April Utter shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi April, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
My creative skills on my dogs
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Well, I am April. The dog groomer at Camp Bowwow located in Westport. What makes me stand out is that I am outgoing, a caring person, I will stop everything that I am doing to help a dog or person in need. I have won best dog groomer through Best of KC magazine in 2024.
Before I had became a groomer, I was working at Save A Lot ( grocery store). My daughter was about 5 or 6 months old when I had my second interview at Pawsperity formally known as The Grooming Project. It’s a place that really give a second chance at life, at being a mother/father, at being you. I loved dogs my whole and I made sure that my daughter would as well. The first week of grooming school was hard. Didn’t know that its a process in bathing dog dogs, hell, even doing haircutting, it’s a lot that goes into grooming a dog. But I stuck through it. This was the only thing that I have stuck to in a long time. It felt like I had finally found me, my calling. I have never been so passionate about anything in my life until I taught how to groom dogs. I had graduated from Pawsperity back in 2018 (6 months program). You have to get so many hours to be able to graduate. After I had graduated, I had landed a grooming job at Petco that use to be on 136th & Stateline. As of right now, I am the only groomer that has only did one test dog and got hired to start working immediately. That was one of my proudest moments. I was there for 10 month, then I had got promoted to grooming salon manager and was transferred to the Grandview location. I was with Petco for almost 3 years. I left Petco in 2020. I had found a Doggie daycare/ boarding place that was hiring for a groomer. I jump right on filled out the application, and the called me back literally less than 24 hours. The plus side about this company is that it is a lot closer to my apartment. Which is Camp Bowwow. I love love love working here. The owner ( my boss) makes sure that I have everything I need to do my job perfectly. I just had my 5th year anniversary with Camp Bowwow. The clients we have, my boss makes it worth staying.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My daughter in-home child care teacher Mrs. Angela D. had bought me a flyer about Pawsperity when she had came over to work with me after being released from the hospital after having my daughter. She knew how much I love and always wanted to work with dogs.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
You are courageous.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes. I have been the goofy, down to earth me my whole life. I never cared about trying to fit in or trying to get anyone to like me.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
How I was such an amazing mother.
My goal was to make sure that I was nothing like my biological mother. And right now I am killing it as a mother. I also hope people would say how passionate I am about my career. I hope to be able to see my name in lights before I disappear off this planet.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: April Utter or April the groomer
