How did you get interested in this type of work?
Like so many people in this field, I always found animals were kind of my respite place to be with given my more nontraditional upbringing. I was raised by a single mom, and we moved almost every year until I was in high school.
What do you feel like you’ve accomplished in your first year?
The Humane Society had a great foundation here before. They were already doing wonderful, innovative programming. Some of the things we looked at were open-adoption philosophies. Open adoption works to avoid barriers to prevent adoption. Let’s really trust our community, have them trust us, and bring us together. So one of the first initiatives we set up was helping our volunteers by basically giving them the vision to set up a post-adoption program. We call all of our adopters three days, three weeks and three months after the adoption. This really has been able to give more peace of mind and support for our adopters. And the other thing too is really, for me, it’s very important for us, as an organization to be truly serving our community. We’re not just a place that people find a new companion animal, but a place that if you’ve lost your pet, “What can we do in our to help you reunite with your animal?” So bringing a couple of programs that are out there in different communities and just bringing them to ours. We have this great program that we launched in the spring, and it’s called findingrover.com It’s a neat lost and found online facial recognition matching program for pets and people. We’ve been partnering with the different animal search and rescue organizations. There’s Northern Arizona Search and Rescue and Central Arizona Search and Rescue. Through the pandemic, we’ve been doing food assistance. We’ve had a couple situations where we’ve been able to help families with medical expenses. And those are things that we weren’t doing before. That’s a lot that’s very dear to my heart: keeping people with their animals as much as possible.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Of course, most people would say, “She’s going to say the animals.” It’s the ability to spend time and be with the animals. But honestly, for me, it’s the people. When I first fell into animal welfare, my thinking was mainly the animals. But over the years, the most rewarding part for me is really being able to serve people in a way that brings them joy and happiness. Whether it’s through adopting or helping. It may not be a joyful and happy thing. If somebody’s struggling, and they have to give up their animal, making sure it’s as good of an experience as possible and doing it in a humane way for the animal. But also in a respectful way for the individual. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had this mentality of service to others. And that is the most rewarding part.
Is there anything you want people to know about you?
I feel pretty excited and proud to be a recent member of the Verde Valley Search and Rescue team here. This time of year, we’re helping hikers who are suffering heat-related illnesses. I think it’s an incredible organization. I’ve just been very impressed with how well they’re running it and the great work that they’re doing. I also serve on the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and Disaster Planning & Response Committee of The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement, our industry’s national professional organization.
What do you love about Sedona?
Well, of course, believe it or not, the hiking. I’m very busy and have a lot on my plate, but a big part of moving here was a little bit more of a work/life balance. And to get out and enjoy life a little more. And Sedona has absolutely provided that to me and my husband. We are usually hitting the trails at least once a week, if not more. We like to go on big hikes. There’s such a sense of kindness and community here. And it’s so interesting that people from all over come to Sedona, come together and create this very much community-centered life. So I would have to say, obviously, Sedona is an incredibly beautiful place to live.
What are some of your favorite hiking trails?
We’re a little crazy. We don’t really go to the common trails. We’ve only been here a year, and there’s so many trails we still have to hit. But we love the Lime Kiln trail that runs between Cottonwood and Sedona. We really enjoy Sterling Pass, Vultee Arch, Casner Mountain, Loy Canyon Trail and Dogie Trail. We have much more to explore.
