Marnie Russ started her career in Animal Advocacy at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington in 2000 when she began volunteering in the cat room and was one the shelter’s first neonatal kitten fosters.  A lobbyist at the time, she turned this passion into lobbying for the ASPCA at the state and federal level and eventually co-founded the National Kitten Coalition.  Marnie has spoken at conferences, shelters, and universities across the country on neonatal kitten care and advancing shelter and foster care for at-risk kittens. Marnie developed the Kitten College at AWLA which opened its doors in July of 2017 and has quickly become a model program for mid-size municipal shelters streamlining their efforts to save kittens.