Our Staff

Kyria founded paws4people in 1999. During middle school, high school, and college, Kyria worked with her certified Therapeutic Facility and Educational Facility Dogs in nursing homes, hospitals, and special education classrooms. Kyria graduated from West Virginia University summa cum laude from the Honors College with Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Religious Studies, and Speech Pathology and Audiology, with a specialization in Disability Studies. She then attended Bergin University of Canine Studies, earning a certification in Service Dog Education. While managing multiple Assistance Dog Training Programs, Kyria completed a Master’s Degree from Liberty University in Human Services-Marriage and Family Counseling, during which she assisted in the development of cutting-edge utilization of Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dogs as adjunct therapeutic interventions within Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Exposure Therapy techniques.

Kyria was a 2010 Glamour Magainze Woman of the Year finalist; the winner of the 2011 IKEA Life Improvement contest; the winner of WILMA Magazine’s Women to Watch in 2014; the National Points of Light award in 2015; and the 2017 Coastal Entrepreneur Award – Non-profit in 2017.

Kyria serves as Executive Director of paws4people. She is the Program Director and Instructor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington Assistance Dog Training Program, the first and only comprehensive Assistance Dog academic certificate program at a state university. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry.

Most importantly, she is mom to her Ambassador Assistance Dog, WYATT, and her Scent Detection Facility Dog In-Training, HOBBS.

In 1999, he began training his own Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dog to help mitigate his CPTS symptoms. From 2002 to 2006, Terry and his Assistance Dogs worked in several special needs classrooms, where he developed training protocols and methodologies for Assistance Dog utilization within the special education classroom environment. There, his Dogs worked with hundreds of special needs students, helping them to exceed their Individual Educational Plan requirements utilizing animal-assisted instruction.

In 2009, after a decade of training and working with his Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dogs, he turned his attention to helping Veterans with PTS. He developed training protocols and methodologies wherein a Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dog is used as an adjunct medical device that enables each Client to manage his or her PTS symptom set. Terry has supervised the placement of every paws4vets Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dog with a Client since 2008. He has also expanded the utilization of this unique Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dog/adjunct psychological therapeutic intervention application to other psychological diagnoses such as: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Dissociative Amnesia (DA), Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), and most importantly, PTS resulting from Sexual Trauma (ST).

Terry was honored as ION TV’s Everyday Hero in 2015; and was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award in 2016.

Cece was born and raised in South Carolina, where she inherited her parent’s strong work ethic and deep-rooted Southern Values. For many of us, Cece is a pseudo mother figure of paws4people. She encourages staff, students, advocates, inmates, and clients alike, to figure out the problem and work it through toward the desired solution. She is fierce, yet kind-hearted, and above all else, Cece is honest!

As our Deputy Executive Director Training Programs and Client Services, Cece has her hands full. She not only oversees the paws4prisons program, working closely with the WV DOC Administration, but she also helps with the training and instructing of students and clients working towards their final certification in Wilmington, NC. When Cece is not coordinating training she helps paws4people Advocates ensure clients are continuing to follow the process to fulfill their goals.

While Cece has the ability to give some of the most sound advice, her personal motto is really something that rings true for our program, “What strikes the oyster, doesn’t damage the pearl.” Even though we cannot control every aspect of our lives, nothing can prevent us from aspiring to be our best selves. Cece really sets the bar high for paws4people and we are forever grateful to have her on our team!

She is an incredibly dedicated young woman with a knack to get things done. She is soft spoken, yet observant, and of course a huge dog lover. While moving to Wilmington and buying her first car have been huge accomplishments she achieved on her own, Danielle still accredits her grandmother as the person who helped shape her into the woman she is today.

Upon moving to Wilmington, Danielle enrolled at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where she signed up for the UNCW Service Dog Training Program pilot program. She admits she has been hooked ever since. After completing all four classes, she stayed with the Organization as a volunteer and was hired in the Fall of 2013.

Danielle does a little bit of everything for the organization; from helping the founders and organizers plan day-to-day activities to planning and coordinating large-scale events across the East Coast. As a Senior Staff Member, Danielle participates in UNCW class outings and ITT’s as an instructor. She is humbly patient with both clients, students, and dogs alike; while keeping the tasks at hand and achieving the goals set forth. She describes herself perfectly as an organizer and a problem-solver. Danielle can meticulously plan ahead, while allowing enough flexibility for last minute changes that so often occur.

She has a passion to grow with paws4people and wants to be remembered most as someone who made a difference for those who needed it.

From her current home in Wilmington, she continues to enjoy adventures with her two Goldendoodles, Gracie & Joe, rescued Golden Retriever, Lucie, her two cats, Wilson & Scottie….and her better half, Rand. 

Carrie received her Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Taxation from Northern Illinois University. She was awarded her CPA License from the State of Illinois and reciprocal license in North Carolina.  She spent many years in the corporate finance and tax world…all at companies that embraced the “bring your dog to work” policy!

Since joining paws4people, Carrie attended Cape Fear Community College Service Dog Training Class I & II.  She has also participated in various puppy roles at paws4people and assists on the Derby4Dogs committee. She is always looking for hands-on opportunities, particularly those involving a puppy!

She is thankful for the opportunity to be included on such a giving team and looks forward to helping paws4people grow its mission to help those in need.

She stumbled upon the Assistance Dog Training Program at the end of her junior year at the University North Carolina at Wilmington. After completing classes one and two, and accepting the position as the Puppy Care Coordinator for the Puppy Development Center, Samantha says she knew she was hooked. She completed classes three and four and joined the paws4people team full-time in September 2016. 

Samantha currently serves as our Director, Advancement & Engagement. Prior to this role she served as Director, Puppy Development for two years and Program Manager, Public Awareness for two years. She thinks working for paws4people is one of the most rewarding jobs she has ever had. Few other jobs offer the opportunity to help people get back to a better quality of life by using dogs.

Samantha sits on the UNCW Alumni Association Board of Directors as a Member at Large and was recently accepted into the WILMA Leadership Institute Class of 2021. 

On weekends Samantha can be found spending time with her Assistance Dog Ambassador, ROSEY, baking, working out and at the range in marksmanship competitions with her dad.

She has spent the past several years with paws4people, and can honestly say she get out of bed for the organization, or the Dog she’s training rather, since they are very insistent on a prompt breakfast. For Bailey, working for a non-profit is very rewarding because she is able to improve the lives of other people while working with some life-changing Dogs.

If she were to describe her job to someone, she would say, “I help teach students how wonderful Service Dogs are and how much they can help people in need!” She recently achieved a major milestone watching a Dog she worked with for many, many months as a Puppy and then again as a Big Dog earn his Black Vest. This was Bailey’s greatest professional achievement yet!

Through her role at paws4people, Bailey hopes to continue to grow as an individual, making good use of her favorite quote, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” She wants to really make sure that she is motivating and empowering the students she works with so that they are able to reach the same successes that the program was able to help her attain.

We are so happy to have Bailey on the team. We have watched her grow through the program and have seen her confidence blossom.

Once she progressed to the second course, she was hooked. This has been a passion of Austin’s ever since she became involved in the program, and she always wanted to know how she could become more involved. After graduating from the program and becoming an alumni trainer, she graduated from UNCW in May of 2019. 

Austin was hired onto staff in April of 2020! She describes her role at paws4people as her “dream job.” She loves being able to play a small part in a client’s journey to recovery and helping them to utilize their Service Dog to transform their life. To Austin, it’s the most rewarding job and she says she enjoys being a part of a team that is made up of the most hardworking, passionate, and amazing people she has ever worked with. 

With her personal dog, Zoey, and Ambassador Dog MAC by her side, she feels inspired to wake up every day and go to work!

She was always looking for a way to become more involved in the program and over the years as an undergraduate has found herself being a Puppy Development Intern, Student Trainer, PDC Caregiver, Advanced K9 Trainer, ITT Assistant, and also a Client! She graduated from UNCW with BEACON, her Diabetic Alert Dog, by her side in May of 2020!

Growing up, dogs were always a part of Nina’s life. She can count on one hand the number of years in which she did not own one. However, it wasn’t until she received Jaxson that she realized the true value of a canine companion. He was a Yorkshire Terrier, given to her by her brother in an effort to ease the tension of college academics and lift her spirits. Small in stature but large in personality; Jaxson was more than a dog. He was the source of a thousand smiles and a constant reminder that even on bad days things were good.

Nina joins paws4people with the hope that she can help others find joy and independence through canine companionship. She is excited to work with such an amazing team, and looks forward to fulfilling her duties as Executive Administrator. Currently, Nina and Greg reside in Scotts Hill with their 4 year old Yorkie, Mac. She loves cooking, running, and serving her community. And also dogs….she loves all of the dogs.

She was diagnosed with Guillian Barre Syndrome, followed by a cancer diagnosis. The disease had the greatest impact on her life because it affected her ability to walk and her overall mobility. She says, “It really opened my eyes to a world of needing other people for help with everyday things like walking. I think the cancer also played a role in this as well because I found myself having to trust and depend on people for help when I was so used to just taking care of everything myself.”

When Renee found paws4people she knew this organization was where she could be most useful. She has volunteered all her life, but with paws4people, Renee gets see her work in action. She takes her work seriously and appreciates being a valued member of an organization “that is something bigger than myself”.

Renee eats, sleeps, and breathes paws4people since 2012. In fact, her Assistance Dog TRAVIS and Breeder Ambassador AZALEA are the first things she wakes up to most mornings, followed by day old future Assistance Puppies in early stages of training.

This summer Renee, embarked on an organizational first by caring for newborn MATTIS during his most crucial time. Renee alerted the team when she discovered that MATTIS had trouble suckling. Along with the discover, Renee and a small team took on the responsibility of round the clock care for the infant pup. Without her keen eye, and total dedication MATTIS may not have had a chance to be the energetic boy he is growing up to be.

As the paws4people Medical Evaluation Team (pMET) Director, Dawn has a chance to work with client’s who are frustrated with the way their lives are going. Her role can best be described as an Advocate, Liaison, and Helper.

She chose to begin volunteering as a way to give back to the community. Dawn couldn’t find a more fulfilling position than one that improves the lives of others while sharing her love for dogs. She firmly believes everyone should let their faith be bigger than their fears, and she tries to live by this motto in her own life.

While she may think of herself as quirky for her fondness of odd over even numbers, it is her desire to make a real difference and impact on the lives of others that make us proud to have her on our team.

Since, Victoria has focused on applying her degrees in psychology to working with clients and their dogs in training while continuing to assist with training numerous dogs for public access. As a member of the paws4people Medical Evaluation Team (pMET), Victoria is able to apply her knowledge of psychopathology and co-morbid disorders while assisting the organization with new clients and their treatment teams.

Victoria and NORAH are attending The University of North Carolina at Charlotte where Victoria has been accepted as a doctoral candidate studying posttraumatic growth and interpersonal relationships. Victoria and NORAH work as a team to help individuals who have experienced traumatic events along their road to recovery. In their free time, they visit local nursing homes, libraries, churches, and schools, giving elderly adults and young children the chance to experience the healing powers of a service dog.

In her spare time, Victoria furthers her education in classical dressage and spoils her fur babies, assistance dogs in training, and her rescue dog, Livvy.

Tina owned and operated her own retail/wholesale Dog Bakery for 14 years. 

Tina is currently the proud mom to Winston, a 12-year-old Landseer Newfoundland who is her favorite dog treat tester. Tina is thrilled to be back home in Wilmington and to utilize her expertise to operate the new K9 bakery at ADDIE’S Way. 

Cathy is a Relationship Development Officer and oversees our Puppy Development Center for the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Cathy received her Juris Doctor with Honors from The George Washington University and her BA from Boston College graduating Magna Cum Laude.

Cathy has extensive experience in non-profit management, special education law, public policy, organizational development, and fundraising. Not only does Cathy supervise and train new volunteers, but she also breeds Goldens and donates them to paws4people.

Like so many of us, Cathy joined the paws4people team because she wanted to be a part of something that could make the world a better place. She is a well-balanced person who strives to instill greatness in her children and believes in standing up for what you believe in.

As a child growing up, Randy’s family were snowbirds and moved from Gaylord MI, to Bradenton, FL with the change of the seasons. After graduating high school he attended Community College before enlisting in the United States Air Force in 1982. His first duty station was RAF Mildenhall, England, where he met and married his wife, Donna. After a 4-year assignment, Randy received his first stateside assignment to Nellis AFB, Las Vegas, Nevada. After serving another four-year assignment at Nellis AFB, Randy Honorably Discharged from the USAF to pursue a career in Civil Service, U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) where he was able to spend more time with his wife and two children.

Shortly after beginning his career with the FBOP, Randy joined the Army National Guard (ARN). In November 1990, after only one weekend drill with the ANG MP unit, he was activated and sent to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm to set up and activate/operate Enemy Prisoner of War Camps. Additionally, his Unit performed a full range of military police operations, served as customs agents during redeployment of forces and became involved in supporting humanitarian relief operations for refugees and repatriated Enemy Prisoners of War.

After returning home from ODS, Randy Honorably Discharged from the ARN to return to his family and a full-time FBOP career as a Correctional Officer. It was not long before Randy began volunteering in the community, both as a soccer coach for his children’s soccer teams and mentor in the “Big Brother Program.” Randy’s military training, supervisory experience and people skills, coupled with his willingness to relocate to FBOP locations in other Stateside locations, helped him to further his career and achieve positions of increasing responsibility to include: Supervisory, Inmate Systems Manager, USP Atlanta, GA; Inmate Systems Specialist, FBOP Central Office Washington, DC; Inmate Systems Manager, United States Penitentiary, Allenwood, PA, Associate Warden, Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York; Inmate Systems Management, Assistant Administrator, FBOP Central Office, and Chief of Field Operations, Privatization Management, FBOP Central Office. Randy retired from the FBOP in 2012 with 30+ years of honorable Federal service.

Shortly after being introduced to paws4people, Randy knew he had found his purpose post-retirement. He is in his element when he is working with his wife, Donna, and his Assistance Dog, MORGAN, to raise awareness and promote paws4people, paws4prisons/paws4vets; three programs that he knows changes, and even saves lives each, and every day!

While Carol modestly describes herself as a helper, the passion she brings to her position as a Client Advocate means so much more. They share their home with Jeff’s retired Assistance Dog TAZZIE and his current Assistance Dog, AUSTIN. It is very obvious that helping veterans through a similar time as Jeff experienced has truly became their entire family’s mission.

She had a hard time giving in at first, but encourages others to take a leap of faith. This program helped her son when everything else seemed to fail. Carol believes this is what makes her position as a Client Advocate so natural. She can provide others with insight and understanding as new families enter the program.

As a successful Realtor, Carol enjoyed contributing to her family’s household and taking some pressure off her husband, Doug. She is a driven individual who is always looking for new opportunities to help. Carol hopes to one day find a special donor to help fulfill the dreams of helping paws4people grow to serve by the hundreds.

While working at a kennel she expressed an interest in grooming animals and was encouraged by her employer to attend Maryland School of Dog Grooming. She graduated from there in 1987 and began working full time as a pet groomer. Susan met her husband Walter in 1993 during the time of the Country Line Dancing craze. They were members of two line dancing/couples teams performing at events throughout Virginia. They later married October 1994 and together they have a son Michael who is the joy of their life. Susan homeschooled Michael from 7th grade to 12th grade and he graduated in 2014 with REACH Homeschooling Group.

In 2013, Susan found paws4people through a google search. Her husband was diagnosed with Lyme Disease in 2010 and was suffering from complete memory loss from the illness and later extreme PTSD from his experiences in the Vietnam War. She knew dogs could help with the hearing/seeing impaired and she had read where dogs sense an oncoming seizure for people suffering with epilepsy. Why not people suffering with PTSD? She began the process of seeing if her husband would qualify for a Service Dog and in April 2014, JACKSON picked Walter at the bump in West Virginia. Susan and her family knew early on they wanted to help paws4people in some way, they attend as many bumps, training and fundraisers they can. Speaking to people about paws4people and how JACKSON has helped Walter and their family as a whole.

Susan is the MST/ST Client Advocate for paws4people. She is a voice for the clients should they have any questions or concerns. She provides information and support to the clients she is assigned to. Susan feels she can lend an understanding ear to those suffering with unseen wounds of a traumatic event and/or illness.

Along with her husband, Susan enjoys the outdoors and traveling throughout the country. She enjoys photography and her interests are all types of photography but mostly she loves capturing those candid shots. Other hobbies Susan enjoys is scrapbooking, an endless venture for someone who loves to take pictures!

Leslie became a Client Advocate for paws4people after her daughter became a client. Leslie’s daughter Allyson lives with PTSD as a result of a sexual assault and also struggles with anxiety and Bipolar Disorder.

FLINT has forever changed the Fuller family dynamic and inspired Leslie to dive into the paws4people family.

As a Client Advocate, Leslie finds herself answering client questions or directing them to the right people if she herself is unaware. Leslie takes great pride in her work for the organization and especially enjoys helping people with their Pay-it-Forward campaigns.

She is best described as caring, supportive, and professional and we couldn’t be more proud to have her on our team.

Her family joined ours while fighting a long and rough battle with pediatric mental illness with her eldest son, Riley. Janet was so overjoyed with the total transformations they saw when CANYON entered their lives that she decided to wanted to be more involved with the foundation and agreed to take on the role as a client advocate.

She fits into her role perfectly, being described best as a helpful, dependable and trustworthy person. Janet can empathize with many of our families. She is quick to remind Client’s during stressful times to “trust the process, and to ALWAYS PET YOUR DOG!”

We are so grateful to have Janet as a part of our Client Advocate Team!

Being the first person in her family to earn a college degree, Ashley proved to herself that she is capable of anything she puts her mind to. She thinks meeting and marrying her husband, Matt, has had the biggest impact on her life. Ashley said, “Until he came along, I was leading a very textbook life: born and raised in the same town, graduated college and was planning on finding a job in the same town using my degree. I met and married him very quickly, and life changed in the blink of an eye.”

After experiencing life with an active duty Marine, they all too soon began dealing with the medical retirement process after her husband was diagnosed with PTSD.

Ashley now enjoys her life as a stay-at-home mom, and while her husband’s diagnosis may not be for the faint at heart, it has led her family to the paws4people organization, and ultimately has guided her toward her life’s work. We are so lucky to have Ashley on our team. As an Advocate, she not only helps answer client’s questions, but Ashley can empathize with new clients by sharing her own life experience.

She understands the program is unconventional, but she has seen firsthand how a dog name CHAMP brought her family back together and gave her husband a new lease on life.

She found her passion- advocating for assistance dogs and their handlers. In her time as a trainer, she worked with 14 amazing dogs. She stepped away from training when she realized her own need for paws4people’s help, and in 2018 she was matched with HOLLINS, a beautiful golden retriever.

HOLLINS is her Emotional Support Dog, and Sessalie is more than ever determined to help paws4people continue with their mission to transform lives like they have transformed hers. She was a long time puppy development intern and trainer- receiving her certificates in both areas before moving back to Spivey’s Corner where she lives happily with her fiancé, Ross, and her two pups - HOLLINS and Scarlett.

Jen has been a part of the paws4people family since 2011, when her son Alex bumped with KINGSLEY and became a client. In 2017, she also became a client with her Diabetes Alert Dog BENSON. She, Dave, and Alex share their home with KINGSLEY, BENSON, and their cat Margaret in north central West Virginia. 

Jennifer has loved dogs and cats her entire life.  Her Dad raised beagles and she treasures many fond memories of always being around dogs. She found paws4people while volunteering with Abby and Haley at a local pet expo. She immediately went home, and she and Alex started the application process for a mobility assistance dog for Alex who has cerebral palsy and relies on a power wheelchair for mobility. Alex bumped with KINGSLEY in July 2011, and from there Jen volunteered to help paws4people however she could.

Over the years, she has done various volunteering from attending p4p functions to transporting dogs and puppies. When she was asked about becoming a client advocate, she didn’t hesitate to say yes. She has been her children’s advocate and biggest cheerleader their entire lives, so it only seemed fitting to continue to do so for her paws4people family. 

Kevin became an advocate as a way to give back to the program that he credits with literally saving his life. Repeated traumas in his childhood manifested as severe PTSD and anxiety in Kevin's early 30's, bringing his career to a halt. Medication and counseling only dulled the pain, and it was not until he met SOPHIA in December of 2017, that Kevin found the missing piece in his treatment. SOPHIA gave Kevin the confidence, purpose, and healing he needed to face the world and begin to rebuild his life. Although Kevin still battles with anxiety and other symptoms of PTSD, he now has SOPHIA to "anchor" and "cuddle" him through it. Throughout the process, and his beloved reunions in North Carolina, Kevin has made life-long friends and found a sense of true belonging. Kevin enjoys sharing his story with potential new clients and raising awareness of the program whenever he finds a soul in need.