Gracie Wenzel

I attribute my drive to my parents. They're always very supportive of me. Any job that I'm looking at, whether it's in the country or out of the country, they're like, go for it, do it, get the experience, go explore the world. Just do the best you can. I also have an undergraduate professor who was my advisor and who I did research with. From the very beginning of freshman year to even now, which is five and a half years later, she's in there whenever I need support or advice or anything. She's also a marine biologist, so she helps me find options and push me forward. She's not letting me quit. She went with me to all those conferences and still introduces me to people and makes connections for me.

The best career advice I've ever received is: don't say no during an interview. If they ask if you're willing to do something, say yes, and then figure it out later. Sound confident, don't say no. My mom has always said that too. She's like, don't ever say no, say yes until you figure it out, and then you can figure it out later. You have to be willing to take on challenges even if you don't know exactly how to do them yet, because once they hire you and put all that effort into you, they're usually going to train you anyway.

Don't give up. A lot of people give up when they find out how hard it is to get into marine biology. Just keep pushing for it. Even if you have the support of your parents or not, just do what you can. Finances aren't always going to be the best, they're going to be tight, but you just have to learn to work around it and learn to build your schedule around what you want to do, so that one day you can look back and go, I made it. Marine biology has a lot of challenges to get into. There's not a lot of jobs for it right now, and the jobs that they do have, you need a lot of experience to get. That's why a lot of people go back to school and get a master's, do these unpaid internships, which is what mine is, to get all that experience. But don't let that discourage you. Keep pushing forward.

There are so many challenges in marine biology. There's not a lot of jobs for it right now, and the jobs that they do have, you need a lot of experience to get. That's why a lot of people go back to school and get a master's, do these unpaid internships, which is what mine is, to get all that experience. Even when I was working on the boats, it's a very dangerous situation, but a lot of people do it to start out in their careers to get the experience. Networking is huge in this field. It's who you know. Expanding your network, especially outside your own organizations and outside universities, is a big part of making it in this industry.

Compassion is a big thing for me, not just to people, but to the animals. You can't be in this field unless you have compassion for the animals and you understand them. You can't be afraid of them. A lot of people are afraid of a lot of marine species and afraid of the ocean, but you can't be. You have to be compassionate and be brave, be willing to try different stuff that you never thought you'd be able to do or that you had the opportunity to do. I'm also driven by the environmental aspect. Reading about how people are treating these animals and having no care about it, plastic pollution destroying the oceans, that sort of thing, I don't want that to continue. When I do have kids, I don't want them to see that and ask why isn't anyone doing anything. Learning about conservation issues when I was younger, that's what draws me more towards the conservation and policy side of marine biology.