How Kitty of Angels keeps every rescue moving forward with Calendly Notetaker

“There’s nothing better than kittens running around your house. You can’t beat it.”

I’m Lizzie Lewis, founder and president of Kitty of Angels, a foster-based cat rescue in Los Angeles. We focus on saving homeless cats, especially vulnerable kittens who might not survive in city shelters. Since starting the rescue, I’ve fostered nearly 300 cats and kittens myself. It’s messy, joyful, emotional work. It’s also deeply logistical.

We don’t have a facility. We operate through a network of volunteers, fosters, board members, transporters, and partners. That means meetings. Board meetings. Volunteer coordination calls. Planning sessions. Interviews. Conversations that determine whether a litter gets the medical care it needs or whether a new fundraiser launches on time.

And for a long time, I relied on my memory to hold all of it together.

After a brain injury that affected my memory, that approach stopped working. I needed a way to keep every detail from slipping through the cracks without turning into a frantic note-taker during every conversation. That’s when Calendly Notetaker became more than just a feature. It became my safety net.

The challenge

Running a rescue where details matter

Running a nonprofit rescue isn’t just about loving animals. It’s about timing vaccines, scheduling spay and neuter appointments, organizing volunteers, planning events, and keeping donors engaged. Each conversation leads to another task.

Before Calendly Notetaker, my system was simple: I relied on memory. If something felt important, I might type a few notes into a document or drop a reminder into my phone. There was no centralized place where decisions lived. If I needed to remember what we agreed to three weeks ago, I had to piece it together.

And that came with a quiet, constant pressure. I would leave meetings hoping I hadn’t missed something important. I would replay conversations in my head, trying to be sure I captured every commitment. In a rescue where timing and follow-through matter, that kind of uncertainty is exhausting.

As we began hiring our first employee, a fundraising coordinator, the stakes got even higher. Interviews contain nuance. Tone and specificity matter. Relying on recall wasn’t enough.

I didn’t want my memory challenges to limit the organization’s growth. But I also didn’t want meetings to become mechanical or impersonal because I was too busy writing everything down to be present in the moment.

The solution

An assistant in every meeting

When I first heard about Calendly Notetaker, it sounded perfect for me. The idea that I could automatically record, summarize, and get action items for each meeting felt almost unreal.

Now I use Notetaker for virtually every meeting. Board meetings. Volunteer team calls. Planning sessions. Interviews. I tell attendees upfront that the meeting will be recorded for review, and everyone has been completely comfortable with that transparency.

I appreciate that I’m still in control. If a conversation shifts into something informal or sensitive, I can turn Notetaker off with a click. It doesn’t feel intrusive. It feels intentional. I use it where it adds clarity and accountability, and I pause it when a conversation no longer needs documentation.

What I love most is the recap. Not just the transcript, but the summary and action items. The tool listens to a normal conversation and pulls out who’s responsible for what. 

“Notetaker organizes the chaos of dialogue into clarity.”

Lizzie Lewis

Founder at Kitty of Angels

It feels like having a quiet assistant in the background, keeping track of everything so I don’t have to. I can focus on being present. I can listen. I can ask better questions. I can actually think instead of worrying about what I’m going to forget.

After each meeting, the recap arrives in my inbox. That email is often the first thing I look at before the next meeting. If I need to confirm when we discussed a particular decision or prepare for a follow-up call, I search and find the meeting summary instantly. 

For interviews, the ability to revisit the recording has changed everything. Instead of relying on impressions, I can rewatch and evaluate fairly and thoroughly. That alone has cut my review time in half and given me more confidence in hiring decisions.

The results

More confidence, continuity, and capacity to grow

Notetaker has done something subtle but powerful. It’s reduced the mental strain of leadership. For years, I’ve used Calendly to organize our scheduling, from vaccine clinics to transport to volunteer meetings. It was already the backbone of how we coordinate. Adding Notetaker felt natural, not disruptive. It lives in the same place where the meeting starts, and it carries that meeting forward.

I no longer enter conversations worried about missing something important, or slow down discussions so I can type notes. I’ve stopped scrambling after meetings trying to reconstruct what we decided. The scheduling, conversation, and follow-up now happen in one continuous flow.

I show up fully engaged. I trust that the record exists, action items are documented, and if I need to look back two months from now, I can.

As Kitty of Angels grows and adds its first employee, that continuity matters. Our mission depends on follow-through. When you are coordinating medical care, foster homes, and adoptions, details are not optional.

Calendly Notetaker has given me something I didn’t realize I needed: confidence that nothing gets lost.

“I could shout from a mountain top how much I love it,” I often say. And I mean it.  

“Notetaker allows me to be myself in meetings again. It lets me focus on saving kittens, building community, and leading the organization forward.”

Lizzie Lewis

Founder at Kitty of Angels

For a small nonprofit without layers of administrative staff, that kind of support is transformative.