Ebony works to craft communities that count and is an equine vet, community strategist, squiggly career advocate and host. She focuses on unlocking people’s potential, shining spotlights on their stories and building confidence in others through her advisory positions with a number of organisations in events, education and not-for-profit sectors such as VDS Training, StreetVet, Surrey University, CatNipComms and CloserStillMedia. She is the founder of the online support platform Vets: Stay, Go or Diversify- bringing peer-to-peer inspiration for career pathways and she is also co-founder of VetYou – helping to support the financial future of her community members. Ebony is a published author in the field of gut health and the recipient of the inaugural RCVS Inspiration Award and Liverpool University Alumni awards.

@ebonyescalona @vetssgd @vetyoucommunity
ebony@vsgd.co

Melanie is a veterinarian, entrepreneur, speaker, educator, and mum. Melanie loves working with teams to create change, find new ways to think through problems, and collaborate.

She holds a DVM from the Ontario Veterinary College, and MBA in Sustainable Commerce from the University of Guelph, and a Project Management Professional designation.

Melanie has held roles in many fields of vet med including sport horse medicine, consulting, laboratory, surveillance, not-for-profit/ NGO, and charity sectors.  She founded the DVM Project, the North American branch of VSGD, and formally joined the VSGD team in September 2022.  Melanie’s MBA research focused on veterinary career paths.

Outside of vet med, Melanie loves riding horses, hiking and cross country skiing, writing, and beekeeping.

Adrian is a professional coach, speaker, writer, entrepreneur, business owner and veterinarian with nearly 25 years’ experience in the veterinary profession. He has been coaching and training teams for over 15 years. He has coached over 100 people to successful career changes.

He brings significant commercial and marketing expertise to any project, with 10 years of management experience at Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Colgate Palmolive.

Recognised as a thought leader in the veterinary industry, he has been invited to speak at numerous international seminars, events, Universities and company programmes. Adrian is also a Director at Vets, Stay, Go, Diversify.

Sophia is a veterinary surgeon and former British Army officer. She qualified as a vet in 2007 from the University of Cambridge. She has has worked as an equine and small animal clinician in the private and charity sectors, as well as serving as a Veterinary Officer with the army, including deployments to Afghanistan, Jordan, and Germany.

Sophia’s professional interests relate to the (many!) potential benefits of technology, data science, and behavioural economics to animal healthcare.

Sophia lives on a farm in the Welsh borders with her husband, two sons, and wayward Border Terrier.

Holly is a 2020 veterinary medicine graduate with a wellness-centred diversify flair. She currently works in events, community and project management. Holly has worked for VSGD since her student years and has already had quite the career squiggle. From clinical practice, running a startup, to freelance digital work and beyond… she loves being creative and project focused. Ultimately, bringing people together to connect is her joy.

Outside of work, she is currently renovating a house so spends most of her time in overalls and at B & Q! She lives on the South Coast with her partner Jake and spaniel Neville.

Sandra is a vet, personal trainer (PT), nutrition coach, and behaviour change specialist.

After graduating from Onderstepoort, South Africa, she spent 10 years in small animal clinical practice in Namibia and the UK.

Diversification roles followed and saw her work for Canine Partners, a charity training assistance dogs for adults with physical disabilities, and Cats Protection, where she took on the role of Education Vet.

In early 2020, Sandra qualified as a PT and nutrition coach and has been working online in various capacities since then, not least joining the fabulous VSGD team behind the scenes as an Ops Assistant mid-2022, allowing her to well and truly embrace her portfolio career.

When not at work, Sandra enjoys training for triathlons (and more recently, Swim Run), Crossfit, sea dips (including in the winter), mountain biking, working on her allotment, and experimenting with fermented foods such as kefir, kimchi, kombucha, and sourdough bread.

Lacey is an animal welfare advocate, public speaker, content and conversation creator who happens to be a registered veterinary nurse. She thrives in innovation, strategy and problem solving and would quite happily send the phrase “we’ve always done it that way” to room 101.

Lacey ricocheted through three different Veterinary nursing colleges before discovering that she didn’t need to feel like a square peg in a round hole, she just needed to explore how her mind worked and nurture her neurodivergent processes.

Lacey has gone on to hold senior nursing roles, sit on and chair for BVNA council, work for the RCVS and prove that people do not need to fit into moulds…..instead we should break them.
Lacey is passionate about not only supporting nurse talent but empowering it and exploring potential.

In her spare time Lacey can be found donning dungarees to decorate her colourful home or seeking muddy puddles somewhere in the countryside with her canine sidekicks.

Toggle Content

Dr. Katie Woodard is a veterinarian interested in helping others succeed in life and the field of veterinary medicine. She enjoys helping others reframe their thoughts and find new outlooks. 

She is currently on staff at the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, where she heads up Client Services.  She is currently enrolled in the 2021 Cohort for the Purdue Certificate on Diversity and Inclusion and was an 2016-2017 IVMA Power of Ten leadership participant. 

In addition to her DVM, she holds a Masters in Veterinary Preventative Medicine.

Dr. Woodard is one of our highest rated resume reviewers.

Dr. Jennifer Koehl is a 2008 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. She has worked in small animal general practice, emergency, and relief roles throughout her career in addition to adjunct teaching.

Dr. Koehl began teaching for Pennsylvania State University in 2017 in the Biology Department at Penn State Altoona where she led anatomy and physiology courses for health professions majors. More recently, she assumed the role of Assistant Teaching Professor and Undergraduate Program Coordinator at Penn State’s main campus for Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences majors. She is developing two courses: Current Topics in Veterinary Medicine and One Health Disasters.

Her passions are One Health curriculum and emerging infectious diseases. She loves One Health and Public Health so much she is currently completing a master’s degree program called Homeland Security: Public Health Preparedness. She was an elected board of trustee member of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association through 2022.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Dr. Koehl pursued a winding career path and made her employment choices out of both necessity and passion. She is adept at finding transferable skills in veterinarians and is happy to share her story for career inspiration. She created and still administrates a social media page dedicated to non-clinical veterinary positions in North America.

Remi is a stay-versifier who works as a Registered Veterinary Nurse and Vet Student. When she isn’t studying, she works behind the scenes at VSGD to help support the community pages and Secret Support emails.

Remi has a passion for interprofessionalism in clinical practice and likes to help young students realise that anyone can pursue a career as a veterinary professional.

Dr. Leann Benedetti is an experienced veterinarian that has worked in mixed, small animal and mobile practice. She is a serial entrepreneur, having started one of the first small animal mobile practices in Ontario, designed, built and operated a full-service small animal practice, and now having stepped out as a certified coach for veterinary professionals.

As a mother, daughter, wife, pet parent, community member, peer advisor, peer supporter, and mentor, her lived experience has brought personal and observed experiences and challenges related to integrating and balancing work and life, with mental and emotional health. The last 5 years have been dedicated to becoming certified as a professional coach, and exploring the support coaching can bring to us as professionals.

Dr. Benedetti has learned the importance, influence and impact of our self, our organizations, and our workplace culture on our overall health. Finally, and most importantly – how important it is to honor the deeply personal nature of the challenges we experience. This relates strongly to how coaching can help to create unique solutions for us as individuals working in this profession.

As an International Coaching Federation (ICF) ACC certified coach passionate about supporting the human beings of veterinary medicine, Dr. Benedetti helps to co-create innovative wellness solutions for professionals in veterinary medicine, build resilience, and learn skills to enhance wellbeing.

Jen is a RVN, Virtual & Executive Assistant and Mum. Jen thrives on organisation, strategy, strong communication and problem solving. 

She has been a Veterinary Nurse for over 13 years – training with the College of Animal Welfare, working in first opinion, ECC and University teaching hospitals. She holds the VetsNow NCert ECC as well as a certificate in leadership and management with ILM. Jen has been a clinical coach for several Nursing students – a role which she thoroughly enjoyed as well as Head Nurse for a large first opinion team. Jen also has a BSc in Zoology from Newcastle University. 

Jen has locumed whilst travelling overseas and worked with Humpback Whales in Australia. 

Outside of work Jen loves anything to do with water – surfing, wakeboarding/wakesurfing as well as running and trying to keep up with her toddler (so the running comes in handy)!

Jo is a veterinary educator, mentor, leader, and veterinarian who has worked across the UK and Australia. Jo loves to build connections and confidence in people across the vet profession.

She holds a veterinary degree from the University of Sydney, a Grad Cert in Learning and Teaching from the University of Surrey and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is currently a Lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and interested in all things cardiology, critical care, careers, and communication.

Whilst navigating the clinical internship and residency pathways in the UK, her interest in tertiary education and academia continued to grow. She diversified into education at the University of Surrey as a Teaching Fellow before moving back to Australia in 2020. After meeting Ebony in the UK, Jo knew she wanted to expand VSGD into Australia and New Zealand, so in 2020 VSGD ‘Down Under’ was born.

Outside of vet Jo can be found at the pottery wheel, on a paddle board or in the ocean. She currently lives in Melbourne with her partner Cam and their cheeky cat Nico.

Alena is a veterinarian, speaker, mentor and project manager. She loves connecting with people, pushing for positive change, with an underlying passion to improve the health and welfare of animals and humans.

She holds a Bachelor of Nursing (BScN) from McMaster University and a Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc) from the University of Sydney.

Alena has had a squiggly career in many fields of human and veterinary medicine. She started off working as a Registered Nurse in the children’s hospital as well as working with adults suffering from mental health illnesses. She’s then went on to become a Veterinarian working in ECC and general practices helping small, large, exotic and wildlife animals. Alena then transitioned into an industry position and worked as a sales representative throughout Australia. Now she works in clinical research managing an International Research trail within the Government space. She also joined the VSGD team in 2019 co-founding the “Down Under” branch. Alena continues to volunteer as a vet and mentor in the veterinary space and has passion for focusing on transitional skills.

Outside of the office, Alena loves mountain bike riding, cycling, rock climbing, hiking, skiing, and really any outdoor activity that includes an adrenaline rush.

Coming Soon!