Happy Cat Success Story – Meet Christina Marrazza
Happy Cat Hotel proudly welcomes one of our newest franchise owners, Christina Marrazza of Westchester County, New York. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with her for a profile interview. Below, in her own words, Christina shares her strange – but true – entrepreneurial journey in becoming a Happy Cat Hotel owner…
A Change in Perspective
“I’m on top of a hill and the view is amazing. I’m not speaking metaphorically. I’m actually sitting in a building located on a steep hill, looking through a wall of windows at some beautiful greenery. From here, I’m able to see the forest through the trees. There’s your metaphor. I am sitting inside my Happy Cat Hotel. I’m a business owner. I’m a business owner who once thought she had no business being a business owner. We’ve been open for a couple weeks now. I used to hate this hill. On the day I first arrived to see this building that would hold so much of my future, I almost turned my car around because of it. Can you believe that? I almost turned around before I even saw the building. I thought the hill was too cumbersome, maybe even a little dangerous. I questioned whether people would view it as a deterrent. But once I parked my car (parking brake on) and got a closer look at the wall of windows that let in so much light, I thought, maybe there’s potential here. A year later, the hill is one of my favorite things about our location. Many of our customers have said the same.”
Prepare to be Surprised
“This entire process of becoming a Happy Cat franchisee and opening my own cat hotel, has been full of surprises. Some have been the kind of surprises that challenge you to the point of questioning your own decisions, abilities, and sanity – while some have been the kind that teach you things you didn’t even know that you didn’t know. Others have been the kind of surprises that wake you up and allow you to see the world in a new and improved light. Happy Cat CEO Chris Raimo has helped me accept, embrace, and understand the importance of all of them. Without him and his team, I would not have done this. I could not have done this.”
On the Kind of Support You Can Expect from Happy Cat Hotel
“I could give you so many examples to prove it to you. I could tell you about the time Chris stayed awake more than 26 hours straight to make sure Happy Cat Westchester looked amazing for our grand opening, or the time he and the Happy Cat project manager Antonio spent hours on a Zoom with me, contemplating changes to what we had thought was our final floor plan. I could tell you about the patience and kindness Hillary showed me throughout a lengthy training process. I could tell you about the time Julianne reached out after a Zoom call to see if I was okay, during one of my low points. I could tell you about Jerry’s contagious and perpetually upbeat attitude. But none of that will properly convey my gratitude. There are simply no words.”
Love at First Sight…
“I fell in love with the Happy Cat Hotel concept at first sight. However, loving the journey to my own Happy Cat has been a slow burn, full of ups and downs and everything in between. I’m so proud of what we built together, and even prouder of its purpose — to provide people with a safe and spacious home away from home for their cats. And again, I now love this hill.”
Please follow this link to visit Christina Marrazza’s Happy Cat Hotel of Westchester.
A Final Word
That’s all for now, but we at Happy Cat Hotel Franchising insist that you stay in touch, please! To connect with Happy Cat Hotel Franchising, you can follow and like us on Facebook, watch our hilarious kitty vids on Tik Tok, connect with us on LinkedIn, and follow our latest feline feed on Instagram. And last but not least, don’t forget to listen to the Happy Cat Hotel podcast!