Ever since I was a little girl, I've been fascinated by wildlife and the natural world. I would eagerly devour each issue of National Geographic as it landed on the coffee table, completely captivated by the animals, ecosystems, and faraway landscapes on its pages. Biology quickly became my favorite subject at school, and with the encouragement of my teachers, I pursued a degree in Zoological and Ecological Sciences.

I completed my undergraduate BSc at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in 2014 and went on to do my Honours degree in 2015. My research focused on how two species of mongoose coexist in an urban environment, shedding light on how animals adapt to life alongside humans. That year laid the foundation for what has become a career-long passion for understanding how wildlife persists in a changing world.

Driven by a growing love for research, I completed my MSc in just one year, focusing on human-wildlife conflict with African wild dogs. I examined the impact of carnivore depredation on commercial and subsistence farmers and identified landscape features that predicted mortality risk for these endangered carnivores. Alongside my studies, I volunteered on a game count project at uMkhuze Nature Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, walking transects with rangers to estimate wildlife populations using Distance Sampling.

In 2017, I joined the National Research Foundation's internship program and worked with the Ditsong Museum of Natural History and AfricanBats NPC. My work ranged from cataloguing small mammal specimens to fieldwork, data management, and community education. I quickly discovered the power of public engagement and the pressing need for better information on bat ecology in South Africa—an insight that inspired my PhD.

I completed my PhD in Zoology through the University of Pretoria's Mammal Research Institute in 2020. My research focused on a migratory bat species and explored its behavior, morphology, and physiology. I published several international papers contributing to our understanding of bats in southern Africa. During this time, I also volunteered with the Snapshot Safari project, assisting with small mammal surveys across the Kalahari and the Karoo.

In 2021, I began a postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for Viral Zoonoses and the Mammal Research Institute, working on an interdisciplinary project to identify potential hotspots of bat-borne disease spillover in South Africa. As part of a global One Health initiative involving the EcoHealth Alliance and UNICEF, I collaborated with international scientists, contributed to high-impact publications, helped lead a workshop on zoonotic disease, and presented my work at the International Bat Research Conference in Austin, Texas.

But my journey didn't end in the lab.

In 2022, I was selected as a NEWF Fellow in Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmaking. There, I rediscovered my creative spark and learned how to transform science into compelling stories. I wrote, directed, and produced a conservation-themed short film that premiered at the Conservation Symposium in Durban. Since then, I've learned to scuba dive, worked as a production assistant for National Geographic Society and Red Nature Films, and joined the Africa Refocused fellowship, a program for emerging science storytellers backed by National Geographic and NEWF.

I've also worked as a Science Communicator for GENUS Palaeosciences (2023-2025) and have freelanced in graphic design and website management, always finding ways to blend creativity and science in meaningful ways.

Now, I'm thrilled to be the Group Biodiversity Coordinator at Wilderness - a role that brings together every thread of my journey. I get to combine my scientific expertise, creative communication skills, and love of storytelling with data analytics, databases, fieldwork, and face-to-face engagement. It's the perfect fit for someone who has always lived at the intersection of science and story, and I can't wait to see where the next chapter leads.