Dr. Rae: Wildlife Ecologist

From the outside, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant’s journey to become a renowned wildlife ecologist, author, and TV series host looks like a perfect path. But everything that happened in the middle? “It was a freaking mess,” she said.

Growing up in San Francisco as an urban kid, Rae’s family didn’t hike or camp. Instead, she fell in love with nature from indoors, watching nature shows. One of her favorites was Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. As she sat watching it, she told her parents, “I want to be a nature show host.” But she didn’t know anyone who actually worked with wild animals. It wasn’t until college that she realized that wildlife ecology was actually a career track.

“It came without the cameras, but it came with positive change,” Rae said. “We’re losing these animals, we’re losing these wild places, and you could be part of a team that helps protect them and bring them back.”

The only thing was: by halfway through college in Atlanta, she’d still never really spent any time outdoors. And she didn’t have any family, friends, or mentors who could help guide her. She’d have to teach herself how to experience nature.

She signed up for a study abroad in Kenya to study East African wildlife. Her first day in that country was also the first time she saw a wild animal. The first time she pitched a tent. Went for a hike. Suddenly, she was empowered. She was living the life she’d chosen when she was seven years old.

A bachelor’s degree, two masters’ degrees, PhD, and post-doctoral fellowship in wildlife ecology later, and Rae still wanted to be a nature show host.

But if they saw it on TV, they would know. And we need more people who want to save wild animals.
 Just like she taught herself to be outdoors, Rae taught herself to become a nature presenter. She started with a talk at her local library on the environment. Only two people attended. But she didn’t stop. And eventually, she became one of the highest-profile science communicators out there.

“What helped me be more visible is that I always brought my identity into it,” she said. “I am not the traditional person who works in wildlife ecology or conservation or is a leader in this. I always presented myself as a millennial Black woman from an urban, low-income environment who didn’t go outside until I was twenty years old. I am the only black female bear biologist in the whole entire world. I’m the only person like this. But that doesn’t mean that others can’t be like this too, that there can’t be more of us.”

Rae didn’t have other Black women mentors in her field growing up. Her aunt, a journalist, taught her that she could be a highly educated professional as one of very few Black women in a non-traditional career path. And she eventually started finding other young Black women in different fields who were breaking through around the same time. Issa Rae, producer, writer, and actress. Misty Copeland, the first Black soloist at the American Ballet Theatre. “There’s a community there,” Rae said.

In 2017, Rae took another step toward becoming a nature show host: she got herself an agent. In meetings with network executives, though, she kept hearing the same thing. “They would say, ‘Whoa, you are the real deal. You could be fabulous. But you’ll never have a nature show. Only white men with beards have nature shows. And the industry isn’t going to shift. Don’t keep trying.’”

Rae didn’t keep trying. She knew she couldn’t survive the pain of being told over and over that she couldn’t do something because she was Black and female.

Then one day in 2022, Rae got a call from Wild Kingdom. Would she be interested in being a guest host on bears? The episode went incredibly well. Soon Rae was co-host of the entire show. “When I was a kid, I saw it, I wanted it, I worked really hard, and now I have my dream job. But it took thirty years. There’s so much in between.”

Rae just released her memoir, Wild Life, in spring 2024. The narrative thread is her personal journey to becoming a wildlife ecologist, and her realizations through it.

“One of the things I learned along the way was that doing wildlife work on camera actually wasn’t the purposeful part. It’s the bonus.