Ashlee Yepez started her journey at Watauga Humane Society 11 years ago as a valued member of the kennel team. After several months, she quickly realized she had a lot more to offer and set out to soak in all the knowledge she could. She absolutely loves to learn, so any downtime she had was spent around the front desk soaking it all in and helping on busy days. From there, it snowballed, and she quickly found herself cross-trained in almost every department.
As she grew, so did her role and when the position for Director of Operations became available, she was the natural choice for succession. Fast forward to 4 years later, and she has embraced that role wholeheartedly. Ashlee has truly become the heart and soul of this organization and has dedicated herself to our cause.
Throughout her time at WHS, she has taken several courses to increase her understanding and knowledge of animal welfare. Although they were all helpful and crucial to her success, none really tackled “the ways and means” of how to lead and manage an animal shelter successfully. Honestly, there really wasn’t one that was all encompassing, until Best Friend’s Animal Society created an Executive Leadership Certification (ECL) program geared towards creating better leaders in the animal rescue world.
The ECL program is rather new, and participation is by nomination only. To say we are proud that Ashlee got nominated and accepted into the program would be an understatement. We are eager to see all the positive changes she plans to put in place over the next few years, using what she has learned to better the lives of all the animals in our care – as well as creating a positive work environment with our incredibly hardworking bunch!
Ashlee is a natural born leader and we know she will thrive in whatever she does. We feel very fortunate that she has chosen us as her foundation! There are no words to adequately describe Ashlee or what she means to Watauga Humane Society – and we might be biased – but remarkable is the one word that comes to mind.
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