From a career perspective, you could say that Rob Hitt, founder of Bodega Cats, has had many lives.
While attending Rutgers University for Management Science and Information Systems as well as Computer Science, he played drums for an array of rock bands. The tech-savvy student built a side hustle building websites for the bands in which he played. One of the bands, Midtown, got signed to a big label–and before he knew it, he spent the next seven years touring the world. Continuing on his musical path, he would go on to launch his own record label and manage new bands and talent.
But eventually he’d return to his roots as a web developer. After touring, he graduated from the Flatiron School's Full-Stack Web Development Program then worked at Curalate as an engineer, then leaped to Taboola helping to build web components for Microsoft, Bloomberg, NBC, ABC, Fox, Business Insider, and more.
But the entrepreneurial spirit within continued to claw at him. In addition to running a record label, I Surrender Records, he runs Bodega Cats, an online brand with its own cult following.
Despite touring the world, Hitt finds beauty in the day-to-day of living and working in New York City. He notes how one of the quintessential NYC experiences inspired Bodega Cats: “As a Brooklyn resident of 20 years one of the great experiences was going into a bodega and not only seeing your neighborhood local business owner but also their best-ever assistant, the cat.”
A true artist, Hitt started with just a few photos of neighborhood cats that eventually accumulated to more than 500,000 followers across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
“I never anticipated the immense positive reaction and support that posting a few photos of our neighborhood cats would eventually evolve into,” he says. His website, BodegaCats.NYC also operates as an ecommerce store that sells branded hoodies, eco-totes, onesies, stickers and so much more.
While his online store sells a wide range of cat swag, Hitt’s business mission is clear-cut: “Make people happy via photos and videos of Bodega Cats, and while in the process, help raise awareness and bring attention to humanely control the NYC cat population.”
His business leverages its immense following by encouraging fans to donate to worthy local organizations, but one organization in particular has captured his heart. “Even though the accounts started as fun for our friends, we realized we could eventually use the influence towards positive causes in our community,” says Hitt. “So far to date we've been able to utilize money from sales in our webstore towards helping the organization Flatbush Cats.”
Flatbush Cats is a 501(c)(3) organization focused on reducing the outdoor cat population in Brooklyn. They support the community with TNR (trap, neuter, return), rescue work, adoption, and free or low cost cat spay/neuter for low income residents. “Flatbush Cats helps give the cats a second chance to enjoy the life they deserve,” says hitt. “You can follow their work to learn more about volunteering, fostering or adoption.
