We recently connected with Dyan DeNapoli and have shared our conversation below.
Dyan , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t deeply in love with animals. As a child, I felt that I was put here on Earth to help animals in some important way – especially endangered species – but I had absolutely no idea how that would manifest. Today, as The Penguin Lady, my mission is to raise awareness and funding to protect threatened and endangered penguins. To that end, for the last 20 years, I have donated 20% of the proceeds from every appearance and from my two books to penguin conservation. (Most people are unaware that more than half of all penguin species are threatened with extinction.) But it was a long, circuitous route to discovering my ultimate purpose of helping penguins.
It actually began with a lifelong obsession with dolphins. From the age of 5, my dream was to work with dolphins. But no one could ever tell me how to make that happen, so I just tucked away that seemingly impossible dream in the back of my mind. Then, when I was 30, I did an Earthwatch expedition volunteering with dolphins, and that dream was reignited – and I knew that I HAD to pursue it. I finally realized that I did not want to get to the end of my life, and regret that I hadn’t at least TRIED to make it happen. Eight months later, I returned to college to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science. It was in the pursuit of that degree that I had my first in-person introduction to penguins (as an intern at the New England Aquarium in Boston), and the little buggers immediately stole my heart with their big personalities.
But what ultimately catalyzed my current mission of advocating for penguins was helping to manage the rescue of 40,000 penguins from the Treasure oil spill in South Africa, three years after getting hired at the aquarium. In 2000, I was part of an international team of 110 penguin experts who flew to Cape Town (in staggered shifts) to rehabilitate the 20,000 penguins that were oiled. I will never forget the first time we entered the massive warehouse where most of the penguins were being housed and rehabilitated. African penguins are loud, raucous birds that are always honking and braying and squabbling with each other. But the penguins inside that rescue center were were standing statue still in their holding pens, and they were completely silent. It was a shocking and disturbing scene. Seeing firsthand the devastating impact that humans can have on penguins made me more determined than ever to devote the rest of my life to helping penguins in need.
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?
After working as a Senior Penguin Aquarist at Boston’s New England Aquarium for 9 years, I set out on my own in 2005 as The Penguin Lady to share my knowledge and love of penguins with others, and to raise awareness about the many threats to penguins in the wild. I regularly give presentations about penguin biology, behavior, and conservation – and because so many people requested it over the years, I also give talks about pursuing your wildest dreams. I’ve written two books about penguins; the first, The Great Penguin Rescue, is an award-winning book for adults that chronicles the remarkable rescue of 40,000 penguins from the Treasure oil spill rescue in South Africa. The second book, All About Penguins, is a primer about penguin biology and behavior for young children. (And it is GORGEOUSLY illustrated by Ray Shuell!)
As for speaking, I lecture locally and internationally to audiences of all ages in a wide variety of settings – from grade school and university classrooms, to conference stages, corporations, libraries, and senior centers. But the most exciting place to speak is on ships bringing tourists to Antarctica and South Georgia Island! Not only do I have the opportunity to share my passion for penguins with people in these awe-inspiring places – but I get to do so while surrounded by tens of thousands of penguins! My last two trips to Antarctica were as a Global Perspectives Guest Speaker for Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic, and I’ll be making my 5th trip there in February 2025 as a guest lecturer for Smithsonian Journeys/PONANT. (If you’ve ever thought about traveling to Antarctica….DO IT!! It is AMAZING!!!)
In addition to in-person and virtual appearances, I’ve given 5 TEDx talks, and wrote and narrated an animated video about penguin conservation for TED-Ed (the educational branch of TED, with videos designed for the classroom). I first dipped my toe into short-form personal storytelling in January of 2021, and was featured on PBS television’s Stories From the Stage the following year. I’ve been a guest expert on numerous podcasts, and on TV and radio whenever penguins hit the news, including frequent appearances on the BBC. A fun and totally unexpected honor was becoming a real-life character in a board game about penguins that just came out this year! (Waddle Waddle, by Brush-tail Games, is an entertaining and educational game for adults and older kids.) My two core messages as The Penguin Lady are; together, we can help save penguins from extinction, and; follow your heart, and pursue whatever it is that you are most passionate about!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The story about resilience that pops to mind took place 5 years before I actually started my business. It happened while I was still working at the New England Aquarium, and it has influenced pretty much everything that I’ve done ever since, both personally and professionally. It was during the Treasure oil spill rescue in South Africa, when I was a member of the first team of penguin experts to fly to Cape Town from the US. We had no idea what our roles would be once we arrived. We only knew that they needed people with penguin experience, and with experience managing volunteers who could help them with this massive rescue effort.
After our first full 16-hour day in the rescue center (which held more than 16,000 of the 19,000+ oiled penguins), we were told that we would be part of the rehabilitation management team, and we were each given our assignments for the next few weeks. Two of us were put in charge of ‘Room 2’, which had more than 4,500 oiled penguins in it. There were no further instructions. Just get in there and DO IT! It was truly the most terrifying moment of my entire life. I had NO idea how we were supposed to do this! And we all knew that just 5 years earlier, half as many penguins had been oiled in a nearby oil spill, and half of those birds had died. And we were now helping to manage the largest animal rescue that had EVER been attempted! I was certainly not alone in being filled with a sense of dread and tremendous self-doubt.
The next 3 weeks were grueling and surreal and stressful and exhausting beyond description. And there were a few times that I messed things up. But we were ALL figuring it out as we went, because no one had ever attempted to rescue so many ailing animals before. But in the end (and with TONS of help from a 12,500-strong army of amazing volunteers who showed up to help us) we managed to save 91% of those oiled penguins. Which is truly miraculous!
The Treasure rescue still stands as the largest and most successful animal rescue ever undertaken. And what I learned during that incredibly intense experience is that I am capable of SO much more than I ever dreamed possible! It left me with an unshakable belief in myself and my abilities. And I knew if I could do THAT, then I could do anything – because nothing could be that hard again. And this has proven to be true.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Like most of the world, I had to pivot professionally during the pandemic. As a public speaker who makes appearances in person, my business model basically went belly up, with all of my scheduled peaking engagements for the rest of 2020 being canceled. I had done a small number of virtual talks prior to Covid, so I had some previous experience with that, But even when the schools began teaching virtually, they weren’t hiring outside speakers, as the teachers had their hands full just trying to manage the new hybrid model of teaching.
So when a publisher reached out about writing a children’s book about penguins in April of 2020, I had plenty of time to do so! Eventually, as schools adjusted to virtual teaching, they began to reach out to me for virtual presentations. My previous ‘most popular program’ for younger students was interactive in a way that I knew wouldn’t work virtually, So I created a new program based on my travels to Antarctica and on my new book, All About Penguins, with virtual teaching and learning in mind. I wasn’t sure how student engagement would be the first time I gave that presentation – but it was a huge hit with the students, their teachers, and their parents! Teaching online forced me to think differently, and very specifically, about how I present certain information to younger students, and how I engage with them. While younger students have always had lots of questions at the end of programs, the major surprise was that students often had even MORE great questions at the end of the online programs than they did in person!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thepenguinlady.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePenguinLady/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thepenguinlady
- Other: https://www.ted.com/search?q=dyan+denapoli
Image Credits
From top left to right: Logan Schmidt, Suzanne Snyder, Dyan deNapoli, Lauren L’Amour, Katie Dow, Simon & Schuster, Amanda Lowder, Dyan deNapoli