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June 13, 2025
What if quiet confidence was your greatest leadership strength? While leadership positions are often associated with extroverted personality types, Dr. Jenni Rizzo shows that thoughtful, introverted leadership can make just as big an impact.
In this episode of Whatâs Up Doc?, Dr. Katie Gallagher from Scribenote sits down with the incredible Dr. Jenni Rizzoâfounder of IntroVet, practicing veterinarian, and current president of the American Heartworm Societyâfor a conversation packed with insight, inspiration, and practical advice for veterinarians looking to carve their own path in the profession.
If youâve ever wondered how to lead as an introvert or find a CE community designed for your needs this is the episode for you.
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Dr. Rizzo is many things: a veterinarian, educator, public speaker, and leader in the veterinary space. Sheâs also a self-proclaimed introvert, which inspired her to create IntroVet, a CE platform and annual conference that provides continuing education designed with introverts in mind.
âWe want to break down the barriers and the things that makes CE stressfulâ she says. âWeâve got very friendly, approachable teachers and we find ways to get to know each other and feel welcome without the way that an extroverted world tends to go about itâ
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Dr. Rizzoâs journey to becoming the first female and youngest president of the American Heartworm Society started with saying yes to an unexpected opportunity when working as a new grad with Dr. Wallace Graham, a former President of the American Heartworm Society who asked Jenni to be a part of the AHS.
âI didn't really know much about it and I had just recently graduated from school, but I said yes and jumped inâ she said
I have an attitude that if Iâm going to go somewhere and take up space, then I need to be useful.
Her leadership approach is grounded in authenticity and service, proving that effective leadership doesnât require being the loudest voice in the room.
Traditional veterinary conferences can be overwhelmingâloud, crowded, and packed with stimulation. IntroVet takes on a whole new approach.
đ IntroVetâs next conference Bone AppĂ©tit: Rational Advice in Small Animal Nutrition, takes place in San Antonio from November 15-16, 2025. Learn more here.
âI've Learned along the way that more than 70% of our profession now when we're talking about DVMs, are made up of women and people who identify as women. Yet still the majority of leadership positions are held by men.â
Jenni highlights the importance of leadership matching the identity of the people who are working in the profession, and in general making leadership more diverse.
If you're a recent grad or an introverted vet looking to step into leadership, Dr. Rizzo recommends:
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Whether youâre an introvert or extrovert, fresh out of vet school or deep in your career, Dr. Rizzoâs message is clear:
You donât have to look or act a certain way to be a leader. You just need to show up, be helpful, and stay true to yourself.
The veterinary profession is evolving, and thereâs more space than ever for diverse voices, new paths, and leadership styles that reflect the real people in the field. Dr. Rizzo is living proof that you can lead without changing who you areâand help others do the same along the way.
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đ Explore IntroVet CE offerings
đ Follow Dr. Jenni Rizzo and her dogs on Instagram @IntroVetCE
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Katie graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in 2016. She currently practices at Grand River Veterinary hospital alongside her role as a co-founder and Veterinary Lead at Scribenote. đ Follow Katie on LinkedIn
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Transcript: Hi, everyone. This is Doctor Katie from Scribenote and I'd like to welcome you back to our next episode of What's Up Doc. Today I have Doctor Jenni Rizzo with me. Welcome, Jenni. Hello, [...1.3s] and she is the founder of IntroVet. I thought we'd maybe get start started with you giving us a bit of background on IntroVet, what it is and why it started. [...1.6s] So IntroVet is a continuing education community and we do what we call introvert friendly CE. IntroVet is a mashup of the words introvert and veterinarian. And I'm very introverted. [...1.3s] And so the idea behind our courses is that, we want everyone who comes to feel like they are welcome there, that they have the space to set up their learning environment the way that they want, whether it's at home or [...0.7s] in the back of a room, at a lecture hall or wherever is comfortable for you. And we are, at least I, as an introvert, like to have a lot of information up front and feel really well prepared so there's less [...0.8s] anxiety about showing up to an event with a bunch of people I don't know and a teacher I've never met. And so we take a lot of [...1.8s] time to make sure we deliver course notes in advance, try to make sure everybody who's coming to a class, knows who I am and who the other people are who are leading IntroVet so that you understand that your colleagues and you can reach out to me anytime. And we just want to break down [...0.6s] the barriers and the things that make CE stressful if you're an introvert trying to go to some giant conference. We want to be [...1.0s] the opposite of that. And so we've got very friendly, approachable teachers and, [...0.6s] we [...0.6s] find ways to get to know each other and help everyone feel welcome without, [...0.9s] the way that an extroverted world tends to go about it. Yeah, I definitely hear that typically at the conferences. Like I feel pretty overwhelmed, right? I would say I'm kind of a mix, I often, you know, can sit at home and be introverted, and also extroverted. But at the conferences, I feel like I get conference exhaustion. It's almost like practicing, like you're on the entire time, it's overwhelming, right? So I think that's a great idea. You guys have [...0.6s] a lot of course offerings, so webinars [...0.5s] and, [...0.6s] what else, what else have you got on your platform? We have three basic course types. We have a library of around 100 hours of video CE so if you're a person that wants to learn totally independently on your own, you can take your computer to a park or your bedroom and [...0.5s] sit with your pets and watch video CE whenever you want to, [...0.7s] or we do live webinars and usually those are workshop style, we call them. Either we meet on zoom for one full day or a day and a half and dive into different topics in depth. So we spend the whole weekend together, learning about whatever particular thing is on the menu for that day. Or once a year we have an in person conference, that you joined us for last year in San Antonio. Yeah, it was really fun. San Antonio is such a cool city. We had a great time. I went with my husband to the conference and we had a booth with Scribenote and we talked to what, there was like, about 100 people there. Yeah, I think it was really, really nice. A lot of more authentic connections, I think, than [...0.5s] any of the other conference experiences I had ever gone to. So, yeah, check it out, if you are looking for a really, [...0.5s] intimate, I guess, and [...1.1s] fun and inclusive conference experience. It was actually probably one of my favorites. So, [...1.2s] yeah, that would be a really good thing to get more people at. And you can also join it virtually, right? Right. You can join the in person conference itâs great if you want to have an alternative to, [...0.5s] a big crowded convention because we limit seating to 100 people, so it's never gonna be overcrowded. There's gonna be plenty of space for you to sit down. You don't have to worry about finding a seat. I'm left handed, and this is a really small detail, but [...0.5s] when I go to big lecture style meetings, my elbow bumps into people when I'm trying to write because we're so close together. And so even little things like that we try to get rid of. Don't have soggy box sandwiches for lunch. And we just want, [...0.7s] we want people to be treated well because I'm a vet, and everyone coming is a vet or a technician. They, you know, they're people that I would work with in real life. And, I think there's too much [...1.6s] bad service in the world for a lack of a better word. You know, it can be so hard to [...0.9s] have a good time [...1.0s] as busy as we all are, but we just want the conference to be a nice place to come and relax, learn some really practical information, get treated really well and enjoy yourself, yeah, and then not feel like you need a vacation from your conference experience because it was so exhausting. Yeah, I totally agree. And I can attest to how amazing it was, the setup was amazing. Then, you know I think the one thing that I've kind of thought about the last few times I was at big conferences is the lack of space to write. Like if you're just in those big conferences and all they have is chairs and no tables, it's like okay, well, how am I supposed to take notes except like you know, looking down at your lap and writing on, [...0.5s] you know, so yeah, even the layout at your conference was amazing, so kudos to you for setting that up and for actually trying to think about the people that you're serving at the conference, right? So [...0.8s] I would highly recommend it. Couple other things I wanted to talk to you today about Jenny. [...0.6s] The biggest thing that I recently heard is that you are the first female president and the youngest president of the American Heartworm Society. First of all, congratulations, that is huge. Can you tell us a bit about how you got into that? And, you know, what made you want to kind of pursue such a big leadership role? Yeah, sure. So, this is what I wear, three hats, a practice hat, an IntroVet hat and an American Heartworm Society hat. And I got involved with the American Heartworm Society in 2016 and I [...0.6s] say only half jokingly that I just lucked into it. I was working in Corpus Christi at the time [...0.5s] at a practice where a former [...0.8s] American Heartworm Society president was also practicing, Doctor Wally Graham, he's wonderful. And he, [...0.8s] asked me if I might like to be a part of the Heartworm Society. And I didn't really know much about it and I had just recently graduated from school, but I said [...0.6s] yes and jumped in. Once I got there, [...0.7s] I learned that [...0.6s] it's mostly about [...0.5s] education, about making people, making sure that the public and vet practices have the information they need to do a good job taking care of heartworm disease, whether that's preventing it, diagnosing it, or treating it. And, [...0.6s] I think [...0.9s] I have an attitude that if I'm gonna go somewhere and take up space that I need to be useful. And so I [...0.7s] tried my best as soon as I joined the board to [...0.8s] find ways to be helpful and make a difference. And I think that that was appreciated. And a few years later [...1.3s] they [...1.0s] invited me to serve as president and it's a three year term and this is my third year. So I'm actually handing over [...0.5s] the job to somebody new in September. Oh, okay. And, yeah, what was the, I guess, [...0.6s] biggest learning that you took away from that, do you think? [...1.5s] Well, I have learned so much about heartworms. I thought that I knew a lot about heartworms until I joined the board and met all the other people on the board, and realized that there's still so much more to know. And so I have, [...0.5s] just this huge appreciation and expanded understanding of what heart disease even is since being on the board. And also through [...1.4s] working with the heart of society, I learned how much I like education and continuing education. And that impacted, [...0.5s] my decision to start a continuing education community. It's helped me meet people all over the country, helped me get my feet wet with public speaking, cause I do some teaching to vet students and even to veterinarians. So I think it's [...0.6s] totally changed my career path for what I thought I would be doing when I first graduated from school. Yeah, that's amazing. And I love that. It's, there are so many different things you can do with your degree. And I think, you know, that, [...0.5s] when you're in school, it's like this, blinder, like, focus, I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna practice. But, there's so much more to it and, so many different avenues you can take. And I also think it's really [...0.5s] admirable, to put yourself out there, being in a leadership type of position [...0.5s] and just, you know, see where things take you. And, learn and grow as a professional in that as well. Yeah, I've learned along the way that [...1.5s] more than 70% of our profession now when we're talking about DVMs, are made up of women and people who identify as women. Yet still the majority of leadership positions are held by men. And so without getting to, [...1.0s] political, [...0.7s] I just want to say that I think it is important [...0.6s] that the leadership in our profession [...0.5s] matches the identity of the people who are working in the profession. And so I think it's super important for [...1.4s] leadership, more leadership roles to be filled by women and for our leadership to be more diverse in general, because it's already much different now than it was. Even,, [...0.9s] it's been 13 years now since I graduated, so it's already [...1.4s] shifting. But I still think that it's certainly worth encouraging more people from different backgrounds to seek out those types of leadership roles because [...0.8s] all you have to do is make a little bit of difference. It's not difficult, but makes a huge impact on the profession when we get [...0.8s] different perspectives, [...0.7s] in positions that can influence things for sure. Do you have any tips [...0.6s] on if you're wanting to kind of, become more of a leader, like you know, get first got out there, how did you do it? It sounds like you wear lots of hats. So like, obviously there it's a pretty complicated question. But if you could, you know, break it down or if you had a couple pieces of advice for someone, maybe even just out of school, what would you recommend? Well, every state has a VMA [...0.5s] and lots of local areas have a VMA. I started out practicing in Texas and I'm still licensed there and [...0.5s] there's a VMA in Houston and Dallas in San Antonio. And so [...0.7s] an easy thing to do would be to reach out to your local VMA and maybe consider taking on a leadership role there. Because those roles change over almost every year. And anytime I've been in touch with local [...0.6s] VMAs, they've been, [...0.6s] you know, really in need of help, and willing to take on any kind of help that they can get and excited to have younger people especially [...0.5s] interested in those roles. And so that would be an easy thing to do. [...0.8s] Maybe not such a fun thing to do as an introvert, might be to just shake hands and meet people at conferences, and, [...0.5s] kind of see who, you know, who you can meet. And just make friends that way. Yeah, and sometimes it takes stepping out of your comfort zone, right? Like, you saying you are introverted, I don't think many people would be able to tell based on all the things that you do. Right, so, you know, even though you, are introverted, you know, you can still [...0.9s] step out of your comfort zone and make a difference, but also, you know, set these cool boundaries of what you're doing and how you're helping others do it as well. So I think it's super cool [...0.7s] speaking of all the places that you could potentially, [...1.4s] you know, reach out to your VMAs. How many practices, or I guess states are you licensed in right now? [...1.0s] Just two, just Florida [...0.7s] and Texas. Yeah, and so I go back and forth between the two states, itâs nice. And you had mentioned you're doing a bunch of traveling this year. Yeah. What does that, [...0.7s] entailed? So I have done many things since graduating school because [...1.4s] a veterinarians [...1.1s] job can be [...1.1s] far reaching and there's all sorts of things we can do with this degree. And so I've worked in [...0.9s] shelter medicine, spay neuter clinics a lot of time, and emergency medicine and general practice. When I first graduated I thought I wanted to be a zoo vet and I only saw exotics. And, my most recent, [...0.8s] new path is that I decided to spend a year traveling with my dogs. And so [...0.8s] we set out in September with Pistol Pete and Biggie Smalls. And if you go on the internet, on social media you'll see them all the time because we've been posting pictures of what we're up to. But we [...0.8s] picked out a map of all the national parks in the United States as well as [...0.5s] a map that shows which parks participate in this thing called a Bark Ranger program. [...1.4s] The dogs can earn special badges for being good doggy citizens at the different national parks. And we've just been traveling all over the country. We've done all of the, East Coast, [...0.6s], a little bit through the Midwest and then at some point this year we'll make it over to the western half of the United States. And [...1.1s] in order to, [...1.2s] continue working as a veterinarian as we go, I've spent extra time in Texas, in Florida so I can keep up with my clinical skills. And then in other states, I've done some public speaking on heartworms. And then of course, IntroVet keeps me really busy. And since most of what we do is [...0.6s] virtual, I can do it from any state. So we have been to [...1.0s] about 20 states so far and I've lost count of how many [...0.6s] Bark Ranger badges the dogs have earned. But I think we're at about 12. Wow, that's so fun. What a great idea. You know I I think itâs truly just shows how, vast, like you said, how many things you can get up to in veterinary medicine. [...1.1s] The world is your oyster really, it seems like. And, [...0.7s] I think that's, that sounds like an amazing year. You guys have obviously had a ton of fun [...0.5s] and your dogs are, they sound like they're superstars in the park ranger community. Oh yeah, they love it. And I probably should be posting more on social media than what we do, but that's the introvert in me that I forget to even take pictures sometimes. Yeah, yeah, I hear that. [...1.1s] Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, it's got to be a mental memory [...1.0s] first, right? Like, you don't always have to capture it on camera, so, [...0.5s] I think it's probably better to just be like in the moment, right? A lot of people forget that nowadays with all the socials and the, [...0.9s] you know, the stuff that's like public facing, so [...0.6s] amazing. [...0.9s] I think that, you know, getting people to [...0.5s] understand that there's so many different options for them and they're really not locked in because obviously this job [...0.9s] can be so challenging and can be so mentally exhausting. So, you know we've got such high rates of burnout in the industry that, doing things that you're passionate about, no matter if it looks the same as what you thought being a vet looked like when you were [...0.7s] younger, right before, as you were finishing school, right? It doesn't mean you're, [...0.5s] you know you're different than what you thought you would be, right? Just take all the opportunities that come to you, right? Don't shut them down just because they might look a little different than what you expected. Any other tips or anything that you think you could give people that were, [...0.7s] you know, I guess coming out of school, I guess locuming, etc. [...1.4s] Yeah, I can see how [...0.7s] me explaining all the things that I do can sound really intimidating or impossible. And so I want to make sure everybody understands that I have spent [...0.6s] years and continue to spend time every single week with a life coach. Specifically, I've been working with Julie Squires since about 2016, who works just with veterinarians to help with [...0.7s] mindset training, teaching people how to be mindful, teaching you how to [...0.6s] reframe your thoughts so that you're not just overwhelmed with fear and anxiety about change and just helping create a lot of, confidence in my ability to [...1.6s] do things even if I'm nervous about it or do things even if I'm afraid that I might screw it up cause in screwing up, you're really just learning something new. You know, it doesn't mean anything about you if you try something and it doesn't work out. The important thing is that you tried. So there's so many life skills that I did not have before I started working with a coach and really focusing on this idea of [...1.0s] mindset and mindfulness. And I think [...1.0s] that it's been so critical to [...0.8s] all of the things that I've done in the past eight or nine years since I started learning those skills. So I would say [...1.0s] I've been very burned out in veterinary medicine before and recovered from it and had a mix of experience, compassion, fatigue and all kinds of traumatizing things as an ER vet, [...0.5s] and then lots of fear [...0.6s] about changes because of all the different things that I've done. But [...0.6s] learning that skill set from Julie an other coaches out there as well has just been life changing. Whether this is your first year out or 20th year out, I would say go find something that speaks to you [...0.9s] and just invest in yourself. Whether it's free or it costs money, it's worth it. Regardless any kind of [...0.7s] skill that you can learn can make such a huge difference. I don't think I'd do anything that I'm doing now if I didn't have [...0.6s] those little skills. And in the background, well, I love that. Thanks so much for sharing. I think, you know, [...0.5s] you're right. It's so important. It's such a complex profession and there are so many emotions that you go through when you're in a typical day and practice. And, you know, I think a lot of us because we're so, you know, driven, sometimes you put yourself last, you know, and I think it's pretty incredible that there are people that offer those, you know life life coaching and you know mindfulness workshops and things like that. Like I think it's so important, especially now that the profession is 70% [...0.9s] women, right? Like, because, you know, there's also many other aspects of life that you have to manage on top of a job. So, yeah, I think it's so important and I really appreciate you sharing that with our listeners today. What we'll do is we'll share some links in the, comments at the bottom of the show and then people can, you know look into some things for themselves. Yeah, so I think that's a pretty good spot to wrap up. I just wanted to say thank you again so much. It sounds like you have done an amazing amount of things with your 13 years out of school. And, you know, I think it's really nice for you to be able to share with all of our listeners and all potential [...0.5s] veterinarian staff, etc. about all the things that are possible. So thanks so much, Jenni. Thank you. And, you know, if anybody sees this and wants to reach out to me, [...0.8s] my email is DrRizzo@introvetCE.com or you can email info@introvetCE.com and you can ask me questions about [...0.8s] traveling for a year if you think you wanna start doing relief work. And I'll tell you all about how I'm finding housing and doing it or about leadership roles or about IntroVet or starting a business or anything you want or even [...0.6s] some of the coaching that I've had. [...0.7s] I would love to answer questions. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for being such an open support for our community. I think it's super important. And [...0.6s] yeah, we'll definitely keep in touch a bit more too. I can't wait to see you guys in San Antonio again [...0.7s] because that was super fun. So [...0.6s] we will wrap it up there and thanks everyone for joining us. I'll see you next time on Whatâs Up Doc? [...8.1s]
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