I grew up in Boulder with a wide variety of pets including cats, a cockatoo, parakeets, guinea pigs, hamsters, a mouse, a rescued salamander, frogs, crawfish, fish, and a mealworm farm. I also loved to dog sit for family and friends. I fell in love with teaching during my time at New Vista High School while volunteering as a peer educator for the Boulder Valley Teen Clinic.

I attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado and during that time I became aware of the challenges farm animals face in industrial farming settings. This realization prompted me to pursue a life of farming in which I raised chickens and turkeys and worked on a local farm raising goats, pigs, and sheep. I spent a summer running a kids’ adventure camp where we rafted, hiked, and zip-lined.

I loved my last job as a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Health Educator in Bisbee, Arizona. However, I felt the pull of home and family which led me back to Colorado in search of a new career path. When I read about the Humane Education role at Longmont Humane Society it felt like a perfect fit; drawing on the varied experiences that had shaped me along the way. Guided by my life motto, “reduce my carbon footprint and increase my human imprint,” working as a Humane Education Coordinator embodies my commitment to fostering compassion and understanding among children. Through humane education, we sow the seeds of empathy, nurturing pro-social behaviors and conscious choices that honor the interconnectedness of all life on our planet.