When animal advocate and Pet Lifestyle Coach Megan Blake walks into a room, heads turn, and it isn’t just her energy or expertise that motivates this response—it’s often her escort, giant mutt Super Smiley. Whether it’s Super Smiley, her beloved rescue turned “spokesdog” who smiles alongside her to promote pet adoption, Tout Suite the Travel Kitty, the discarded feral who has traveled over 130,000 miles with Megan educating pet owners on traveling with their furry family, or one of the many horses she’s saved from slaughter, there’s no denying that Megan is succeeding in her mission to help people integrate pets into their lives and to show these pets as teachers and healers. Together with her cherished “spokesanimals,” she is opening hearts, minds, and inspiring tangible change in the relationship between humans and pets.
That relationship is the centerpiece of everything she does. She’s the resident Pet Expert on the Emmy-Award winning PBS series Animal Attractions TV that she also hosted, segment produced and wrote and which was celebrated at the Humane Society of the United States’ prestigious Genesis Awards. Clips from the show can be seen on her sizzle reel at
www.PetLifestyleCoach.com Mixed into these clips, is her current appearance on Oprah’s Network, OWN, as the Pet Lifestyle Coach to Ryan O’Neal on his reality series, The O’Neals. Megan brings Ryan two Best Friends dogs to choose from and helps him integrate Mozart into his home. The episode is important for the dog adoption movement, because it illustrates how an adopted dog can come into a tension-filled environment, and into that darkness, bring light, calm the situation, bring people together and (as Megan says) “increase our happy chemicals.” The episode titled “He Said, She Said” is re-airing on OWN. Check local listings for re-air times.
Megan’s column appears in the critically acclaimed and Genesis Awards recognized Dog’s Life Magazine, and includes subjects close to Megan’s heart like Earth Friendly Grooming, Indoor Fun for Fido, Safe Travel, Grieving the Loss of a Pet, and Dog Proofing Your Home. http://dogslifemagazine.com/?s=megan+blake
What’s A Super Smiley Adventure? It’s Megan’s Super Pawsome new radio show on Pet Life Radio, named after her spokes-mutt, Super Smiley. Pet Life Radio is the largest Pet Podcast and Wifi Radio Network on the planet, boasting hosts like Animal Planet’s Victoria Stilwell and guests like Jennifer Anniston and Betty White.
(www.PetLifeRadio.com At this link, scroll down and click A Super Smiley Adventure thumbnail.) Her show’s theme, adventure, explores real life travels as well as inner journeys where animals take us. Megan believes that if we are open to it, animals will always lead us on amazing adventures and to great journeys of inner discovery. Megan, Smiley and Tout Suite the Travel Kitty are currently taking listeners on a Radio Tour of all the safe havens at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah, including Dog Town from the popular National Geographic TV series. On A Super Smiley Adventure, she also speaks with heavy hitters like Wayne Pacelle, the President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and with celebrity pet advocates, like Mackenzie Phillips. A Super Smiley Adventure is on the web and on iTunes at http://www.petliferadio.com/supersmiley.html
Of course Megan talks to her animals, doesn’t everyone? One night, Smiley and Megan while watching TV saw one of those sad commercials for pet adoption. Smiley walked up to her, looked right into her eyes and told her that things needed to change! They needed a rockin’ campaign to energize people to go adopt a pet! So they created the Super Smiley Revolution: The Super Smiley Flash Mob 4 Pet Adoption that has been touring and rockin’ the U.S. since May. Watch it, Dance it and Share it at
www.SuperSmileyFlashMob.com Smiley often accompanies Megan on Red Carpets, which she uses as opportunities to speak for pets. For more info on the Super Smiley Flash Mob and fun Red Carpet and celebrity shots with Smiley, see www.SmileyTheDog.com
Megan and Smiley are also a Spokes Team for Toyota’s Pet Safe Initiative, helping people to travel safely with their pets. They are a Pet Partners Therapy Dog Team for the prestigious Delta Society and a HOPE crisis response team, which qualifies them to go into disaster areas and give comfort and assistance to those affected. Megan is the Official Spokesperson for Pet Expo USA, which spotlights legendary animal rights activists as actresses Tippi Hendren and Linda Blair, Shorty Rossi of Animal Planet’s Pit Boss, among other champions fighting for animal rights. She is the Celebrity Pet Ambassador for the Wonder Pet Expo and has served as a spokes-person for many events like L.A’s Operation Fitness, Jacksonville’s Fur Ball and Beverly Hill’s Wooftock. She is a sought after pet expert in the media and celebrity judge for numerous grooming and mutt contests from which many shelter dogs are adopted. She has hosted regional events for the Humane Society of the United States and volunteered at Best Friends’ Dog Town.
She has also worked with wolves to study their unspoken language and to apply that intuitive understanding to educating pet owners on how to better communicate with their own dogs.
She is an accomplished actress, having played in dozens of hit television series and twenty-five plus feature films alongside many of the biggest names in the business including Academy Award winner Elizabeth Taylor in “The Sweet Bird of Youth,” Golden Globe nominee Christina Ricci and Emmy winner Lisa Kudrow in “The Opposite of Sex,” and Will Ferrell in “Talladega Nights.” Her current film, Eyeborgs, a Sci-Fi starring Adrian Paul, is available on Netflix. She is frequently seen at important industry soirees with Super Smiley, who to everyone’s delight, always manages to steal the spotlight. She trained her three-legged dog Spirit to act in two movies, one in which her pet graced the stage with the New York City Ballet, and in the other she hoped alongside Golden Globe nominee David Carradine. Megan also does extensive voiceover work, including the main character (a little boy) in the animated feature The Magistical which has won over 20 Film Festivals including Best Animated Feature at the Hollywood Film Festival.
A frequent media go-to person for pets, Megan has been interviewed by CNN, Forbes, The Washington Post, Woman’s World, Parents Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Better TV, Florida Times Union, Atlanta Magazine, Yahoo News, ESPN.com, Paw Print, Cat Fancy and many other national and regional outlets. Her story has graced the covers of San Diego Pets, the homepage of Bestfriends.org, and she bylined a requested piece for The Humane Society of the United States that was featured on their website, as well as provided expert commentary on important animal rights legislation for the Levine Breaking News. She is also regularly a guest on dozens of radio and television shows nationwide.
True to her Southern roots, Megan sat on the Board of Directors of the Greensboro Ballet in North
Carolina, is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Georgia Tech, was a speech writer for the Gov. of GA, is a
guest speaker at Universities including the University of Richmond Law School in VA & the University
of NC, and she is a Former Miss Georgia.
Megan Blake lives with her husband, two dogs, two horses and travel kitty in Malibu, California.
Megan’s website:
www.MeganBlake.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MeganBlake
Tweet @ Megan_Blake
Megan’s blog: www.MeganHeartsPets.com
Smiley’s Facebook: @ Super Smiley Anniversary Tour
Youtube: www.Youtube.com/MeganBlake