Ever since I was a little girl, I loved wildlife and was keenly interested in learning about the natural world, reading my father's National Geographic magazines ardently as they arrived each month. Throughout my school career, Biology was my favorite subject, and I was encouraged to apply for a degree in Zoological and Ecological Sciences.

I completed my undergraduate BSc degree at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in 2014 and went on to do my Honors degree in the School of Animals, Plants and Environmental Sciences in 2015. My project focused on identifying the coexistence mechanisms between two species of mongoose in an urbanized area, resulting in a better understanding of how animals survive in human-altered areas.

With a growing passion for Science, I completed my MSc at Wits in 2017. My project investigated human-wildlife conflict with the African wild dog in South Africa, which I completed within one year. My research quantified losses by commercial and subsistence farmers to carnivores and contributed to a better understanding of the spatial behavior of wild dogs and identified key landscape features that predicted mortality risk in these endangered carnivores. During this time, I also volunteered to assist with obtaining population estimates of different dangerous and non-dangerous game species using the Distance Sampling technique at uMkhuze Nature Reserve in Kwazulu-Natal, where I spent three weeks walking transects in the reserve with rangers and teammates.

In March 2017, I was accepted into the National Research Foundation's year-long internship program, during which time I worked with the Ditsong Museum of Natural History and AfricanBats NPC. My main tasks were to assist in museum collection management and to create a catalogue of all the small mammal type specimens. Additionally, I assisted with fieldwork, data collection and management and writing reports  (2017 and 2018 African Chiroptera Report). I also contributed to community outreach and various education programs, teaching people from a variety of ages and backgrounds about bats at community batting events, National Science Week and the Yebo Gogga Yebo AmaBlomo exhibition.

During my internship, I realized the shortfall of information available for various aspects of bat ecology and conservation in South Africa, leading me to develop my PhD project, which I completed in 2020 at the University of Pretoria (UP) through the Mammal Research Institute. My project focused on investigating various factors around a migratory species of bat spanning across behavior, morphology and physiology. I have produced several international publications,  advancing our knowledge and the conservation efforts of these understudied animals. Whilst completing my PhD, I also volunteered with the Snapshot Safari project, assisting researchers from UP, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the McGregor Museum to conduct small mammal surveys in the Kalahari and the Karoo.

I then continued my journey with bats and am a post-doctoral researcher with the Centre for Viral Zoonoses and Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria. My project was inter-disciplinary and focused on identifying potential hotspots of bat-borne disease spillover risk in South Africa. Through this project, I was also a part of a global team of diverse, multi-disciplinary scientists within the OneHealth initiative within the EcoHealth Alliance and UNICEF.  I published several papers contributing to the conservation of bats in southern Africa in collaboration with some of the country's top scientists, contributed to an international OneHealth workshop and presented some exciting research at the International Bat Research Conference in Austin, Texas in August 2022. 

During my postdoc, I was lucky enough to be one of six scientists to become a fellow with NEWF (Nature, Wildlife and Environmental Filmmaking). I rediscovered my passion for creativity and learned how to turn science into exciting stories. I learned how to write, direct and produce a story, film and edit. Our conservation-themed  short film premiered at the Conservation Symposium in Durban a week later.  Since then, I have learned how to scuba dive and served as a production assistant for National Geographic Society and Red Nature Films. Now, I enjoy telling science stories as one of 10 emerging storytellers in the Africa Refocused fellowship, backed by the National Geographic Society and NEWF. I currently work as a Science Communicator for Genus Palaeosciences.

My core competencies include:

Research development - Project management - Written and oral communication - Data management - Statistical data analysis - Scientific reporting - Leadership and collaboration