Christy Stevens

Founder& Executive director

Christy Stevens is a 42 year resident of Las Vegas. She spent over 26 years building and leading a large format printing company, Pictographics, along side her family. In 2013, after volunteering  at a small local shelter with her daughter Kendall, she discovered that Kendall’s dream was to open an animal sanctuary (something she’d dreamed of herself). Committed to showing her daughter that dreams do come true, she has spent every possible moment building an organization to make the Las Vegas valley a kinder place for pets. Her comprehensive approach to the issue of pet homelessness has spurred the creation of many owner support programs. “Keeping pets out of the shelter in the first place, must be a primary focus of our work” says Stevens.
“As we’ve pulled animals from our local shelter for years, I know that many of them were loved. I know that the person who loved them saw no alternative to give them up because they faced homelessness themselves, food insecurity for their families, and even domestic violence.” Making Hearts Alive Village a resource for pets AND people is a labor of pure love for Christy and her family.
 

Kelly McMahon

assistant executive director

Kelly has been an animal lover since the day she was born, and having been born with a disability became a good thing because that meant she could always have a service dog by her side. Having a service dog was just the beginning, as over the past decade this amazing supporter starting volunteering as a dog walker from Hearts Alive Village. Kelly was now able to walk the most difficult dogs and since she uses her wheelchair, wear them out. She has helped countless dogs learn to have better manners on a leash, and provides much needed exercise and enrichment these dogs so desperately need for better mental health, all while they wait for a loving new home all their own.
Kelly’s service dogs have always been a part of her mission to help homeless animals. For years, Pele, her Golden Retriever, with his sweet nature, has helped frightened shelter dogs feel at ease. Her current service dog, Wonka, greets people and animals every day at our adoption center. His big, bouncy play bow helps dogs who’ve gone through a rough time remember how to have fun, and just be dogs again. Also joining her family was PeeWee, a deaf pit bull mix who became an ambassador for her breed and now proudly helps serve others as a therapy dog.
Kelly’s dream of rescuing animals became a reality when she and Christy Stevens became friends after volunteering at the same shelter, and eventually founded Hearts Alive Village. Kelly now manages the daily operations of a busy adoption center and pet supply store. Her positive attitude is contagious, and the way she lives her life inspires everyone around her and brings out the best in all of us.

Amy Clatterbuck

Director of operations

A Las Vegas native, Amy Clatterbuck holds a BA in Public Administration in Law Enforcement and has spent the last 17 years creating positive change in the lives of Las Vegas animals. As the Nevada State Manager for the Anti Dog Fighting campaign she promotes awareness, battles for stronger laws, and speaks out for the victims and the targeted breed so their voices are heard. Her involvement monitoring the lost and found pages along with shelter intake has resulted in countless dogs reunited with their owners, and she has opened her home to foster puppies (including over 103 medical needs fosters), giving them a safe and nurturing place to grow until they are ready to be adopted. “I have always been passionate about the protection and welfare of the animals in my community,” said Clatterbuck. “Joining Hearts Alive Village has allowed me to dedicate my life to serving them.”
 
 

Nikki Martinez

Director of Feline solutions

Nikki Martinez is the foster mom behind @myfosterkittens on Instagram and the founder of Fostering a Purpose (an apparel company with the purpose of giving back to animal welfare organizations). Nikki has fostered hundreds of cats and kittens and specializes in caring for critical care and neonatal kittens. Nikki serves on the Board of Directors for C5 in Las Vegas and is an active TNR (trap-neuter-return) trapper who is making an effort to reduce the feral cat population. She is committed to teaching and guiding others to do the same in their community and has been integral in helping us build a powerhouse kitten foster program. We doubled our foster homes and reduced our veterinary costs tremendously under her direction. Her strengths include her more than 314k Instagram followers who have kept us in kitten food and supplies, have raised thousands of dollars for HAVLV, and have helped placed special needs cats and kittens around the country. She is frequently invited to speak and teach at national events with Jackson Galaxy and Beth Stern (Howard Stern’s wife).

Brittany Rutledge

Main Adoption Center Manager

Brittany was born and raised in Hawaii and moved to Las Vegas in 2015. Formerly a front end web developer and always loving animals, Brittany came to Hearts Alive Village on a whim one day to volunteer, at the time unable to have pets. 
She began to foster and ended up adopting one of her foster kitties, Mana, who loves helping take care of her feline fosters and playing fetch at midnight. He serves as a great role model for kittens learning their manners and how to socialize with others. 
Brittany helps run our foster program and serves as an ambassador for other fosters. She handles coordination of our adoption center to ensure our animals are well taken care of.