April Kelly's ('07) lifelong passion for conservation has her juggling multiple projects.

The New York City-based alumna is the founder of Conservation Wild, a nonprofit focused on wildlife and community-based conservation.

"Growing up, I always knew I wanted to work with people, cultures and animals."

On top of that, she's also a conservation filmmaker and children's book author -- all while still working full time as an international flight attendant.

"My life has been full of opportunities that I just ran with and led me to where I am today," Kelly says.

Laying the Foundation

Kelly grew up surrounded by animals -- from cats and dogs to snakes and birds. However, her childhood hero is what spurred her on to earning dual bachelor's degrees in anthropology and geography at UNT.

"I wanted to be a primatologist like Jane Goodall," Kelly says. "Primates were my main passion but the more I got into anthropology, the more I realized I also loved the cultural aspect of it."

While at UNT, Kelly joined the student organization World Echoes, where she also served as vice president. The organization was a place for students to share their cultures with one another and learn about other countries. They also held fundraisers for issues such as fighting human trafficking.

"That organization helped fuel my passion for cultures and supporting communities."

A class trip in her senior year sealed the deal for Kelly's love of working with international communities.

"It was for an anthropology class with Dr. Mahmoud Sadri. We did a Nile River cruise and saw how the local communities made textiles, crafts and food," Kelly says. "It was the first time I truly knew that working with local communities was something I was passionate about."

After graduating, Kelly became a flight attendant and took some time away from academia before deciding to go for her zoology/wildlife and environmental conservation master's degree at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Her focus then switched from primates to jaguars thanks to connecting with her mentor, zoologist Alan Rabinowitz, co-founder of Panthera, one of the largest wildlife conservation organizations dedicated to protecting all wildcat species.

In 2018 -- weeks prior to an expedition in the Pantanal in Brazil to demonstrate their work with jaguars -- Rabinowitz died. The trip went on as planned and was led by Kelly and Rabinowitz's best friend, Panthera's Jaguar Program Director Howard Quigley.

"That expedition changed the trajectory of my life. I met so many people that I work with now thanks to it and our work with jaguars."

The Start of a Nonprofit

To honor Rabinowitz and his legacy, Kelly teamed up with Dave Taylor, owner of Cool Brick Studios, whom she met two years earlier while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. They created Mark of the Jaguar, a film about Rabinowitz's work with Panthera and jaguar conservation in the Pantanal. They shot the film in 2019, and it premiered in 2021 at the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City, where it won the Best Endangered Species award.

That same year, Kelly founded her nonprofit Conservation Wild on International Women's Day, a conscious decision. "We're a women-led organization, our team and our board of directors are women. We also support women in conservation who are out in the field and on the frontlines."

The nonprofit works with multiple groups in countries like Brazil, Namibia and Belize. It offers expeditions where participants can get involved in hands-on conservation efforts, such as releasing baby sea turtles in Costa Rica.

"You don't have to have field research experience. We show you how to do field work, and you get to meet the communities we work with."

Beyond expeditions, Kelly also visits with Conservation Wild's partners throughout the year making sure their needs are met.

"We don't just support them financially. For example, with our river otter partners, I was helping with collecting samples, setting camera traps and monitoring family groups in the area."

Looking ahead, Kelly plans for Conservation Wild to launch its own research projects alongside its partners. One upcoming initiative is a hawkbill sea turtle monitoring project in Costa Rica.

Currently, all team members are volunteers, but Kelly hopes that one day the organization will be able to fund full-time positions and provide salaries.

"The future of conservation is women supporting women," she says. "Every donation helps empower women doing hard work in the field. When women with the means team up with women with the dreams, we're unstoppable."