Marlene grew up in a small farming community in Alberta – blink-and-you’ll-miss it small, in fact! In 2008 she gave in to the pull of the West and moved to the Sunshine Coast, and eventually settled here in Victoria. Marlene has always loved animals, and in 2012 began to help rescue feral cats and kittens. She finds it deeply rewarding to see the transformation that these frightened young kittens undergo with the right amount of TLC, learning to trust their human friends and eventually find new loving homes. 

An accountant by training, Marlene has more recently woven this love of animals into her career path as well. She first worked as a receptionist in an emergency hospital before joining the ELVH team in 2021. One of the things she values most about this experience is being able to help whole families – the pets and their people – heal and thrive together. 

When not helping clients and patients here at Elk Lake, Marlene spends time with her own fur-family now that her human children are all grown up. She has two rescue kitties named Mocha and Phiona, and two hike-loving dogs Daisy and Rogue. Marlene also likes to exercise her creativity by sewing and sketching, and fueling her love of reading by building up her library of poetry, fairy tales, and classics.