Laura Matanah, Executive Director
Laura (she/her) leads Compassionate Action for Animals’ efforts to encourage people to cultivate empathy for animals and move toward a plant-based diet. Prior to becoming executive director, Laura frequently enjoyed CAA’s community-building events. She brings experience in nonprofit strategic planning, program development, and program evaluation, as well as fundraising, working toward racial equity, and developing volunteer management systems. Laura also enjoys being outdoors, family time, whole-foods cooking, board games, and reading. You can read a more extensive personal profile of her on our blog.
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Tamuno Imbu, Community Organizer
Tamuno Imbu (he/him) is our community organizer. He is passionate about building a community of health and wellness while having fun along the way. Tamuno is an advocate for social justice, fatherhood, and living a plant-based lifestyle. He has spent the past decade supporting people committed to live a sober lifestyle and learning the principles of healthy relationships. A few specialties he brings to our team include coaching workability standards, leadership, empowerment, and entertainment for youth and adults.
His professional and personal interests have blossomed in the Twin Cities community. He lives in North Minneapolis and has children in the Minneapolis Public Schools as well as shares his life with a Educational Tech specialist who supports teachers in our community. He is a certified Life Coach who believes in the power we all possess; when given the tools, education and resources he knows we all have the ability to transform our lives while ensuring we as a community are challenged to learn and grow together. After spending nearly 20 years working with youth and adults, Tamuno knows what truly drives transformational development through community-based learning. He possesses enthusiasm, compassion, spontaneity, vision, and a deep-seated desire to learn something new every day.
Abbey Feola, Program Manager
Abbey (she/her) joined CAA in 2022 as a part time Program Assistant after volunteering at several CAA events and loving the open, welcoming atmosphere she found there. As Program Assistant, she supported participants taking the Explore Veg Challenge and assisted with a variety of other CAA programming. In 2023 she accepted a full time position with CAA as a Program Manager. This new position was added because the needs of our growth require more hours and an enhanced focus. In her new role she will organize and coordinate many of our initiatives.
In her previous years at Macalester College and Habitat for Humanity, she created outreach programs and worked with volunteers around topics relating to sustainability and housing. She currently spends her time outside of CAA volunteering at animal rescues and sanctuaries, spending time with her friends and family, and taking care of her pets.
Jodi Gruhn, Wholesome Minnesota Director
Jodi (she/her) is an evangelist for all things plant-based, an outdoor enthusiast (with a podcast to prove it), a health coach, a mom and our Wholesome Minnesota Coordinator. She has been a volunteer on a variety of CAA initiatives including Twin Cities Veg Fest and the Twin Cities Vegan Chef Challenge. Jodi brings with her a career in marketing that focuses on advocating and building awareness for organizations that positively affect people’s lives.
She has extensive experience in events, public relations, communications and digital marketing, having led strategy, planning, and execution for companies across many verticals. By providing the “why”, she shows people and organizations how a plant-forward lifestyle is more in alignment with their values and bottom line that they may have thought. She inspires individuals to consider their daily decisions and the impact they have on human, animal and planetary health.
Jodi enjoys a balanced life that includes lots of camping in far away places, concocting plant-based recipes to be cooked over a campfire, mountain biking and encouraging everyone to get outside.
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Sara Beth Olson, Graphic Design, Social Media, and Marketing Coordinator
Sara (she/her) joined the CAA team in August 2023. She brings to the role more than five years of experience in the content marketing industry, writing and editing blogs, websites, social media posts, ebooks, and more. Her professional experiences also include fine arts, graphic design, and many other creative endeavors.
As a long-term vegan and passionate animal advocate, Sara is excited to bring her talents and experiences to an organization that makes a difference for animals and the community. She looks forward to amplifying the voices of the vegan community as well as the voiceless — farmed animals.
Sara lives in Saint Paul with her daughter and several companion animals. She loves creative pursuits like writing, reading, artwork, and cooking, as well as gardening, beach days, live music, and exploring vegan-friendly restaurants.
Kelso Anderson, Program Assistant
Kelso Anderson joins CAA as the new Program Assistant, after more than two years of dedicated volunteer experience. He has been on organizing committees for the Twin Cities Veg Fest, the Vegan Chili Cook-Off and the Twin Cities Vegan Chef Challenge. In those roles he has done such work as managing sponsor relations, and conducting research on outreach strategies. In his new role, Kelso will be helping to track and manage finances, as well as assist other staff members as they require assistance. Passionate about reducing animal suffering, Kelso believes in combining education, outreach, and systemic change to create a better world for animals.
Theresa Zingery, Publications Coordinator
Theresa (she/her) joined the CAA staff as Publications Coordinator after more than five years of involvement with CAA in various capacities. Early on she joined the Board of Directors and in that role worked on strategic planning and fund development as well as assisting with proofing articles and grant applications. Other volunteer work included greeting at in-person events and helping organize the Annual Banquet and coordinating the Auction. She also served as CAA’s Communication Coordinator for two years.
Theresa has over 25 years of experience in nonprofit management with a focus on marketing and communications. She recently retired from her role as Community Education Manager for Anoka-Hennepin schools. Theresa is now serving on the board of Unitarian Universalist Animal Ministry as president. She lives in Golden Valley with her husband David and two furry family members of the cat variety.
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