Michelle Birkett // Koalafications for becoming a zookeeper




Seize the Yay show

Summary: I've been so excited to put this episode out into the world since we recorded it a few weeks ago. If there wasn't already enough yay going on up until this point, we were lucky enough to head to Adelaide to record this one on location at Adelaide Zoo!!! Nic and I are both absolutely obsessed with animals and one of the jobs I've been super keen to showcase on the show is zoo-keeping, so I'm delighted to have Senior Zookeeper Michelle Birkett on the show to confirm that it is in fact the best job ever. And we didn't just to get to record our chat, we spent a full day exploring and meeting the beautiful animals at the zoo beforehand. I loved meeting Michelle not only because she adores what she does, but also because it's been something she's wanted to do since she was younger and kept at it despite everyone telling her she'd "eventually grow out of it". She's also one of the first people we've had on who doesn't struggle as much with the productivity pressure and relentless achievement conveyer belt that we've talked about a lot in prior episodes. It's so refreshing to hear her perspective on ambition and how that doesn't always have to go upwards. I also loved that she still squeezed in some time overseas and lots of different jobs along the way but nothing swayed her away from life at the zoo. Hope she lights you up as much as she did us! + Full show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!