It was Korinna’s experience with a snow leopard at the San Diego Zoo that started it all.
“It came towards me, stopped right in front of me,” says Korinna. “It looked me straight in the eye and let out something like a deep ‘meow.’ It was one of those moments when I felt I had transcended everything—I saw myself in the snow leopard’s eyes, felt empathy for it.” In that moment, Korinna knew she had found her true passion.
Since graduating from OFY in 2010, Korinna had been working as a hair and makeup stylist, hoping to break into the entertainment industry. But after her experience with the leopard, she soon enrolled in Santa Monica College to begin her path to a new career. As a first-generation college student, she struggled to support herself financially, splitting her time between working a full time job and studying into the early morning. But her hard work paid off and she's now a wildlife biologist after having earned her B.Sc. in Wildlife Management & Conservation from Humboldt State University. Over the years, she has worked on wildlife projects that include species such as black bears, mountain lions, porcupines, river otters, and Roosevelt elk.
Korinna's career has gone from strength to strength with her passion for cougars underscoring her work.
In 2020, Korinna founded the Cougar Conservancy, a non-profit dedicated to mitigating human-wildlife conflict and conserving cougar populations through science-based approaches. Before establishing the Cougar Conservancy, Korinna played a key role in advocating for the listing of Southern and Central Coast mountain lions under the California Endangered Species Act in collaboration with the Center for Biological Diversity and the Mountain Lion Foundation.
The following year in 2021, Korinna joined the National Wildlife Federation as the Director of Conservation Programs for the California Region. During her tenure, she actively supported the #SaveLACougars campaign, an inititiative to build the world's largest wildlife crossing. A dedicated science communicator, she frequently engages with the media, participates in community events, and presents at professional conferences. Her interviews and photography have garnered recognition on NPR, BBC, CBS, ABC, The Wildlife Society, and more.
Recently, Korinna authored the book "Coastal California —The Wild Life."
Korinna shares many of the images and videos she captures through her research, along with information regarding wildlife conservation, on her blog.
