Our Pack
Meet the good people who think animals are great.
We’re a dedicated team that knows and loves what we’re talking about. We have a passion for understanding and learning about animal health and nutrition and are excited to share that knowledge with others. Scroll down to learn a little more about us and find links to our blog posts.
In addition to helping you learn about your pet’s diet, we can also connect you with great vets, trainers and doggy daycares in the area. Just about everything your furry family member could need. Stop by the store or check out our Pet Resources page for more info.
Natalie Soonthornswad
Owner & Pack Leader
Natalie’s love for animals goes back to her childhood when every photo of her included at least one cat. Since adopting Loki ten years ago, she’s become a dog lover too, but it’s still weird that there’s not a cat in this photo. This devotion to cats and dogs has led her on a life-long quest to understand animal nutrition and share that knowledge with others in order to become better guardians for our pets.
Sarah Arnold
Sarah has been in the natural pet food business for years and when she’s not at The Happy Beast, you can find her working at Colorado Integrative Veterinary in Longmont or doing dog food demos for Earthborn Holistic, one of our favorite brands.
Amber Nelson
Amber Nelson has 15 years of experience working with and handling dogs and cats in every aspect of the industry. She started working as a volunteer at an animal rescue shelter at age 15. From there, following her passion for small animals, she went to school to become a Veterinary Assistant and pursued that career for 5 years. She’s also worked in boarding facilities, grooming salons, doggie daycares, and has also been training dogs professionally/independently for 10 years. You can follow her on Instagram at RuffLifeDogTraining.
Kayson Cooper
Kayson has spent his entire life surrounded by animals. Growing up on a small farm, he got his first job caring for the animals at a veterinary clinic when he was fifteen years old. Since then he has pursued his passion for learning about and caring for animals of all kinds working at zoos, aquariums, and animal shelters. When not at The Happy Beast, Kayson enjoys spending time with his menagerie of rescued animals and is busy working on the Gray Muzzle Society, a nonprofit organization he started with his wife dedicated to keeping senior pets with their families.
Matt LeBeau
When not at his day job at Causeway Digital, Matt’s our fixer-of-electronic-things and digital marketing guy. Any weekend you can find him running the trails and handing out free dog wash cards.
Chelsea Niekelski
After working with us for over eight years, Chelsea left The Happy Beast in 2019 to pursue her master’s in education. She’s now an awesome teacher in Arvada, but we still get to see Chelsea and her dog Oaf whenever they’re back in Lafayette.
Loki
Director of Security
Resident store dog and fearless companion for 14 years, we had to say our goodbyes to Loki in February 2020. We adopted Loki during our time in North County San Diego from Helen Woodward Animal Center, an amazing rescue in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. While we miss him terribly, he’ll be forever curled up in the cubby hole in our hearts. Love you, buddy.
And a few more of our furry friends…
