Mark spent most of his free time as a child chasing reptiles around northern Arizona and southern California. He joined the U.S. Army after high school which gave him the opportunity to chase reptiles around the southeastern United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Mark has cared for and raised many species of reptiles over the years. Although reptiles are his primary interest, he has a strong passion for all exotic pets. He currently spends most of his free time fishing at Arizona’s desert lakes or photographing rattlesnakes.
Staff
Regional Hospital Administrator
Hospital Manager (Mesa)
Becca was born and raised in Arizona and has always had a love of animals. She graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Bachelor of Science in Communication and minor in Public Administration. She started working in the veterinary field in 2016 as a receptionist where she found her passion in helping people care for their pets and managing the day-to-day of the hospital. Becca plans to become a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager to further her education in the veterinary leadership.
Hospital Manager (Phoenix)
Brandon was born in Phoenix and grew up in Mesa. He graduated from Red Mountain High School in 2009, and later graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2014, obtaining a BS in Biology with a focus on Chemistry. Brandon has always had a long-term goal of becoming a veterinarian. He started as a receptionist at a local vet clinic in college, working and training his way up until he became a technician. He hopes in the near future to be admitted to vet school to continue his pursuit of becoming a veterinarian.
Hospital Manager (Tucson)
Natasha has been a Tucson resident since 2003. She attended the Univeristy of Arizona where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Veterinary Science with a Minor in Chemistry. She has worked in the veterinary field since 2008. Natasha has her own ever changing animal family consisting predominately spoiled rotten reptiles and felines. Amongst managing the hospital and working with the furry, winged, and scaley; Natasha plans to return to the U of A in pursuit of a business degree.
Executive Assistant
Lisa's had a love for animals ever since she was a little girl. She always knew she wanted to work with animals. Lisa began working with exotics when she lived in California. She continued her passion for working with exotics when she moved to Arizona and found us in 2018.
Director of Human Resources
Kendra graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor’s degree in biology and later became a Certified Veterinary Technician. She worked for a veterinary dermatology specialty practice, where she had the opportunity to work with several animals at the Phoenix Zoo. She has also rehabilitated sick and injured raptors and other birds while volunteering at Liberty Wildlife. Her interest in exotic pets and wildlife/zoo animals led her to a career in exotic pet medicine.
Administrative Assistant
Katrina was born in Knox, Indiana and moved to Arizona in 2005. She has always had an interest in animals and obtained her Associates in Arts from Mesa Community College in May 2016 where she cared for all the exotic animals (a kangaroo rat, a pocket mouse, two salamanders, two desert toads, various constrictor snakes, two mud turtles, a crayfish, a black widow, a tarantula, desert tortoises, a bass, a chuckwalla, and desert iguanas) that Mesa Community College Life Science Department had.
Public Relations/Social Media Manager
Malik was born and raised right here in Tucson, Arizona. He began his content creation journey on YouTube in 2019. When Covid hit, he focused on his craft and built up his brand as an influencer, amassing a following of over 200,000 people. He studied with the leading social media networks, learning the ins and outs of social media management from their own platform developers. Malik is a trusted voice for influencer marketing and has worked with some of the largest brands in the world, including NZXT, Epic Games, and Fabletics.
Director of Inventory & Vendor Management
Ron grew up in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and ventured to Arizona for warmer weather over 20 years ago. His continued love for the Sonoran Desert and the Superstition Wilderness Area is what still keeps him here. Ron joined AZEAH in 2015 as Inventory Manager. He keeps us well supplied with all of our hospital needs as well as maintaining healthy relationships with all of our vendor partners. In his spare time he enjoys mountain biking, backpacking in the Superstition Mountains, and spending time with his wife and two sons.
Lead Receptionists
Nikki moved to Phoenix 4 years ago from Tucson. She is a certified veterinary assistant and she is passionate about shelter and volunteer work. She worked in shelter and animal welfare for nearly 10 years before shifting her focus to exotic animal medicine. She has many reptiles at home, as well as dogs and a cat. Nikki aspires to become a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. She loves to read and hike in her spare time.
Reception Operator
Melanie was raised in California and moved to Arizona when she was 13. She has a Bachelor's degree in Veterinary Science from the University of Arizona. Her love for animals started when she was very young, and she knew she wanted to be in the veterinary field when she was only 9 years old! Melanie started her career at a hospital who only treated cats and dogs, and wanted to join our team to pursue her true passion working with exotic pets.
Receptionists
Scout has lived in Tucson all her life. She has a bachelor's degree in Veterinary Science from the University of Arizona. Her passion for helping animals has led her to work with a variety of animals big and small, feathered and scaled! The one fuzzy, not so little critter that has her heart, is her German Shepherd, Atlas.
Evelynn is originally from Michigan and grew up there most of her life. She moved to Arizona to be with her family and started working on a degree in psychology, even though she wanted to be a veterinarian when she was younger! Evelynn has always loved animals more than anything and has 7 of her own, being 3 rats and 4 dogs.
Mariah is originally from California where she got her Veterinarian Technician degree and an Associates in Animal health and behavioral Science. She moved to Arizona roughly 3 years ago and started in the field as a Veterinarian Technician and has joined the AZEAH staff as a receptionist to gain knowledge in the Exotic field. She is currently in school for her Bachelors in Animal Health and Behavioral Science with dreams of maybe joining the Veterinarian life. She is an avid lover of animals as most are in this field with 2 dogs, 3 cats and one blue tongue skink.
Searra was born in Arizona and spent most of her life in California before moving to Michigan and completing her certificate in Veterinary Assisting. After which she gained 10 years' experience in the animal medicine field. It was her start at a non-profit rescue in Detroit that ignited her passion for rescue work and many of those years were spent educating the public on population and disease control. After returning to Arizona 5 years ago, she has now started her journey in exotics and aspires to have her own exotic rescue.
Jody is an Arizona native. She has spent most of her career as a professional dog groomer, where she taught owners about coat care and maintenance. While dogs stole her heart, she came to Arizona Exotic to continue helping owners get their pets the care they need. She hopes to continue her education in animal and client care.
Mari is a Tucson-native Veterinary Technician-Receptionist with an Associates degree in applied sciences from PMI. Having grown up with dogs, Mari has always been an animal lover but as she got older, she found herself surrounded by less conventional animals such as lizards, snakes, fish, frogs, and farm animals. In high school, Mari was gifted a calf named Clyde, whom she would take for weekly walks around the farm. Mari loves learning and has become very knowledgeable with her experience in rescue, rehabilitation, and fostering critters in need.
Lead Technicians
Rebecca, Lead Technician at our Mesa office, has loved all animals for as long as she can remember, and has been working in the veterinary field since 1998. Rebecca followed her passion for working with exotic pets in 2001 and has been working primarily with them ever since. Rebecca earned her Veterinary Technician Certification in 2010. In her spare time she is a volunteer with the Phoenix Herpetological Society and Liberty Wildlife. She also rehabilitates bats for many wildlife groups.
From a very young age Melissa found herself around all kinds of animals. She was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and grew up having owned cats, dogs, chickens, tortoises, guinea pigs, horses, goats and much more! She knew she would eventually work with animals for a career. She has spent the last 5 years caring for animals by working in shelters, kennels, and animal hospitals. She’s excited to care for all different kinds of patients at Arizona Exotic Animal Hospital.
Nicole is a Tucson native and wouldn’t change our beautiful sunsets for any other view. When she first rescued her bearded dragon, Dragonair, she knew her passion was with reptiles. She has a love for all things with fur, feathers and scales. She is currently working towards completing the veterinary technician program at Pima Medical Institute. In her spare time Nicole enjoys hanging out with her animals and practicing sign language.
Certified Veterinary Technicians
Ana is an Arizona native originally from Glendale. Ana moved to Tucson to pursue a bachelor’s degree at the University of Arizona and after graduating in 2012, she stayed in Tucson to work in the veterinary field in a small animal emergency hospital while attending Pima Community College to obtain her associates in veterinary technology.
Dargin was born in Phoenix and has lived in Arizona all of his life. Dargin got his Bachelor's in Biology at ASU while he spent some time volunteering at the Phoenix Zoo, Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium, and Liberty Wildlife. He received his Vet Tech certification from Pima Medical Institute.
In his free time, he enjoys cooking, hiking, kickball, video games, spending time with friends and family, and hanging out with his two cats, Thea and Lila. Dargin also has a corn snake named Sally, who has been with him for a long time.
Amanda, CVT started her career in veterinary medicine as a kennel technician at the age of 17. After high school she attended the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where she received a B.S. in Environmental and Forest Biology with a concentration in Wildlife Conservation. After graduation, she lived in Germany for 3 years before moving to Sierra Vista, AZ where she started working as a veterinary technician. In 2009, she became a Certified Veterinary Technician in the state of Arizona.
Veterinary Technicians
Born and raised in Arizona, Katherine grew up with a love and fascination for snakes, rabbits, lizards, and birds. After high school, she left for Missouri to earn her Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Katherine spent time outside of school working with hissing cockroaches and interning with The Nature Conservancy. She is currently enrolled in classes to earn her Exotic Animal Training and Wildlife Rehabilitation certifications. Katherine hopes to one day conduct research in animal behavior and continue to work closely with animals.
Joslin moved to Tucson from the cornfields of Iowa in early 2023. After a 8 year career as a graphic designer, she’s shifting to a pursuit of vet med — a passion she’s held since she was little. She loves all things bird and dreams of someday becoming an avian-specialized veterinarian. She has two spunky daughters who share in her deep love of animals.
Rosemarie (Rosi) has always loved animals since she was able to walk. She started working with animals at the age of 15 and from there on worked in cardiology and internal medicine and general practice for cats and dogs. She now is learning and loving working with exotic animals. She has a son, Dakota, and a beautiful dog named Maggie Rose.
Tegan has always loved animals and really enjoys being able to help people understand how to properly take care of their own animals. She has a passion for reptiles and loves to learn about different species.
Miranda was a military kid and naturally moved around. Miranda ended up mostly growing up in Michigan where she started her journey in the animal field. She first started as a volunteer at the Cascade Humane Society while she still attended high school. Once she had been volunteering for a bit they hired her on as staff, in the animal care department. From there it led her to move out to Arizona and started working her way up to become a technician, with hard work and dedication. She has been in the field for 16 years and really enjoys helping animals in need.
Sonia was born and raised in Arizona and knew from a young age she wanted to find a career working with animals. Growing up she has owned everything from chickens to hamsters and caring for animals has been her life-long ambition. Sonia is currently attending Penn Foster to become a certified veterinary technician assistant with a goal to become a certified veterinary technician. What she looks forward to the most in working at AZEAH is the opportunity to help pets heal and to grow within the company to further her career.
Alexis grew up in small town Iowa near Okoboji (if you know Iowa, you know that’s a popular vacation spot). Growing up in Iowa she did keep ferrets and anything else her parents would allow. She attended South Dakota State University where she received her Bachelor’s degree and after college, Alexis moved down to Texas and worked in the surgery department at Texas A&M’s Small Animal Veterinary Hospital. Alexis then moved to Phoenix with her 2 cats, Felix and Natasha, and her German Shepherd, Misiu.
Danya is from a small town in Sonora, Mexico but was raised in Tucson, Arizona. From a young age, she knew she wanted a career that involved helping animals. Danya attended Pima Community College graduating with an associates degree and is working toward transferring to the University of Arizona.
Kayla was born and raised outside of Boston, Massachusetts and moved to Tucson with her family when she was 14. She attended Pima Community College where she received her Associate of Applied Science degree in Veterinary Technology. She has always been passionate about animals which has led her to keep parrots, snakes, lizards, fish, and everything in between.
In her free time, she likes to make art and go hiking, but most of all she loves spending time with her critters at home and building them custom habitats.
Veterinary Assistants
Michael (Choodles) was born and raised in Central New Jersey. There he owned multiple animals, including; a beta fish, a leopard gecko, a bearded dragon, a snake, and some chickens. In 2019, Michael moved to Tucson, Arizona to attend the University of Arizona. There he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology with Organismal Biology Emphasis. Michael now spends his time hanging out with his crested gecko "Stumpy" and his corn snake. In his free time, Michael likes to scuba dive, go for walks around the city, and spending time at the range.
Chloe was born and raised in Gilbert Arizona, she has a passion for fluffy, scaly, feathered animals ever since she was little. She attended Mesa Community College where she got her Veterinary Assistant Certification but hopes to continue her education to become a Certified Veterinary Technician in the future.
Sam was born in California but shortly moved to Arizona and has been there ever since. Since he was young, he had loved animals of all types, and he had known he wanted a career that works closely with animals. In 2024 he graduated from the East Valley Institute of Technology to become an Approved Veterinarian Assistant. Currently, he aspires to continue his education at University of Arizona where he plans on furthering his career path in the field of Veterinarian medicine.
Hannah was born and raised in Gilbert Arizona. She is graduated from East Valley Institute of Technology. She is planning on going to Pima Medical Institute to get her technician certification and to further her education. Hannah has a passion for exotic, wildlife and marine animals.