Join us on Tuesday, June 15th at 6:30pm for DC EcoWomen’s signature EcoHour for a conversation with Carolina Powell, Primate Keeper at Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Mentorship Director and founding member of the Association of Minority Zoo and Aquarium Professionals (AMZAP).

ABOUT CAROLINA: 

Carolina Powell is a first-generation college graduate born to Colombian parents and raised by her single mother. Growing up, Carolina witnessed the hardships her mother went through and was always given the same advice: “Go to school so you can be successful and don’t have to endure what we are now.”

Because of this, she was conflicted when she decided to change her career aspirations from veterinarian to zookeeper. The journey to becoming a keeper was difficult and often filled with doubt. However, she was given her “big break” when she was offered a position at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore in 2014.

Including her time as an intern, Carolina has been in the zoological field for eight years and currently works as a primate keeper at Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Throughout her career, she has worked with a variety of species ranging from goats and cows to lemurs, chimpanzees, leopards, gorillas, and orangutans. As a keeper, Carolina is in charge of record keeping, medicating, training, and basic animal husbandry such as feeding and cleaning.  One of her favorite parts of her job is getting to train animals to participate in their own medical care. Behaviors like voluntary injections, ultrasound, and blood draws are all extremely important to monitoring the health of these animals.

Carolina is also passionate about helping individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups get into the field and was thrilled when she was approached by curator, Craig Saffoe, to join him as a founding member of the Association of Minority Zoo and Aquarium Professionals (AMZAP). Since its inception, Carolina has taken on the role of Director of Mentorship, where she focuses on helping aspiring zoo and aquarium professionals get matched with mentors currently within the field.

*Please note: DC EcoWomen EcoHours are open to women and those who identify as women, including members of the LGBTQ community and gender fluid individuals.