Justine’s love for land conservation has been with her since she was a child, but it grew while she was doing graduate fieldwork in Namibia, Africa in 2016. She worked closely with the Cheetah Conservation Fund to engage local landowners to conserve the cheetah (and other top predators) while still maintaining their property and cattle. She helped landowners see the importance of the cheetah in their landscape and worked with them to implement long-term conservation tools and ongoing relationships.
Justine grew up in a small town outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has since spent five years in Asheville, North Carolina and seven years in San Diego, California. Justine and her husband, Puneet, moved to Milwaukee in January for Puneet's job at Froedtert Health and so that Justine could continue her career in the field of conservation. They currently live in Whitefish Bay with their dog, Clementine, and two cats, Nesta and Zinnia. On the weekends, you can find them exploring local restaurants and farmers markets or in the forest somewhere.
Justine has a bachelor’s of science in ecology and environmental biology from The University of North Carolina and a master’s of arts in biology with a focus on community-based conservation from Miami University. We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Justine to the WCLC family and see her exceptional talents and experience in action.