Our Team

Soon after moving from the Netherlands to Aruba in 2008, Dayenne adopted her first 2 cats and got her first fosterkittens. She quickly turned into an avid animal lover. Now, many years later, she has 3 dogs, 4 bengal cats and 6 rescue cats! She cannot imagine a life without pets anymore.

She is a lawyer but is almost 24/7 busy (rescuing) animals and all that comes with it. She has a small scale vacation boarding for cats too through @island.paws. Walking her dogs during sunset is one of her favorite things to do.

Dayenne fostered hundreds of cats, several puppies over the years. She really is the catlady of the Sgt. Pepper’s Friends team. Through Sgt. Pepper’s Friends she hopes to be able to contribute to many more rescues, spay and neuters and help make a change in the way animals are treated on the island.

Brenda moved to Aruba in 2007. She works part time from home.
Her first cat came with the house. After that she rescued about 15 kittens and found homes for most them. She kept 4.

In 2012 she rescued two puppies of only 3.5 weeks old and added them to the family. In December 2016 the first 3 foster puppies were a fact. Foster number 40 became her only foster failure. Tony Chocolonely. Until today dhe fostered 300 + puppies/teenagers/adults and Brenda spends most of her free time to help get the rescues’ dogs/cats adopted, arranging the flights for the pets, organize the foster walks and help out wherever help is needed. Bottle feeding tiny pups and rehabilitating the shy rescue pups has become Brenda’s specialty!

When Yvette came to Aruba in 2000 she took in her first puppy, Shakira, from the street after being on the island for only 2 weeks. She cared for and loved her for 13 years. Since that moment she has never spent a day without dogs in her life, she loves dogs, they are her children.

She works fulltime in a printing company but spends most of her free time helping at the Sgt. Peppers Friends Home and also fosters pups at home which she finds very rewarding to do. As good as every Saturday Yvette joins our socializing walks in Palm Beach. Together with Brenda, Yvette screens all the puppy adoption applications that come in so the best possible families are found for each pup. Helping as much innocent sweet pups as she can, to get a better and loving life is her goal.

Lisa

We have a great group of women in Boston who help with all aspects needed to help Sgt. Peppers Friends.

Swedish native Rachel Brathen is a New York Times best-selling author, motivational speaker and international yoga teacher residing in Aruba. Known to her 2 million social media followers as Yoga Girl she travels the world teaching and spreading the message of yoga, inspiring people across the globe to live a life of balance and self-love every single day.

Rachel recently released her first book, “Yoga Girl”, now available worldwide! Part self-help and part memoir, YOGA GIRL is an inspirational, full-color look at the adventure that took her from her hometown in Sweden to the jungles of Costa Rica and finally to the paradise island in the Caribbean that she now calls home.

In addition to teaching and writing, Rachel recently founded oneOeight; an online platform dedicated to yoga and healing. She is also the founder of two non-profits: 109, a global social mission organization using social media to make a difference in the world, and Sgt Pepper’s Friends, an animal rescue organization based in Aruba.

Find daily inspiration from Rachel on Instagram as @yoga_girl with close to two million followers – the largest yoga account in the world.

Raised on the Caribbean island of Aruba, Dennis grew up with a natural draw to water and watersports. He learned how to windsurf at age 9 and immersed himself completely in the sport, also competing at a young age. In his teens he transitioned towards wave surfing and skateboarding, and later on took up beach tennis, traveling across the world to compete.

After going to college for business administration and managing a surf shop for many years, Dennis opened his own business. Salad Skate Shop, located in the heart of Aruba’s capital Oranjestad, was his first venture and managed (together with his business partner at the time) to revive the culture of skateboarding on the island while providing a safe place for teenagers to enjoy after school. Meeting Rachel in 2010 he started taking his first few steps towards learning about the ancient practice of yoga and how it could benefit the body, but it wasn’t until finding teachers of his own that he dove deep into the practice. Now a certified yoga instructor and avid practitioner, Dennis and Rachel lead retreats all over the world.

Dennis always had dogs and cats growing up. Being from Aruba he knows a lot about the Aruban culture and is very passionate about animal rescue and the local perspective on caring for your pets. Dennis would love to implement (at the right age for the student) an Animal Rights subject once a week at all local schools. As the co-founder of Sgt Pepper’s Friends he hopes to make a big difference on the island!