Alumni Spotlight: Stacia Carrington Takes on the Wildlife Trafficking Crisis
The Alumni Spotlight series consists of interviews from Earth Institute alumni about their career paths, how they became interested in our programs, and any suggestions that could be useful to future and existing trainees.
Stacia Carrington is an alumna of Columbia Universitys Masters in Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy. She now works at Focused Conservation.
Stacia Carrington always understood that she was driven to work in conservation. Growing up in Texas, she invested her downtime exploring creeks, catching tadpoles, and establishing a love for the natural world around her. As she explored her love of nature further, she grew enthusiastic about learning more about the plight of elephants and other threatened wildlife worldwide, and how to safeguard them.
After making her undergraduate degree in pre-med and art history from the University of Texas at Austin, Stacia understood that med school was not the course that she wanted to pursue. She discovered these positions to be important learning experiences, Stacia still understood that her dream would be to work in wildlife preservation; she just didnt understand how to get her foot in the door.
Living in New York City permitted Stacia to start coming across chances to get involved in junior committees for NGOs and non-profits. As a result, Stacia was finally able to explore opportunities in the preservation world.
Stacia discovered the program particularly appealing because she learned of the impactful careers in preservation being lived out by lots of others who had actually finished from the MPA-ESP program. Stacia knew that having access to Columbias resources, as well as the policy focus and worldwide reach at the School of International and Pubic Affairs, would be handy in her career in conservation. Furthermore, Stacia liked that the program included a lot of team effort.
While in the MPA-ESP program, Stacia improved her abilities in program management during the summer season policy workshop. She also got vital knowledge about the science behind legislation, and she increased her analytical abilities. “This program produces policymakers that understand the science,” Stacia kept in mind.
Stacia actually enjoyed the programs capstone task since it offered her the chance to use what she had actually discovered. For their MPA-ESP capstone jobs, Stacia and her groupmates helped IFAW establish and plan their policy movements. Stacia was thrilled to have the chance to prepare the two initial drafts of motions, one of which was about dealing with online prohibited wildlife trade and was embraced by IUCNs movement working group.
Stacias experience in the MPA-ESP program expanded her knowledge of policy, while also offering her the chance to take some courses in the Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology (E3B) department. One course that she remembers finding particularly fascinating was a preservation biology course with Sara Kross that highlighted the spaces in understanding and interaction in between the world of preservation policy and conservation science.
Towards completion of her time in the MPA-ESP program, a coworker presented Stacia to the work of Focused Conservation, a company devoted to alleviating the wildlife trafficking crisis, and she instantly understood that she desired to work for them after finishing. To get her foot in the door, Stacia offered for Focused Conservation throughout her final term in the MPA-ESP program. She also gained more experience by volunteering at another organization called Zooterra, filling the role of the external relations director, in which she worked to establish conservation partnerships with other companies.
After graduating from the MPA-ESP program in 2019, Stacia landed a position as the policy engagement expert for Focused Conservation. Since the organization worths policy education in their work, this task allows Stacia to draw on her science-based policy background from the MPA-ESP program.
Stacia is happy to work for such a results-driven and unique organization. Stacia finds satisfaction working on the unlawful wildlife trade crisis not only because of her passion for conservation, however likewise due to the fact that the concern of wildlife trafficking overlaps with lots of other crucial issues, including national security and international health.
Stacias existing project at Focused Conservation, Voices from the Arena, will serve as an instructional tool for members of Congress, federal government authorities abroad, the private sector, and more. The objective is to build seriousness and foster momentum for policy efforts on wildlife trafficking in the United States and globally. Stacia is presently working on project management for the Voices from the Arena pilot. She likewise spearheaded the pilot proposition, and through this work she has been able to bring in the needed funding for her program. Stacias day-to-day work currently also involves spending a lot of time on the phone working and coordinating on public relations, along with circulation and media methods for Voices from the Arena.
Stacias other project participation at Focused Conservation, the Global Sync Program, is based upon intelligence-sharing to fill understanding gaps, capacity spaces and connectivity gaps around the wildlife trafficking concern. She does a lot of administrative deal with this program to better notify policy through enhanced info sharing.
Over the long term, Stacia sees herself advancing her existing course. She is where she wishes to be: working in policy, especially in the role of recommending on wildlife trade policy, and educating policymakers on the concern to help them to make the connection from policy to on-the-ground action. She is also figured out to better connect people working on the ground (e.g., rangers and detectives combating wildlife trafficking) to policymakers so that policy is better notified and more efficient.
In conservation, in addition to in numerous other disciplines, Stacia believes that building good relationships is vital. She suggests that anybody aiming to operate in preservation needs to make time for networking and, “try not to be afraid to reach out to people to form connections.”
” Successful conservation has to do with collaborating, and more companies need to embrace a collaborative technique,” she says.” [W] hen you understand what others are doing, you end up considering problems from several different angles, and comprehending that different groups are taking on the issue in various ways. Typically you discover that forming collaborations with those who have various techniques can lead you to the very best general method for achieving the goal.”
Stacia likewise highlighted that perseverance is important if you desire to work in preservation. “If you understand in your heart that you desire to make a distinction in conservation, ultimately itll take place if you just keep at it. Express how enthusiastic you actually are, and youll get there.”
Please contact assistant director Pearl Gray ([email protected]) with any questions or to schedule a school see if youre interested in discovering more about the MPA-ESP program.
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Alexis Earl|January 14, 2022
She found these positions to be valuable knowing experiences, Stacia still understood that her dream would be to work in wildlife preservation; she just didnt understand how to get her foot in the door.
Stacia found the program especially appealing because she discovered of the impactful careers in preservation being lived out by many others who had actually graduated from the MPA-ESP program. Towards the end of her time in the MPA-ESP program, an associate introduced Stacia to the work of Focused Conservation, a company dedicated to mitigating the wildlife trafficking crisis, and she right away understood that she wanted to work for them after finishing. Stacia discovers complete satisfaction working on the unlawful wildlife trade crisis not only due to the fact that of her passion for conservation, but also due to the fact that the issue of wildlife trafficking overlaps with lots of other important issues, including national security and global health.
Stacia likewise stressed that determination is vital if you want to work in preservation.