So many may have NOT noticed that I dropped the "Biologist" from my title. Such an insignificant thing on the large scale. It was monumental for me.
Growing up in The Bahamas, there was already a lot of pressure for "science kids" to pursue medicine. I always loved the environment and animals so I thought I found a loophole by saying that I wanted to be a marine animal veterinarian. I took it even further 5 weeks into my undergrad degree by switching from "Pre-Veterinary" studies to Marine Biology.
I'd still be a scientist right? I could still have "Dr." in front of my name!
If you read my last blog post, I noted that I always found myself "building community", well in my professional life, I always found myself speaking to people. I always ended up in informal education roles or positions that had me presenting a topic within marine and environmental sciences. I absolutely loved it and also told people, no I'm not an educator or anything, I'm a Marine Biologist - I do scientific research! I surely didn't haha
After my masters, I kept finding myself conflicted. I had no idea what I wanted to do! Thanks to Conservation Careers founder, Nick Askew and our Program Administrator Olga, I did the Conservation Careers "career compass" and discovered that my passion and purpose was outreach and informal education.
I want to be a public figure that brings awareness to marine conservation issues.
I always said I want to be like Miss Frizzle (magic school bus) - I even had red/orange-ish hair for a while or even a David Attenborough! I just want to make people care because I care and I just want people to have the innate behavior to conserve the world we live in.
I want to reconnect people with nature, one conversation at a time.
I really want humans to remember that we are not separate from nature, we are and have always been a part of it.
So here I am... no longer a Marine Biologist... I'm Lashanti, Marine Conservationist. Nice to meet you.
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