Mirah is the founder and executive director of Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. Prior to moving into animal welfare full time, Mirah clerked on the Supreme Court for Justice Stephen Breyer, worked in the United States Senate for Senators John Kerry and Robert Menendez, and served as counsel in the Office of Legal Policy in the Department of Justice. She also spent 7 years as an executive search consultant in the nonprofit sector.

Vanessa was head of sales and marketing for several of Napa’s most prestigious estates including Arietta Wines, Dana Estates, and Realm Cellars. Previously, she was a retail buyer and wine bar wine director in New York. She’s President of the Board for the Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch, holds the WSET Diploma, and was the recipient of the Niki Singer Memorial Scholarship from the International Wine Center. Vanessa became the 52nd MW in the United States in February of 2020.

Longtime Lucky Dog volunteers and adopters, volunteers and Casino Night Sponsors. Their journey with Lucky Dog began in 2010 with the adoption of their first dog, and continued over the years adding a second dog to their pack and undertaking various volunteer roles. Lucky Dog's ongoing tremendous growth and unwavering commitment to the animals, shelter partners, communities and adopters, continues to drive Joan & Jon's support and dedication to Lucky Dog. When they are not doing their day jobs in finance and real estate investing, you can find Joan providing post-adoption support to Lucky Dog adopters, running and doing yoga; Jon enjoying sports and fundraising for cancer research; and together both of them enjoying traveling, food, wine and of course being with their two beagle mixes- Mia and Frankie.

Mix It Up and Shake It Up with Sponsor: Tito's Handmade Vodka! Lucky Dogger Jeremy will share exciting tips and tricks with our special event drinks; The Distinguished Dog and The Cat's Meow (recipe ingredients will be sent in your registration receipt). Tito's Handmade Vodka proudly supports Lucky Dog's lifesaving work all year long.

Julie is the Program Manager for Volunteers and Data Integrity at Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. She has the fantastic job of recruiting, onboarding, engaging, providing training for, and getting to know all of Lucky Dog's wonderful volunteers. She also gets to dive into all of Lucky Dog's data (yay numbers!) and loves answering questions about all things technical.

Prior to joining Lucky Dog, Julie was a Director of Software Engineering in the healthcare industry. Her last role was Chief of Staff to a major healthcare company's VP of Engineering. She oversaw communication and strategic planning for the 1,000 person engineering organization. Julie has led many teams, both large and small, over her 20+ year career. Prior to going into software development, Julie was a high school math teacher.

Jeremy DiAsio is the Development Assistant at Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. Jeremy assists our Director of Development with Lucky Dog's special events, giving campaigns, and engaging individuals and corporate donors to expand Lucky Dog's impact.

Prior to joining the Lucky Dog team, Jeremy owned a spice company and managed restaurants in South Carolina and Washington, DC. Jeremy has a culinary degree and loves to use that background for innovating new treats for his and his friends' furry companions.

Jeremy is a native of Charleston, SC and moved to Washington, DC with his husband and rescue cat Jameson, almost eight years ago. Recently, they added Vesper, a rambunctious Bully rescue, to their family as well. Jeremy's own experience with rescue animals inspires his work and drives his passion for the amazing projects he gets to be involved with as part of the team at Lucky Dog.