Episodes

June 30, 2022

How I Wrote My First Books and You Can Too!

You may have heard me on social media talk about how I am writing a kids’ book and unless you are new to the podcast, you will already know that I wrote a book called Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and Wha…
May 23, 2022

9 Biggest Mistakes Struggling Wildlife Job Seekers Make

I know that so many of you out there are struggling to get jobs in wildlife biology. I see all of these posts in the wildlife Facebook groups, and when people join my own Facebook group, Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology, I …
May 18, 2022

Getting a Wildlife Career with NO Wildlife Experience: Interview with Ron Lewis

One of my favorite podcast episodes to share with people is #46: Starting a Wildlife Career at 40: Interview with Jeffrey Hunter . In this episode, I interview Jeffrey Hunter of the National Parks Conservation Association on…
May 3, 2022

What Do Careers with Endangered Species Look Like?

Whenever I talk to someone who wants my help, I always ask them “What is your ultimate career goal?” and frequently the answer is “something with endangered species. We’ve all seen the videos of scientists opening up a cage …
April 19, 2022

How Do Scientists Choose Their Research?

Students always ask me – how do I choose my research? When I was in graduate school, this question lingered over me for the first six months. How in the world, out of all of the things to study do I pick something? Most peop…
April 13, 2022

Should Wildlife Professionals Start a Side Hustle?

I was having some struggles in my business – specifically how to talk about my program to potential student. I was thinking about purchasing a new course to help me with this problem and I was asking my mastermind group memb…
March 14, 2022

Money Mindset in Conservation and Your Career

On this week's podcast, I talk about a hot button issue and one you probably wouldn't expect from a wildlife biology and conservation based podcast: money. I always knew I wouldn't make a lot of money in my career, but was s…
March 1, 2022

Being Productive When You Don’t Want to Be

Productivity seems to be more of a career-oriented topic, but this is actually really important in wildlife and conservation work, and it’s something that is often overlooked. When I was in graduate school and working as a p…
Feb. 15, 2022

7 Ways to Become a Better Biologist on Your Own

In mid 2020 when COVID shut so many things down ( virtually everything), a lot of people lost their volunteer positions, internships, or seasonal positions, and they felt that it really set them back in their career in terms…
Feb. 1, 2022

Creating a Vision to Accelerate and Amplify Your Wildlife Goals

Hello everyone. And welcome to the Fancy Scientist. We’re still pretty new into the new year, about the end of January. And I am going to talk about the importance of having a vision for the longest time. I did have certain …
Jan. 18, 2022

Focus on What’s Important By Saying No

Hi guys. I am back. Yes. It's been a minute. If you are a regular listener to this podcast, you will remember. At the end of September, I said I was taking a break originally. I had planned to just take October. But I ended …
Sept. 28, 2021

The Best is Yet to Come: Thoughts on Getting Older and Life Changes

Is age really just a number? But not me! Instead I developed a mindset to appreciate my age and be grateful for every day I have here. In this podcast, I talk about some major life changes for me – turning 40, changing caree…
Sept. 21, 2021

Is Work-Life Balance in Science Possible?

This is a science podcast, so why am I talking about work-life balance? Because so many scientists are bad at it! I can’t even tell you how many scientists brag about working 60 or even 80 hours a week. It seems like everyon…
Sept. 14, 2021

What Makes a Good Mentor?

Everyone should have a mentor when trying to achieve something difficult in life. In science, mentors are unavoidable. They play an essential role. You need research experience to become a scientist, and mentorship is a cent…
Sept. 7, 2021

4 Tips for a Successful Academic Year in Graduate School

Last week on the Fancy Scientist podcast, I went over what graduate school was like and what it’s all about. This week, I talk about how you can have a successful year. Graduate school is not like undergrad. You can’t just s…
Sept. 2, 2021

Training to Be a Scientist: Graduate School

It’s the beginning of the school year so I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about where aspiring scientists go to train to be scientists: graduate school. Whether you are getting your Master’s or Ph.D., the exper…
Aug. 12, 2021

Elephant Tourism: What’s Best for Elephants

The inspiration for all of my writing and videos stems from animals. So often people want to become a wildlife biologist because they want to help animals. They envision themselves conducting important research to grow popul…
Aug. 4, 2021

Working in Education with Erin Apple

The inspiration for all of my writing and videos stems from animals. So often people want to become a wildlife biologist because they want to help animals. They envision themselves conducting important research to grow popul…
July 28, 2021

Your Biggest Struggle in Wildlife Careers: Part 3

This week’s podcast episode covers the second most popular answer to the question, “What is the problem you are struggling with most in regard to this career?” And the truth is all animals will be affected by climate change …
July 21, 2021

Your Biggest Struggle in Wildlife Careers Part 2

This week’s podcast episode covers the second most popular answer to the question, “What is the problem you are struggling with most in regard to this career?” To recap, a couple of months ago, I put this post on social medi…
July 13, 2021

Your Biggest Struggle in Wildlife Careers

A couple of months ago, I put this post on social media asking for people in wildlife biology, ecology, or zoology careers to help me out with some research: and I was shocked by the response! I got so many people who were i…
June 30, 2021

Sustainable Beach Vacation Tips

It’s summer time here in the US, which means lots of people head to the beach for vacation. With parties, holidays, and leisure happening at the beach, it can be easy to forget – or some people may never even know in the fir…
June 22, 2021

Sea Turtles and Straws with Christine Figginer

Several years ago, I went on a trip to Hilton head, South Carolina, and I woke up in the morning really early and went to the beach. This is something I always do when I am by the ocean, because you get to find some really c…
June 16, 2021

Financial Realities of Wildlife Careers with Emily Roberts

You get a degree and then a job, right? That’s how it is supposed to work. But in wildlife biology, ecology, and conservation careers, it’s not so straightforward. In the wildlife science realm, you need experience, but the …