The three C’s, of Coffee, Cats, and Community, are the pillars of reframing feline rescue in this talk. Building on models in Japan, Bre Phelan reframes how we as a community can look at cat rescue by blending a café and cat rescue under one roof. This more natural and humane model decreases stress and increases the cat adoption rate, as people and cats interact in a carefully crafted home-style environment.

Bre Phelan is a founder and president of Felius Cat Café, a nonprofit in Omaha, Nebraska, where the mission is to revolutionize the cat adoption experience. Taking her inspiration from similar projects in Japan, Bre launched Felius in 2017, driven by her love of animals and desire to give back to the community. But Felius is just her side-hustle.

Over the last decade, Bre’s day job in the advertising industry has led her to many roles in both corporate and agency environments. She is currently a senior project management lead for Verizon Media’s ad creative technology team, focusing on global ad innovation. She has served on the planning board for Women in Tech of the Heartland, the Greater Omaha Chamber’s YP Summit, and is currently on the board of directors for Omaha’s chapter of the American Advertising Federation. She spends her free time traveling with her husband and snuggling her rescue cats, Street Bob and Remi.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx