We were fortunate enough to have Unathi Makwange join us for our June episode! Unathi is a wildlife projects coordinator in training from Pretoria, South Africa, with a deep-rooted passion for nature, storytelling, and making a difference in the conservation space. We learn all about Unathi's journey in getting to this role at the age of 20 years old, including rejection, pivoting, and ultimately finding her calling in the South African bush. In this chat Unathi was wise beyond her years, and provides listeners with insights into life as a young woman in wildlife in South Africa, along with offering some very important pieces of advice for those wanting to pursue a similar path.

You can find Unathi on instagram at @shivagonewild

Any questions or queries contact womeninwildlife@outlook.com

Links to our resources:

Website: https://women-in-wildlife.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/women.in.wildlife/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077369770841
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninwildlife

Music by Thomas Hagen from SLAUX

Welcome back with the WIW podcast listeners!

For our May episode we were joined by Ellesha Veness, who is an experienced zookeeper and professional wildlife rescuer. Ellesha shared her career journey with us from breaking into the industry, to working as a zookeeper in some of Australia's most iconic zoos; The Australian Reptile Park and Australia Zoo, to her role as a wildlife rescuer at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. In the latter role, Ellesha undertook some seriously unique and exciting wildlife rescues of our native animals, and we were lucky enough to gain insight into a few of these rescues. Ellesha was also generous enough to talk us through her long battle with endometriosis. We heard about the hurdles she has been faced with dealing with menstrual health within the wildlife industry, as well as what changes she would like to see to better accommodate other women working in the industry. This episode is not only for women dealing with menstrual health issues, but anyone dealing with chronic health problems, and further to all people in the workplace (particularly leaders) who can help support the large percentage of women who are battling these often invisible diseases. Our listeners were left with some fantastic advice from Ellesha- we cannot wait for you all to hear!

You can follow Ellesha on instagram at @elleshaveness, and access her blog post about endometriosis here:
https://lifeofellesha.wordpress.com/2025/03/09/another-endometriosis-story/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKmWDJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFySVYzSzJqMHVEaXhvbFVrAR56ib0ouE3_327ICU-kZ6HeRRIkvsvwqV8VkvNpfiRStwZKfSr3XGU97fF8QQ_aem_HmAA1vK5GkYtw-A2ETzYbg

Any questions or queries contact womeninwildlife@outlook.com

Links to our resources:

Website: https://women-in-wildlife.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/women.in.wildlife/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077369770841
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninwildlife

Music by Thomas Hagen from SLAUX

April's episode of the WIW podcast is with Dr Debbie Saunders, who is the Founder, CEO & Chief Remote Pilot, as well as the resident Conservation Ecologist at Wildlife Drones. We chatted through Debbie's journey, including founding Wildlife Drones (building radio-telemetry sensors for use on drones), which was inspired after work she did in her early career with the migratory bird 'Swift Parrot', which extended into her PhD. She found a lack of technology in the area of tracking these smaller, migratory species, which implored her to look further into technology development, which is where Wildlife Drones was born.

Debbie has also founded the organisation 'NatureHelm' (a biodiversity data platform for corporations and their supply chains) which has been an evolution of her work in wildlife conservation. We delved into the barriers that Debbie has faced being in the male-dominated technology space, as being a boss and founder of two successful organisations. Debbie was so open in sharing her wide-ranging experiences, we hope you enjoy this episode!

You can learn more about Wildlife Drones here: https://wildlifedrones.net/

Any questions or queries contact womeninwildlife@outlook.com

Links to our resources:

Website: https://women-in-wildlife.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/women.in.wildlife/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077369770841
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninwildlife

Music by Thomas Hagen from SLAUX

For March's podcast episode, we were privileged enough to chat to Dr Dami Pikuda, a seasoned researcher and program evaluator with extensive experience in designing, executing, and managing environment-related projects and programs. Dami fuses qualitative and quantitative work to propel meaningful action. Fittingly, Dami is part of the delivery team at Women for the Environment (WE) Africa; an organisation that sparks a movement of women leaders in Africa and beyond, who are role modelling a more effective way to do conservation. WE Africa puts women at the heart of transforming Africa’s environmental movement, and are an integral part of transforming women's experiences within the industry. We learnt about all the amazing work that WE Africa does, and Dami outlines the changes that she would like to see for women working within the space. We are currently running a fundraiser for WE Africa- you will hear all about the incredible work that they do, and would love for you to consider donating: https://www.gofundme.com/manage/iwgs-day-fundraiser-for-we-africa.

You can learn more about WE Africa here: https://womenforenvironment.org/

Any questions or queries contact womeninwildlife@outlook.com

Links to our resources:

Website: https://women-in-wildlife.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/women.in.wildlife/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077369770841
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninwildlife

Music by Thomas Hagen from SLAUX

Welcome back to the WIW podcast! We couldn’t be more excited to talk to Astrid O’Connor for our February episode. Astrid is a paleobiologist, science communicator, and second year PhD student. We learnt all about Astrid’s PhD, and how she fused her two passions in paleontology and zoology to answer modern conservation problems. Astrid is a huge advocate for accessibility in science, and uses her strong communication skills to convey science in different and palatable ways. Astrid also generously shared her experiences in some big personal changes in recent years, and we discuss further the changes that she would like to see in academia to make it a more inclusive space for all genders. Thank you Astrid!

You can follow Astrid on Instagram: @paleoastrid. We have also posted the artwork mentioned in the episode on our social media post for this episode!

Any questions or queries contact womeninwildlife@outlook.com

Links to our resources:

Website: https://women-in-wildlife.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/women.in.wildlife/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077369770841
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninwildlife

Music by Thomas Hagen from SLAUX

Happy New Year to our wonderful Women in Wildlife Community! We are kicking off the podcast in 2025 covering an extremely important topic- mental health in the wildlife industry. Who better to delve into this topic with than the executive director of "Not One More Vet", which is an important not-for-profit organisation focusing on tackling suicide and mental health in the veterinary profession. Outside of her role at NOMV, Gigi is a therapist, leadership coach, and consultant. Gigi talked us through the crisis that veterinary professionals are facing, and the multitude of factors that contribute to it. Gigi shares some strategies on how to cope with the pressures that all animal workers face, including but not exclusive to; compassion fatigue, eco-anxiety, and imposter syndrome. We also hear all about the incredible resources that NOMV provide, which you can learn about through their website: https://nomv.org/.

*Disclaimer*: We do cover sensitive topics in this episode, which includes the mention of suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please reach out immediately to the suicide prevention hotline in your country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines

Any questions or queries contact womeninwildlife@outlook.com

Links to our resources:

Website: https://women-in-wildlife.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/women.in.wildlife/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077369770841
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninwildlife

Music by Thomas Hagen from SLAUX

Our final episode of the year is a yearly wrap up and our major highlights of the podcast in 2024. Co-hosts Maddy and Eliza talk through some of our largest take-home messages from our guests this year, who were very generous in sharing their wealth of knowledge and insights with us.

Thank you to all our listeners for your support his year. We cannot wait to bring you more in 2025! Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years.

Any questions or queries contact womeninwildlife@outlook.com

Links to our resources:

Website: https://women-in-wildlife.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/women.in.wildlife/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077369770841
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninwildlife

Music by Thomas Hagen from SLAUX

For October's episode, we were joined by conservation educator and popular podcast host, Kirsty Costa! Kirsty is currently the senior manager of conservation impact at Zoos Victoria, where she combines her love for both education and conservation. Kirsty is also the host of the popular podcast "Weekend Birder", a birding podcast for people of all levels and interests (not to mention it is also the no.1 nature podcast on Apple Podcasts). Kirsty chatted us through her journey in discovering her love for nature, conservation, education, and science communication, and how she has utilised the transferable skills that she has developed along the way to curate a successful career combining many of her passions. We delve into how Kirsty would like to see educators approach conservation in a more holistic way, and the importance of using an inclusive approach when it comes to conservation science communication. Finally, Kirsty very generously opened up about her struggles with early menopause, and the impact that has had on her career and personal life. Kirsty was a breath of fresh air and an absolute delight to chat to, we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did!

Tune into the intro to hear about our upcoming WIW trips in 2025, and updates on our new merchandise.

You can find Kirsty on instagram at @kirsty_costa, and Weekend Birder at @weekend.birder

Any questions or queries contact womeninwildlife@outlook.com

Links to our resources:

Website: https://women-in-wildlife.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/women.in.wildlife/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077369770841
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninwildlife

Music by Thomas Hagen from SLAUX