We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Clay Carabajal a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Clay, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission on the Wild Side with Clay began long before I knew it. I spent years traveling for the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens parks discussing animals, conservation, and rescue. Learning how educate and engage a wide audience. I always knew I loved discussing and showcasing wildlife, but I always did it under someone else’s brand. This journey on the Wild Side began for two major reasons. My children were consuming Wildlife content online that I felt was not serving the animal. People getting bit or stung for clicks. Animal personalities were more actor than zoological professional. Having seen some of these creator’s content, I felt like I could do better for the industry and the animal. The second piece fueling me was I wanted something that was my brand, that was my name, and that I had full freedom to create and shape. No Corprate approvals or Board of Directors, just my vision of Wildlife edutainment.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an inner city, Latino, from San Antonio, Texas. That has got to be pretty low on the list of locations creating the next wildlife conservationist and content creator. Growing up in San Antonio, I had SeaWorld Texas in my backyard. My grandparents would take me to see the dolphins, sharks, sea lions, and killer whales. The fuse was lit, I wanted to work with animals from age four and on. Now many people dream of doing a job. Some want to be in space, some want to win an Oscar, but I wanted to work with animals. Now of those dreamers, very few stay the course. People end up settling or falling into another career. I refused to give up. So at age fifteen I went looking for a job at SeaWorld. Now in those days, job postings were on a cork board in the Human Resources building. I walked up to the board and ran my finger through the list of openings. Cook, Security Guard, Photographer, and then I saw it, Show Host. I thought to myself, wow I can host a show like Jack Hanna! So I filled on the paperwork, did an interview that day and they hired me on the spot. I left thinking that was too easy, no audition, no read through, nothing. I told my entire family I was to be a show host at SeaWorld San Antonio’s Shamu Stadium. A week later I was to report for training and orientation. I guessed there I would receive the script and rehearsal schedule. When I arrived they handed me a pan and broom. I thought to myself, what kind of a show is this, Stomp? Then it was revealed to me that a Show Host hosted people to their seats at cleaned up the stadium after the show. I could not believe I was so naive. After six months of cleaning wet popcorn and trash in the seats, I moved to educating the public on tours. Then three years into my journey with the park I got my first animal job. Once again I did the majority of the cleaning. Python poop, lemur pee or alligator pools, my day was anything but normal. I worked my way up in the company, getting to do amazing things. But after sixteen years in, I wanted to have my own voice. So with SeaWorld’s blessing, I started my own YouTube channel discussing wildlife facts and conservation. The deal was I could never say I worked for SeaWorld on the show, so I didn’t. My channel provides respectful display of the animals with fun facts and original footage. Many of my videos are used in public schools and shown to classes. I am proud of the work we do on the Wild Side. We bring a zoological professional’s touch to wildlife content creation. What you see with me is what you get. I love wildlife and the organizations dedicated to protecting them. My goal is to share a video about as many different species as I can.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Seeing my vision and voice out there for others to consume. I am not reading someone else’s talking points or representing anyone but myself. I feel a deep sense of relief being able to be me and this channel gives my creativity an outlet to thrive.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Just as my channel was really rolling, a change of profession happened. After seventeen years I moved on from SeaWorld and joined the Abilene Zoo as their head of Conservation, Communications, Marketing, and Animal Ambassadors. The channel took a temporary back seat as we moved to a different market, house, and life. That time was hard. I had to put things on hold. And it was really hard to get it all going at the speed we were at in San Antonio again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thewildsidewithclay.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewildsideclay/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildSideClay
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheWildSideClay
• Youtube: https://bit.ly/392ZNXb
• Other: https://www.expressnews.com/local/sanantoniostories/article/The-Wild-Side-San-Antonio-man-s-YouTube-16261288.php?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR0LKkK0VgEVeTBOdx_nOTY0hfMYFA9xX1EE1AA063o3CG71PfxiZHuStOk#photo

Image Credits
All my photos