Tamara has been the Executive Director of Beautiful Together since co-founding it in 2014. An advocate for children waiting for families, she saw the extraordinary connection between children and animals through years of tangible project work in Ethiopia and the United States. She envisioned the Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary as a bridge between these worlds, linking two vulnerable populations to benefit the other in a naturally therapeutic way. Finding land, creating partnerships, building a passionate team of like-minded advocates, and witnessing thousands of heartwarming outcomes all affirmed this decision.
Tamara is also a professional photographer, Nikon Ambassador and previous show host for PBS NC Chasing Frames. She has delivered presentations at Google, Disney, Harvard Law School and more, speaking on the power of photography and storytelling to affect real change. Her business background includes a career in management consulting with Accenture, focused on organizational design and development, and founding an executive recruiting startup in Silicon Valley that connected executive and development talent with venture capital firms focused in the technology space.
She and her husband, Steve, also own Coco Bistro & Bar, a plant-based restaurant in Chapel Hill partnered with Beautiful Together. They, their children, and their many pets are excited for the continued growth of this sanctuary – and all the hope it represents.
Julie’s first cat as a young girl was named Socks. It was love at first sight, and she has loved all animals since then. She has been active in animal rescue for over 20 years, engaging in many roles such as president, board chair, fundraising lead, clinic team lead and event and marketing planning. Julie believes that no animal should live in pain or fear and deserves protection and care to prevent that. She is excited to be part of the mission and programs of Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary.
Julie has a strong business background which includes almost two decades of management consulting with Deloitte Consulting and strategic management experience at Cerner (now Oracle), with a strong focus in the healthcare industry. She has co-owned and managed both a restaurant and bottle shop in Chapel Hill and is currently the co-owner of a wine bar in RTP.
Julie is also an avid cyclist and competitive triathlete, which includes finishing multiple Ironman Competitions. Julie currently lives in Durham with her four beloved resident cats and an ongoing rotation of foster pets.
Steve is the co-founder of Beautiful Together, and he has been working on related non-profit projects and funds since 2014. As a long-time animal rescue advocate, he often finds himself surrounded by a number of foster pets on a day-to-day basis, whether he actually knows they are in his house or not!
Steve is responsible for helping to realize the on-the-ground vision of the animal sanctuary. He oversees development and coordination with all general and subcontractors, managing communication with builders and fielding county requirements. His efforts include ensuring compliance with all permitting requirements and overseeing and participating in the build-out of all infrastructure across the property.
Steve is also focused on data strategy management and reporting for Beautiful Together. His background includes magazine publishing and race events production for Endurance Productions, a company he founded that built a portfolio of road races and triathlons that he has since sold. Previous experience includes a career in IT management consulting at Accenture and managing e-commerce projects for Cambridge Technology Partners. He and his wife, Tamara, also own Coco Bistro & Bar, a plant-based restaurant in Chapel Hill that is partnered with Beautiful Together. They and their family live in Chapel Hill and love to run their dogs on the sanctuary property as much as possible. Both pups rate all 83 acres a 10 out of 10.
Leslie has spent the last twenty years in a variety of youth counseling and advocacy roles. A long-time supporter of UNC Athletics, her background also includes mentoring a number of college athletes over the years, as well.
Leslie is a passionate volunteer and advocate for the Hargraves Community Center in Chapel Hill, and she understands the challenges children in our community face as it relates to an inequity of opportunities. She is excited to help build out and lead this major part of The Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary as its Director of Youth Programming.
Leslie lives in Chapel Hill with her husband and their family, which includes three teenagers, two chickens, three dogs, and a myriad of basketball hoops.
Dr. Eve grew up in the foothills of South Carolina and graduated from the University of Georgia College of Vet Med in 2003. After vet school, she moved to Ohio with her vet school sweetheart for his internship and residency where she began in small animal private practice. She was inspired by her mentor there to become certified in Veterinary Acupuncture in 2006. In 2007 they moved to North Carolina and, aside from a short time as a mobile holistic practitioner, she has been in general small practice since. Eve has always been passionate about client education and providing individualized patient care:
"When people understand why we make certain recommendations for their pets, compliance improves, trust is gained and this results in better long term outcomes for patients. There are many ways to care for pets and this often means thinking outside the box which takes time, intention, compassion and empathy. While incredibly rewarding, practicing this way has also been my downfall because this is not how medicine in general is structured. Giving people the information, tools, and understanding of what they need to best care for their pet takes time, energy - it doesn’t end when the day is over. After 20 years practicing the only way that felt rewarding to me, it also eventually became exhausting, and I lost the joy of being a veterinarian to some degree. Our profession has very high burn out rate, and I was not immune."
For Eve, the shift to working with Beautiful Together has renewed her joy in her profession as it gives her an opportunity to learn new ways of doing things, solving problems that have not been a part of her daily practice, and giving back to a population of animals and people that she hasn't worked closely with before. She is re-energized to learn new things again, getting to work with an amazing group of humans who are all passionate about what we can all do for animals, our youth and our community - together.
Eve eventually married her vet school sweetheart, Jamie, and they have two human boys, Kenan and Rowan, as well as three cats (Cloud, Perry, and Anais), three leopard geckos (Nelly, Ming and Fatty) and a fish (Patches). They have no dogs currently - but maybe one day. She aspires to meditate but has found she is most mindful when crocheting or baking sourdough bread.
Prior to joining Beautiful Together, Sandra taught First Grade Dual Language Immersion. She remembers assigning a research paper where her students had to state their preferences of why they would want a kitten or puppy and why. Their responses were genuine and heartfelt and resulted in 50 papers' worth of a deep understanding of the mutual benefits of loving and caring for pets.
Teaching was a lateral move for Sandra, as she graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a BA in Psychology in 2022. For several years prior to that, she coordinated eleven after-school programs for the YWCA in South Carolina and taught Pre-K for the UNC Child Development Center while pursuing her bachelor's degree.
Sandra's first pet was her dog, RunJoe. Although she had a special relationship with him, his own importance, love, and contributions were never discussed. She reflects on how growing up in poverty can change the conversations in so many ways. It can become far less important to appreciate and teach the mutual benefits of simply holding your animal - and Sandra believes that that is the inspiration and challenge of this work.
Sandra's role with Beautiful Together remains focused on caring for children's enrichment and emotional well-being while also expanding her passion for connecting with a broader community to not only widen Beautiful Together's ability to care for more vulnerable animals and children - but to also create rich and rewarding relationships for all.
Tess was born and raised in Chicago, and has spent the last five years in North Carolina. From the time she was a little girl, she would pick out the stuffed animals who were missing eyes, ears, or legs. Not much has changed as an adult, and her house is referred to by her friends as the Island of Misfit Toys where all of her resident animals that have been have a rough start in life or are medically different.
She has spent much of her professional career working with horses. She is certified as an Instructor through the Israeli Equestrian Federation, as well as a PATH Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor and Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning. Most recently, Tess has been working as a Veterinary Assistant for an equine vet which prompted her to go back to school to become a Registered Veterinary Technician.
Tess's degree is in Social Work, and she spent ten years living in Israel where she was the Director of Alumni Affairs for an international study abroad program. She believes this role with Beautiful Together combines her lifelong commitment to animal welfare, community education, and her obsessive need for organization.
In her free time, she loves to crochet, go hiking and tend to her overflowing flower and vegetable garden. She lives in Durham with her husband, chickens, dog and ever growing number of cats. She is also currently working on a presentation to convince her husband of the benefits of adding a rat, goat, and frog to their brood.
Liza grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina surrounded by animals of all shapes and sizes. Not only did she grow up with her own cat, but she spent her childhood riding horses and volunteering at local farms, so she fell in love with pretty much every animal you can think of. Upon arriving to UNC Chapel Hill for Undergrad, Liza decide to pursue a career in Biology because of this love for animals and the outdoors. However, after completing her entrepreneurship minor, she discovered a passion for marketing, so she began taking marketing classes at Duke University and gaining experience through various internships.
At the same time, Liza started fostering kittens from Beautiful Together and absolutely fell in love with their mission (and their kitties)! She dreamed of combining her love for animals with her love for marketing, and was thrilled with the chance to join our team and do just that.
In her free time Liza likes to crochet, hike, go camping, garden, and foster kitties. She hopes to adopt her very own animals soon, and until then is dedicated to helping each and every animal at Beautiful Together find their forever home!
Originally from Arizona, Brandee is a Ph.D. candidate at Duke University, pursing a graduate degree in Art History and Visual Media Studies. While writing her dissertation, she felt compelled to give back to her community. Caring for the beautiful animals of North Carolina seemed like the perfect fit. Her first cat was originally named Reeses but, like all cats, Reeses decided to rename herself Kitty. Traveling with Brandee from middle school to college and even to North Carolina for the first few years of her graduated program, Brandee understands what it means to have a lifelong love in your furry companion - and the difficulty of trying to find a new companion to share your life with.
For Brandee, shifting her time away from her graduate work to volunteer for Beautiful Together gives her life more meaning and community purpose. Matching the right family with the right cat will always be a heartwarming thrill. Engaged to her college sweetheart with two cats at home (Laura Palmer and Fran Fine), her full house never has a dull day.
Angela has been a supporter of Beautiful Together since its inception and joined officially to run the International division of our Youth Programming. Angela works directly with the young men in our Ethiopian transitional housing program, guiding them as they grow and mature personally, as well as mentoring them in their support of Kidane Mehret Children’s Home. With six children of her own, this position is a natural fit for Angela. She is passionate about children without traditional families, and recognizes the importance for kids of all ages to have consistent love and support as they grow and find their way in this sometimes unfair world.
Angela grew up in eastern North Carolina and completed pharmacy school at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2000. She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, Clint, and their children. They have one daughter and five sons - the youngest two are twins adopted from Ethiopia. The family has two dogs (one adopted through Beautiful Together) and a cat, and they enjoy fostering puppies for Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary.
Originally from the Boston area, Hannah joined the Beautiful Together team after her recent return to North Carolina, a place where she has always felt at home. After growing up with pets of her own, she has always had a great love for animals. After she spent time researching cruelty-free animal rescues in the area, she found Beautiful Together and was excited to join.
Hannah assists with the planning of events, has future plans to work with our youth camps, and loves to spend time comforting our animals. She even fell head-over-heels in love with one of our furry little rescue kittens and, after spending their day together, was so happy to rescue him and give him his new home - with her.
Hannah is incredibly grateful to have become a part of Beautiful Together and, while not planning events, is in law school studying to one day become a human and animal rights lawyer, as well.
Tommy joined Beautiful Together as a foster in 2019. Since then, he has expanded his participation to many aspects of this loving organization. As part of the build team, he has had the opportunity to participate in some of the initial projects at the 83-acre sanctuary site. Tommy has also collected and transported donations and supplies, rescued animals from animal control, represented Beautiful Together at adoption events, escorted animals during wellness days at various schools, helped with instruction during youth programming, and starting in 2023 has been a part of the clinic team.
As a child, Tommy grew up around many animals that his family rescued to include cats, dogs, snakes, rabbits, horses, pigs, goats, and turkeys, just to name a few. Tommy retired from the United States Marine Corps with a strong desire to give back to the country and community that he loves. Along with teaching middle school, Beautiful Together continues to fill that desire to serve and give back and has been a blessing to Tommy and his family.
