Ashley Rhodes-Courter

"Since I grew up in foster care, I know firsthand what it’s like to be a voiceless victim. American Humane Association provides services, tools and resources to families and groups that serve our most vulnerable — children and animals. I am thrilled to be a part of the work American Humane Association is doing because, without their efforts, thousands of other children and animals would have no one else to speak up for them and no place to call home.’”

Ashley Rhodes-Courter, who is also a national ambassador for the American Humane Association, spent almost 10 years in foster care, living in 14 placements before being adopted at age 12. In 2008, Simon & Schuster published her memoir, “Three Little Words,” which quickly became a New York Times  bestseller. Her book has received many national and local awards and has been used in classrooms across the country. She has a passion to tell her story and share hope with other foster children and encourage adoption and permanency, and she has been featured on many national and local television shows.

Nationally, she serves on several child welfare boards, such as Children Without a Voice USA (Atlanta) and Family Focus Adoption Services (New York). In her local community, she works with several organizations, including the Heart Gallery of Pinellas & Pasco, and she is a guardian ad litem volunteer (or court-appointed special advocate [CASA]) and licensed foster parent. She is also a youth advocacy ambassador for Levi’s® Shape What’s to Come — an online, global community for women that offers opportunities to exchange ideas, collaborate, and provide support to one another.