This is What I do when I'm not Training

Many of you may know that I work in a Zoo marketing department. And as many of you have noted, I don't fit the marketing "mold." The closest I had ever come to marketing was in marketing & communications, and before my current position, I was a web applications developer at a university. It could have been a disaster in the making.

My Zoo job description started out as website updating, sending email newsletters, writing press releases and assisting (and managing) Zoo events and media opportunities. When I took the job, I was terrified of the second half of that sentence (the event and media stuff). I saw my goal as a way out of a boring going-nowhere programming job and a way into finally using my web skills -- graphics, design, writing, programming, etc. -- at an organization that can change the world for the better. I never thought I would launch a whole new career.

I now find myself doing things I never thought I'd do. Filming and editing and photographing behind the scenes at the Zoo. I meet the most amazing people who dedicate their lives to caring for and learning about animals -- to save them, not to exploit them. I also get to fuel my love for the ever-expanding web by maintaining the Zoo's presence in many social media outlets. What's better than loving your job and getting paid to share it with the world??

And believe it or not, I have survived a disaster or two while doing these things. I've broken a rib slipping on ice, been bitten by a domestic cat, and ... well actually, that's it. All of my own doing (would you expect anything less from the disaster magnet?)

The realization came the other day. I was in a boat on a lake going to film with the keeper of our summer lemur exhibit - on an island. I could pretend I was in Madagascar filming on location. Until the lemurs saw us and gathered on the shore... anticipating their morning feeding. So, well, it wasn't REALLY in the wild. It was EVEN BETTER -- and I can't wait to share it.

Here are a few lemur photos I took with my still camera - awesome animals. If you ever get to see them in the wild, don't pass up the opportunity: