Out programs at many shelters (visit mutualrescue.org to find a shelter with a program in your area) which enable people to take a dog out for an afternoon without needing to commit to volunteering for the long term. That is a great way to experience time with an animal if you aren’t in a position at the moment to foster or adopt.
- What is the one thing you would ask people to do to improve the lot of animals in the world?
Recognize that helping animals helps people too – which is what Mutual Rescue: How Adopting a Homeless Animal Can Save You, Too is all about. I always advocate for people to adopt rescue animals first but if you end up going to a breeder then consider making a donation to a local shelter in your area to support homeless animals in your community. And perhaps most importantly, spay and neuter your pets!!! It’s the single best way to reduce the homeless animal population.
Carol, thank you for your time. Now, go Carol Novello the heck out of your next endeavor!
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