Meet Desiree Riniker | Veterinary Professional

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

Hi Desiree, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
Veterinary Medicine is riddled with challenges. Our biggest challenge we face at the moment is loss of our professionals to suicide. Recently, the CDC listed veterinary medicine as one of the worst for suicide rates. The struggle with this is due to poor management among teams leading to toxic work environments, burnout and overworking, financial struggles due to wage disparities, and an alarming level of hostile clients. Hostile clients have become a serious problem in vet med. People become “key board warriors” and employ cancel tactics along with mob tactics to destroy a small business or a doctors reputation within hours. It is happening to practices all over the country. The Not One More Vet (NOMV) initiative is an initiative designed to support our professionals in crisis and help prevent the loss of our people. It is a nationwide movement that is heavily relied upon to keep our people safe. You can help support NOMV at https://www.nomv.org.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Charleston Veterinary Staffing Solutions was born from 20 years of hard work and dedication to a heavily suffering industry. I knew only a few years into my career as a lowly kennel worker that some day I wanted to change the face of our profession. Together with Rachel, my business partner, today we are doing just that. We built our company to meet a need that the profession itself could not meet and in an innovative way that tackled some of the serious issues facing our professionals. We are one of only three models like it in the entire Southeast. We drive our business’ model by supporting its people with livable wages, work life balance, and complete control over their careers.

The road to success for CVSS was not an easy one, If you want people to buy in to your brand, you need to work harder for them then they are for you. You need to be willing to remember where you came from and lead them with empathy for the challenges they are facing today. Retention is one of the major complexities facing all businesses now a days, and it is essential to rise to the needs of your team to meet that challenge. Rachel and I do this with regular touch points with our team, team surveys to find out what they want and need, and as much or as little engagement as they wish with us. We also built the business on the model of fair and livable wages to ensure less financial struggle among our professionals. That value has been the cornerstone for our success, and it is one I firmly standby.

Over the last 4 years, I have learned much about much. I have learned about the importance of supporting someone in their desire for self sufficiency, I have learned to be a better person, to work harder than I ever have, I have learned the importance of being teachable and growing from mistakes. But what I am most proud of is that I am becoming the kind of person other people can trust with their working lives, the kind of person I would have wanted to work for all those years ago. And in so doing, hoping to set an example for the next generation of leaders.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Charleston and its surrounding towns are just beautiful places to visit. I would want my friend to see the beauty of its gardens, such as Magnolia Gardens and Middleton Place. I would also want them to see the beauty of our secluded beaches and preserves such as Botany Bay. I am a small town girl at heart, so I enjoy a much quieter scene, with small, intimate places and locally grown food. Middleton’s restaurant and its quiet, stunning, ambiance is one of my favorites for evening dining. If the city is what my guests were looking for, one of my first stops for dining would be Fleet Landing restaurant. I love the history of the site as it was a working Navy facility, and the food is wonderful. Behind Fleet Landing, we might head to one of Chef Nico Romo’s three restaurants for dinner. There is one in Summerville, one in Mt. Pleasant, and one in Downtown Charleston. After dinner, we might check out a historical tour or take an evening dolphin cruise on Shem Creek.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Chris Cooper is my business adviser and he saw my vision to change the face of veterinary medicine when it was just an idea on paper. Under his careful guidance over the last 3.5 years, the business has become the stronghold for our people that it is. Along with Chris, my right hand person, Rachel Stewart, is the saving grace when it just becomes too heavy. She works tirelessly to ensure the support of our hardworking staff and to keep me grounded (and that’s a TOUGH job with a person with BIG dreams).

Website: Charlestonvss@gmail.com

Instagram: @veterinarystaffingsolutions

Facebook: @charlestonvss