Hello everyone! Welcome back to Rewildology, the show all about conservation, travel, and rewilding the planet. I’m your host, Brooke Mitchell-Norman, conservation biologist and adventure traveler.
We all have a unique story full of pivotal moments, which makes exploring the human experience so fascinating. Some of us have had a life full of struggle, while others have gotten through relatively easily. No one knows why we experience what we do, but every step lays the foundation for who we become and the work we pursue.
Today’s guest, Carolina Powell, is the perfect combination of perseverance and determination. Being a first-generation Colombian-American, Carolina was raised by a single mother who immigrated to Miami, Florida, in the hopes of offering her daughter a better life. Like many of us in this field, Carolina first thought she was going to be a veterinarian until she worked with a vet whose values (or lack thereof) didn’t align with her own. After interning in the Bronx Zoo’s development department, she was introduced to the zoo conservation field and spent the next year doing everything she could to finally land a full-time zookeeping job. Her perseverance paid off and she’s now a primate keeper at the prestigious Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Carolina is also a member of the leadership team for the newly-formed AMZAP organization, whose mission is “to build a sense of community amongst minorities currently working in the zoo field and to promote animal care and conservation careers as viable options for interested minorities.”
At the end of our conversation, Carolina informed me that she shared parts of her story that haven’t been told before in other interviews and I’m very excited to bring them to you today. If you’d like to connect with Carolina or become a member of AMZAP, be sure to check out amzap.org.
If you’re liking the show, subscribe so that you never miss a future episode, and give the show a rating and review wherever you’re listening. If you’d like to join a community of other awesome conservation-minded folks, join the Rewildologists Community Facebook group by clicking the link in the show notes or searching for Rewildologists.
Alrighty, everyone. Now onto my conversation with Carolina.
3 thoughts on “#32 Show Notes | Let Me Show You The Way: Supporting Minorities in Zoos & Aquariums with Carolina Powell”