Artist, Graphic Design, and

Marketing Team Co-Lead

Favorite Animal: White Tiger

Shalini (Shah-lih-nee) is the designated VIP’s Gym Bro studying the intersections of economics and sustainability at the University of Michigan. Growing up in the Bay Area, California, water conservation has always been a personal topic for her. On her free time, you can find her talking about fonts, sipping on some chai, or cuddled up with a book. :)

Artist, Communications Chair 

Favorite Animal: Fox

Zoe is our resident wordsmith. She is a third-year Psych major with a quirky sense of humor who embraces life just as it comes. Outside of classes she serves as the Head of Communications and PR for VIP's Fund and a research assistant in a Cognitive Psych lab. Looking for her? Check behind that stack of books in the corner or perhaps the kitchen. You'll likely find her scribbling poetry in one of her journals or laughing loudly with her friends. If you want to reach out (or just say hello) email her at zoe@vipsfund.org.

Artist, Creative Team Lead, and Director

Favorite Animal: Lop Bunny

Sophia Kamien is a vegan for a living from the great city of Philadelphia. She spends her time watching Nardwuar interviews and skydiving without parachutes. Sometimes at the same time. Her favorite cake is carrot and her favorite ice cream is mint chip. 

Vice President, Marketing Team Co-Lead, and Director

Favorite Animal: Mow (Cat)

Charlotte Matik is a current senior at the University of Michigan studying Economics and Psychology. Passionate about improving the world in any way she can and ever the animal lover, she is incredibly excited to be a part of a project making a significant impact on a global scale. In addition to her work at VIP’s Fund, she is the President and Co-Founder of Model Federal Open Market Committee (MFED) at the University of Michigan. Known for her leadership, Charlotte also works as an advisor for various student organizations to aid in development, directorship, and general club functioning. She is an advocate for veganism, animal rights, sisu ideals, yoga and cats. Contact Charlotte at char@vipsfund.org

Artist, President, Founder, and Director

Favorite Animal: Sifaka

Daphne is a life-long animal lover and self-proclaimed Honduran white bat (look it up) who studies the anthropological aspects of biodiversity conservation. Her roots lie on the coast and the islands of the Salish Sea and she has also spent time working as a seahorse farmer in Kona, Hawaii. Daphne created VIP's Fund with the hopes of merging socially conscious wildlife conservation with market-based strategies that inherently serve the conservation mission by combatting fast fashion. She is fascinated by island biogeography, and in her free time she enjoys cabbage, camping, and crafting. In that order. You can reach out to her, preferably with a cute monkey picture, at daphne@vipsfund.org

VIP's UK Coordinator

Favorite Animal: Giraffe

Artist, Creative and Sustainability Team Member

Favorite Animal: Orca

Anya learned to crochet as a kid from their grandmother and loves making silly projects for themself and friends! Anya spends most of their time crocheting and showing people pictures of their cat. They love the ocean, sustainability, and being a VIP!

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Treasurer and Director

Favorite Animal: Rat

Tim Raxworthy is currently a graduate student at the University of Michigan and he is completing the second year of his masters degree in survey methodology. His passion for improving wildlife conservation in Madagascar is what inspires his current work at Vip's Fund! Some of his past work includes designing and evaluating inequity relief programs for Malagasy farmers in Ifanadiana District. If you would like to reach out to him please send an email to tim@vipsfund.org.

Director

Favorite Animal: Elephant

Cara is on the Board of Directors at VIP’s Fund and was a member of the founding Executive Board. Although her academic and professional interests lie generally in medical technology, bioinformatics and computational neuroscience, Cara is devoted to VIP’s Fund because of her deep love of nature and belief that humans had ought to promote harmony with all living things however we can. With hopes of being an entrepreneur, Cara is grateful to be part of the development and implementation of a business model that prioritizes the uniqueness of each product created and knows that success is ultimately impossible without sustainability. In her free time, Cara loves cooking vegan meals, painting, writing, and traveling with the hope of going to as many countries as she can during her lifetime.