Girls in STEM Day

Leslie has worked at NHM for 25 years, caring for animals and educating about the most misunderstood creatures. Her career started in theatrical construction, but she has been a nanny, a carpenter, a welder, a gallery educator and a zookeeper. One of her favorite jobs was making toys and games for zoo animals at the LA Zoo Enrichment department. Everything she does at work these days is for the Love of Animals!

Dr. Emily Lindsey is Associate Curator and Excavation Site Director at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum. She studies what Ice Age animals and ecosystems were like, how climate change and human actions can combine to cause extinctions, and how plants and animals might respond to environmental changes going on today.

Juliet Hook first started her journey at the museum volunteering in front of the dueling dinosaurs in highschool. After graduating from UC Davis with a Bachelor’s of Science in Evolutionary Anthropology, Juliet Hook began her career with this museum on a grant funded project to curate vertebrate fossils (over 19,000 years old) from Gypsum Cave, Nevada. While working at the museum part-time, she also stewarded the meteorite collection and gallery at UCLA. As she’s continued in her role as a fossil librarian, she’s had the opportunity to work with extinct bone crushing dogs, giant ground sloths, jetting ammonites, and even cannibalistic snails. She’s passionate about making the 7 million specimens she manages as accessible as possible and continues to learn something new about the field, our dedicated community, and these unique specimens every day.

Wenluv is a Filipina DJ, sound healer, and anthropologist born and based in Los Angeles. A proud daughter of immigrants and a Beat Junkies Institute of Sound alum, she blends her deep love for music with cultural storytelling and healing frequencies. Whether on the decks or leading sound baths, Wenluv curates experiences that uplift the soul. True to her name, Wenluv, she spreads LUV and good energy, bridging communities through the power of sound.

Jann Vendetti is the Natural History Museum’s Associate Curator of Malacology (Mollusks). She is interested in the natural history, evolution, systematics, and conservation of marine and terrestrial snails­­­­. She is proud of the Snails and slugs Living in Metropolitan Environments (SLIME) project, and champions the role of the public in documenting molluscan biodiversity.

Joyce P. Uglow is a children’s book author, poet, speaker, and award-winning educator based in Burlington, WI. She’s the author of STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits (Bushel & Peck Books) and poetry in several print anthologies. She has an MSE in Special Education and MSE in Educational Leadership. She creates thought-provoking, curiosity-driven children's literature about nature, science, and our planet. Joyce explores museums, national parks, mountains, and the ocean whenever she can. She is SCBWI Wisconsin’s Assistant Regional Advisor, 2024 CYBILS judge for poetry, and past president of Wisconsin State Reading Association. https://joyceuglowauthor.com