At Whisker Mountain, Everything Starts With Our Heroes, Our Volunteers, Our Communities!
Our KIND core values shapes Whisker Mountain’s true north:
- Kindness for all: Universal approach to empathy and compassion
- Idealists who believe we achieve more together: Power of collaboration
- Nurture bonds between animals and people: Foster connections and stewardship
- Dedicated to community centered progress: Focus on positive changes
Whisker Mountain’s grass roots beginnings started when the pandemic was in full swing. Today, we are a non-profit led by animal welfare advocates ranging from AZ, TX, and WY who share the passion for saving lives.
How it Started
It all started when the Koller’s relocated their growing Family to an area where dozens of community cats lived amongst a network of caretakers who provided food, water, shelter, fostering and advocacy.
Shortly after moving into the historic neighborhood, the Koller’s youngest daughter rescued five kittens from a brush pile next to their house. Instinctively, Ariana knew the risks of the busy streets and barking dogs and gathered up the kittens while her parents, Michael and Katina, were trying to find resources to provide advice.
After Ari took immediate action, the Koller’s understood that they would need to figure things out as they went and follow their hearts and rescue instincts, too.
Realizing that together they can have more impact, Whisker Mountain: One Tail at a Time rescue was born.
Soon after the rescue of the ‘brush pile gang’, a chance encounter with a dedicated caretaker named Jennifer, expanded an established caretaker alliance between Jennifer, Jan and now the Koller’s.
Jennifer educated Katina and the Koller Family on the neighborhood cats, their personalities, and their safe havens.
Bonding over commitment to cats, Jennifer introduced Katina to Jan, Jennifer’s alliance co-founder, who fosters dozens amongst her feline residents that are rescued and sometimes special needs.
The exchange of encouragement (asking the angels and Bob Marley) and love grew as the friends and neighbors rallied together to foster and save as many lives as they could.
While navigating the care of two special needs kittens, Katina serendipitously met veterinarian Dr. Amy and the two exchanged their passion for animals and built on the alliance’s plans for TNVR.
Wherever there is a need, these rescuers and their families worked together to find solutions for animals.
Together, Jennifer, Dr. Amy, Jan and the Koller Family, along with many community members, caregivers and the shelter have TNVR’d hundreds of cats and fostered hundreds of kittens. Believing they can affect positive change, even when faced with the most challenging conditions, this grass-roots rescue has answered the call to save animals.
When a nearby animal hoarder was desperately in need of help to TNVR hundreds of cats and rescue and foster hundreds of kittens, this rescue team responded and forged their mission: “One Tail at a Time”.
Whisker Mountain Board Members
Katina Koller
Committed to philanthropy, Katina and her family dedicate their efforts to many notable animal rescue non-profit causes in addition to Whisker Mountain and Board service with Park County Animal Shelter, Board service with Literacy Connects (former Member), Youth On Their Own (former Member) and StartUp Tucson (former Member). As a Commercialization Partner (former) with the University of Arizona: Tech Launch Arizona and an I-Corps Business Mentor thru the National Science Foundation program, Katina continues her mission-driven theme.
Katina Koller—former Chairwoman, CEO and owner—and the Teams she led have been recognized for many awards including the INC 5000 list as one of the fastest growing privately-held companies in America for two consecutive years.
She is a servant leader, optimizing enterprises, teams, personnel and processes to achieve strong and sustainable financial performance while aligning with culture, values and vision. Driven by her purpose to help her clients achieve their highest level of contribution and achieve the best version of their life, Katina lends her operational experience to a wide range of talent from C-suite to executives to multi-generational organizations to PE backed, to early-stage companies.
Building on improvement and service, Katina is a Professional Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS™) Implementer. She works with a variety of growing companies in B2B and B2C fields of retail, service, product, technology, manufacturing and non-profits. Katina also facilitates peer-to-peer advisory groups on the Chief Executive and Key Executive levels as a Vistage Chair and Strategic Advisor. She is also the Vistage Best Practice Chair for the state of Arizona.