Julia Vanaman

Background

About Julia Vanaman

I am an adaptable person who enjoys creative problem solving and is always willing to try something new. I value communication and collaboration among departments working closely to achieve the same goal. From feeding chickadees perched on my fingertips at 6 years old to extricating Chelydra serpentina from nets at 20, I've loved animals and nature for as long as I can remember. We are living in what has been called the sixth mass extinction event in the appropriately nicknamed Anthropocene era. As such, I want to conserve species both commonplace and endangered in any setting, including in the field, zoos, rehabilitation centers, or shelters. I look for opportunities that allow me to fulfill my passion for conservation with an organization dedicated to inclusion and diversity. In my role as Animal Care Manager I oversaw 30 employees who provide direct care to an average of 250 animals a day at one of the largest animal shelters in Virginia. I have excellent prioritization skills, spatial planning, and resource allocation to ensure animals are well cared-for and are adopted quickly. I cultivate and maintain strong interpersonal relationships to navigate competing priorities among employees and other operations managers. In all areas I have excelled and was largely self-taught. I decreased the turnover rate in my department, fostered stronger bonds among departments by sharing staff to encourage community ties, implemented several new policies and procedures to streamline communication, correctly identified reasons behind burnout and poor performance, and then eliminated them. I will dearly miss the animals and people who I have formed strong bonds with as a result, but I am ready for new challenges! I am excited to now be able to apply 2+ years of management skills and more to my next conservation role.