UnLeadership

18Leading with Our Best Friends

Julie Castle is CEO at Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization dedicated to ending the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. A leader in the no-kill movement, Best Friends runs the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals, as well as lifesaving programs in collaboration with a nationwide network of members and partners working to save them all. Alison and our 17-year-old Tess have visited Best Friends as volunteers twice, first as a 13th birthday gift and again in March 2019. Funny enough, without knowing our family connection to Best Friends, they also brought Scott in to keynote the 2022 Best Friends National Conference.

(Highlights from our interview, recorded July 18, 2023.)

I'M JULIE CASTLE, THE CEO at Best Friends Animal Society. My journey started in 1994, on a road trip to Mexico that I took with some friends in my beat-up 1979 Dodge Colt. The car was classic, with each panel a different color, representing all of my fender benders. We decided to stay in Mexico until we ran out of money. Puerto Vallarta was our last hurrah before I was due to head to the University of Virginia School of Law.

When we finally ran out of money, with just enough cash to pay for gas and for all of us to have a candy bar each, we embarked on the 1,800-mile trip back to Utah. We were grumpy, hungry, and hadn't showered for days when one of my friends, despite a lot of complaining and whining, convinced ...