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My guests this week are Jess Wells, a zookeeper at the Zoo in Forest Park and Marissa Reiss, also a zookeeper, at the St. Louis Zoo. In this dedicated episode on postpartum depression and anxiety, we talk about the feelings one experiences during postpartum; overwhelm, self-induced pressure, emotional outbursts like crying, feeling disconnected from your body, imposter syndrome, and constant comparison of your journey with that of friends and family.

We also talk about the importance of reaching out for help, either from a doctor, close friend, or family member. Both Jess and Marissa had very distinct moments when they felt they had reached that point. For Jess, that came at midnight one night and for Marissa she felt like she recognized it after the fact.

Both Marissa and Jess agreed that going back to work helped their mental health; going back to their "happy place" and animals that they had bonded with, and seeing coworkers again helped them to feel like they had human connections outside of babies and stressed partners.

Finally, we talk about how coworkers and facility leadership can support new moms coming back into the workplace. Both agreed that new moms need to be given some grace. They have just been through a new life change and need time to get back into the groove of things. Many things can change when you're gone on leave, especially when you work with animals!

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My guest this week is LynnLee Schmidt, Integrator at Tanganyika Wildlife Park. Numerous roles within the zoological field have given LynnLee a variety of experience serving in all capacities - animal keeper, animal presenter, educator, assistant curator, curator, and Chief of Connections, just to name a few.

LynnLee also founded Animals Amplified, a consulting company that empowers teams to develop innovative solutions so animals and keepers can find and live their “happy.” They focus on professional development, team culture, strategic planning, and leadership skills for animal care professionals, providing resources to frontline keeper staff that helps with retention and burnout. Listen to our important conversation about how to support "animal people" who find themselves in a leadership position that require them to be a "people person".

LynnLee and I talk a lot about work/life "balance" and spoiler alert LynnLee is very adament that it's not really possible to have that balance. We do ourselves and other new moms an injustice in calling it a balance because it portrays this image that if work and life are anything but equally balanced we must be failing. Work/life integration is a much better term, and LynnLee prefers to think of it as "seasons" of life. Inevitably, certain seasons of life will require more mental, emotional, and physical energy then others...and thats ok!

We also talk about the best way for leadership to support moms at their facilities. LynnLee believes that sometimes employees expect their facility to solve the problem - whatever the decision at hand is - but LynnLee feels strongly that leaderships needs to put the ownership of those hard decisions in the hands of the employee and then make sure leadership supports whatever decision they make. This helps employees develop their own internal mechanisms about how to make those decisions and feel good about them, rather then relying on the workplace to give them "permission" to not feel bad for making one decision over another.

"Be a Better Keeper", a free course offering on the Animals Amplified website - https://animalsamplified.teachable.com/p/be-a-better-keeper

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My guest this week is Chandler Hammack, a carnivore keeper at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. As a wife to an active duty Coast Guard husband, Chandler is no stranger to moving around the country and gaining experience at a variety of facilities, especially in recent years after becoming married. We talk about her work history and whether or not she feels that variety has been beneficial. She worries people look at her resume and wonder why she's moved so much (which she admits is also because she has an adventuring spirit) but also admits that it has given her experience and perspective she might not have gained otherwise!

Chandler was working with *the* famous Clydesdales of Busch Gardens when she became pregnant with her first child. She shares why she waited to tell her coworkers about her pregnancy until she was 20 weeks, as well as how she was able to be a pumping mom while at work and continue to work such a strenuous job.

When Chandler's son was 8 weeks old, her husband deployed. Chandler shares the story of how she moved home temporarily so that she had support as a new mom. Due to her husbands's job, she also found herself as a stay at home mom for a period of time, before eventually getting back into the zoo field. Chandler talks candidly about how being a zookeeper and a mom are basically one in the same! She honestly thought being a stay at home mom was harder than going to work as a zookeeper! Staying at home was overstimulating, especially since she was used to working. However, most of her day as a stay at home mom was the same as what she did as a zookeeper - cleaning, feeding someone breakfast, doing dishes, and sweeping the floor - all on repeat just like at the zoo!

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