Amber has worked in shelters for over 9 years.  She started as a kennel technician at a humane society in southern Wisconsin, where she fell in love with animal welfare.  Over four years, Amber worked her way up to become an adoptions supervisor.  During that time, she worked to improve customer service, adoption counseling, marketing of adoptable pets, the working cat program, and behavioral support for shelter pets.
 

While working in Wisconsin, Amber received multiple apprenticeships from the Maddie’s Fund Foundation that allowed her to travel to shelters across the country to learn about their life-saving efforts.  She has attended three apprenticeships in Austin, Texas, with Austin Pets Alive, including the Canine Lifesaving Masterclass, the Feline Lifesaving Masterclass, and the Matchmaker Apprenticeship.  She worked with shelter staff and animal welfare experts to learn how to increase live outcomes, reduce length of stay, and grow policies and procedures to help shelter pets.  She also successfully completed a Hard-to-Place Cats Apprenticeship with Cat Town in Oakland, California.

Amber then accepted a position as a placement coordinator at a municipal animal control facility in Rockford, Illinois.  There, she successfully worked to grow multiple programs, more than doubling the number of pets in foster programs, at satellite adoption locations, and transferred to rescue partners.
 

Amber enjoys spending her free time traveling, going to concerts, spending time with her friends, family, cats, and whatever foster animal(s) she is currently caring for.  Amber is passionate about helping animal welfare organizations create pathways to increase their life-saving efforts through collaboration.