CAROL AND ZELDA
Fifteen years ago Carol Gardner, a former advertising executive and creative director, found herself divorced, depressed, and in debt. She was unemployed and unhappy. A friend suggested she get either a therapist or a dog. Carol's decision to choose the dog, an English Bulldog she named Zelda, not only turned her life around, but was the impetus for creating the international line of Zelda Wisdom products. Today Zelda Wisdom products can be found around the world and the list of licensees is impressive: Hallmark, American Greetings, Russ Berrie, Andrews McMeel Publishing, Macmillan Publishing, Perseus Books, Westland Giftware, Antioch Publishing, Danbury Mint, the Bradford Group, Interstat, the Paper Magic Group, and others.
Carol and Zelda have been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers, including Ladies' Home Journal, Parade Magazine, USA Today, Forbes and the "Sunday Style Section" of the New York Times. In addition they have appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS
Sunday Morning Show, The Martha Stewart Show, Life & Style, Animal Planet, CNBC's Power Lunch and CNN Live Today. Carol is also the author of a dozen books, (Bumper Sticker Wisdom, Zelda Wisdom, The Zen of Zelda, Zelda Rules on Love, Zelda's Survival Guide, Zelda's Tips From The Tub, Zelda's Bloopers, Zelda's Moments With Mom, Dear Zelda, Princess Zelda and the Frog, Zelda’s Lick or Treat Halloween Book, and Zelda’s Puppy Love.) Carol authored Zelda’s weekly column, Dear Zelda, for three years, and for the past six years Zelda’s Day to Day Dogmas are sent daily, online, to thousands of people around the world.
Presently Carol is working on the Zelda Children’s Hospital Initiative, a project that would train, certify and insure rescued dogs so they could be placed in children’s hospitals. Should a hospitalized child bond with one of these rescued dogs, the child’s family could adopt the dog. When the child is released from the hospital, the dog would go home with the child and a new rescued dog would be introduced to the hospital.
by Svetlana Kim
Perreault Magazine - 68 -
CAROL GARDNER
entrepreneur/author/speaker