Rian was born in Fort Washington, PA and now lives at the sanctuary with her partner and UNH cofounder Scooter, and their dog and UNH namesake, Uncle Neil. She graduated from West Chester University with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies and from Immaculata University with a Master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. Rian is a Registered Dietitian and works full-time for Switch4Good, a non-profit organization dedicated to exposing the dairy industry’s lies, in addition to running the sanctuary.

Rian went vegan in May of 2018 after years of being vegetarian on and off. She grew up in a traditional non-vegan household, and even her parents will tell you that from a very young age, she was skeptical of the “food” that was put on her plate. It never looked right to her and it made her very anxious and uncomfortable to eat, but she wasn’t educated enough and too young at the time to understand why and make the connection. It wasn’t until 2018 during a stint of vegetarianism that she came across footage from a slaughterhouse. At that moment, everything that she had felt over the last 20+ years came to a head and she finally understood why she never felt comfortable eating animals. She went vegan at that moment and never looked back. A few years later, she and Scooter decided that they wanted to do more for the animals, so they started UNH together. Rian runs the social media for UNH, and you’ll often find her filming the herd in order to share their stories and educate others about animal agriculture to help spread the vegan and cruelty-free message.