Jackson County's Best and Brightest Profile: Amanda Gaston

For Jackson Magazine's Best and Brightest Young Adults June issue

Amanda Gaston loves Jackson so much she was willing to trade the possibility of a cushy desk job for a life full of fur balls and wet dogs.

The 24-year old Lumen Christi High School graduate earned a B.S. in finance from Grand Valley State in 2007. But instead of searching the country for a job in the banking industry, she decided to follow a newspaper ad to her spot as the Admissions Coordinator for the Cascades Humane Society.

Now she is helping animals find safe homes and making plenty of friends in the process.

“Amanda’s love of animals is evident in the work she does,” said Tina Heap of Bond & Company PLC. “Recently a pregnant cat was left at the Humane Society and Amanda could find no foster family, so she brought it home and it gave birth in her home.”

Gaston said she has always adored animals, and even considered being a vet when she was younger, but she never knew how much she would be interacting with them.

She handles the admission process and foster program for CHS, making sure animals are healthy and good candidates are found to take them home.

It is all part of a job that allows her to stay in a place she never wants to leave.

“I can’t to be around to see Jackson become something we can definitely be part of, and we’ll keep giving back,” she said.

To give back she recently started volunteering at the Ella Sharp Museum, where her mom is on the board and she said she wants to continue to get involved in the community.