Katie Ryan has 15 years of experience in the animal rescue field. She started as an intern at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and then moved into marketing and development at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria. She worked for 8 years at not-for-profit organizations in fundraising, events, and operations. During that time, she also served on the Fairfax County Animal Shelter Advisory Commission as both volunteer member and chair. Katie is now a digital marketing manager at a global consulting firm and volunteers with six animal rescues in the Carolinas.
Her passion project, Eight Paws Adventure Company, offers pro-bono marketing support to animal rescues and shelters. Eight Paws is a love letter to her deeply missed dogs, Shea and Yoda who were both shelter rescues. The goal of Eight Paws is to support the No More Homeless Pet movement and help save thousands of pets entering animal shelters daily.
Katie lives in Charlotte with her husband Tim, lead designer for Eight Paws. Together they are teaching their two children to help the community and live with kindness and compassion. The current animal pack includes dogs Charlie, Scout, Max and cat, Sheldon, as well as a dozen rotating foster dogs.
Finding time to focus on marketing strategy is tough in the animal rescue world. You spend weekends at adoption events, catching strays or transporting rescues. You’re shuttling fosters to vet appointments and receiving non stop intake requests. You may operate only with volunteers or with a limited paid staff. You have a website and Facebook page but no cohesive messaging or strategic plan to expand your brand. You are desperate to recruit fosters to save more lives but you don’t know where to start.
Eight Paws is here to help. We’re a bunch of animal loving marketers offering our pro-bono expertise to help you tackle specific marketing projects, increase brand awareness and amplify your message in the community.
