Sophia Proler, director
scregion@bestfriends.orgSophia Proler is the director of the South Central region. She is working with partners in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma to build lifesaving programs and coalitions to reach no-kill 2025. Previously, she served as the Program Manager of the Houston Lifesaving Center.
Before joining Best Friends, Sophia had a career in public relations in Miami and New York. After several years of representing global brands, she pressed the reset button and moved to New Zealand to work with retired racehorses. When she returned to the United States, Sophia discovered animal welfare as a volunteer during high-volume spay/neuter days with Humane Society of Western Montana. At HSWM she spearheaded the removal of breed labels and expanded the open adoptions program. Sophia then moved to Houston just weeks before Hurricane Harvey, where, poor timing aside, she joined the Best Friends emergency response team and knew immediately that this was the organization for her, even though it would take her a few years to come back.
After Harvey, Sophia worked with BARC, the City of Houston's open-admission shelter, where she built neonatal foster programming and volunteer-led large dog playgroups. Sophia then took a regional open-admission shelter in the Texas Hill Country from eight foster outcomes a month to eighty and strengthened their intake diversion resources as they reached for (and achieved) no-kill.
Born and raised in Texas, Sophia lives in Houston with her husband, their loaf of a cat, and whatever senior or broken foster pet she brings home that day.