Tsalani Lassiter
Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
Growing up in San Francisco, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant’s only exposure to the wilderness was through nature documentaries. “I remember realizing, ‘There are jungles out there,’” she says. The wildlife ecologist knew that she wanted to someday host a nature show of her own, but had no clear road map for how to achieve that. Her journey to becoming a co-host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, first broadcast on NBC in 1963, is a study in both perseverance and pivoting. She studied environmental science in college, realizing that “TV show or no TV show, I can have a career helping to design the science that saves endangered species from extinction and takes me around the world and offers me adventures—and I can be a smarty-pants scientist.” Her research took her from the mountains of Montana to the savannahs of Tanzania to the jungles of Madagascar, often as the first Black American woman entering these spaces in a position of scientific authority and expertise—experiences she chronicles in her forthcoming memoir, WILD LIFE: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World, out April 2. The more she immersed herself in her work, the more she realized her passion for ecology and equity intersected. “I had been taught to keep science and social justice very, very separate, and they came crashing together over and over,” she says. Using her platform today, she advocates for better representation in environmental work. “I don’t think any of us are happy with the place the environment is in right now. The habitual practice of excluding certain people and elevating others to leadership has gotten us to this point,” Dr. Wynn-Grant says. “Having more people from diverse backgrounds with different experiences that come from different parts of the world, or different ideologies or societies or communities, will only strengthen the ideas and innovations that are necessary in order to create a healthy, balanced planet.” —Sarah Khan
Credits
Lead editors: Lale Arikoglu, Megan Spurrell
Research: Alexandra Sanidad
Lead visuals: Andrea Edelman, Pallavi Kumar
Supporting visuals: Matt Buck, Karin Mueller, Zoe Westman
Global social lead: Mercedes Bleth
Supporting social media: Emily Adler, Kayla Brock, Crystal Waterton
Newsletters: Erin Paterson, Claire Leaper
Public relations: Erin Kaplan
Special thanks: Virginia Buedo, Eva Duncan, Jude Kampfner, Eugene Shevertalov, Jessica Rach
