"I took the time to understand my passion." How this wildlife criminologist found her true calling

Global wildlife crime and security specialist Monique Sosnowski’s job title evokes both adventure and altruism — not to mention sounding like the basis of a great streaming series. It is also a role that took serious self-reflection, scholarship, and determination to embark on.

Sosnowski started out on a more conventional career path. Having a connection to animals from a young age, she knew she wanted to work with them “in one way or another,” so she pursued a master’s degree in Global Wildlife Health and Conservation at University of Bristol.?

Sosnowski loved her classes and found the academic work "exhilarating,” but when it came to finding a job as graduation approached, nothing she was seeing appealed to her. “We had a whole bunch of guest speakers come in from all different areas of wildlife conservation. That's really where I started having this disconnect,” she recalled.?

Seeing people talk about problems like ocean pollution, and a shrinking elephant population, Sosnowski realized, "I wanted to be on the other side of that. I wanted to look at solutions. I think that's really where I started questioning whether or not I made the right decisions and was having this crisis.” She asked herself: "'What am I supposed to do next? How am I going to get a job that I am going to actually love?'” Sosnowski said, "It was really scary, honestly.”

Embarking on a desperate search to find “anyone out there that was in a position that lit [her] flame,” Sosnowski found her answer in Dr. Gohar Petrossian. Coming across a research paper of Petrossian’s presenting a big picture of wildlife trafficking and illegal fishing activities with the goal of stopping it, Sosnowski thought: ‘Whoa! This is what I had been looking for.”

With one problem solved, she faced another dilemma. She realized she would need to get a PhD in criminal justice to pursue this newfound path. “The question of whether I had made a mistake with my master's was a massive alarm bell going off in my head, how I was going to make this wild pivot.” Sosnowski worried. “There's absolutely no way any sane person would apply to a PhD in a field that was completely different from what they had been doing.”

So, she started reaching out for advice, including from Dr. Petrossian, who counseled her to just take the leap and get her PhD. Sosnowski did, becoming a pioneer in wildlife crime, a growing field that she’s now helping bring others into. "I took the time to understand my passion, and it changed everything.”

Sosnowski’s advice to anyone still searching for their true calling: "I think it's so important to not be afraid of coming up with a weird path for yourself. I think it's just really important that if you see where you might fit in down the line, keep moving forward in that direction and find anyone around you that just supports you and encourages you to just do what excites you, whether or not that falls into a category of jobs that is recognized today or isn't.”

"Nothing would've changed if I didn't forge my own career path."

Have you ever pursued a specific field of study, only to realize it wasn't what you truly wanted? Share your story and what you learned from it in the comments below.

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