Mothering Wildlife

Send me a message! My guest this week is Chandler Hammack, a carnivore keeper at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. As a wife to an active duty Coast Guard husband, Chandler is no stranger to moving around the country and gaining experience at a variety of facilities, especially in recent years after becoming married. We talk about her work history and whether or not she feels that variety has been benef...

Send me a message! My guest this week is Randi Toynton, a Senior Animal Care Specialist at Brookfield Zoo Chicago. Randi is a mom of 4 at the time of this episode release, however at the time of recording Randi was pregnant with her 4th child! Randi is also a twin mom so she shares a bit about her twin pregnancy and how it was the hardest pregnant she had. However with her current pregnancy, thing...

Send me a message! This week I’m re-running the very first Mothering Wildlife Podcast episode which includes my conversation with Whitlee Turner. At the time, Whitlee was a new mom working at the Metro Richmond Zoo. Her motherhood journey made headlines when she shared a very intimate breastfeeding moment with another new mom, an orangutan where she worked.  I heard Whitlee’s story and thought the...

Send me a message! This week we have another dedicated episode on one topic of motherhood, not having a "village" to help you raise your children. My guests are Briana Schmidt from Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium and Jessi Gorman from the Fort Worth Zoo. Both have been on the podcast before and I'm happy to welcome them back to talk about his important topic! Briana...

Send me a message! This week we have another dedicated episode on one topic a lot of listeners will be familiar with; postpartum depression and anxiety. I'm joined by Tegan Noel, a Wildlife Care Specialist from the San Diego Zoo and Sarah Ross, a former night keeper at Disney's Animal Kingdom as well as vet tech. Tegan and Sarah share their birth stories, which for both of them included...

Send me a message! This week's episode is another dedicated episode on one topic - pregnancy and childbirth complications. I bring together two guests; Carolyn Kelley, the Assistant Manager of Tours at the St. Louis Zoo and Caroline Adams, the former Director of Education at the Zoo in Forest Park, who left the zoo field a couple of years ago and is now working for the state of Connecticut in...

Send me a message! My guest this week is Carley Gonzalez, an Animal Curator, from the Topeka Zoo. While Carley currently spends all of her time working with and managing terrestrial animals, she started in the field as a marine mammal trainer working with orcas! Carley and I touch on her professional journey, which includes some time spent out of the zoo and aquarium field, and then a journey back...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! This week's episode is a little different. I wanted to bring together two moms within the zoo field who have IVF as part of their motherhood journey and let them have the opportunity to share their stories and talk to each other about their journeys. Kaitlyn Fulmer and LeShea...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Ricki Roemer, a Supervisor in the Mammals 2 Department at the Caldwell Zoo. At the time of our interview Ricki was freshly postpartum, and believe it or not her baby joined us in the bouncer the whole interview! Her and I had tried to set up an interview quick...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Alexis Fitch from Animals Anonymous Apparel! Alexis started her career as a zookeeper, however ultimately decided to leave the field with the birth of her first child and started an amazing apparel company dedicated to making the anonymous animals known.  Anim...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Paige Tamayo, a Lead Zoologist at the Dallas Zoo. Paige and I know each other and used to work together when I was at Dallas. She joined my team in the Middle Wilds right before I moved back to Florida. Having both gone to the same college (although many years...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Clare Belden-Walker, an animal keeper at the Seneca Park Zoo. Clare's great love is primates, and she tells us all about her journey into zookeeping through the world of primate conservation! Pregnant zookeepers do some amazing things at work while pregna...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Charley Shepherd, a Senior Mammal Care Specialist at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in Jacksonville, FL.  At the time of this interview, Charley was pregnant! She and I talk about the differences between her first and second pregnancy. With both, she had to...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! This week, my guest is Loren Berry, a woman who wears many hats within the zoo and aquarium field! A former zookeeper for 17 years, Loren now serves as the Chapter Development Manager for the American Association of Zookeepers (AAZK). Additionally, through the Katie Adamson Conserv...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! This week I talk to Briana Schmidt, a Lead Aquarist at the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium. Briana offers the "wet perspective" of being a working mom in the zoo and aquarium field. My guests are often of the "terrestrial" sort and today Briana...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Jessica Lelesch, the lead keeper over the Akrons Zoo's hoofstock and primate team.  Like the episode title suggests, Jessica and I talk about a variety of subjects that all lead into living a new “norm” once you become a mother…and especially a working mo...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! This week, I am sharing my story! As host of the Mothering Wildlife Podcast, I have been so thankful to all my guests for sharing their stories, so I thought it was about time that I shared my own.  Join me as I dive into my professional journey from zookeeper to registrar. I recou...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Kayla Freeman, the Large Mammal Supervisor at Blank Park Zoo. She cares for a variety of large hoofstock, including rhino, giraffe, camel, and okapi. As a working supervisor, she spends a good portion of her week out in the field, working with the animals. How...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Sarah Radecker, a Wildlife Connections Supervisor at the Houston Zoo. Sarah manages a team of 21 keepers while overseeing a very diverse animal collection, including reptiles, small mammals like mongoose and meerkats, and ambassador animals!   Sarah and I dive...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Channing Milchuck, a  Primate Swing Keeper from Zoo Atlanta. Channing and I talk about how being a zookeeper is a second career for her. She started in vet medicine and spent almost a decade doing that before transitioning into being an animal keeper.  We also...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! My guest this week is Abbey Krumrie from River Valley Raptors, an awesome organization in Wisconsin dedicated to not only educating their local community about raptors and their cool adaptations, but how to protect the habitats they live in right there in their local area. She and...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! This week, I talk to Hallie Torre, Curator of Marine Mammals and Birds at the Aquarium of Niagara.  Hallie chats about life as a marine mammal trainer turned manager and mom of two—everything from working with seals and sea lions while pregnant to figuring out daycare, maternity le...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! This week, I talk to Wendy Boulger, a zookeeper from Zoo Knoxville.  Her almost 11-month-old (at the time) daughter, Marcy, even joins us for the interview!  Wendy and I touch base on a variety of topics - from the challenges of postpartum to pumping at work to trying to jump back...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! In this episode, I talk with Kim Castrucci, Curator of Animals at the Brevard Zoo,  about her journey to becoming an animal care leader — and how becoming a mom changed everything about the way she leads and lives. Kim and I talk a lot about being a leader within the zoo field and...

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms! This week's guest is LeShea Cochu, Animal Care Supervisor of Birds, Mammals, and Ambassadors at the Chattanooga Zoo. She is also freshly postpartum and had only been back to work for a few weeks at the time of this interview! LeShea shares how early in her career working with...