How Amber Elalem rises above the noise

Amber Elalem has been helping dogs get the care they need for the past 5 years. A vet tech currently studying to get a Masters in Veterinary Medicine, Amber Elalem is dedicated to helping pets and their families. 

While Amber works as a vet tech, she’s better known for her work on social media. She frequently shares short videos on TikTok about what it’s really like to be a vet tech. Her videos include things like what vet techs really think of your dog breed, what your dog is thinking at the vet, and what vets are actually doing with your puppy during curbside. (You guessed it. That longer wait is due to mad puppy play time.)

Amber’s rich sense of humor has helped her create a warm and friendly community of vets, vet techs, and pet lovers who enjoy her videos about life in vet medicine. 

Although many people have come to know her for her wonderful social media work, there’s a lot more to Amber than her adorable videos of puppy boops and funny chats about your dog. Behind the scenes is a deep woman with plans for the future.

Amber hopes that in 5 years, she’ll be finishing up with vet school and have a better understanding of veterinary medicine. She attributes her progress in getting as far as she has to the three qualities, perseverance, a sense of humor, and sheer luck.

Although Amber loves being a vet tech and working in the field, if she had to choose a different career in she’d have no trouble with it. If she had to choose a different career it would be as a History teacher. Amber loves studying World War 2 especially and would love the opportunity to share with others the passion she feels about history.

If she could give advice to her past self, it would be something we could all benefit from hearing regardless of how old we are. “Don’t compare your journey to anyone else. You’re exactly where you need to be”

Truer words could not be spoken. In a world where we’re constantly being asked to determine the best in our field/sport/craft the entire world has to offer, and them compare ourselves to that, it becomes depressing to do anything.

Rather than compare yourself to others, its best to only compete against yourself. You’re exactly where you need to be, and if you look at where you are now compared to where you have personally been, you may find that growth is very satisfying.

Amber believes the biggest problem currently facing the veterinary industry is lack of mental health days, and lack of mental health care in general. The veterinary field is high stress by its very nature, and that means being mentally resilient is very important. 

The good news is, this is a fixable problem. By taking better care of your mental health, and treating it as just as real and valid a problem as a physical issue, the mental health of people across the entire field could be boosted.