Built from
love.
Carried by
purpose.
Gentle Express Grooming & PetCare LLC was born from a lifelong love of animals, years of professional animal-care experience and one dog whose impact changed the course of Cherish Mullins' life.
CEO
& Pet
Care Expert
✦
Gentle Express began from a lifelong relationship with animals and the bond Cherish had with Gentle.
love,
loss &
purpose ♥
A business born during a life-changing season.
The season that changed everything.
Gentle Express began during one of the hardest transitions of Cherish's life. She had just lost Gentle — her soulmate in dog form and one of her closest companions. Around the same time, she was increasingly unhappy in a job that no longer felt aligned with the life she wanted.
She stopped postponing the dream.
Before Gentle passed, Cherish would talk to him about wanting something different. She had always dreamed of entrepreneurship, but grief forced her to stop postponing that dream. She left the job and decided to build something of her own.
Whatever came next had to carry him forward.
Whatever she created needed to keep her connected to Gentle. It needed to turn the love, loss and inspiration he gave her into something that could continue serving animals and the people who love them.
The “Gentle” in Gentle Express is literally Gentle.
His legacy.
Gentle — along with Cherish's other dog, Precious — helped ignite the love of animals that eventually led her into veterinary medicine and professional animal care. Naming the company after Gentle ensures that no matter how large the business becomes, he remains part of its foundation.
The standard.
The word gentle also perfectly describes the kind of care Cherish believes animals deserve: compassionate, patient, individualized and safe. The name is both a memorial and a promise.
This didn't begin with a business license.
Animals were part of Cherish's story long before Gentle Express existed. Childhood interests, volunteer work, veterinary hospitals and grooming experience eventually formed one continuous path.
The dream started early.
Animal Planet, Steve Irwin, The Dog Whisperer and a childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian were early signs of where Cherish was headed.
Curiosity about animals came before the business. Gentle Express grew from an interest that had already been developing for years.
Humane Society · South Carolina
Pet-care volunteer experience provided early hands-on exposure to animal welfare and care.
Volunteer work turned a lifelong love of animals into real responsibility and experience around animals with different needs.
Banfield Animal Hospital
Veterinary-nurse experience across multiple locations while serving as a floater.
Working across locations required Cherish to adjust to different teams, environments and patient needs while maintaining a professional standard.
VCA Animal Hospital
Continued veterinary nursing and hands-on animal-care experience.
Veterinary environments reinforced observation, safe handling, communication and recognizing when an animal needs a different approach.
Cabarrus Animal Hospital
Local veterinary nursing experience within the community Gentle Express serves.
This connected Cherish's professional animal-care background directly to the community Gentle Express is now growing within.
PetSmart Grooming Salon
Bather experience added grooming-specific handling, coat-care and salon exposure.
This added coat maintenance, grooming environments and the practical experience of helping pets through hands-on services.
Hambright Animal Hospital
Part of Cherish's broader professional animal-care background and continued development in veterinary environments.
By this point, the pattern was clear: animal care was not a single job or phase. It had become a professional path that eventually led into Gentle Express.
Care should meet the animal where they are.
Gentle care does not mean doing less. It means paying closer attention. The goal is to understand the animal in front of you, adjust when needed, and protect trust even when that means slowing the service down.
Compassion
Technical skill matters, but animals also need someone willing to recognize fear, discomfort and uncertainty without treating those signals like inconvenience.
Patience
Some pets need breaks, slower handling or a different pace. The service should adjust to the animal—not force the animal to adjust to the clock.
Observation
Animals cannot always tell us what is wrong in words. Body language, movement, breathing, tension and behavior are part of the conversation.
Safety First
Finishing a service is never more important than protecting the animal. When something needs to stop, change or involve a veterinarian, the standard comes first.
Patience matters most when pets need it most.
Some pets ask us to slow down and pay closer attention. Senior animals and nervous or anxious pets are especially meaningful because good care depends on understanding what the animal is communicating—not labeling them as difficult.
Senior Pets
Older pets may move differently, tire more quickly, have sensitive joints or simply need more time. Cherish finds senior care especially meaningful because these animals deserve the same dignity, patience and attentiveness they have given their families throughout their lives.
Nervous & Anxious Pets
Fear is communication. A nervous pet is not automatically a “bad” or “difficult” pet. The job is to read the animal, reduce unnecessary pressure, adjust the pace and work with the pet parent when another approach may be safer.
part of
the service ♥
Your pet is already loved.
When someone hands Cherish their pet, she understands they are not simply handing over an animal. They are trusting her with a deeply loved member of their family. Gentle taught her what that kind of trust feels like. She built Gentle Express around the standard she wanted whenever Gentle was in someone else's care.
Great animal care requires great people.
Gentle Express is being built around a culture that protects the animals, supports the people doing the work and holds everyone to the same standard. Cherish wants the company to care for its team with the same intention it expects the team to bring to every pet and pet parent.
Compassion + Patience
The team should know how to care without rushing, listen without dismissing and respond to animals with patience instead of frustration.
Safety + Cleanliness
Professional care means protecting the pet, the client and the team through safe handling, clean environments and consistent standards.
Integrity + Accountability
Mistakes, concerns and limitations should be communicated honestly. The culture should reward responsibility rather than hiding problems.
Fun + Growth
Gentle Express can be serious about its standards without becoming a joyless place to work. The goal is a team that learns, grows and enjoys building something meaningful together.
An oasis for pets. A second backbone for their people.
The long-term vision is bigger than a single service. Gentle Express is being built toward a connected pet-care ecosystem where grooming, boarding, enrichment, trusted partnerships and community impact support both animals and the people responsible for them.
More ways
to care. ✦
Mobile grooming is the bridge between today's service model and the larger Gentle Express ecosystem.
Yes, she’s probably going to ask to pet your dog.
Outside of Gentle Express, Cherish is drawn to the things that keep life colorful: nature, movement, good food, travel, creativity, loved ones and learning. That personality is part of why the brand itself feels bright, nostalgic, welcoming and a little unconventional. Gentle Express is professional—but it is still allowed to have personality.
Curious.
Unconventional.
doesn’t have
to mean boring.
The best is still ahead.
Gentle Express has survived grief, personal setbacks, financial limitations, lessons learned the hard way and seasons where the vision was bigger than the resources available to build it. But the vision survived. Five years in, it is clearer, stronger and more intentional than when it began.