This week on Finding Your Bliss, Celebrity Interviewer and Bliss Coach Judy Librach is joined by Ellie Laks, the Founder of The Gentle Barn Foundation, a national organization that rescues and rehabilitates unwanted animals and heals people with the same stories of abuse and neglect. She is an animal communicator, powerful speaker, celebrated animal welfare advocate, humane educator, and is the author of “My Gentle Barn: Creating a sanctuary where animals heal and children learn to hope,” and “Cow Hug Therapy: How the animals at The Gentle Barn taught me about life, death, and everything in between.” Ellie founded The Gentle Barn in 1999. She invented her own “Gentle Healing” method that allows old, sick, injured, and terrified animals to recover fully using a mixture of Western medicine, holistic healing modalities, holding therapy, and lots of love. Ellie is the creator of cow hug therapy and has hosted hundreds of thousands of people, who have come to The Gentle Barn seeking hope. Ellie has appeared on some of the most influential media outlets, including: The Ellen Show, People Magazine, Life Magazine, Animal Planet, The Huffington Post, Turning Point, Women’s World, The New York Times, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and many more. Ellie is a TEDx speaker and keynote speaker who motivates her audiences toward higher awareness, profound compassion, realizing dreams, and an enhanced sense of purpose. To date, Ellie has saved thousands of animals and hosted over 500,000 guests. The Gentle Barn is currently home to approximately 200 animals. The Gentle Barn has three locations in Los Angeles CA, Nashville, TN, and St Louis, MO. It is her goal to be the voice for animals, share their stories, and open the hearts of humanity toward all living beings, “Teaching people kindness and compassion to animals, each other, and our planet.” Also on the program, we have featured artist Kenzie Elizabeth. Kenzie is a singer-songwriter and composer, based in New York City. Her music has an Alt-Pop feel with similarities to artists such as Sara Bareilles, Regina Spektor, and Fiona Apple. She also takes inspiration from Lizzy McAlpine and WILLOW. Kenzie, a self-taught pianist, began her songwriting journey in 2013 as KZ Liz, releasing two albums and a few singles (one of which is an instrumental album). On August 4th, 2023, Kenzie had the opportunity to open for Philip Labes for The Four Seasons Tour in Portland, OR. Two days after the show, Kenzie and her musicians (Trev Fischer & Kelly Miller) recorded the setlist and released it as an acoustic album titled, The Other Side. In October 2023, Kenzie decided to leave behind KZ Liz and released an EP titled, Reminded, under Kenzie Elizabeth. She recently released two singles called, “Qualified” and "The Cards on the Wall", which will be featured in her sophomore album set for a September 1st release. ?? TikTok: 250K+ Followers (@kenzieeofficial) Instagram: 2,500+ Followers (@kenzieeofficial) Spotify: 2,400+ Followers (KZ Liz, Kenzie Elizabeth) Be sure to check out Kenzie Elizabeth’s “The Rain” on youtube: https://youtu.be/iyXfiFNE7h8?si=f4fuCzqU_r4uBnWn For more on Finding Your Bliss, you can follow us @theblissminute on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Or you can visit our online magazine at findingyourbliss.com and take one step closer to finding your bliss. Listen live every Saturday at 1pm on Zoomer Radio
