Our History

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Richelle has over 25 years in the animal welfare industry. She has been a long time rescuer of pets in need, and is a veterinary technician at two busy small animal practices. She was formerly the Outreach Manager for a municipal shelter She has a soft spot for elderly, hospice cats in shelters and often gives them a home for their final months. . She founded Angel Paws in 2018 in hopes of making a lasting, positive impact for the animals in our community. 

Richelle has a son, Nickolas, whose passion for cats is almost as great as hers.  She spends every spare minute possible with him, making fun memories. Nickolas hosts a Youtube series called, "Cats that Need A Home Reviews with Nick," to help promote some of the adoptable cats in our shelters. 

Michelle is a previous director of humane education for a large animal shelter. She has over 20 years experience in animal welfare and veterinary medicine , and hopes to empower children to make compassionate, responsible decisions about animal-related issues in our community.  Michelle is an experienced veterinary practice manager, and prides herself on offering an exceptional level of customer service. 

In her free time, Michelle loves to travel internationally, venturing out to some of the furthest corners of the world. She lives in Salt Lake with her husband, daughters and a pack of rescued Frenchies affectionately known as Waffles, Toast and Bacon. 

Dr. Kate Swain is a small animal veterinarian practicing in Salt Lake City, Utah. She  decided to dedicate her life to helping animals at age 7. She eventually worked with a large animal mobile veterinarian as an assistant, and later attended veterinary school in Ireland. Dr. Swain later became certified in animal acupuncture. 

Dr. Swain is an avid competitor in eventing, where she competes with her horses, Henry and Burke, in dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. She has been a long time supporter of animal rescue and has provided care for hundreds of homeless pets. She is the guardian to adopted pets, Birdie, Frederick, Bota and Five.

Andrea always knew animals were her passion. When she got her first job at 17 as a veterinary receptionist, she was overjoyed.  Within a few months of starting her job, a rescued puppy named Ace helped save her life after a horrific car accident. They both recovered fully, and spent Ace's next 16 years growing up together. They shared a bond that wasn't broken, even with his passing in 2018.

Andrea shares her home with two adorable children, adopted dog Daisy, and two cats, Ounce and Marjorie. She enjoys hiking, camping and is an artist in her free time. 

Kati was born and raised in Northern Nevada in a small ranching community. with animals of all kinds – dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, and sheep. Growing up in that atmosphere was amazing – always something interesting to do and learn. She'always wanted to work with animals.

After working much of her career in a stock brokerage, Kati went back to school and got  her Veterinary Technician degree. in July of 2010.  She then spent the next 10 years working in small animal clinical practice. 

She's always had a house full of animals and pets. She currently lives in Salt Lake with her husband, and adopted dog Keeper, and cats Kris and KitKit.

Sharon has a strong passion for animals, both domesticated and wild since she was a young girl.  She worked at the Humane Society as a “kennel kid” upon graduating from High School.  From there she worked at several animal hospitals while making her way through college and graduating as an RN.  It was after graduating from college that she became painfully aware of large black dogs not being adopted and being transparent in animal shelters and after she bought a wonderful, sweet black lab puppy from a friend that she named Hoover.  Thanks to him…and to honor Hoover’s memory she became a passionate champion and advocate for adopting big black dogs.  Over the past 25+ years, she has rescued (fostered, then adopted) many black dogs from various animal shelters.