Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder is the host of The Animal Turn and The Animal Highlight. She is also the senior producer and editor of both shows. 

In 2023, Claudia completed her PhD in Geography at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. She examined the historical problematization of cows in Kingston, Ontario and has broad interests in how animal histories and geographies are told. Her scholarly interests sit in the intersection of geography, urban studies, animal studies, history and power relations. 

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In terms of the airwaves: Claudia was a host on the campus radio station, UJFM. She was also a news reporter intern for Classic FM and the founder and former host of Beyond Canada: International Thought and Scholarship.

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Christiaan Mentz joined The Animal Turn team in 2022 as a fellow interested in podcast production and sound. He is now an Associate Sound Producer and Editor for both The Animal Turn and The Animal Highlight.

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Christiaan has loved music and sound from a young age. His first foray into leaning about music came as piano lessons at the age of 11. In high school he was exposed to rock and metal music and found himself wanting to expand beyond the confines of classical music. After many afternoons air-guitaring to Guns N' Roses and Metallica he finally bought a guitar and learned to play. Music and sound production have been part of his life ever since. 

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He learned to edit and produce by playing in bands and wanting to make what he calls "passable recordings." Today he lives in Shuzou, China and continues to play and produce music. 

Rebecca Shen joined The Animal Turn team in 2023 as a fellow interested in researching animals in design and podcast production. She is now an Assistant Content Producer and Designer. Among other activities, Rebecca produces the art work for The Animal Highlight. 

Rebecca is a landscape designer and researcher. She is inspired by design as pursuits of worldmaking, especially to advance interspecies justice and collectivity during times of challenge. Rebecca graduated with a Master in Landscape Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2023, where she completed her design thesis, Sanctuary State: California’s Cowscape in Transition. Through her design work, she explores human-animal relationships in the built environment, ecological restoration, and regenerative food systems.