Snow Leopard Conservancy Art & Poetry Contest 2024 Judgesslcadmin2024-06-29T17:53:06-05:00
Margaret Gee hails from Sydney, Australia. She’s worked in publishing for over 30 years, and for the last 20 years has been a literary agent specializing in memoirs and other non-fiction works focusing on nature, Himalayan cultures, anthropology, history, animal welfare, and wellness. Margaret has visited Bhutan eight times and travelled extensively in Nepal, India, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. She regularly attends the Jaipur Literature festival and went on her first snow leopard expedition in 2019. Margaret returned to Ladakh to search for the Grey Ghost in January 2023. She is the Snow Leopard Conservancy’s Australian Ambassador.
Astrid Stevenson served as the Conservancy’s Office Manager over the past year, administratively supporting the team and assisting with outreach events. Her passion for wildlife and conservation began while living on 480 acres of land in the Mayacamas mountain range in Sonoma County. Listening to the female mountain lion calls at night quickly ignited a great fondness for a local apex predator. She actively volunteers with the Audubon Canyon Ranch Living With Lions program, monitoring trail cameras and visiting classrooms to educate children on the importance of apex predators in their environment. Her favorite activities include tracking, camping, and spending time outdoors with her children.
Carolyn MacKenzie serves as Secretary on the Conservancy’s Board of Directors. Carolyn always wanted to be a wildlife biologist. At age 20 she backpacked across Africa, India and the Middle East. She received her Master of Science degree in biophysics and a Bachelor of Science in zoology, both from the University of California, Davis. Along the way, her direction changed. She recently retired after a distinguished 40-year career in the field of Health Physics. Carolyn’s broad experience includes the development of a computer-based international radiation safety training course for onsite test ban treaty inspectors, securing and disposing of dangerous radioactive sources for the University of California, systemwide and for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in global source security.
Anne Curtis retired from a career in Public Health in 2016 and went on to become a writer. Primarily interested in poetry, she also writes essays and short stories. Her poems have been winners in the Snow Leopard Conservancy’s Art and Poetry contest over the past few years. Her interest in snow leopards and the Himalayas began when she spent a college semester studying in Nepal many years ago. Since then she has travelled in Ladakh, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet and is passionate about the Himalayas and snow leopard conservation. Her other conservation interests include wolves and their habitat in the United States. She volunteers at Wolf Haven International, a sanctuary for rescued wolves where she shares her knowledge of wolves with children and adults. Other interests include exploring new places, walking, yoga, and horseback riding.
Shavaun Kidd is the Conservancy’s Outreach Manager, maintaining their presence on a variety of social media platforms, and is the administrator of the Conservancy’s website, editor of the Conservancy’s online newsletter publication, “Snow Leopard Tracks,” and was the host of “Conservation Cat Chats,” an online program featuring guests who are involved in snow leopard conservation. In addition, she handles online fundraising sales and is the coordinator of the Conservancy’s annual Art & Poetry Contest. Shavaun also serves as a conservation educator, speaking to a variety of audiences about snow leopard conservation and responding to student and teacher inquiries. She was the editor of the book Searching for the Snow Leopard, Guardian of the High Mountains, co-authored with photographer Bjorn Persson. Shavaun completed her Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences degree at Western Illinois University, which was centered around a post-baccalaureate certificate program in zoo and aquarium studies, with a focus on conservation education and anthrozoology. She received bachelor’s degrees in biology, music education, and elementary education from Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, and gives private instruction in piano and voice.
Monica DuClaud has a masters degree in graphic communications and 30+ years of experience in the design, advertising, printing and digital communications fields. She was an art director for advertising and design firms in New York, Mexico City and San Francisco. Her work has been published in Advertising Age magazine.