Mikayla, looking chill and relaxed as usual! 😃
Meet Mikayla!! I bet you thought we were going to forget about a Walker of the Month again – but nope! We have had our eye on a feature for this gal since she joined our dog squad in February of this year! Mikayla was referred to us by one of our treasured walkers, Carrie Ann! The two of them have known each other since middle school and Carrie Ann has been trying to lure her to the dog-side 🐶 for the last few years she has worked with us…and it finally worked! 🙌🏻 To give you an idea of what kind of dedication you can expect from Mikayla – her first day of training was our SNOWIEST ❄🥶 of the winter season – and she still showed up and made it to see every dog on her list! That is how dedicated she was from day one! So, let’s dig in a bit more to her awesomeness… 🥳
Mikayla grew up locally, in Harper Woods, where she was home schooled K-12! 🚸 Because she’s a smart cookie she decided not to dive into college right away, pushing it off a bit to figure out what she really wanted to do with her life. She found herself working in a fine dining restaurant where she quickly climbed the ranks to manager by the time she was only 21!! Are we surprised? Not one single bit! That was only the beginning of Mikayla being a total #bossbabe! 🍽
Mikayla rocking her earbuds – music is a must! 🎧
As with most of our walkers, LDC is not Mikayla’s only gig. In fact, her number one passion is her photography! 📸 She is a wedding and lifestyle photographer, booking her own gigs and managing her own schedule to capture memory-lasting photos for her clients! 🥰 It is clear that she is doing what she loves when she has a camera in hand; she is totally in her element! Mikayla tells me this job includes, “planning shoots, photographing portrait sessions, weddings, or editing the photos to get them delivered to my clients! ” 🖼
On top of THAT (yes, there’s more!), Mikayla also works as a part time administrative assistant at her church ⛪, a place she has found joy and refuge her whole life. She says she spends her days “writing out emails, working alongside our church staff/pastors to make sure service runs smoothly, and sitting in on leadership meetings.” ✝
Mikayla in full photographer mode! She always does what she needs to in order to get the shot! 📸
Don’t worry – even with all of the plates Mikayla has spinning, she tell us that LDC is a great chance for her to get outside, which gives her a chance to ” to step away from all my computer work and get to take a break from the stress of it all to get some dog therapy, exercise, and vitamin D!” 🐕 She goes on to say her FAVORITE part of working here is “forming bonds with all the pups! I’ve always loved dogs so much and to get to hang out with them as my JOB – you can’t beat it.” It’s no wonder that we have started to introduce Mikayla to our special needs pups – her heart is definitely big enough to care for all of them! 🐾
Thomas, one of our LDC pups, giving Mikayla her lovins for the day! 🐶
But what about when she’s NOT working!? Does Mikayla have any of this “free” time we have heard so much about? 🤔⏳ Here’s what she told me – “When I’m not running around with the doggos, I’m either working one of my other two jobs, meeting up with friends for breakfast or coffee ☕, binging Friends/New Girl 🗽, or spending time with my sweet boyfriend 👫. We’ve been together for almost a year and a half and he was the reason I made it through quarantine. It gave us lots of endless time to get to know each other haha. I’m also a huge outdoor lover – any chance I can get outside, I do. The sun and I are besties.🥾🌞 ” Not a shock at all that some handsome beau snagged up this catch! 🎣
Mikayla and her boyfriend of a year and a half – how cute is this!? 🥰
Photography, dog whispering, worship and being a model girlfriend…AND THERE IS MORE! Mikayla also finds solace in singing. 🎤 She says that music runs in her family, and “between a handful of vocal lessons and a lot of personal vocal work, I sing regularly at church as one of the main worship leaders along with singing at weddings with my dad’s band!” 🎶🎙 So, the icing on the cake here? Mikayla is a WALKstar 🌟 and a ROCKstar 👩🏻🎤! We can hardly take it! 🤩
What’s on the horizon for Mikayla? More dogs, we hope! 🐾
So what’s next for Mikayla? 🔮 She is planning a trip down the coast of Cali this fall and she is SUPER excited for that – and who could blame her!? 😎🏖 After all the hard work she puts in, she deserves the get away! But one of the things we admire so much about Mikayla is how she has found ways to earn a living while doing things she adores and feels a passion for. 💕 That is what we are ALL about here at Loyal Dog Club, and we could not be happier to show off Mikayla for the month of May – and have her walking your pups all year ’round. Thank you, Mikayla!! 🙏🏻