The Association Blog

In her role as Division Manager at Grand Prairie Animal Services, Lily Yap brings deep knowledge of business management and an MBA from McCombs School of Business. “By combining passion with the structure of a strong, corporate business,” she says, “I believe we can make huge strides in supporting the animals and people in our community.” In 2018, Yap was also named to Ad 2 Dallas’ 32 Under 32 list. We’re honored to feature Lily in this month’s spotlight—you don’t want to miss her one-sentence leadership tip.


Name & Title: Lily Yap, MBA, Division Manager, Grand Prairie Animal Services
Member of The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement since: 2019

Q&A with Lily Yap, MBA

The Association: Describe yourself in three words. 
Lily Yap: Tenacious, positive, and adaptive.

The Association: Describe Grand Prairie Animal Services in three words. 
Lily Yap: Compassionate, innovative, and collaborative.

The Association: Tell us about one small victory you had this week—personally or professionally. 
Lily Yap: I was able to visit family in California that I hadn’t seen since pre-COVID!

The Association: Share one challenge or opportunity your organization faces in terms of serving people and their pets, and how you are addressing it.    
Lily Yap: The competitive job market, on top of the standard trends of animal welfare turnover, has been very difficult for us recently. I was inspired by one of The Association’s webinars to completely flip the recruiting process for new Animal Care Technicians so that candidates have the opportunity to get to know US first, not the other way around. By providing a peek behind the curtain of our operations and sharing our values on the front end, folks express more connection to our mission from the start.

The Association: We are so thankful to for your work as Resilience & Wellness Track Chair for The Spring Conference. What sessions are you jazzed about? 
Lily Yap: I am super jazzed for Geoff Urton’s session on leading the purpose-driven for resilience. In over a decade of work in animal shelters, I have worked with some of the most dedicated, extraordinary individuals I will ever meet and learning how to promote resiliency to care for these folks is so important.

The Association: What’s your favorite one-sentence leadership tip?
Lily Yap: Speak last. 

Learn More

Get to Know Gloria Dorsey, DVM, MPH
Get to Know Shannon Martin-Roebuck
Meet a CAWA: Nell Thompson
Brochure: The Spring Conference for Animal Welfare Advancement