26 years old • Fort Collins
Owner and founder of PawsClawsScales Transport LLC, veterinary assistant and receptionist at The Meadows Veterinary Center
What’s your occupation? Explain your career, accomplishments and professional highlights.
After discovering a passion for animals, I started my own pet transportation business in 2021. I worked hard to invest in a marketing plan, including a professional website and advertising, and over time, I have built a loyal clientele that continues to grow thanks to positive reviews and word of mouth referrals. Since starting my business, I have completed nearly 150 successful transports domestically and internationally. In April of 2023, I was honored with the Better Business Bureau’s Spark Award for Entrepreneurship. Though I also work full time in vet reception, I consider myself an entrepreneur.
Tell us about yourself, your history and how you came to be where you are now.
After a traumatic early childhood with birth parents who were addicts, I was adopted when I was 6. The trauma made life difficult, but I found my footing through therapy. I encountered more challenges as a teen when I came out as gay and was kicked out and left to live in my car. With little to no support, I managed full-time food service jobs and worked as an Uber driver to make a living while getting an associate’s degree from Front Range and two bachelor’s degrees from Colorado State University before starting my business and finding my stride.
Tell us something unique about you.
While my career is focused on animal care, my associate’s degree includes a designation in anthropology, and my bachelor’s degrees are in cultural anthropology and sociology. I have always been fascinated by humans and our cultural history, and it is still a goal of mine to find a place in museum anthropology where I can share this passion with others.
What do you consider your biggest accomplishment or challenge you’ve overcome, either professionally or personally?
My biggest accomplishment has to be winning the BBB Spark Award for Entrepreneurship in 2023. That award was the culmination of years of struggle and perseverance. If a time traveler told me when I was 18 living in my car that I would not only start a small business, but that my business would also be successful enough to win a prestigious award at age 25, I would not have believed it.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In 10 years?
In five years, I see myself working alongside humans and animals to continue fostering the human-animal bond, whether that be opening a storefront to link pet services to the underserved or providing some other form of public service. In 10 years, I see myself working at a zoo, museum or an endeavor of my own to share the knowledge of animals, humans and what our lives are like as one.
What piece(s) of advice would you give to your younger self?
Progress is progress, no matter how small. I always felt like I had to have it all or nothing, even when I was just 17. I would tell my younger self that every stage of life is a building block to where I inevitably want to be.
How have animals helped you heal from your trauma, and what role do they play in your personal life today?
Animals have helped me heal from the trauma I’ve experienced by providing a nonjudgmental listening ear. Animals don’t see you for what you’ve experienced, but for how treat others around you. When I’m with animals, I don’t feel strange or anxious; I feel secure and comfortable. Now, animals provide me an outlet to caretake. I am blessed with the opportunity to move animals for families who would otherwise feel anxious about their relocation. Discovering where my love for animals and humans overlapped was my greatest joy.
How did you come up with the pet taxi concept?
I was scrolling on Facebook one day when I saw an advertisement for a company inquiring if traveling and pet transport would fit my lifestyle. I thought it would, so I joined the platform. I soon realized that there were a plethora of people doing the job who were taking scary shortcuts, and I wouldn’t have hired any of them to transport my own pets. It was then that I decided that enough was enough for pet owners and the risks of pet transport. I started my LLC and worked with the United States Department of Agriculture and Colorado Department of Agriculture to open a pet taxi company in the state of Colorado.
