IT ALL STARTED WITH THREE extraordinary LITTLE LIONS
This is us today! The Pumpernickles 🦁. My daily joy, my healers, my guides, and the living, purring heart of Walking With Lions. And, yes, I have HUNDREDS of photos of us in this exact pose!
If we go back to 2014, everything was going along ok, I guess. I was hitting the goals. "Living the life."
From the outside, everything looked fine. Career, responsibilities, the whole "I've got this" act. But on the inside? Disconnected. Restless. Wondering if this was it. And tired of wearing a mask so well it fooled even me.
When my Mom passed in 2014, the quiet doubt that I was living a life that wasn't really mine became impossible to ignore. Death does this to you. Losing such an incredible, irreplaceable force in my life changed how I saw everything.
To deal with my grief and the unrelenting stresses of life, my heart led me to Pickles and Peanut... with Pumpkin swaggering in a few years later.
After a lifetime of being tossed around in life's tornado, it turns out it was my furry little bundles who finally made the universe make sense. They grounded me. They reminded me what truly matters.
And when I looked into the eyes of Pickles, Peanut, and Pumpkin, I didn't see cats. I saw fierce warriors staring back... daring me to rise up and become the same.
And that's how the first spark of Walking With Lions was lit.
THE QUALITIES WE ADMIRE IN OUR ANIMALS
are the same qualities we're trying to rediscover in ourselves.
THE FIRE THAT FOLLOWED
The beginnings of Walking With Lions
As my fascination and obsession with Pickles, Peanut, and Pumpkin grew, I kept trying to explain how I see myself with my cats — that they aren't “pets,” but that they are literally lions walking beside me.
People didn’t quite get it (understatement of the century here) as, apparently, not everyone sees their tabby as a formidable lion!
So, in 2017, bursting for my nearest and dearest to see what I felt, I sketched it out. Me, warrior mode. My fierce cats, lions. And boom — lightbulb moment. The picture said what words never could.
Those doodles built on the sparks I had been carrying for years. And that’s when the fire caught. A fire that grew into a vision, and eventually into Walking With Lions.
A way of showing the world how our animals see us: bigger, bolder, fiercer than we ever give ourselves credit for. And through their fierce love and confidence, reminding us to step into our truest selves.
WHAT IF THE WISDOM YOU'RE LOOKING FOR
has been sitting beside you on the sofa all along?
THE FIERCE & FURRY CREW
Walking With Lions is driven by purpose and powered by roar. And the real stars of this story? Not me — but Pickles, Peanut, and Pumpkin. My companions, my healers, and, let’s be honest, my occasional bosses. Let’s meet everyone properly.
CINDY
Honesty, Curiosity, Joy
After over two decades in corporate — fighting to fit into a system where my values were laughed at, devalued, and dismissed — I finally walked away. (The fourth attempt stuck. Finally.)
I’ve lived and worked all over the world — Canada, the US, the UK, France, Ghana, Australia, New Zealand — and traveled through many other countries. Every place was both energising and humbling. You learn quickly what really matters, and how to let the rest roll off your back.
It was Pickles, Peanut, and Pumpkin who eventually made me want to put down roots in one place. I’m Canadian by birth, have called Australia home for the past 20 years, and am relocating to Portugal in 2026.
Now, I’ve taken the coaching and teaching skills I honed in my corporate life, added formal coaching qualifications, and made coaching and educating my full-time calling. My mission. The culmination of everything I’ve learned — especially from the beautiful animals who’ve shaped my journey.
Walking With Lions is my way of helping others fast-track their own transformation by learning from the wisdom our animals share with us every single day. To help animal lovers everywhere step into their truth — and live their roar.
PICKLES
Compassion, Belonging, Vitality
Pickles is the heart of the crew, radiating presence and connection — but don’t mistake her softness for weakness. She’s fierce and fearless, always ready to leap in to defend the ones she loves.
Her favorite pastime is play-fighting with her sister Peanut, where she shows off her lightning reflexes and battle moves. Occasionally Pumpkin joins in, but he usually bows out when he realizes he’s up against the sisters’ superior skills.
Beyond the warrior side, Pickles is also a skilled huntress, chasing shadows and toys with the same intensity she’d bring to the wild. And then, just as easily, she’ll flip into goofball mode — rolling around, making silly faces, or demanding belly rubs at the least convenient times. At the end of the day, though, her happiest place is always right by her mom’s side, curled up like she belongs there (because she does).
Pickles is proof that love and loyalty aren’t soft skills — they’re warrior strengths. She teaches us that being playful, present, and fiercely protective can all coexist, and that true power often purrs quietly at your side.
PEANUT
Courage, Wisdom, Integrity
Peanut is the Warrior Queen — smart, watchful, and impossibly wise. Peanut channels the wisdom of Yoda, the gravitas of Gandalf, and the brilliance of Dumbledore — all wrapped in fur and whiskers.
She sees everything, and her calm authority bends the whole house to her will. Fierce yet fair, Peanut teaches us that courage and boundaries are sacred, and that true wisdom needs no words.
Peanut’s wisdom doesn’t stop at presence and authority though — she understands words, context, and meaning in a way that feels almost otherworldly. She’ll listen, absorb, and then relay the message to Pickles and Pumpkin, as if she’s the interpreter between worlds. With Peanut, communication goes beyond meows and purrs — it’s a genuine dialogue, a meeting of minds that proves animals understand far more than most people give them credit for.
But don’t let the wise and regal exterior fool you — she’s also hilarious. Peanut has a wicked sense of humor, turning into a total goofball at the drop of a hat, pouncing, playing, and keeping everyone laughing with her antics. She proves that true queens know when to rule… and when to party.
PUMPKIN
Playfulness, Curiosity, Adventure
Pumpkin is the bold adventurer of the crew — curious, playful, and always ready to explore. Every corner, every bag, every new sound is an expedition waiting to happen. His joy is infectious, his energy unstoppable, and his goofy grin can brighten even the heaviest day.
He didn’t have the easiest start in life, and trust didn’t come quickly. But little by little, Pumpkin learned to open his heart — first to his sisters, then to me, then to the world. Even when uncertainty flickers in his eyes, he slips on his suit of armor, summons his courage, and faces life with fierce bravery.
Once that armor’s down though, he’s the biggest love bug you’ll ever meet. He adores his sisters, happily following their lead and finding his happiest place curled up wherever they are. Fierce loyalty wrapped in orange fluff, Pumpkin reminds us that joy is power, curiosity is strength, and that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is love with your whole heart.
YOUR PET DOESN'T CHANGE WHO YOU ARE.
They simply remove the filters.
WHY WE DO THIS
At Walking With Lions, we believe the animals we share our lives with have far more to teach us than we often realise.
Just as Pickles, Peanut, and Pumpkin (and the many beloved companions now watching over me) helped me rediscover who I really was, your animals can do the same for you. Not through lectures or life advice, but simply through the way they live.
Most of us spend years adapting to expectations — learning to perform, to push through exhaustion, to pretend everything is fine even when something inside us knows it isn’t. Our animals don’t live that way.
- They trust their instincts.
- They rest when they’re tired.
- They set boundaries without apology.
- They love fiercely and live fully in the present moment.
Spend enough time beside an animal and something remarkable happens. You begin to recognise those same qualities in yourself — the courage, the loyalty, the playfulness, the strength you may have forgotten was there.
That’s the heart of Walking With Lions. Not changing who you are, but remembering — and learning to live more fully as the person your animal already knows you to be.