We recently connected with Sheri Meline and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sheri, thanks for joining us today. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

As I was searching through the questions I noticed this one asking who my hero was and instantly knew that was the one I wanted to answer. My hero has always been my grandfather, Al Schechter. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up and Pop Pop, as I called him, was always the one I could talk to. I never got into any major trouble, but did make a few bad decisions, but Pop Pop never judged me. He listened, offered advice, and always ensured that things would work out. He loved unconditionally and was the person everybody loved to be around.

Pop Pop owned a shoe store in his younger years after he served in the military. He knew his business and had the best customer service which made him the hot spot for shoes. When he sold the store and moved where his grandchildren lived, he always worked in the shoe industry. He worked in the shoe department for a chain store for several years until he retired and then worked part time in another shoe store because he needed to do something. His work ethic was impeccable and I always looked up to his dedication to his family, his job, his friends, and his customers. I only hoped that I could have his demeanor when I became an adult.

Pop Pop told me to be empathetic to people and truly listen to what they have to say. Don’t judge someone on the basis of an event or situation because not everyone is perfect. He taught me mistakes are just learning experiences and to try and always see the positive in a situation. I worked for some managers that had completely different work ethics than I have and it didn’t work. I understand that companies are all out for profit, and that is always the ultimate goal; however, people are what make the company successful and it is important to treat them with respect and appreciation. If you do, they will work harder for you and the company.

I opened my nonprofit 501c3 animal shelter to provide a second chance for animals in need since that is where my heart truly lies, but I also wanted to be able to treat people like they deserve to be treated. We are in our third year and the financial aspect has been extremely difficult. We need a building – then we can have more volunteers, help more animals, and truly reach out to our community. There are days I get frustrated and want to give up, but I remember my grandfather and how he always said that things would work out. I try to remain positive but it seems like one step forward put me 10 steps behind.

He will always be my hero and his silly stories, hand written poems, cute poses in photos, and his unconditional love and treatment of others will remain with me forever.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a 50 year old divorced mother of 2 adult children and have 1 granddaughter. I didn’t go to college after high school because I was burnt out. I did very well in school, but it was never something I enjoyed going too. I wasn’t involved in sports, activities, school functions and very few friends. I was overweight and was made fun of most of my life. I would lose weight and then regain the weight and it became a roller coaster and still is today.

I worked retail in my younger years and then worked for a law firm and then a heating and air conditioning company. When I was working for the law firm, I met my ex-husband and we married soon after. We were married 21 years before our divorce. We both grew up in California but after we were married he wanted a change and he chose to move us to Minnesota. I was a stay at home mom and then when I was about to hit 40 years old I decided I really wanted a college degree. I wanted to show my kids the importance of having one, and I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. My ex-husband was an alcoholic and there were many tough years.

I earned my Associate’s Degree in Paralegal and Legal Administration and after graduation began working for a company that I loved and worked my way up to management in less than 4 years. After my 2 year degrees, I decided I wanted to continue school and earn my Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice Studies. I graduated with Honors in College and was proud of my accomplishment. During my 4 years I took some classes in animal welfare and even though I was always an animal lover and had dogs and cats, I looked at things differently. It was during these classes that I wanted to help these animals who had no voice. The human and animal bond is like no other and I wanted to help animals that were left behind, neglected, unwanted, abused and find then a loving, forever home. I want to educate on the importance of spay/neuter, finding the right pet for your lifestyle, and providing companions to people in need.

We are now in our third year and we are struggling. Donations and Financial backing has been difficult. I have also been looking for a work from home job to help pay my bills while I try and get this shelter in a positive direction. We have helped just about 400 cats and 17 rabbits in our time find loving and forever homes. We provide vet care, food, shelter, socialization, and more to these animals to help them trust humans. We make crafts to sell for profit to help the shelter, do fundraisers and hold events. I have a lot of great ideas, want to help as many animals as possible and educate our community to help minimize animals being sent to shelters but I can only continue doing this with donations.

My largest reward is when I see the follow up pictures and hear the stories of how much a family loves their new pet. We are called Green Acres Animal Rescue and we want to provide the service of a small town country store. We want to grow, but without giving up the personal connection with our customers. I am often asked, “How could you let these precious animals go?, Don’t you get attached?” My response is, when I see the faces of the adopters when they are taking their new family member home, my heart knows it was the perfect match and those animals will have a wonderful life.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I knew that I needed to create a social media platform base but since I have been the only one doing the posts, Facebook was the only one I could keep up with and even that suffered sometimes. When I meet with people they are often impressed with the number of followers we have in the short period of time. I owe it all to our followers and supporters for sharing posts to their network of friends and so on.

I would have to say that engagement is the connection between successful social media. Engaging your followers in questions, sharing information, advertising, and responding to messages keeps your followers involved. If they get notifications then they are notified every time you update or post something. I tried to do Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat but am not up to date on how those work.

I now have a board member who enjoys social media and has taken that over for me and started doing some videos, TikTok and YouTube so we can reach out to a different generation of people.

The best advice I could give is to engage your followers, appreciate their support, and network. The more people you have supporting you, the farther the word will spread.

Any advice for managing a team?

I managed a team of 16 people in my previous job and was the manager that everyone wanted. I had started from the bottom and worked my way to management so I had experience is the full job. Many of the other managers came in at the management level and had to be taught the basics. I have always felt it was important to treat people as equals and not as someone less important than me. It takes every member of an organization to reach the company goals. I held team meetings every Monday morning to talk about the week, projects, expectations, and updates on any changes. I always included an appreciation piece and often gave small tokens or would bring donuts in. The team reached their individual goals, we reached our team goals, and we had a productive, well run department.

Appreciation and kind words go along way with people. When there is constant negativity or drama, people’s work ethic declines. When there is positivity, motivation, goals, appreciation, people are more willing to work hard and put in the effort to make the team succeed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.greenacresanimalrescue.org
• Instagram: greenacresanimalrescue54
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greenacresanimalresc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/home?lang=en