The Team
FELICIA GONZALEZ BROWN
DIRECTOR/HOST
Felicia Gonzalez Brown is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she received a BA in Theatre. As an actor and filmmaker Felicia thrives from pushing the boundaries of her range and exploring the depth of her characters. Her hustle is focused on the creation and portrayal of multi-dimensional female characters for viewers to enjoy. A few of her recent credits include: Director of the short film The Drive, principal actor in Plain White T’s Music Video Land of the Living, ID Network's Deadly Affairs, Disney's Dear Sofia commercial and award-winning indie feature Geographically Desirable; for which she was nominated for "Best Supporting Actress". She currently calls Los Angeles her home and filmmaking playground. She has worn many hats, including but not limited to: actor, writer, producer, director, editor, publicity and (as I type) website designer. During this pandemic, she resolves to put her talents to work regardless of the (numerous) hurdles. With the resilience and fortitude of the She Saved Me team, this film was created with love. We hope you enjoy!
https://feliciagonzalezbrown.wixsite.com/officialwebsite
Adam Lauzé
CAMERA OPERATOR
Adam Lauzé is a professional videographer and photographer presently living and working in Kelowna BC, Canada. Together with his wife, their work has spanned many continents and they are always looking forward to their next adventure. Presently he is attending school to become a high-school educator, but is thrilled at this opportunity to share aspects of his work with therapy animals that work with UBC Okanagan’s B.A.R.K Program.
Desiree' Gonzalez
MAKE UP ARTIST
Desiree' Gonzalez attended California College of the Arts for Illustration in Oakland in 2008. Her time in art school exposed to her more then just traditional forms of art and by the time she had left Oakland she found a medium that moved her: Body Painting.
Desiree' Gonzalez's work is not limited to bodypainting alone, in fact this artistic endeavor has opened up new complementary mediums to explore such as photography and make up artistry. She honed her skills at EI School Of Professional Makeup.
Her resume includes work on several magazines spreads, theater productions, a web series, LA Style Fashion Week 2015 and a short film.
​
CHRISTIAN BROWN
CAMERA OPERATOR
Christian Brown is an engineer who has the pleasure of being married to an artist. Through his unending support of his wife's career and dreams he proudly serves where there is a need, amateur photographer and cinematographer, albeit with impeccable direction. He is excited to participate in this project as he has been witness to the healing power of animals and the deep bonds we can make with them.
Featuring
TAYLOR CHASTAIN GRIFFIN
INTERVIEWEE
In her role as National Director of AAI Advancement for Pet Partners, Taylor Chastain Griffin, Ph.D., focuses on supporting research and professional development within the therapy animal arena. Having witnessed hundreds of interactions between her own therapy animals and the people with whom they’ve visited, Taylor is passionate about bolstering the intervention with empirical investigation. Taylor obtained her doctorate in research psychology in 2018, with her studies focusing on the human-animal bond as it is experienced in contexts of shared traumatic experiences. Through her undergraduate education in psychology and animal behavior to her graduate work to become a mental health counselor, Taylor has always strived to shape her educational and professional endeavors with the foundational goal of promoting AAI. Taylor is also a dog trainer and Pet Partners team evaluator and has been a registered handler with Pet Partners since 2015. Taylor has been secretary for the APA’s Section on Human Animal Interaction and serves as a mental health expert on the GVMA Resilience & Well-Being Committee. Taylor is based in Georgia where she lives with her 7 dogs and 3 cats.
​
JOHN-TYLER BINFET
INTERVIEWEE
John-Tyler Binfet is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus. He is a leading researcher on school-situated kindness and his work explores how students and teachers understand and demonstrate kindness within the school context. He is the lead author of the School Kindness Scale, the first measure of its kind to assess kindness in school. Dr. Binfet’s research on kindness has been published in Psychology in the Schools, International Journal of Emotional Education, and the Canadian Journal of School Psychology. In addition to uncovering how children and adolescents are kind, Dr. Binfet is the director of UBC’s Building Academic Retention through K9s (B.A.R.K.; barkubc.ca) program where he oversees 60+ therapy dogs on campus who participate in student well-being initiatives. His research on therapy dogs has been published in Anthrozoos, the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, and the Journal of Research in Childhood Education. As the author of a new book (Binfet & Hartwig, 2019, Routledge Press) on Canine-Assisted Interactions, Dr. Binfet’s research extends and challenges our understanding of how to work with therapy dogs to bolster students’ on-campus experience and enhance well-being. When not running studies at the university, Dr. Binfet spends his time supporting rescue dog adoption in his local community.
Lilly
INTERVIEWEE
Lilly is a senior in high school studying a biomedical pathway. In her spare time she loves to spend time with Jett, write novels, paint and is an avid Animal Crossing junkie. She runs a creative writing club at school and loves to share fun, random facts with anyone who wants to listen! Her future plans include going to college and publishing her first novel.
​
​
A native of Southern Virginia, Emily Boone went on to study classical music and theatre at both New England Conservatory and UNC-Greensboro. She has sung with a myriad of US opera companies as well as internationally at The Puccini Festival in Tuscany and Festival Lyrique-en-Mer in Bretagne. After years in the Big Apple, she has set-up house in New York’s Hudson Valley with her husband and two rescue pups as a Digital Project Manager by day and Broadway singer by night. A passionate foster and adopter, she is excited to share the message that every dog has something beautiful to bring to the world. And just like people, it is often those who have overcome the toughest past that have the most love to give.
Emily Boone
INTERVIEWEE
