Save the planet, GET PAID
Hawaii-based conservationists share their paths to success through gaining well-rounded skills, and not being afraid to change career paths
BY ANNA STEPHENSON
T
hree conservationists said finding a career in conservation after graduation can be daunting, but not impossible. Savili Kamuela Bartley, Jr., from Waianae, said he went from working in IT, to traveling around the world as a volunteer working on conservation projects with elephants, coral and plastic-related effects on the environment. He currently works as an intern at the Loko Ea fishpond in Haleiwa. He said, “If there are volunteer opportunities at nonprofits that you are interested in, go for it. Check different website platforms to find available positions, such as conservation job boards or conservation careers. Also, if you are able or are interested in traveling, I 100 percent would recommend this because you will view the world in a totally different lens, and it will open your mind to so many things.” Rae Okawa, from Kawaihae, said she got a master’s in environmental studies and started out as a field researcher in Pennsylvania. She said she then switched to a development coordinator for the Hawaii Wildlife Center and has worked there full time since 2012.
3 4 KE AL A K A‘I 2021
She said, “You can take what you’re good at or what you’re interested in and find a way to work it into conservation. And don’t get discouraged if your path changes along the way. It happens. “If hard-core science and research is your thing, then great! If it isn’t your thing, that’s also fine. Perhaps environmental policy or law is more interesting to you. There’s also environmental education and outreach, media and communications, graphic design and more.” She explained all these are helpful in the conservation field. Rebecca Choquette, from Pearl City, said she studied veterinary science for two years before she decided she wanted to work in conservation. “The biggest setback I faced,” she explained, “was realizing and admitting the goal I had set for myself, veterinary medicine, needed to change. It wasn’t what I wanted to spend my life doing.” Choquette said this was a “painful realization” because she had already been studying veterinary medicine for two years and had wanted to be a veterinarian her whole life. However, after school, she landed the “perfect job” at the Reptile and Keiki Zoo at the Honolulu Zoo.
