ZOOKEEPERMEL

I have been extremely lucky in my career and am grateful for all the opportunities I have had.  As a child, I always knew I wanted to be a zookeeper.  I stayed in school and went to college for a Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Zoology.  During college, I worked in a 'mom and pop' pet store, along with doing an internship at a local nature center.  After college, I got an internship at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  After the internship ended, I was lucky enough to get a job in my home state of Illinois at Cosley Zoo.  I had to have applied for over 40 jobs during my internship - it's exhausting trying to get your foot in the door.  

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I worked at Cosley Zoo for a few years, but it wasn't full time and having multiple other side jobs was difficult.  I was able to get a temporary keeper position at Brookfield Zoo, but once that term ended, I found myself working in a pet store again until I could find a full time permanent position.  The options in Illinois were getting slim, so I had to apply for jobs outside my home state.  That's how I ended up in Salt Lake City, working at Utah's Hogle Zoo in the Asian Highlands department as a relief keeper.  

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Working as a relief keeper was great, but I wanted a leadership position to expand my career.  So, when they opened up Lead Keeper positions at my zoo, I knew I had to apply for a couple of them.  I ended up getting the Ambassador Animal position, which meant leaving carnivores that I loved working with so much.  It was a difficult decision, but one that I would never regret.  With all my previous experience and adding in the Ambassador Animals at Hogle, I have now worked with over 170 species of animals in my career.  I then became Supervisor of Asian Highlands at my zoo, so I guess you could say I've come full circle back to what I started with.  Where will my next job take me?

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I love using my social media platform to promote good zoos and aquariums, and show the great things they can do for animal conservation.  Even if I can change one person's mind, that is considered a success to me. Thanks for being here, and welcome!