Veronica first joined The Marine Mammal Center as a Youth Crew volunteer in 2007. She went on to serve in a leadership position as a Topside animal care crew supervisor for over six years, building up her volunteer team from scratch as she transformed the crew, expanded the team, and strengthened the group’s reputation. She joined the Center’s staff in 2022.
Prior to joining the Center, Veronica spent time as a whale watching naturalist for San Francisco Whale Tours and spent nine years as a biologist at The Exploratorium.
As a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Veronica volunteered in the lab of Dr. Dan Costa, distinguished professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, where she helped graduate students collect myriad samples from elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park. She also helped deploy and retrieve tags from elephant seals with this group.
Areas of Expertise
- Marine Mammal Husbandry
- Volunteer Training and Management
- Science Communication
- Public Speaking