Heena has been working at the ACC since 2021 and has been an ACC foster since 2017. She has fostered dogs, cats, and kittens through the program. She started as an Adoptions Counselor and is currently a full-time Foster Coordinator at the Queens location. Heena has a background in psychology and previously worked as a behavior therapist & EMT. In her spare time, she enjoys knitting, baking, and going to the park with her foster-fail pup, Zelda.

Autumn joined ACC in 2022 and worked as a New Hope Coordinator for two years before joining the Foster Program. She has a background in veterinary medicine and is an animal rights advocate. Autumn's family and friends all say that their favorite thing about her is her love and compassion for animals. In her free time, you'll find her taking her dogs Snoofy and Barkley on adventures around the city, or to Starbucks to get them puppuccinos (they were both
paw-ristas for Halloween this past year). Autumn loves being a part of ending animal homelessness in NYC and dreams to one day start her own dog rescue, so she can continue to save as many lives
as paw-ssible!

Kenia has been working at the ACC since June of 2021.  She enjoys being able to be work with fosters and colleagues who all have the same goal of helping animals find their forever homes!

Lexi was born and raised in NYC, and began as a cat foster in the Summer of 2024. She then started working at ACC in 2025 as an Animal Care Specialist, and is now a Foster Program Coordinator. She has a Bachelors in Fine Arts from SVA (2025) & uses her love of animals as inspiration for her work! Longterm, she wants to find a way to combine animal welfare and the arts.

Kalyssa first joined ACC as an Adoptions Counselor in 2023 and became a Foster Program Coordinator in 2025. She has always loved caring for animals and now enjoys finding the adorable animals in ACC foster homes. She's a cat mom to two Tortie girls and definitely agrees that tortitude is real! In her free time, she likes trying new recipes, crocheting and writing poetry. 

Sabrina got her start dog walking for 2 years in the big city. She realized she wanted to do more to help the animal community in NYC so she joined ACC as an Adoption Counselor, and is now the Foster Program Manager. In her free time you can find her exploring different parks or cuddling with her cat Phil.

Ria is a graduate of the esteemed Karen Pryor Academy, specializing in clicker training—an evidence-based, positive reinforcement method that uses precise timing and rewards to shape desired behaviors. Ria lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two pit bull mixes, Franklin and Edith. Here they spend their time shredding cardboard boxes and avoiding skateboards at all costs. 

​Hey, it’s Stella! I am the Foster Triage Nurse. I have been a Licensed Veterinary Technician since 2008, and now as part of the Foster Team I am here to help with medical concerns you encounter with your foster pet. I love working with all of our amazing foster parents to help you- help us- help pets!
Our foster parents are our window into how our pets are feeling, both mentally and physically. The love, caring, and attentiveness these animals receive while in foster surpasses my expectations every day!
Please always feel comfortable contacting us. There is no such thing as a question not worth asking, or a concern not worth mentioning. In fact, we usually reply by asking more questions and mentioning more concerns to watch out for! And if we can’t help you, we know someone who can!
Thank you to all of our foster parents, and to all of my teammates!

​Hi, I'm Demi! I joined the ACC team in 2022. I've been around animals since I was born. Growing up as a teen, I volunteered in animals shelters in the Bronx walking and feeding Dogs . I've always knew I wanted to pursue a career working with animals, as they naturally gravitate towards me. I was a dog volunteer for about 4 years but I wanted to do more, so I joined ACC as an Adoption Counselor. Now I have transitioned to the Foster Adoption Liaison role in Oct 2024. In my free time, I like to travel to different countries and each visit I make sure to volunteer or donate at the local shelters. Overall, I enjoy being a part of making sure animals find their forever family 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, her passion to help animals began in college when she would feed stray cats before heading to class. Stephanie Feliciano graduated with a BA from John Jay College in 2016. Following her passion to help animals, she joined ACC in January 2017 as a Client Care Representative, were she helped reunite lost pets with their owners. Stephanie also enjoyed seeing all of the other animals leave with their newly adopted families and learned more about ACC's open adoptions process. Soon after, she was promoted to work as an Adoption Counselor, Adoptions Supervisor, Adoptions Manager and then Senior Manager of Foster and Adoptions. During the pandemic, Stephanie developed a deep appreciation for the foster department. Our foster parents were heroes during the height the pandemic by opening up their hearts and homes to our NYC Boroughbreds.

​Jessica has been working at ACC for over eight years and has over a decade of Animal Welfare experience. Prior to working at ACC, Jessica was the Adoption and Intake Manager at Anjellicle Cats Rescue.  As the Director of Placement, she leads ACC’s Adoption, Foster and New Hope programs and has spearheaded  many lifesaving initiatives with the goal of ending animal homelessness in NYC. In her tenure at ACC, she’s fostered approximately three dozen dogs only to finally foster fail and adopt one her first ACC foster cats, Eloise. In their spare time, Jessica and Eloise can usually be found curled up reading or practicing yoga together.