Meet Kayla Delcoure | Cat Marketing Professional

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kayla Delcoure and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kayla, what do you want your legacy to be?
I want to be known as someone who helped others for no other reason than being able to. Someone who found joy in cats and figured out how to share that joy with the world.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am proud of both my contributions to the cat rescue I volunteer for, Pippi’s Place Pet Rescue, and I’m proud of the following I have created for my own cat, Gizmo. “Gizmo’s Best Life” isn’t just a social media account. I am building a force founded on authenticity, inclusivity, and kindness. Gizmo is the face of the movement, but at heart of it resides every cat and every person that needs a place where they can unapologetically belong and feel safe.

Before I begin telling our story, I want to warn you that it does begin in a time of mourning and loss. I ask you to read through our loss though because it was ultimately the foundation upon which so much good has been built.

​December 13, 2021, twelve days before Christmas, our family suffered the unexpected loss of our kitten, Waffles. He was nine months old and developed a terminal illness called Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). He showed lethargy one day and then three days later he was gone. I’ve owned cats for 25 years and had never even heard of such an aggressive and fatal disease.

​After losing Waffles, my family was inconsolable. My husband and my four-year-old and five-year-old sons were all destroyed. My other cats were depressed. And I was utterly lost. A week went by and as Christmas approached, it was clear that the only way we could begin our journey of healing was to find another kitten who needed a home.
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And then we found Gizmo.
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Gizmo, who was named “Jingles” by the shelter looked like a peachy little cotton ball when we found his adoption profile online. I sent in an application to adopt him from Pippi’s Place Pet Rescue in Lawrenceville, GA. In it, I explained the heartbreaking loss our family experienced. The founder of the rescue reached out later that day to talk. She had been taking care of Gizmo personally since he was rescued and she wanted to make sure he would be going to the best possible home.
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It didn’t take long for her to decide that we were the right family. We drove out the next day to pick him up. The second Gizmo came home, the weight on our hearts started to lift. Our other three cats welcomed him after only a few hours. He was the spark our dark world needed.

​It was clear after day two that Gizmo was destined for fame. He greeted our Christmas tree by diving under it and smacking an ornament clear across the floor. Every bout of mischief he had we welcomed. It brought us so much joy that I had to share him with the world.

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I created his TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. It took so little effort to make him go viral because he was just that genuinely hilarious. In under six months, he amassed over 40,000 followers on Tiktok. He’s now up to 106,000 on TikTok. His Facebook and Instagram presence are growing as well. About three months into his online presence, he started gaining the attention of media outlets. The Dodo did an entire feature video about Gizmo and his obsession with play tunnels. There are also articles online about the same tunnel obsession and then his incessant howling. One of his videos even made it onto a TV news network in the UK.

​As Gizmo rose to internet fame, we started doing product endorsement videos. That gave me the idea to start using that notoriety for good. At first, I would post and share videos about local rescues and the cats they had available for adoption. I decided to try something bigger for Gizmo’s birthday in August 2022.
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I created a fundraiser for Pippi’s Place Pet Rescue, the rescue where we adopted Gizmo. In two weeks, we raised over $1,000. In total, we raised over $1,200 for the organization. I decided to make that an annual tradition to celebrate Gizmo’s birthday.
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Following that, we stayed the course of posting emotionally uplifting and happiness-inducing content. In November 2022 I saw a post from the Atlanta Humane Society explaining that they were out of towels and blankets for their cats at their Alpharetta location. I sprung into action again and began marketing a towel/blanket drive through Gizmo’s online accounts. In a little under a week, I was able to collect 42 towels and blankets. I brought them all to the Alpharetta campus on the Sunday after thanksgiving.

Fast forward to now, I recently created a cat marketing campaign called “CatVana” for the rescue I volunteer with that immediately went viral, amassing over 4 million views on Reddit in under 48 hours. It’s blown up on Facebook as well. Stories about “CatVana” were published by NPR, Motor1, Newsweek, and DailyMail. We’ve been raising money for two very sick four-week old kittens we just rescued, so the extra attention has been greatly appreciated.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love Piedmont Park! Having the park, plus the GA Aquarium and the Coke Museum is so convenient. I mostly just go for the aquarium though. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout goes to Pippi’s Place Pet Rescue, a small cat rescue in Lawrenceville, GA. The hard work of all the volunteers is inspiring and keeps my creative gears turning! The director, Vicki, is such a kind soul. I am so grateful for her trust in me to be able to manage the rescues social media marketing content.

Website: gizmosbestlife.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gizmos_best_life_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GizmosBestLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GizmosBestLife

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@gizmos_best_life/featured