Meet the Team

Justice for Paws officially kicked off in October 2022 after co-Founders Colette and Melissa asked their closest friends to embark on a rescue journey with them. Our small but mighty rescue is comprised of 12 women who have a passion for not only rescuing animals, but advocating on behalf of animals in and out of our care. All of our volunteers have demanding day jobs- we are federal employees, veterinarian staffers, lawyers, project managers, police and child protective services officers, and nurses. We dreamed of how to go beyond the general notion of saving animals. Advocacy is a very important part of animal rescue. It is important to not forget that we are the voices of the voiceless. 

Our Board of Directors are Colette our President, Melissa our Vice President, Esmer our Treasurer, and Sofia our Secretary. We oversee all rescue operations from the top to the bottom. We strive for an ethical and transparent environment for everyone in the Justice for Paws community. We work together in various capacities throughout our rescue and personally oversee the medical vetting, finances, and safe intake and transportation of every animal to the DMV. This being said, our Board encourages our volunteers to be independent and take ownership of their hard work- we could not do this without them. Keep reading to meet our teams and the dedicated volunteers who make it all happen.

First up in the ice breaker is our foster team. As many rescues are, we are foster-based. Being a foster-based rescue means we find loving, temporary foster homes for our animals instead of the animal being kept in a shelter. Mary is our incredible foster team lead for dogs. Baillie is moving over to the marketing team, but led the cat foster program for many months. The program leads oversee all operations within our foster program from on-boarding to placement to ensuring all our foster humans are happy with their JFP experience. Grace is our fabulous foster coordinator, who serves as a liaison between the rescue and our fosters while someone has a foster animal in their home. She ensures our foster humans and dogs have all the support they might need. Colette and Melissa work directly with this team to streamline information from our rescue partners to our Without our foster team, we would not be able to get half the animals we do to safety in the DMV.

Let’s introduce our adoptions team next. We focus on breaking down the traditional barriers to adoption. We don’t believe that the perfect animal owner is someone with a fenced in yard or a six figure salary. The perfect animal owner is someone who is willing to put their furry family member first and provide them a safe, loving home. Our talented adoptions coordinators are Sulma, Liz, and Morgan. These three work together with Colette and Melissa to interview every application that comes our way. They carefully ensure that the home each animal is going to is the right fit for everyone involved. Tae recently joined our adoptions team to see through that each JFP animal is altered after they leave our care. This is a huge priority for our little rescue! To date, 73 animals have forever homes thanks to this small but mighty team.

Last, but absolutely not least, is our Marketing and Communications team. This team works tirelessly to ensure that our name and brand represent who we are, not as individuals, but as a team. From our social media, to our website, to fundraising and events, the Marketing and Communications team has been critical to our success. Emma is our social media and events coordinator. She carefully plans our social media posts and works to get recognition for our rescue through community outreach. Sofia writes our newsletter, blogs (nice to meet you!), and pet profiles. Baillie supports editing our blogs with her killer editing skills. Melissa works hard on fundraising efforts. While we each take certain areas, this team is all about supporting each other and helping wherever we can!

Together, we work to ensure animals in and out of our care get the best life possible. We are excited to be working together as a team to help bring incredible animals from South Texas to their forever homes in the DMV. If you are interested in joining our team, you can learn more here!

Paws in Solidarity,

The Justice for Paws Team