[00:00:01] Hey everyone this is Lynn Vartan and you are listening to the A.P.E.X Hour on K91ɬÂþ Thunder 91.1. In this show you get more personal time with the guests who visit Southern Utah University from all over. Learning more about their stories and opinions beyond their presentation on stage. We will also give you some new music to listen to and hope to turn you on to some new sound and new genres. You can find us here every Thursday at 3:00 p.m. or on the Web at suu.edu/apex. But for now welcome to this week's show. Here on Thunder 91.1.
Lynn Vartan [00:00:48] Okay. Well welcome in everyone. It's Thursday and here on campus it is homecoming week. Oh my gosh what an exciting week. Everybody's donning their red and black and celebrating the traditions and getting ready for Forever Red and the big football game on Saturday. But one of the things that's really great that's become a tradition is with A.P.E.X, the lecture series at the university, that those of you who listen to the show are very familiar, with has a three year now collaboration to celebrate our outstanding alumnus for the year and invite them to come speak. And so this year is no exception. And it has been so exciting and wonderful to have Julie Castle in on campus again and to have her in the studio. Julie is currently the CEO of Best Friends Animal Society right in our backyard a couple hours away in kind Kanab, Utah. Welcome to the studio.
Julie Castle [00:01:47] Hey everybody. How's it going.
[00:01:50] Yay. Well thank you so much for your talk today. And I'm sure that I want to try- I always try not to duplicate too much that was said earlier but what I'd love for you to start with is just kind of give us a little snapshot of how you came to best friends.
[00:02:07] I know it's a great story. Yeah I had graduated from 91ɬÂþ and I worked in the school relations office back then it was called and was basically over all of the recruiting and that sort of thing and I had it always been my intention to go to law school and so I'd spent my entire life really leading up to that point and got accepted into a really great school the University of Virginia. And so I knew that once I entered law school life as I knew it was going to be over. And you know, so some friends of mine and I decided hey we've got this little window of opportunity to just be totally irresponsible until I have to go to law school. So we decided to head to Mexico in my 1979 Dodge Colt and stay there for as long as we had money. And so when we ran out of money we decided that would be the time to come back obviously. So we went down there and sure enough ended up running out of money. We had just enough money for gas and a candy bar each and so we started the track back home and we were going to swing by Cedar City and then go up to Salt Lake and one of the friends that was with us really wanted to stop at this animal sanctuary in southern Utah. And over by cab and begged us and I said now we're not going to stop. Everyone's tired. So eventually we capitulated because she was so insistent that we go there and see the animal that you know she'd been sponsoring. And so we ended up driving into this magnificent Red Rock Canyon and in fact it's the canyon where a lot of the old Westerns were filmed right. And it is stunningly beautiful. And it just totally captured my imagination on every level that. And also the story of the people who started at the founders and how they really started a movement now called the No Kill movement. And so I was so taken by it that I called my dad and I said hey dad I'm not going to law school and I moved to Kanab.
[00:04:37] Well how can you tell me a little more about that. Those first days there because I know I've heard the story and it's just it sounds like it was just a really that you were just immediately transfixed. I mean was it just a completely physical react. I mean can you tell me a little more even about those first days.
[00:04:57] Yeah I mean it is you know it's a bit of a weird. It was such a left turn for me and I think it was a left turn for a lot of people that knew me who thought wow this is is she having a midlife crisis like what's happening. And so the first when you pull into that canyon everybody remembers that the first time. And it's one of the things that because we have about 40000 visitors that come every year. And the first thing that they remark on is they're that first time they pulled into the canyon and how it changed their life how it's a transformative experience and so just the beauty of the. Place was the first thing that hit me but the second thing was the philosophy of the founders and back then it was a really small. Nobody knew about this organization really. But all the founders and there were about 25 of them. Twenty five. Oh yeah. And they all came from really interesting backgrounds. Most of them were you know Cambridge and Oxford graduate. Wow just really smart people who built the place with their bare hands. And none of them had any construction skills. How did they find each other. So they all met in college. Oh and you know it was back and in the era it was back in the 60s. And so there was a lot of turmoil in the country. Yeah. Way more in England than in America.
[00:06:40] Oh right. You don't think of that. But yeah absolutely.
[00:06:43] And they bailed. They were like We don't you know we do not want to stay here around all this turmoil. And they moved to America.
[00:06:53] And do you know how they. How did they find Kanab of all places.
[00:06:57] So it's so funny because they were looking for a sanctuary. They were looking for a place to start the animal sanctuary and they had their sights on Sedona like that was their first choice. They had looked in Malibu. Believe it or not Granada. Oh wow. And so there were a lot of different choices. And one of the big features was water. Oh right. And you don't think of Kanab as having a lot of water. But this canyon in particular is unique in that it has it's on top of this magnificent aquifer and there's a lot of natural springs there and so the first one of the founders that's going to be here tonight is the one who found it and he looked at it on a map top it graphically and he saw that. OK. There's canyons here I want to go see that. Yeah. And so he came out to visit and back then you know the photography wasn't anything like it is now. Right. And so you know he went back to pitch it to the rest of the founders and the minute he said it was an old movie set. It kind of turned them off. Interesting. So they passed it by. And then they you know had a hard time finding a place. And so they revisited it and a bunch of them went out to visit and just fell in love with it.
[00:08:34] Wow. Yeah. And if anybody wants to see it there you offer tours and so you can you can go. I mean because I think sometimes people don't know what to expect. But you can go and have a tour of the facilities and property that that's still the case I think. Right.
[00:08:49] Yeah it's. So we offer free tours every day seven days a week 365 days a year.
[00:08:58] And you can do many tours or a longer tour and people come from all over the world to see it. And it's just really fun to meet our visitors and all in tears because a lot of them say this is a bucket list for me.
[00:09:15] Wow how cool that must be very satisfying totally. Well I read that your early days at best friends were filled with tours that you actually started just with an employee number and kind of started from the ground up. What was what were some of those early times like for you.
[00:09:33] So it was definitely you know because I'd come from working here at us two years. So while I was in college here I actually was hired the last year I was a student and school relations. And so you know you come from this kind of structure and go to that which which was completely unstructured. So basically you'd show up to work in the morning and I was employee number 17. And you would just get an assignment. So it was like hey we need to install a sprinkler system up near this building or we need you to go work at dogs today or we need you to give a tour and you just did whatever it took. And so you just kind of didn't know what you were going to be doing that day. And that drill was that everybody worked six and a half days a week. And so you know they're I don't think they paid much attention to labor laws in the early today.
[00:10:37] Right. Exactly. My first paycheck was like a hundred and eighty three bucks.
[00:10:43] So awesome. Well and that sounds like a tradition of. Work ethic that really was installed from the beginning.
[00:10:50] I think I was reading in some of the either the original founders really the plumbing was all kind of done from the ground up right from from all of the original people.
[00:11:02] Oh yeah. That's I mean it is it the arc of this story is really remarkable because they like I said most of them had no clue how to build anything. And so they learned how to do everything from Time Life books and all the electrical all the plumbing all of the framing of buildings all of it. They learned from a book. Yeah. And basically when they arrived on the property there was one building and they had to build the entire sanctuary with their bare hands. That's amazing. including cutting the roads so you can imagine like it it is a really remarkable story.
[00:11:50] I didn't realize that they did the roads at all. Yeah. Wow. And some of the plumbing and some of the things from that time still exist.
[00:11:58] I think they took they totally did. In fact my husband was one of the original founders and he was responsible mostly for the electrical. And I always we always I tease him about it and he's like Well nothing's burned down. He said Oh maybe I did something right.
[00:12:16] That's awesome. Well and then one more question before we take our first musical break. And you know making such a left degree term like this. You know obviously it's worked out. I mean you've done such amazing things but in those early years did you ever think. I mean I know other people you said earlier today other people thought you were crazy but did you ever think or what have I done or did it just always feel right even though it was hard and even though you maybe didn't know the outcome, wa it one way or the other for you?
[00:12:49] I mean look I'd be lying if I didn't say that I. I didn't pause at times and say Have I really screwed up here. Yeah you know and I think I don't think having that kind of doubt is a bad thing right. Has I think it's I think it gives you a bit of a reality check and helps you stay more focused if that makes.
[00:13:15] Yes it does. I totally agree with that.
[00:13:17] And you know I but I think ultimately at the end of the day I just kept asking myself you know what's going to make you the happiest. And. With law school I think it would have been awesome and challenging and all that stuff. But I really didn't want to spend my life in a litigious environment. Right. So I wanted to do really do something that would change the world.
[00:13:45] I love it. Thank you. Well I have a bunch of songs I have a couple songs to play my first song as you know I've always pull things from all kinds of different sources but I kind of pick titles that sort of have to do with at least the love I have for my pups at home. But this this song is this is called "Here and heaven" and it's part of the Goat Rodeo Sessions. Yo-Yo Ma Stuart Duncan Edgar Meyer and Chris Thiele. Check it out see what you think. This is the A.P.E.X Hour K91ɬÂþ Thunder 91.1.
[00:17:44] Well welcome back everyone. That song was here and heaven. That's the Goat Rodeo Sessions with amazing amazing amazing musicians Yo-Yo Ma Edgar Meyer etc. so check that out. You're listening to the A.P.E.X Hour. We're back in the studio. I'm Lynn Vartan and I'm joined with Julie castle. Welcome back Julie.
[00:18:02] Hey thanks.
[00:18:03] If you're interested we were talking about where you can find this show. You definitely can subscribe to the A.P.E.X Hour wherever you get your podcasts. And I also wanted to make sure to let everyone know if you like the music that you're hearing on our website which is suu.edu/apex if you go to the radio hour you can find a playlist of all the songs that I've played every time a show happens I put all of the songs into a playlist so you can check those out. So anyway back to talking about best friends and Julie's time there and you're currently the CEO but you've had many jobs there and a lot of them in in leadership positions of programs or private projects. So I sort of love to talk about leadership and start out with this great designation that you have which I'm curious what what you think about and that is the InStyle designation of bad ass 50 list of one of the 50 top women in the country who speak up show up and get things done. I mean that to me I just think that sounds amazing. How do you feel about that is that how you see yourself?
[00:19:17] You know it's so funny because I I often joke about being on that list because you know the people that are on that list are like really like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Serena Williams and you know so to have made that list is like a really tremendous honor but I often joke that I think they needed filler so they just were like oh yeah there's this person in southern Utah that runs this animal sanctuary. I mean it's it's definitely I think in terms of. I don't really think I think it in those terms. Do I consider myself quote bad ass or I don't really see myself that way I think I'm just more tuned in to a path of really always constant improvement whether it be for the organization or myself or just our entire animal welfare movement.
[00:20:30] I love that. Yeah I love that. I think that's more.
[00:20:34] That's kind of where I tune in I guess.
[00:20:36] Oh I love that. Yeah well there's so many great Suu who say things like that I am really happy to hear that that's that's where you are and I think that puts you right on that list for thinking that way. Well I'd love to ask you kind of along those lines we talked a little bit about mentorship earlier today but you know just the thoughts that you might have about leadership. You know your particular leadership style and what you think works and what maybe what you think doesn't work if you could just talk because I know you've led so many different projects and movements and I'd love to know what you think about leadership.
[00:21:12] Yeah I mean I think I honestly learned more about leadership here at 91ɬÂþ you know almost any than place for me in my upbringing. Wow. And part of it was the vast amount of opportunities that I had while I was here. And you know it was one of those things where it was almost there were too many things. And I think just the connection with the the faculty and the students and the smallness of it that is a very very good thing. Yeah. I mean the fact that s you You isn't this enormous university where you kind of get lost in the shuffle. That was a big big draw for me right. So you know having access to the president a university or the vice presidents was very cool. Yeah. And I think what I learned here was a very service minded leadership style OK where you are almost a servant leader you know. And to me what that means is I think it's really important that you try to put yourself in the shoes of your staff and volunteer with them you know try and learn their job. And I experience what they experience on a daily basis basis so that you can really empathize with where they're where they're coming from. All right. So for me that's just tremendously important. And I think it's also you know one of the things I talk about with all of our new staff that come to work for the organization is listen especially these days. You spend most of your life. So when you think about life you've got a high school you've got a college you're in school for a long time you graduate you get a job maybe you have two or three jobs. Basically you spend 20 30 years doing that. You retire and then life's pretty much over. Right. Yeah. And so whatever you choose to do for your work should be really exceptional. And to me when I think about our employee base and you say they are spending the majority of their life with this company. Boy we better make it worth it. Yeah. Yeah. Better be special.
[00:23:51] Yeah. That's amazing. Sounds sounds really inspiring and wonderful. Do you meet with all of the new employees all the time?
[00:24:00] So I do a new employee orientation. And you know for me it's really important that I get in front of those staff. The minute they walk in the door you know. So. So having a. Half hour with that staff right as their starting with the organization is really important I think.
[00:24:24] And is that what do you do during that time. Do you. Is it more of a cheerleading kind of thing or do you set boundaries and expectations how what does that look like?
[00:24:34] You know it's a good question. The way that I've used it is really asking them about themselves where they came from why they decided to work at Best Friends. So part of it is that but part of it is also to really help them understand why I chose to work there and that no organization is perfect right. And really I think people you know a lot of people come to best friends and they're so inspired by it. And it's this sort of honeymoon period. And really it is about saying look no job is perfect no human is perfect no organization is perfect. We are striving daily to be the best place on the planet to work. Right. And so I think it's important for me that I just connect with them on that level and get that message across. Great. Thank you.
[00:25:40] Well talking about the organization I'd love for you to give us a little bit of a kind of snapshot or a bird's eye view of the organization because I think some people wonder you know OK that I know there's this place in Kanab. Is that the place is that it? I'd love for you to tell us a little bit about the the overarching umbrella of the organization.
[00:26:04] Yeah. So we've grown very very quickly as an organization and it's been fun to be part of that. It's been really challenging as well you know that saying of growing fast is just as hard as not doing so well and I think that's very astute. Yeah. So you know in back in the early days we all had to like we literally were a hand a mouth organization. Yeah. It was like Do we have enough money to for the next three days. That was how we measure. Wow. Wow. And so we would go out and table and we'd go to Los Angeles or Salt Lake City or Las Vegas or and we'd sit at a table and talk about the work we did and ask for donations and that's how we built our mailing list so that we could you know send out our newsletter to membership. Yeah. And it's also how we met all of our celebrities. Oh. And so you know we'd be at supermarkets and a celebrity would come up to the table and you know we'd strike up a conversation and literally almost every celebrity in the early days every single celebrity that we had was because of that. Why How so. And these are some pretty big names from Charlize Theron to Ellen DeGeneres to you know Michelle Williams. I mean we have a really top list of celebrities where does and so the organization really just started expanding and in that kind of reach and particularly our membership base and then we started expanding physically. So the first sort of life saving center we opened up besides the one in Knab is in Sugar House up in Salt Lake and then Los Angeles. We have two facilities out there and we've got we just opened a new facility in Soho in Manhattan and that's really cool. And that's that's a whole different experience. And we've got one in Atlanta and we're about to open one in Houston. That's amazing. So you know it's been really cool to see the organization grow just in terms of its ability to save lives across the country. And also I think it's. Help us plug in to kind of a national scene and a more meaningful way. Right.
[00:28:53] So for example animal planet we just started a show with them. Oh really. Yeah. So every Tuesday and Thursday at noon Eastern we have a live television show with Animal Planet. Oh I didn't know that.
[00:29:09] We just started about six weeks ago maybe four weeks ago.
[00:29:12] And are they on site and just kind of checking out is it sort of a day in the life. What's the show like?
[00:29:18] It's so it's it's kind of a new unique concept. So they so their host is based in New York City. OK. And they toggle back and forth between our centers. So like they'll be in New York. Then they'll cut to your L.A. Center. Then they cut to the Sugar House Center. Wow. And so it's. And it's all about adopting pets and saving lives. That's great. So yeah it's it's really cool to have that kind of exposure. Okay cool. Well it's time for our next song. But when we come back we'll talk more about about the organization and some of the programs and some of the strategies and the things that they're they're really putting energy into right now.
[00:30:04] And yeah and we'll keep the conversation going so the next song that I have for you is called "Find me in your dreams". And it's Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau two amazing instrumental musicians. But again just a great kind of title find me in your dreams. You're listening to the A.P.E.X Hour K91ɬÂþ Thunder 91.1.
[00:36:14] All right. Welcome back everyone. You're listening to the A.P.E.X Hour. This is K91ɬÂþ Thunder 91.1. That song was find me in your dreams. Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau. Yeah. So we are back in the studio it's homecoming week. We have our outstanding alumnus for 2019 Julie Castle the CEO of Best Friends Animal Society. Welcome back.
[00:36:36] Hey everybody it's good to be here.
[00:36:39] And we just have to say that you are no stranger to the radio and in fact we were telling the great story that I mean you were you were a DJ right here with K91ɬÂþ.
[00:36:49] I was I was a DJ. I had the early morning shift. It was a lot of fun.
[00:36:55] And that was really fun.
[00:36:57] So that's really cool. I mean it's just been so fun to watch you interact with so many people on campus. And we were just talking about one of the things that's really special and beautiful here is that there's this great sort of tradition of continuance. You know there's a lot of people that that either you went to school with or worked with and are still really dedicated to this school and its legacy. It's amazing.
[00:37:22] I mean it's that is such a remarkable thing. It's been really fun to come back and see just how many people I still know. Yeah whether they're a professor here still or a student that I went to college with who's now working for the. Like it's just a really cool thing and I think it just goes to show that people at the experience here is really special.
[00:37:49] Yeah I agree. I've been reading on the best friend's Web site and there was some I just love how you have designed like the position statements on the website. And I'd love for you to maybe elaborate a little bit more about those. One is the golden rule to treat all living things as we ourselves would wish to be treated and going right along with that a kindness to demonstrate compassion and respect for all living creatures. I wonder if you could just speak to that a little bit more in regards to your own feelings about that and how the organization you know makes that a priority.
[00:38:28] Yeah you know it say I think it's so it is the core of our DNA. And it is so important to us has a value in terms of just thinking about animals about what they bring to our lives. And you know the fact that they all have intrinsic value and it's interesting because the number of times that we hear people talk about how they the story is the same. It's a different person or a different animal but it's the same story line which is. Look I rescued this dog but ultimately this dog ended up rescuing me totally and I think that there's something about these sentiment beings that. Have that effect of there's no judgment. There's no you know every day that you come home they greet you with the same excitement and that specialness that they demonstrate in terms of you know there's not that complicated factor that humans bring into the equation. So the simplicity of that is actually to me a complexity if that makes sense.
[00:39:57] Yeah yeah. And you probably get asked this all the time but how many animals do you have in your home right now?
[00:40:04] So we have two dogs and we have three cats.
[00:40:12] And does it change. I mean do you then take in a lot of foster animals as well?
[00:40:18] We do. So we just had two kittens that we were fostering and they got whisked away when they were old enough they were neonatal kitties. Wow.
[00:40:29] And they got transported up to Salt Lake for an adoption event and both of them found home. So we ate that our population does change based on Foster and or sometimes somebody will just steal our heart and we have a new member of the family.
[00:40:45] I love that. That's great. I'm one along with the kindness and Golden Rule and some of the position statements I found it really interesting that you have a statement about food and that food served at Best Friends staff meetings and employee events and reimbursements for traveling. Also are are vegetarian and that you carry out that message that way. Has that been going on all the time and how what's the reaction to that?
[00:41:18] Yeah you know so. So I personally have been vegetarian for almost twenty three years. And I think that the organization has always practiced that and even more recently we decided to serve vegan only vegan food at our our sponsored event. And the way that I feel about this is that I don't feel it's right for me or anybody in our organization to force that on anybody. Right. But for us to demonstrate that is very very important because you know how can we be saving dogs and cats and what really is the difference between that and a pig or a cow or a horse and or a bunny. I mean a lot of these animals are still consumed as food in Korea, China. A lot of dogs and cats are right. And so you know for me it's again a demonstration of where do you draw the line between which animal is more important. So much so that you choose to eat them or not eat them right. Right.
[00:42:32] Thank you for for that explanation. I am definitely in agreement with that. You mentioned you know a little bit of the international aspect and how animal treatment and animal rights around the world is quite varied and we do hear about these dog meat festivals and things like that are there. Is there any plan or role that you see best friends having at the international level or maybe you already are and I I don't know about it?
[00:43:01] Yes. So the interesting thing is I think just overall as a society like when I first decided to become vegetarian. Like people thought I was so weird and especially in southern Utah. Right. And now it's just more way more accepted in veganism and you just see a lot of that popping up all over the place and so when you think about the international market there are countries that are really still in their philosophy way so far behind. Yeah we used to do international work. Oh and that was about 10 years ago and we decided listen if we're really going to get to our goal which is ending the killing of dogs and cats in America shelters by 2025 then we really need to focus. And so we went through this exercise where we cut a bunch of programs that didn't ladder up to that specifically. I see. And it's sort of like running a marathon. You know if you go full bore the first three or four miles you're going to run out of gas. That's right. And so that's the approach that we took to we just need to get super focused on. Yes. Yeah. So.
[00:44:26] Well let's get into talking about that because that is just such an exciting goal and it's absolutely going to happen. And so can you tell us a little bit about the the movement to the magic date of 2025 how it's going?
[00:44:43] Yes. So I think usually where I like to start with this is just to say you know I talk about how I was a history major and political science and I think really knowing the past helps you carve out the future. And so the animal sheltering movement really began about 150 years ago in New York City and it started because there was another population of dogs and there was a concern about rabies legitimately. Right. And so the people of New York said look please do something about this city. Yes. So the city issued a bounty of twenty five cents apiece per dog. Wow. And they hired bounty hunters to go out and round up dogs and they put all the dogs in a metal cage and dumped the cage in the East River. Wow. And that's how they killed animals back then and there are other means they used that were just as graphic. And so there was an outcry from the public to like don't this isn't what we meant. And so as a society we started building shelters and essentially we were killing animals just behind closed doors. And this went on for decades after decade after decade until the founders showed up in the canyon and Kanab Utah and said why are we killing? We don't have to do this. Let's talk about how to best save them. Yeah. And you think about a society where 80 percent of Americans have a pet. Like people want to see this happen. Yeah. So they broke ground at the sanctuary thirty five years ago and back then 17 million animals were dying every year. And we were making steady progress and about ten years ago there were three No Kill communities in this country. And today there are over 4000. And it's really cool to see that this movement was started not only right here in Utah but by this group of people who were really unique and considered crazy by most accounts. Yeah but the thing is is that in a couple of years ago in 2016 we felt like it was time to really get focused and push the country forward and change the world. And so we put our stake in the ground and at our national conference declared that we were going to take the country now kill by 2025. And in order to do that we had to figure out how many animals were dying and how many shelters there were. And the funny thing is in this industry like that had never been measured which is insane and considering but the data of today. Right. And technology. Yeah. So we sent a legion of volunteers around the country to gather all those statistics and they went county by county to every single shelter every county in America to determine how many animals were dying. And we aggregated all that data and we put it into an interactive map a dashboard so you can find that on our Web site. At best friends dot org backslash 20 five and it basically level sets the ability for anybody anywhere to get involved in their communities. So it's a huge game changer. Yeah and it transparently basically says here's how many animals are dying in Cedar City right. Or St. George or Ivans. Or you know you can find out anybody any city anywhere in this country.
[00:48:48] Is there any one thing that you wish every single person listening would do? is it go to the site and get involved? What what if you had some one thing that you could tell any anybody and everybody. This is the one thing that you need to do to help or you can do to help. Is there one thing?
[00:49:09] So the one thing is awareness. It's always surprising to me how many people don't know that this is still a tragedy that we still have. About seven hundred and fifty thousand pets that were killing every year. Yeah in America that don't need to be right that when you've got 17 million people looking for an animal. Yeah. And we're killing seven hundred and fifty that gets terrible. So I think just like spreading the word is the biggest thing. And when you're ready to add to add a you know a sweet puppy or kitten do your family go to a shelter. Yeah. That's the place to go because there are great animals there for sure.
[00:49:58] I know my two at home I was like thing I wish I could bring them to school that day to me because I love them so much.
[00:50:06] Well I have one more song to play. And speaking of love this song is "Where's my love" by Syml And so yeah. Check it out this will be our last musical break for the A.P.E.X Hour K91ɬÂþ Thunder 91.1.
[00:53:42] All right. Well welcome back everyone. You're listening to the A.P.E.X Hour. That song was "Where's my love?" Syml is the artist and I'm in the studio with Julie Castle CEO of Best Friends. Welcome back for our last little bit. I'm so I have two questions that I often ask which are sort of fun and silly but the first question is if you met yourself from ten years ago in a bar fight if you met you from ten years ago in a bar fight who would win who would win that fight?
[00:54:16] Well that's a really great. You know here's the thing that the me of today would totally just absolutely trash the me of 10 years ago. I love it and I'll tell you that the reason why is is that at a young age I was diagnosed with highly aggressive cancer. Oh wow. And I nearly lost my life and I got treated at UCLA for two years now. And that was the me 10 years ago. Wow. So I was diagnosed with that 10 years ago and it really gave me a whole different perspective on things. I know that was supposed to be a fun question now but I would say it was a real game changer for me yeah.
[00:55:09] That's amazing. I mean that's that's kind of part of it. It can be fun or it can be you know a really a wonderful insight into where you were then. And so thank you for sharing that. My last question, what's turning you on what's making you happy this week? and this could be anything. It could be a TV show. I think I heard somewhere you're a Game of Thrones fan. It could be a song it could be a book. It could be anything and. But I always like to ask. All right. Julie Castle what's turning you on this week?
[00:55:47] So what's turning me on this week is a book I think everyone should read which is called Radical Candor. OK. And it's all about how to communicate. And it is such a powerful book and really I. You can trace most of our problems of today either if their personal relationships or with other organizations or whatever back to communication. Oh my gosh. I love it. So go buy the book. It's really awesome.
[00:56:17] The title again Radical Candor. OK. I'm going to get it tonight for sure. Well thank you so much. You've been listening to the A.P.E.X Hour Julie Castle CEO of Best Friends Animal Society it's been in the studio with me today. Thank you so much for joining us.
[00:56:33] I really appreciate it's been so much fun. Thank you. And I'm happy to be back. Yay. Go Tbirds.
[00:56:40] Thanks so much for listening to the A.P.E.X Hour here on K91ɬÂþ Thunder 91.1. Come find us again next Thursday at 3 p.m. for more conversations with the visiting guests at Southern Utah University. And new music to discover for your next playlist. And in the meantime we would love to see you at our events on campus to find out more. Check out suu.edu/apex. Until next week. This is Lynn Vartan saying goodbye from the A.P.E.X Hour. Here on Thunder 91.1.
