“Love what you do, and do what you love” can be a difficult balance to strike for professionals. Some of us get lucky. As a Senior Art Director, I’ve found a way to fuse two of my passions – design and animal advocacy – to benefit a 501c3 rescue group, Even Chance. Even Chance is a non-profit organization that works to restore a positive image of pit bulls through advocacy programs. It offers resources for pit bull owners; and more importantly, it operates as an adoption program for pit bulls who were rescued from overcrowded shelters, neglectful or abusive situations after proper medical examination and temperament testing. Even Chance’s mission is to educate the public with factual information about the misunderstood breed, and to ultimately place behaviorally sound rescue dogs in safe and loving forever homes.

Even Chance was initially founded in my hometown of San Diego, but I quickly established a St. Louis branch upon moving here many years ago. The St. Louis and San Diego branches work together as one to spread awareness and carry out our noble mission.

To back up a “few” years, my passion for pit bulls grew out of my lifelong passion for rescuing animals. Growing up, my mom worked as an Education Manager at the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. I attended zoo camp every summer as a child. I would spend my free time reading books on animals, and I hung out at the zoo with my mom on my “sick” days from school. Animals in need of rescue had a way of finding me. I helped “save” countless birds, cats, opossums, snakes … you name it.

Now, with several years of industry experience under my belt, I use my free time and design and marketing experience to broaden Even Chance’s branding and awareness. My vision for Even Chance can be found in the design of the website, Facebook page, merchandise and events. In 2012, on behalf of Even Chance, I entered Sappi’s “Paper Ideas That Matter” grant competition, designing a 75-page grant book, which ultimately won Even Chance $15,000.

It seems as though my genuine passion for advocacy has manifested in all aspects of my life, professionally and personally. I use my intrinsic gift of art to deliver on a promise I made to the Even Chance family – a promise to take the lead in branding the organization visually, as well employing marketing tactics to promote our awareness efforts. I would describe my work for Even Chance as a rewarding combination of design, dogs and doing something for the greater good. It’s so important to me that I can use my skill to benefit others – dogs, as well as humans.

Through my efforts in pit bull rescue, I have helped rehabilitate and rehome over 50 homeless dogs. My caring spirit for the well being of rescue pit bulls doesn’t stop at Even Chance. With the help of fellow Switchers, past and current, more than five of my pit bull adoptions this year alone have been to Switch employees. And thanks to word-of-mouth, the Switch network has allowed our team to get 10 or more dogs adopted.

Switch’s Junior Designer, Alli Bevolo, adopted Leo through Even Chance in July 2013.

In March, Even Chance was asked by St. Louis County Animal Care and Control to assist with a highly publicized animal abuse case. A graphic video of a pit bull puppy being abused by a teenage boy was posted on Facebook. This erupted in an immediate social media fervor that spread across the states with countless shares and pleas to rescue this pit bull puppy from the hands of her abuser. As it turns out, the puppy was rescued and later named Honor. Honor was then accepted into the Even Chance program and fellow Switcher Karen Bailey became Honor’s foster mom. I accompanied Honor on numerous press events, including the local NBC affiliate news broadcast. She was featured on all major news stations, radio and print publications. Honor has since been adopted into a wonderful forever home and is now beginning a training program to become a Therapy Dog to pay it forward and help other victims of abuse.

Honor poses outside of Switch with her foster mom and fellow Switcher, Karen Bailey, prior to being adopted.

I am so thankful to Switch for being so supportive of my rescue efforts; I am lucky to work amongst such a generous and caring group of people. I hope to continue this work in the community and touch more hearts along the way! 

To understand more about design & branding for pit bull advocacy, please contact Jessi McNamara at JessiM@theswitch.us.