Animal Advocacy & Impact
My journey in animal welfare began with a wake-up call. Moving from the pristine, well-funded shelters of San Francisco to a less affluent area, I was caught completely off guard by the bootstrapped reality of a grassroots shelter. Visiting the Humane Society of the North Bay (HSNB) for the first time broke my heart—not because the animals weren't loved, but because resources were so incredibly tight.
I quickly realized I couldn't just sit on the sidelines. I needed to leverage my 25 years of corporate tech marketing expertise to give these abandoned pets a voice.
Over the next seven years—serving first as a volunteer, then a Board Member, and finally as a remote Advisory Board Member after relocating to Reno—I led HSNB’s marketing, communications, and fundraising strategies.
Today, as a full-time Reno resident, I am looking to bring this exact blend of enterprise-level marketing and hands-on shelter experience to a local Northern Nevada rescue.
Below are the key milestones and strategies from my time championing homeless pets.
Marketing & Communications Management
Digital Profile Revolution:
Personally wrote compelling, story-driven adoption biographies that exponentially increased adoption velocity for overlooked residents. To scale this impact, I authored official Profile Writing Guidelines and recruited, trained, and managed a dedicated volunteer writing squad to ensure consistent narrative quality across the organization.
Social Media Expansion:
Modernized and expanded the shelter’s digital footprint by moving strategically beyond Facebook to launch and cultivate channels on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. I directed a creative video volunteer team to capture high-energy, personality-forward pet footage, embedding these videos directly into online adoption bios to drive engagement.
Reputation Management:
Protected and elevated the shelter's public standing by instituting a rigorous, strategic review-response system across Yelp! and Google Business Profiles, building deep community trust and ensuring our public relations remained beyond reproach.
Website Redesign (2021):
Led the comprehensive redesign and remap of hsnb.org from My scope spanned from external vendor selection and information architecture across 20+ pages to site-wide content creation, full SEO/accessibility optimization, and the creation of dedicated spaces to showcase visual "success stories" of adopted pets (including my own pups).
Fundraising & Donor Management
Emergency COVID-19 Pivot:
When the pandemic forced immediate physical lockdowns in early 2020, I quickly mastered the Network for Good CRM database behind the scenes to pivot all fundraising efforts entirely online. This agile shift enabled us to launch multiple high-speed campaigns that generated record-breaking, multi-thousand-dollar surges during a global economic shutdown.
Data-Driven Optimization & Personal Stewardship:
Maintained a deeply engaged donor database by continually tracking and manually optimizing email subject lines, body copy, and campaign imagery to maximize open and conversion rates. When a campaign concluded, the focus shifted to meaningful stewardship. Utilizing structured templates as a foundational starting point, I meticulously personalized every thank-you letter to explicitly reference the donor's name, donation date, exact financial amount, the specific campaign they supported, or the beloved pet or person the gift was made in memory of.
Year-End Momentum:
Built and executed highly optimized, 33-touchpoint end-of-year holiday fundraising models. By strategically layering corporate matching partnerships, automated digital merchandise storefronts, and advanced audience segmentation paths for active vs. lapsed donors, these 60-day pushes successfully anchored the shelter's annual financial stability.
"Mardi Paws" Gala Chairs (2019):
Served as the Event Chair for the shelter's signature annual fundraising event. By introducing rigorous project management structures across nine volunteer committees, the gala achieved a massive 47% increase over the previous year's revenue, clearing $28,000 in pure profit for the animals.
During my years working with the shelter, my husband and I opened our home to four incredible girls, each found wandering the streets of Vallejo. They are my ultimate motivation behind my deep focus on the vulnerable, the seniors, and the medically challenged pets.
Our Lovable Little Pack
LuLu, Tessa, GiGi, and Trixe during our move to Northern Nevada in July 2020.
LuLu (aka LucyLu): Our Rat Terrier and Zoomie Queen. She fancied snacking on dried worms despite my best efforts to break the habit and loved squeaky toys. She is now zooming around heaven with more toys than she ever dreamed possible.
Tessa: The little girl I doubted would survive the weekend when I brought her home. She fully embraced her second chance, picked me as her "person," and gave us 2 years, 2 months, and 18 days of pure love before peacefully crossing the rainbow bridge. She is now pain-free, scampering from cloud to cloud.
GiGi: Our teacup Chihuahua with distinct fleur-de-lis markings and a serious attitude. Despite her tiny size, her well-earned nickname is "Scary Spice." She is fearless, demanding, and a little bit frightening; she despises walks but loves to shred paper and steal dirty socks.
Trixie: Our golden senior Doxie mix with a wonderfully "chill," tie-dye personality. She loved to dart out the front door and tested us daily with a finicky appetite. She is now in a better place, eating whatever she wants, whenever she wants.
Our Newest Additions
Izzie, our 10-year-old Chiweenie.
In the Spring of 2024, we decided the house was a bit too quiet with just two dogs. We went to the Pet Network in Incline Village, Nevada, and fell in love with two adorable senior pups:
Izzie: Our mischievous, free-spirited little girl lost her original person when he went into assisted living. This sweetie loves playing with hide-and-seek toys, and as my hiking buddy helped raise $585 for Cancer.org.
Photon: Our lovable, scruffy diaper-wearing little boy, who doesn't understand the meaning of 'personal space', was found wandering the streets of Las Vegas. We are unsure whether he ever had a family before us.
Photon, our 13+-year-old Terrier mix.
Our pack is currently complete with GiGi and these two marvelous misfit mutts...at least for now. 😉