We all have a favorite celebrity animal, whether it’s the heroic Lassie or the irascible Grumpy Cat. But sometimes we forget that behind every star pet there’s a human who cares for them — or at least there should be, says Colleen Wilson ’10.
As founder and CEO of Pets on Q, the largest animal talent agency in the world, Wilson, who majored in Marketing at Bryant, makes sure her furry, finny, feathery, and scaly friends are treated with the respect they deserve.
Her company has partnered with brands from Purina to Nissan, but her vision extends beyond helping Dalmatians discover the spotlight or finding the perfect parrot to deliver a product pitch. Through Pets on Q, Wilson aims to create a more humane industry in a field with a history of abuse and mistreatment.
“We’re disruptors in the space and we’re working to change things industry-wide,” she says.
Empathy has always been Wilson’s superpower, and it also underpins the origin of Pets on Q. While working as a private mortgage banker, she rescued Charlie, a deaf dog who was scheduled to be euthanized because he was thought to be untrainable — until Wilson taught him American Sign Language.
When brands and the media began to reach out about her story, Wilson realized she could help other pet owners navigate the animal talent business and left her banking job to devote her full energies to Pets on Q.
“It can be a strange business sometimes. But it’s a booming one.”
“People kept telling me I was crazy, and I would say to them, ‘You don’t understand: this is a massive industry,’” Wilson recalls.
It’s also an industry that has changed over time. In addition to animal actors, Pets on Q now has a client roster of over 20,000 pet social media influencers.
“This is an area that’s really taken off; many of the influencers we represent are making $100K and up,” says Wilson.
Wilson has even found an unexpected starring role of her own. In 2021, Netflix’s “Pet Stars” series took viewers behind the scenes of her work, from representing talent at the World’s Ugliest Dog competition to hosting an animal fashion show featuring a pig who couldn’t help but indulge his natural ham.
“It can be a strange business sometimes,” Wilson admits. “But it’s a booming one.”
Pets on Q’s stable of animal clients included everything from bunnies to birds to tortoises. One group, though, is especially close to Wilson’s heart.
“I think my favorite animals to work with are the rescues and the adoptables,” she says, “because by the time we’re done with a project everyone has fallen in love with them, and just about all of them get adopted.”