Why We Exist

Jessica Schleder

Founder and CEO

Before entering the field of animal sheltering, I had a career leading international digital marketing campaigns. While sitting in my cubicle one day, working on a campaign for a major candy brand, I realized that my impact on the world was being measured - quite literally - in the number of candy bars I could sell.

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For me, it wasn’t enough, and I started volunteering at my municipal animal shelter. I was shocked by two things: First, shelters were utilizing “hand-me-down” technology originally designed for other municipal departments (ie: prisons). Second, the dim and blurry intake images used on pets’ kennel cards were the same ones used to market them online. As a result, every year thousands of pets were euthanized for space.

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That’s why I started Adoptimize – to create an animal shelter-first technology that puts great pet photos online faster to increase adoption rates, save lives, and reduce operating costs for shelters.