It was over 30 years ago, but I remember well. It was grade one. My school had a great horned owl come to visit class through a local nature center. I remember looking into his big yellow eyes, watching his head turn side to side and being amazed how sharp his talons were.
It was then that I became obsessed with owls… soon thereafter it was an obsession with all birds of prey.. and ALL animals.
At a young age I had high hopes of becoming a veterinarian, until my goldfish died at the age of 6 and I decided it would be too difficult of a profession. But that didn’t stop me from following other life dreams.
I always seemed to come back to my first passion of animals.
I worked in high end dog fashion boutiques for over 10 years, and that inspired me to design my own dog clothing brand (Perverted Puppies, a tongue in cheek, puppy pun clothing line that was featured on The Real Housewives of Vancouver).
In 2017 I decided to take a weeklong falconry program at Pacific Northwest Raptors. I took this program to “hang out” with birds of prey.
I discovered you could have a career working with trained raptors.
Wildlife has always been my passion, especially working with birds. Flying birds of prey at airports and landfills to deter nuisance species, and performing educational flight demonstrations on mountaintops, was truly a dream come true.
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of training and working with some incredible animal species for television and film.
Today, that passion has grown into a deep commitment to wildlife conservation, with a special focus on turtles.
Nothing brings me more joy than spending time with my pets, Sam and Gigi. Whether we’re exploring the forest together or filming our Birder She Wrote show.
