Angelica Villanueva, AVA

Angelica started her career in the veterinary field in May of 2016 as an assistant. Her commitment to giving each patient loving care earned her a place on the patient care team, and then a role spanning both client care and patient care.

She loves this job because she gets to learn more every day about caring for animals, especially in their time of need. Her favorite part of working with animals is that she gets to be with puppies and kittens — and the sweet older dogs and cats too. She grew up in Woodstock, Illinois, and says her real hero is her mom, who gave up a lot so all six of them could have a better life.

She has a schnoodle named Thunder. Outside work she is with her family and friends, or catching up on Netflix and Hulu. Her most memorable South Town case: an owner who arrived with ten golden retriever puppies in one big open roller box.

Her favorite animal movie is The Jungle Book — she loves the action and the story behind it. If she were an animal she would be a monkey; she is obsessed with them, and owns numerous stuffed monkeys and a whole variety of monkey items (“they are just so darn cute and interesting”). She eventually wants to work with exotic animals — and if she could pick a superpower it would be flying, to get places easily, like Supergirl.