Meet Ellie Laks

Today we’re excited to be connecting with Ellie Laks again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.

Ellie, we are so thrilled to be connecting again and can’t wait to hear about all the amazing things you have been up to. Before we jump into all of that, some of our readers might have missed our prior interview, so can you take a moment to reintroduce yourself?
I am the Founder of The Gentle Barn Foundation, a national organization that rescues and rehabilitates unwanted animals and heals people with the same stories of abuse and neglect. I am an animal communicator, powerful speaker, celebrated animal welfare advocate, humane educator, and the author of “My Gentle Barn: Creating a sanctuary where animals heal and children learn to hope,” and “Cow Hug Therapy: How the animals at The Gentle Barn taught me about life, death, and everything in between.”

I founded The Gentle Barn in 1999. I invented my own “Gentle Healing” method that allows old, sick, injured, and terrified animals to recover fully using a mixture of Western medicine, holistic healing modalities, holding therapy, and lots of love. I am the creator of cow hug therapy and has hosted hundreds of thousands of people who have come to The Gentle Barn seeking hope.

To date, I have saved thousands of animals and hosted over 1 million guests. The Gentle Barn is currently home to approximately 200 animals. The Gentle Barn has two locations in Los Angeles CA and Nashville, TN. It is my goal to be the voice for animals, share their stories, and open the hearts of humanity toward all living beings, “Teaching people kindness and compassion to animals, each other, and our planet.”

The Gentle Barn has been my dream since I was seven years old. I always loved animals and noticed that the people around me did not, so I would say, “You’ll see, when I grow up I’ll have a big place full of animals, and I’ll show the world how beautiful they are!” I drove by an abusive petting zoo as a young adult and found so much abuse and neglect there that I ended up bringing home sick and injured animals from there, healing them, and partnering them to ultimately start my dream. That was 25 years ago. I thought my dream then was big, but The Gentle Barn has now surpassed my vision. I am so ecstatic how it has grown, and I look forward to even more expansion in the future!

Alright, so our main goal today is to give our audience an update on what you have been up to since our last conversation. We’d love to hear how things are going and what you are most looking forward to or excited about these days.
There have been many exciting things happening at The Gentle Barn. We celebrated our 25th anniversary last August by rescuing a goat name Terrific from an animal testing facility. We continue to rescue animals in need and introduce programs designed to help hurting humans, as well.

We have opened our doors to the victims of the Los Angeles fires in January. For those who were evacuated and need some TLC, they can visit us on a Sunday as our guest. For anyone who lost their home in the recent LA fires, they can participate in cow hug therapy as our guest. We will also be opening our doors to the first responders.

We have a literacy program designed to help children learn how to read. The children can practice their reading to one of our animals. This provides a non-judgmental audience to put the child at ease. The children enjoy reading to the animals and the animals enjoy being read to.

We have now arrived at one of our favorite parts of the interview – the lightning round. We’ll ask you a few quick questions to give us all some fun insights about you.

Favorite Movie: The Lorax and My Octopus Teacher

Favorite Book: Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

Favorite TV Show: Schitts Creek

Favorite Band or Artist: pink

Sweet or Savory: Savory

Mountains or Beach: Beach

Did you play sports growing up (if so which ones): I played soccer

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up: I wanted to rescue animals since i was seven years old

French Fries or Onion Rings: French fries

Favorite Cartoon growing up: I didn’t like cartoons but i loved The muppets

Favorite Childhood movie: Charlottes Web

Favorite Breakfast Food: Scrambled tofu wraps that my husband Jay makes, so yummy!

When you look back on your life, what are three things you expect to be proud of?
First, I hope to be proud that my life was spent in service to animals and hurting humans. Saving animals, rehabilitating them, and helping them make their own mark on the world. Offering help to others, creating a gentle world that will continue to expand long after I am gone.

Second, I hope that I can be proud of raising wonderful, loving, kind, gentle, and courageous children and grandkids who always do what’s right, stand up to injustice, use their voice, feel loved, and know how special they are.

Third, I expect to be proud of the relationships I help forge and the connections I help create by doing animal communication sessions for clients around the world. I want everyone to understand that no matter what we look like on the outside, we are all the same on the inside. Ee all have the same perceptions, memory, and emotions. And death does not seperate us, we are always connected!

Website: www.ellielaks.com and www.gentlebarn.org

Instagram: @ellielaks and @thegentlebarn

Facebook: @ellielaks and @thegentlebarn

Youtube: The Gentle Barn