Meet the team
Laura Jones is an English born Director of Global Benefits for a multinational company in the dental industry by day, but her passion is animal rescue and advocacy. Laura says; "I always had a love for animals, but never imagined the degree to which my passion for furry creatures would essentially take over my life! My journey in rescue began in 2012 when I learnt of the huge problems with the abundance of homeless pets in the USA, and adopted a Chihuahua, Chico, from Orange County shelter and flew him to me in the UK. Chico is my motivation for helping homeless pets; I believe that all pets deserve to be as loved as he is. I then spent two and a half years fundraising using digital media for numerous American and Canadian rescue groups. In addition I coordinated rescues from high kill shelters in Southern California. I also made it my mission to relocate to SoCal, and now reside in Orange County. I have since enjoyed being "hands on", fostering numerous furbabies, and learning that each and every pet is special in their own way." Laura has also embarked upon a campaign for shelter reform, and has had some traction using political and media leverage in LA County. She is also leading the Stand Up For Animals Shelter Reform initiative, with the hopes of using information sharing to empower communities to effect positive change in shelters. Laura says; "I am so privileged to be working with such a compassionate and intelligent group of people driven to save and enrich the lives of homeless pets."
Chief Executive Officer, Treasurer
Laura Jones
The Board of Directors
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Melody Carter
Melody Carter happily serves as a Board Member for All About the Animals. She hails from a family dedicated to the animal welfare and advocacy; in the late 90s, her family began adopting dogs from the local shelter, leading Melody to adopt her first beloved rescues - Rudy, a Chihuahua who was found during a hurricane in South Florida and Javi, a tiny Chihuahua who was roaming Queens Boulevard in New York.
Inspired by generous friends who adopted a stray Min-Pin with a broken leg that Melody found in her backyard a few years ago, she began volunteering at the West LA shelter and realized she wanted to play a deeper role in impacting and bettering the lives of homeless pets.
Melody launched Waverly+Wolf, a boutique, LA-based consultancy providing strategic guidance and creative marketing to brands, nonprofits, and executives in 2019. Prior to that, she worked as Brand Agent at WME for 13 years. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Edward, and their amazing rescue dogs Lola and Sylvester.
Director
Sara Cross
Sara N. Cross joined the Board of All About the Animals at the beginning of 2018. Her childhood was spent in upstate New York, where her family adopted a number of stray and rescued pets over the years. She has long been dedicated to animal welfare and advocacy and first became a vegetarian at the age of fifteen, despite her mother's protests. In 2013, Sara welcomed into her home a delightful and extremely particular Shiba Inu named O-Ren. At some point, Sara and O-Ren relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, where they continue to live today. In June 2018, Sara adopted a rescue dog named Mr. Elliott who does everything in his power to disrupt O-Ren's orderly existence.
Sara attended college and law school in New York. She has worked as an immigration lawyer since her admission to the New York Bar in 2010. Sara is happily employed as an associate attorney at Reeves Immigration Law Group in Pasadena, California in her spare time.
Director
Pattie Ryan
Pattie is a lifelong animal lover and advocate. She was born, raised and educated in New England and has lived in southern California since 1997.
Pattie has rescued, fostered and/or adopted numerous dogs and cats and has been a vegetarian for over 25 years. Pattie is passionate about shelter reform, spay and neuter, and animal rights. She has been volunteering in rescue and advocacy for many years. She started as a volunteer for All about the animals in 2013, was appointed to the board of directors in 2017 and currently serves as President.
By profession Pattie is a Financial Applications consultant, implementing budgeting and planning software and working with companies of all sizes to complete budgets, forecasts and financial packages.
President
The Advisory Board
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Tammi Gordon
Tammi and her husband, Wayne, have been strong supporters and advocates for animals since the day they met.
Tammi grew up in rural Minnesota among farm animals and other wild-life (that she would bring home in shoe boxes). So, she has had a lifelong relationship with these incredible beings. (Note: her mother did not share the same joy when she brought home a box of mice!!!).
Since the ‘mice incident’, Tammi has expanded her desire to champion the cause of animals. She and her husband have personally rescued over 500 dogs and continue to financially assist other rescue efforts in California.
Tammi is in ‘Phase 2’ of her life (recently retired) and has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Iowa and an MBA from Lake Forest University, and has worked for 20 years in the healthcare and diagnostic industry.
She, and her husband, reside in the Dallas / Forth Worth area of Texas where they work to help numerous rescues in the United States.
Tanya Nielsen
Tanya has always been about the work and about the animals. Growing up in a military family her parents always allowed her to bring her animals to new assignments…even traveling cross country with her dog and hamsters. “It was always difficult for me to confine my hamsters in cages” was the start of the desire to assist existing rescues and organizations to improve the conditions of the animals in their care as well as support their education and volunteer programs to “share the knowledge”.
Tanya is proud to serve on the Advisory Board because All About the Animals is making strides in organizing animal rescues to be a stronger presence in the community and providing the expertise to improve and change the operations of government agencies the public has entrusted with the welfare of the growing domestic animal population.
Key Volunteers
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Cassandra Fragoso, Jessica Dula, Amy Bellomy, Nicole Goodfellow, Karen Lewis, Lauren Lewis, Valerie Quercia