MEET THE TEAM
Tricia Lebkuecher
– Executive Co-Director
Tricia is a co-founder of Nashville Animal Advocacy. She became interested in animal activism shortly after going vegan in 2011 and has since dedicated her life to total animal liberation. Tricia is a feminist, a travel-enthusiast, and an unflinching optimist who sincerely believes we will see a vegan world in her lifetime. When she’s not traveling around the country spreading the animal rights message through her work with PETA, she enjoys spending time at home with her husband, Eric, and three adopted cats, Tofu, Gilly, and Ruby. On the rare chance she gets a vacation, Tricia enjoys exciting, animal-friendly vacations sampling delicious and authentic vegan food all over the world from Germany to China to Nicaragua.
tricia@nashvilleanimaladvocacy.org
Amy Pruett
– Executive Co-Director
Amy is a co-founder and photographer of Nashville Animal Advocacy. She has a passion for all animals; to be treated justly, free from exploitation, and working towards animal liberation. She has experience as a veterinary technician and dog rescuer, mother of two daughters and a guardian to two rescued pit bulls. Amy has given a home to many rescued dogs, among other animals throughout her life, and her love for animals led her to adopt a vegan philosophy for the betterment of all of Earth’s inhabitants. Since becoming vegan, her natural reaction was to become involved in activism to further help animals.
amy@nashvilleanimaladvocacy.org
Ashley Roth
– Communications Director
At sixteen years of age, Ashley went vegetarian. She furthered her connection by going vegan two years later in 2001, popping up at protests and animal rights events all over her native West Coast. When she moved to Nashville in 2012, she was excited to connect with other activists through the then-fledgling Nashville Animal Advocacy. In addition to animal activism, she is also a lifelong writer. Those worlds merged at the birth of her first child, who joined her cat, Pandora. She penned her first children’s book: Tiny Tallulah and The Trouble With Zoos, where a little girl learns the truth about animals in captivity. And OF COURSE her daughter, Tallulah has been vegan since birth and frequents many of our events.
ashley@nashvilleanimaladvocacy.org
Tina Reid
– Financial Coordinator
Tina is a cat woman and a future librarian, currently working towards her Master of Science in Information Science degree at UT Knoxville. She lives in a tiny house in the woods with her six cats, enjoying nature and being outdoors. Tina rescues stray cats and helps with feral cat trap-nueter-release (TNR) efforts for Paws To Care at Austin Peay State University. She’s been vegan and an activist since 2015 after learning about the cruelty inherent in animal agriculture.
tina@nashvilleanimaladvocacy.org
Blake Hylton
– Treasurer
Blake is a social worker and lifelong animal lover. He has taken in myriad stray dogs and cats throughout his life and would feel lost without his animal family. He feels that justice, equality, and compassion for all living things – human and animal – lie at the core of who he is. Blake is happy to have found his niche in Nashville Animal Advocacy and considers himself lucky to be able to stand up for animal rights by advocating and volunteering with his fellow vegans and animal lovers.
blake@nashvilleanimaladvocacy.org
Haley Tamburo
– Secretary/Volunteer Coordinator
Haley has a Bachelor’s in Accounting and an MBA with a concentration in Forensic Accounting. She moved to Tennessee from New Jersey in 2015. Focused on doing more for animals, Haley volunteers for several organizations including Animal Rescue Corps, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee and transports dogs to rescues on most weekends. As a mom herself, Haley became vegan because of her compassion for mother cows in the dairy industry and didn’t want to contribute to their suffering after researching dairy farms. Haley’s daughter and her chihuahua, Foxy have also transitioned to a vegan lifestyle. Haley enjoys networking and performing vegan outreach for a more compassionate world.
haley@nashvilleanimaladvocacy.org
Julie Henry
Julie is a biologist/adventure traveler, photographer, activist and co-founder of Saving Wild Sumatra. She has worked as a wildlife investigator in South East Asia studying the impacts of the black market wildlife trade, an community organizer for GreenPeace’s Operation Tiger, Forest Crimes Unit, and Clean Our Cloud campaigns, organizer for Tar Sands Blockade fighting against the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, and lived in the backcountry of Montana and Wisconsin with a group called Wolf Patrol fighting against wolf hunting. In her downtime, she can be found hitting the rocks with her climber friends, or exploring a cave deep underground. She’s also obsessed with her cats, but she refuses to say how many she has.
Angie Baker
Angie is from the Atlanta area and moved to Nashville in 2015. She has been involved in animal rights activism since 2013 and became a vegan shortly after attending her first protest at the Georgia Aquarium. She has three cats, rescues, of course. All animals are her passion, but she has quite the affinity for cats and pigs.
Sherria Ritchie
Sherria credits her husband and the film ‘Earthlings’ for awakening her to veganism. Her husband was suffering with health issues and learned the benefits of eating a plant-based diet, and has since been able to come off his meds. After watching Earthlings, Sherria was overwhelmed with guilt and sadness over our treatment of animals and took action. Educating herself about the politics of the meat, dairy and fishery industries, she knew she wanted to get involved in activism. Sherria enjoys cooking all manner of vegan meals and spending time with her rescued cats and dogs.
Ali Brawner
Ali is originally from Augusta, Georgia and moved to the Nashville area when she was five years old. She grew up around horses, cows, goats, cats and dogs and has been an animal lover from the moment she was born. Ali was a vegetarian until she learned of the suffering caused by the dairy industry. She made the connection that animals are not ours; they’re here with us, not for us, and made the ethical decision to veganism. Ali has been involved in cat fostering and currently resides with seven cats and dogs. Her passions are animal activism and spreading the vegan message.
Lee Gitter
Lee moved to Nashville from Wisconsin in 2016 and shortly after started getting involved in activism. He is the co-founder of Nashville Animal Save, the Nashville chapter of The Save Movement, and has volunteered at animal rescues and sanctuaries. He and his beautiful fiancé, Kristin, share their home with 4 cats, a dog, 3 hens, and a pig, all rescues. Lee is a travel enthusiast, visiting the beach is his favorite destination. He can always be found in the kitchen since he enjoys cooking and makes a mean seitan and yummy cookies.
Ashley Hubbard
Ashley is a Nashville native, freelance writer and vegan travel blogger. She is a lifelong animal lover who grew up around plenty of farm and companion animals. Taking almost 30 years, Ashley made the connection in 2016 and went vegan overnight before diving headfirst into animal activism. She quickly transformed her popular blog, A Southern Gypsy, to be focused primarily on vegan and sustainability showing others how its possible to explore the world while leaving a positive impact and without harming or using animals. She regularly takes part in local activism, visits animal sanctuaries and travels for activism events.