November 12, 2024 • 62 mins
You will love this episode because we feature long-time San Diego Zoo PR woman, philanthropist, author, lecturer, world traveler, and most importantly animal-lover, Georganne Irvine on the show. She has written a series of books focusing on zoo animals who have overcome challenges. This is one of our most hopeful, beautiful, and inspiring shows to date because of her wisdom and her incredible stories. You will love Georganne! She signed several of her books for us to give away! If you want to win one of these signed gems, comment below. Tell us how you liked the show. We have 5 different children's books to give away. Before Georgeanne joins us, we discuss Laura's Veteran's Day helicopter adventure and Erik dishes up a small but tasty Double D report. Check out our website for more info about our guest at www.lauracainafterdark.com. Love your podcast!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
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Speaker 1 (00:58):
Hello and welcome to Laura Kane after Dark. I'm Laura Kane.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
The person who is rummaging through his phone he's death
scrolling right now is Eric Rummer, my co host. We
have tonight, I know, Oh my gosh. Just wait and
then we have a producer, Brian, Hi, Brian, who apparently
worked all weekend, and I said, so did I. So
there's that. But I know we all did. And you
know what, I worked eight hours today too, just like you,
(01:27):
Just like you just today. No, over the weekend, I
worked some hours, not eight each day, But why did
you work eight on Saturday and eight on Sunday? On Saturday? Okay, Well,
I don't really feel that sorry for you. I went
to a funeral on Friday. Oh did you really? Yeah?
Oh no, gosh, sorry for a family member.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Oh no, oh no, it's fine.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Oh wait, Okay, we'll talk about this.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
After bringing down the room.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I just wanted to bring her down.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I just wanted to bring her ego down a little
bit gy always.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Okay, First, we got to say Happy Veterans Day to
all the veterans. Thank you so much for you. Yes,
absolutely Today I was asked to fill in for the
person that does the videography for the TV stations in
the helicopter. So I got to go up in the
helicopter and I videoed the Veterans Day parade, which was
(02:24):
along Harbor Drive, right right near the Star of India India,
right next to the midway. I zoomed in on the
midway because there was like a bunch of activities going
on there because it's the end of fleet week. And
then I zoomed in on a boat that had like
an American flag waving, and then like there's a there
was a big inflatable bald eagle. I zoomed in on
that real slow, and then I zoomed out when I
(02:46):
could finally get the signals to the stations.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Can you take guests on that on.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
The helicopter ride? I don't know, I should ask, yeah,
I mean there's another seat. There's two seats in the back.
I want to go on that, can you I can?
I tell you something? I'm so focused on. There's so
many buttons and moving parts and juggling so much. I
didn't look out the window one single time. I just
looked through the screen the camera because you have to,
(03:12):
like you maneuver it. You go in and out, you
have to balance the white. You have to do all this,
and then you have to transmit to the station.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Since there's two extra seats.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
There's one extra seat we can share.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
We can share lest Yeah, Brian can sider on my lap.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
If it'll take off. I don't know if there's like
a way. I'm just saying too. Sitting on top of
each other might be a little bit heavy. I think
you'll be okay. Okay, Now we are not a political show.
We take your mind off of politics. So what I
(03:50):
want to do right now is I want.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Can I start crying?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Let's play the music. Cue music, please, We're all going
to take a deep breath. Ready. Why just take a
deep breath because we're gonna calm down for a second.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I'm already.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I just have something to say. Okay, just take a
deep breath ready. Now. In my program, we say one
day at a time, right, because really, truly, in everybody's life,
we only have today. So let's not be doom and
gloom and try not to be too sad or all
(04:33):
bombed out or whatever you are. Let's just all get along.
That sounds great, and let's just all have a positive
attitude and let's just all breathe and live day to day.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Are you telling me that I should burn my kill list?
I'm not sorry you upset your candidate wine.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I'm not saying okay, he's like the only one that
is like mouths offul on the show. Yeah, sort of
that to me, I know, because he does it to.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Us because it's obviously not true.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
So anyway, okay, so coming up right now, Oh no,
we have your double D. We're going to do Double
D and then we have a special guest. Her name
is Georgianne Irvine. I've known Georgia Ane for years. She
has literally been affiliated with some way or another with
the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Safari Park for
over forty years. She is somebody that we used to
(05:31):
have on the show all the time on Jeff and Jeer.
She's an author, she's the philanthropist. She is an awesome person.
She's so nice and maybe you've probably heard her name
because she used to be the publicist and she's been
on tv I countless times. So she's going to be
on the show and she's going to share some of
the books that she's written. She's written over thirty books.
(05:54):
Cannot wait, I know, And I'm so excited she talked
to her because I haven't seen her in a while,
and it's really exciting. And that's why I wore my
animal print for you, because I know you love it,
and for her of course, and I see you drag
that chair back. Of course, why I mean a hello,
she has to sit in the leopard print chair. I know,
(06:14):
and you know it's funny she's wearing a leopard print.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I do love it.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Okay, so let's get your double d's. Let's get through them.
I don't want to say get it over with That's
not what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I want to get it over with you. I want
to get Georgiana.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I know, I know, but I want to hear what's
going on in Hollywood?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Baby, Well, there is some big news. Not a whole
lot happened this week. But oh and last week Terry
gar died.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
And all, wait, wasn't she Close Encounters? I don't was
she the mom in Close Encounters?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I have no clue she might have been. That's a
long I don't even know if I was born yet.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Laura, Oh, be quite, you're older than me. Be quiet.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Like one year, Megan Fox is pregnant with Machine Gun
Kelly's kid. That kid's gonna be a vampire.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I know that kid is going to be like nine
feet tall, a spider, yeah, like a daddy long legs. Yeah, probably,
and probably you have its first tattoo by the age.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Of onee he'll be born with it.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Born like a tattoo. How old is Megan She doesn't say.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think she's thirty eight.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, she seems like she's lived a lot longer than that.
She doesn't seem like she looks old. I just feels
like she's been around longer than that. I don't know,
that's all. She's still incredibly beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
She is. She started when she was really young. They
were still together.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Oh yeah, yeah, oh wow, that's well. Congratulations to them.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Britney Spears is reconciling with her son Jaden.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yay, good good. And is Jaden the older one or
the younger one.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I think he's the older one, okay, And I think
that'll be good for her. Maybe it'll mellow her out
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Always getting in touch with your kids centers you. That
is one thing for sure. Yes, I talked to both
my kids this weekend and it was like the best.
And you know what, Charlie, when I talked to him
on FaceTime, was wearing this thick sweater and this big
old beanie and it was all overcast and he was
freezing cold in Portland. And then Evan she was like, Mom,
(08:26):
I'm so cold. I just got off the subway. And
she had a scarf on and a jacket and a
hat on, and I was like, I was laying in
my hammock. It's like bright sunshine in the seventies. I'm like, sorry, guys, sorry,
I had to move.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Away forties last night.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I know it was cold last night, wasn't anyway? Sorry,
sorry to interrupt.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I fell asleep last night. It said it was only
twenty six minutes long. It was called Chucky. It's on
shutter and is it a movie or documentary on? I
thought it was just on the one Child's Play movie.
I think the documentary is about six hours long.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Oh no, thank you about Chucky. The whole Chucky ass phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Great, But I fell asleep during the last like two
hours of it, and I woke up for reezing, freezing
my ass off.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
When you're done, I need to tell you about a
movie I watched last night that everybody needs to see.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Okay, And I watched a movie too.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Okay, And we'll get that and then we'll have Georgiana on.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
So the drug dealer that supposedly supplied Liam Payne with
drugs is speaking out for the first time, he said
he did nothing wrong in connection with the singer's tragic
death last month.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
His name is Brian Piez and he got arrested right
he did.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
He's been accused of our team Argentinian authorities of allegedly
supplying drugs to the Star.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Do you know how they were doing it?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Soapboxes?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Isn't that like because one of the other people who
was arrested was a hotel worker. Yeah, and that's how
they give him the drugs.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Thre like a dove box, a box of soap, yeah,
he said, He told the outlet. The first time he
met Liam at the restaurant where he worked as a
waiter on October second, He claimed Liam didn't eat anything
because he was already under the influence of drugs, and
says Liam later invited him to his Buenos Aires hotel
room where he took a where they took a few
whiskey shots together, and then they had their second meeting
(10:26):
on Sunday, October thirteenth, where they both used drugs throughout
the night. He stressed that Lamb wasn't aggressive and was
actually well behaved.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Didn't the Argentinian police say it's suicide.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
That's I read that. And then I also read that
one of his friends was arrested, somebody who just abandoned
him when they they are resident because they didn't think
that he should have left his side. That was like
a reason from why they arrested this one friend. Yeah,
but so that means, never leave my side. I won't
(11:00):
are they're gonna come get you. I will leave and
I'm not gonna God willing will not end up like that. Okay, okay, okay.
So the movie I watch, yes, I I'm not usually
into Like I thought this was gonna be like lighthearted comedy.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Because oh, Aubrey Plaza.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Was in it and she is funny and a comedian,
and I thought, oh, but this looks kind of interesting.
It was her talking to her younger self. And it's
called My Old Ass.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yes, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
It is so good, tender, funny, sweet, shocking, and it's
not very long. It was beautiful wrapped in like a
perfect bow. I love that movie, right, Yes, My Old Ass.
It's called It's great. It's great. What did you watch?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I watched Elevation.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
It's oh you went to you actually went to the
movies I.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Actually went to the movies and it was packed. Oh
that's good to know on Saturday night. It's interesting. Uh,
it kind of falls apart at the end.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Who is in that one?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I think I don't know any of the.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Hugh grand Is any other one that opened? Right?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Heretic?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Now what is that a scary one?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It's more of a psychological thriller.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, we were going to see Smile too, but it
started too late.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Why didn't you see Heretic?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Uh, it wasn't at the time that we were there.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Oh okay, okay, but so elevation was like, eh, it
was okay, okay, yeah, okay, real quick.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Tom Todd died this week too, Todd from candy Man. Yeah,
that's right. I know. I was forgetting something.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yes, I don't know that person. I don't know candy
Man anyways, boy, candy Man. It's a scary movie, right, Yeah,
he's been a lot of other things.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I don't remember, but.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I would recognize his face, yes, you are, yeah, and
probably his voice. Actually is he does he always play
a scary character? Or is he like a victim? Dark character?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Not necessarily bad guys? I think?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Okay, here, get a little bit more into the show.
There you go, so we can get us all on
Instagram as cue the zoo music please or the jungle music.
I should say, oh, make my dog off the seat,
and we got to move the camera so we can
get there you go. Elvis, Oh my gosh, he is
heavier than he looks because George Anne Irvine is coming
(13:35):
on up, Come on. Georgia Irvine is a friend of
mine from so long ago. Lot are you here's justly?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Oh, thank you? And I'm so honored that Elvis was
sitting in my seat.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
That was awesome it.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I took photos of it.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You did, oh gosh, I did. The thing is with
Elvis if you sometimes he can be a real jerk
when you to move him. So I was like, I
don't want you to have to move him and then
him go right.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Oh he would have loved me.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I know you speak to animals, you are all about animals,
You're all about conservation. You are an author, you're a philanthropist,
you are a leader of women. You are so many things,
Georgianna Irvine, and I just cannot wait to delve into
everything that you are currently doing. And also let's brush
up on your past too.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh my gosh, thank you for saying all of those things.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Wow. Who is that? Well, if you've heard the name
Georgiana Ervine, it's probably because she used to be the
publicist for the zoo. She's spoken out on You've been
on many a local TV news show with animals without animals,
speaking about animals, speaking about conservation. And now your passion,
(14:52):
it seems, is writing books. And you've been doing this
for years. You have over thirty books you've written.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Wow, I have their children's books. I have written one
book for the adult audience, but I really prefer writing
for kids. They don't take as long. Now I kinda
do in a way.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I tried writing a children's book one time and I
wrote like one sentence, and I'm like, I don't because
they seem so easy to write because there's very few words.
But no, they're not. They're they're very difficult. So okay,
first tell me about the book for adults. What's the
one book you wrote for adults.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
The one book I wrote for adults was about the
Katrina dolphins that were washed out to see during Hurricane
Katrina and their rescue. And it's a book that's filled
with hope. But I had to do a lot of research,
interview a lot of people. Nonfiction and that's what I
specialize in, is nonfiction. So that was a big coffee
(15:50):
table book. The book was so big you could use
it as the table. It was gigantic size.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
She loves off a table books.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I start doing pinwheel Tea.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Is freaking out right now. Oh my gosh, how what
a beautiful thing?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Then can you can you still buy it?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
You can probably buy it on used book side? Oh okay, yeah,
it's called The Katrina Dolphins one ticket, uh, one way
ticket to Paradise.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
So it's hopeful. I love it.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
It is a hopeful book. But it was not It
wasn't published by the San Diego Zoo. Right now, I'm
writing books for the San Diego Zoo, my employers.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I love that. But we're talking Simon and Schuster, We're
talking Scholastic. She's been published by many, many, a big name,
and now the Zoo. So talk about what your children's
books primarily are about. I mean, you have over thirty
of them. What are I mean what do they each
focus on?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Well, they all have animal themes. But the books I'm
doing now for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Press. And
let me just say I've been with the organization for
forty six years, going on forty seven. I know you
said over forty and that made me sound really young.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Well you look exactly the same as you did when
I was with Jeff and jer like way back in
the day, like two thousand and four. How do you
have you not changed one bit? But anyway, that's it.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Oh, I'm buying it right now. That's it.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Oh my gosh, it that came out in two thousand
and seven. That's an old.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Okay, okay, So continue the books you're writing for the zoo.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
So this is the Hope and Inspiration collection of books,
and so their nonfiction stories about real animals that live
or have lived at the San Diego Zoo or Safari Park.
And what's interesting if a child can get to know
an individual animal like Karen the orangutan or Omeo the koala,
(17:51):
it really enables them to connect with that animal because
each animal has its own personality. And then the hope
is that they will connect with the specs and with
wildlife and be inspired to care about wildlife and get
interested in conservation. And in some of these books, like
in the case of Omeo the Kuala, which is the
newest book that came out. His mother passed away when
(18:14):
he was still in her pouch, and so Quala's need
to stay. They're marsupial, so Quala needs to say in
it's mother's pouch for six months and then you see
an arm and ear. Well, when he was only five
months old, she died and we really didn't think he
was going to make it because he was also very
small for his age. He wasn't even the size of
(18:39):
a baby Koala that was five months old. So it's
his story. But he had this will to live, and
he had ups and downs in his life. I mean
right after he was taken out of the pouch, out
of his mother's pouch and we put him in a
special pouch and an incubator, and our wildlife care team
and our veterinary team did everything they could just of
(19:00):
his life. He got pneumonia and we thought this is it.
But doctor Corras Singleton bless her with her nebulizer. He
breathed in the medicine and he made it. But throughout
his life he had a lot of ups and downs.
I followed him for two years before doctor Corus said
to me, George, he's out of the woods. You can
(19:22):
finally write the book about him.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Can we see the yes? And is he currently at
the zoo?
Speaker 3 (19:28):
He is currently at.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
The zoo at his ears.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
But the kids who have connected to these books, you know,
let me say, like in the Karen Ring, I know, well,
let's look.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
At I love beautifully little footprints.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
We have the foot or paw prints of every animal
that we write about. These are we don't face any
space in the Look when he.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Was just a little tiny bee. He's struggling to live.
Look at the pouch you made him. Oh my gosh,
so wow. Each book is the story about an individual
and that is at the zoo right now, has zoo
yes and that kids can really relate to and like
you said, become more fond of the species and learn
(20:21):
more about animals in general.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
But what I've also found is these books teach life
lessons and this is something I never expected. And let
me give you an example. There's a story about a flamingo, Floyd,
who had some issues with his legs and he had surgery,
and it's about the true story of a flamingo who
(20:44):
never gave up and about a year and a half ago,
I got a packet of letters from Born England Middle
School in Born Eastbourne, England, and somehow they had found
the Floyd Flamingo book and they used it for a
week long class teaching kids about resilience and never giving us.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Wow. And in that packet so I got the letter
from the teachers, I had fifty five handwritten letters from
the children, I mean handwritten, telling me how much they
had learned and how this story taught them to never
give up in life and to be resilient. I just
couldn't believe it. I don't even know how they found
(21:30):
the book. And then I got a letter, an email
from a school in the Eastern US that had done
something similar and our book about Karen Orangutan.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
This is Karen.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Karen So yeah, she is your namesake. She still lives
at the zoo. She just celebrated her thirty second birthday
on June eleventh.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Wow. God.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
But when she was a baby she had a hole
in her heart. And so when she was two years old,
and I was in pr at the time, and I
so vividly remember watching her surgery from you know, the
viewing room in our Zoo Hospital and one of the
top heart lung surgery teams in the nation volunteered their
(22:15):
time to repair her heart.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
They got like a human like doctor, doc doctor, and
they brought equipment and all the nurses, everybody donated their
time to helping Karen.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
It was really it was really amazing. I could have
probably had a heart lung transplant in our Zoo hospital
because of all the equipment that they But so they
repaired her heart, and doctor Jamison said, if her parents
were human, I would tell them that everything went just fine.
(22:49):
But that evening she got an infection in her lungs
and she was on a ventilator for two weeks, and
we got get well letters. This is before the days
of INNT and social media. The word got out all
over the world about Karen's heart surgery, and she got
get well letters from all over the world. And I
(23:10):
want to tell you about one of the letters. But
I'd like to also say that to this day, I
get emails from parents telling me my daughter has a
hole in her heart and she's got to get it fixed.
And she reads Karen's book and that has given her
the courage to go ahead with the surgery or they've
(23:30):
said my child. One of my colleagues has a daughter
who had open heart surgery, who had a whole fix
and she sent me a note and said, I've never
been able to explain to my daughter what happened to her,
and this book tells it. This book has helped me
explain that to her. So there are life lessons. We
have a book about a baby monkey who was raised
(23:51):
by his grandmother. How many families have grandparents that play
an important role in the lives of their family.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Now was this your was this your reasoning for writing
the book or just write books about animals? And then
it was just a happy accident that they all became life lessons.
And then by helping people deal with their own issues, well.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I would work with our wildlife care team to find
out what animals might have some challenges in their lives.
A lot of these have had, some of them have not,
but a lot of them have. And in the case
of Karen, it was a story from nineteen ninety four,
so that story we had the images and all. But
the key to these books is photography. If you don't
(24:35):
fall follow an animal through whatever it's going through and
have photos of it all, you don't have a book.
So when I decided I wanted to create this nonfiction
hope and Inspiration collection, I started with a Karen book,
but then by working with our veterinary team and our
Wildlife Care team, I came upon other animal stories that
(24:58):
were potentials for books. They don't all turn into a book.
There are some animals I followed that have not yet
turned into a book, but I consciously followed them. I
worked with the Wildlife Care team, and I feel really
honored because I feel like the orchestra conductor. I researched
the books, I write them, I gather the photos. We
(25:19):
have a fabulous photographer, but I shoot some myself. But
I feel I'm getting to tell the stories of our
people who donate their lives to caring for and protecting wildlife,
as well as the stories of our wildlife who were
amazing conservation ambassadors. So it's something that really I started
(25:41):
with Karen and immediately I came up with a couple
other book ideas and it has just grown over the years,
and it's just so near and dear to my heart
being able to do these stories because I have seen
how the books connect not just children, but oh for
sure wildlife by learning about these individual animals and then
(26:04):
taking it out from there. And our organization, San Diego
Zoo Wildlife Alliance is dedicated to conservation and we like
to look at the zoo and Safari Park as our
two front doors where we can inspire people to care.
But our vision is creating a world where all life thrives.
So that means wildlife, that means habitats, that means people
(26:27):
where we can cohabitate together. So I love being able
to write these stories that inspire people to care and
that really help educate people about the work that San
Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is doing.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Now, do these particular books come in a set or
do you can buy them individually? Like? How how does
one purchase these books?
Speaker 3 (26:49):
You can purchase them individually if you go, you can
purchase them on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
But if you go to shop zoo dot com, there's
a link on our website Lauracane after Dark.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Which is our San Diego Zoo shopping site, which has
amazing oh my gosh if you want to buy everything.
But if you go, you will find the books. But
what's really great is if you put a note into
your order that says, I want Georgia Ann to personalize
these books and then say who you want them to.
(27:22):
My office is right by shopsu and they will bring
them to my office and you will get personalized copies
of the books, which makes them all the more special.
And I like to write messages. I don't just sign
my name. I write inspirational messages to the kids.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Oh my gosh, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And they're beautiful, They're beautifully done. I mean, I'm all
about learning, and I love this the fun facts about Koalas.
Do all the.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Books have yes, they all, yes, they all have the
animals handprints or footprints. And interestingly with Karen, she's an
adult now and her hands are like this big. I
was exaggerated, but we happen to find a handprint from
Karen when she was a baby. And this was the
first book that we did. So there is Karen's baby.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
It does she was.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
I don't know exactly how she was. I believe that
was when she was two.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Years ago, Karen. And then she's a baby here right.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Yes, And we do show photos of Karen in the
book when she is and this is Karen now and
she loves to hold cord at the window of our arrangetans.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
She loves attention, and she loves.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
To turn somersaults. I've even seen her jump up and
do a pirouette and then lay down and roll. She's
really quite the character. So you can see. And when
I can recognize the orangutans by their faces, I mean
they just like people look different. They look different, but
if you don't know what to recognize, sometimes it'suff. But
(28:53):
Karen has very light colored eyes. So the other orangutans
have darker eyes, but her eyes are very light. And
then we have our fabulous volunteers in the Red Shirts
who are there who can point out Karen and and
you know Aisha and Inda and you know all of
the other animals that live with her.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Okay, when we are young kids, we sometimes we have
a proclivity for something that we turn out doing in
our adult life. Is there something in your childhood that
like led you to be this animal ambassador of sorts,
I mean of all sorts.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
I grew up in San Diego until I was in
third grade.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Are you a native?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I am a Mercy Hospital, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And I'm an Aztec yeah, yes too.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
And I grew up on a canyon and there was
wildlife there. My parents moved to Orange County when I
was in third grade, and you know, I guess I
had to go with them, but that was just my
ten year leave of absence. But I grew up going
to the Sandy Diego Zoo and I loved it. And
I was also a curious child. I did not want
to miss out on anything. And when I give talks,
(30:09):
there's a slide that I show that's really pretty hilarious.
It's a photo of me in our children'szoo. Now our
Wildlife Explores base camp sits on the site, but it's
a photo of me in the children's zoo eating popcorn,
looking in a trash can to see if there is
(30:29):
anything interesting in this trash can. Because I'm a storyteller.
I've always been a storyteller, and I thought, oh my gosh.
And I used to look in the storm brains too,
just because I thought there might be something worth a.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Story in there.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
So I've always had this love for animals. And then
on my twenty first birthday, one of my sorority sisters,
what are you in Cayamega?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Oh give you alay?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Oh my god. That was the second my second preference.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I had girl.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yes, I almost was in alphae. They were my friends.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
I love the alpha fe so much fun.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Okay, anyway, my sorority sister gave me a Curious George
monkey for my twenty first birthday left animal, yes, and
I still have it. It looks over my desk, and
I think that was indicative of what was to come
in my life. So there were all of these indicators
(31:25):
growing up, and just my love of animals and my
love of storytelling and investigating things. So I think that
really led me to my career at the San Diego Zoo.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Did you just go to the zoo and apply? Did
you like or was it a whole? Like? How did
that happen?
Speaker 3 (31:42):
So my major was public relations, Well, it was actually
journalism with an emphasis and public relations, and I had
an internship at what was then the Convention and Visitors Bureau,
and when I was there it was my you know,
summer of my senior year.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
A position as.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Public relations assistant came up at the Zoo and it
required a year's experience, which of course I didn't have.
But in my resume I put everything i'd ever written,
including being editor of the sorority newsletter. You know you
have to use it working when you're that young. And
I applied and I made it to the top two
(32:23):
and I didn't get the job. I didn't get it,
and I never thought I would make it that far.
But to get that I was twenty one, to get
that far and not make it, I was devastated. I
remember calling my mother and I was in tears because
it was my dream job. Six months later, the job
(32:45):
opened up again and they called me, And what I
later found out is they did not interview anybody else.
They called me, brought me in for another interview. I
had to take a writing test. I'll never forget. They
gave me a spelling test. And I don't know how
I was so brave to do this, but I left
the room and went to the person who was going
(33:07):
to be interviewing me. I said, excuse me, I know
you've given me a spelling test, but I would use
a dictionary. I can guess how these are, but I
would use a dictionary.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
And a big smile. She says, that's all.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
We wanted to know WHOA so I know testing. So
the second time around, I got the job as public
relations assistant, a dream job. And I've been there ever since,
and I've had three different careers at the Zoo, public
relations and marketing, so I was a media spokesperson, and
(33:44):
then I worked in our philanthropy division overseeing a communications
design team. So we created all of the materials that
we needed to raise, you know, one hundred million dollars
a year for new habitats and conservation. And then in
twenty sexen Are then CEO, decided we needed to start
a book publishing division. Because it's interesting. There was a time,
(34:10):
and I had friends tell me this when people thought
the printed book was dead. And at this point there
was a resurgence, and especially with parents with kids, the kids,
they don't want their kids on devices.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
So I still never read a book on it. I
always have it.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I'm on my computer, so I want a printed book.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Or it was a.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Resurgence, and now you know, if you read publishers weekly,
people are buying printed books get particularly children's books. So
we publish other books. We publish historical books about key
figures for the adult audience. We publish illustrated books for
(34:53):
children about animals, and a local author writes those, and
then of course I do the hope and inspiration books.
It's really fun to my daughter had a baby. I
have a two and a half year old grand Oh,
she's so cute.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
What's her name? Give her shout out?
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Madison, Madison, mad mad Maddie.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
She's hilarious.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
And they live in Colorado Springs. And I am now
a member of the Chyenne Mountain Zoo, a grandparent member
because when I go, she lasts about two hours. But
when we visit, we can visit every day with a membership,
just like it's so important that people live here who
are here have membership to ours. But anyway, when she
(35:34):
when there was a baby shower for her, she wanted
everybody to bring their favorite book that they had as
a child. Start her.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Okay, library, it's so awesome. That is a shower idea everybody.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
That's a very cute idea.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Incredible, that is incredible. Okay, wait, you said you were well,
I know you were the meaty person for the zoo
for a very very long time. So that means you've
probably had to give tour special tours to celebrities or
you've had to be on talk shows. So can you
give us like who what was your favorite memory? Or
you're the most famous person you've ever talked to? And
(36:10):
do you have any of those stories? Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yes, I do. The first one Steven Spielberg visited the
zoo and when and I still work with our social
media team to take celebrities around, so I still get
to do that. But he really wanted to know about
the zoo, and so I really told him all about
what we were doing, our conservation work. And I only
(36:33):
asked him one movie related question, and that question was
we were at the Galopogus tortoises.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
It was just you him and his family, Yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
And I asked him, I said, did you model et
after a Galopogus tortoise? Because think about his hit? And
he actually said no, I didn't, but they do look alike,
you know. I see why you asked me that, and
I just I just thought that was kind of awesome
(37:03):
to ask. And then I got a handwritten thank you
note when they were finished.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Is that framed on your wall? Oh my gosh?
Speaker 3 (37:11):
From even Oh it's in a folder, but so other celebrities.
I am a musical theater.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
I was going to ask you about that. Oh God,
I know that knows you says, don't get her started.
On musicals. She will go on and on and on and
on and on, but anyway, continue, But.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
One of my absolute favorite musical artists, Julie Andrews, came
to the zone and that was awesome. And she brought
Blake Edwards, her husband, and she brought her two daughters
who were, you know, in their teens at the time.
And it was so cute because every time something would
(37:51):
excite her, she would go, I don't speak like this,
but these she would go, damn, that's a good story.
We should do it TV show about this, and she
would she would use.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
That word a lot.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
It was hilarious, yes it was, but it was cute.
It was in a positive way. But it kind of
surprised me a little bit. But we went over to
the Sumatran rhino that we had that had just surreved
its critically endangered species, and we were looking at this
rhino and I talked about how it was a new
rhino at the zoo and how it liked to wallow
(38:25):
in the mud and in the zoo. In her Mary
Poppins's voice, she said, why I know a song about
a rhino. As a matter of fact, it's about a
rhino who likes to wallow in the mud. As a
matter of fact, it goes like this, and she sang
me a song in the zoo like kind of the
sound of Music.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Okay, your mind just was a smoke coming out of
your years the top of your head.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Blow off, my god, just I felt like I was
one of the kids in the Sound of Music. She
didn't belt it, but she literally sang me a song.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
I will never forget that ever, ever.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Ever, ever. What's your favorite musical?
Speaker 3 (39:03):
It depends if you want a new one or an old.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Okay, let's do old first.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Okay, old ones. I do love Mary Poppins, I love Gypsy.
I love the Sound of Music.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Are you gonna see Wicked the movie?
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (39:19):
I mean you've seen Wicked.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Well, I have seen the Wicked Show because I've had
I always make this excuse. I've had a lot of
friends in the cast. But and it's been out for
a long time. I have seen it well over two
dozen times, probably thirty times over the years. My first
alphaba was Stephanie J. Block in Los Angeles, And you'll
(39:42):
laugh at this. I was so excited to finally be
seeing Wicked, and I didn't have good seats. I like
to sit in the front row of the theater, so
I had binoculars and I'm watching the whole shows through binoculars,
and when they're singing, defind gravity and I'm starting to
feel a little sick to my stomach and thinking, oh
my gosh, you're getting the flew. In the middle of Wicked,
well intermission, I felt fine. I finally realized I was
(40:05):
getting motion sickness from looking at the show on my binoculars.
But I got better and I didn't use binoculars the
second half of the show. But I also I love
Six the musical. I love that show is that I
don't know, Oh that's new. It's about the six wives
of Henry the Eighth that was in town.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
They used to the zoo.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
It was awesome. And I also love and Juliet, which
has not yet toured. But it's a show with music
by Max Martin like Rower, and since you've been gone,
you would know all of the music. And it's a
story about what if Juliet didn't die, So it's a
Shakespearean but it's just so awesome. When it comes to town,
(40:49):
and I don't know when it's coming. You've got to
go see it. It's just magical.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Did you love Mulin Rouge?
Speaker 3 (40:54):
Oh my yes, I love Mulin Rouge. So I've seen
it on Broadway a couple of times. And the last
time I saw it on Broadway, across the aisle, there
was a woman holding a little Wiener dog, a little
long haired Docson and when the before the show, the
cast comes out and they kind of dance and I
could see them looking at the dog and they were
(41:16):
just cracking up. You can see they were trying not
to break a smile because they were in character. So
with intermission, I went up to the lady and I said,
oh my gosh, me I take a photo of you
in your dog, because I wanted to. I didn't want
to say, oh can I touch it? She has, Oh no,
you can hold him here. So I held this little
dog and got my photo with him, and I said
(41:37):
does he go to Broadway shows often? And she said no,
this is only a second show. But he also did
go to the Michael Jackson show as well. But the
doc I watched it was hilarious. So yes, I love them.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Oh my god. My daughter is in theater at Fordham
in New York City and she is like same theater
freak and she just loves everything and she she really
loved Mulin Rougel whole heck of a lot, and of
course Hamilton all my favorite. I mean, like knows every
single word, every single is long, like most kids did
(42:12):
at that time when it came out. But I just
love that you are so multifaceted and what is your goal? Like,
what is what does the next five years look like
for Georgia and Irvine.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
I'm not retiring just yet because I love what I'm doing,
I love the people.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I can't do that.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
It's just magical for me. But the next five years
will be continuing to write the Hope and Inspiration books.
I also love to travel to see animals in their
native habitat.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Where's the craziest location you've ever had to spend the
night in?
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Probably it was probably in Borneo when we were with
doctor Berrute Goldikos, who's the Jane goodall of orangutans, and
we were going out into the forest to confront illegal
loggers and we ended up having to spend the night
(43:15):
in the forest. We had we had security with us
and all, but I wasn't expecting to spend the night
in the forest and so that was really interesting. But
they had brought some supplies, so that was pretty crazy.
And then the next morning we confronted the illegal lockers
and that was quite a story unto itself, so that
(43:35):
that was awesome. But I've spent a lot of time
in Africa. I love India.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
We want to go on, we want to go on.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
But are magical, Yes, a real one, Like I want
to be in a tent on the ground. I don't
want to.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Let's not let's let let's not go that far.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
There are very nice.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
There are very safaris and the Zoo actually offers tours
in Africa and other places in the world.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Oh, yes, they do.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Through their website.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Yeah, they can look at our website and we offer
awesome tours and they're all wildlife related, which is which
is really.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Great idea to do it through the zoom.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Yeah, I highly recommend going on our San Diego Zoo tours,
and so I have led some of our tours, and
I've also traveled a lot of places on my own.
My very first trip to Africa was in nineteen eighty
nine and a friend had put it together and probably
if you wanted me to tell you, the craziest thing
(44:38):
that has ever happened on a trip was a four
day canoe trip on the Zambizi River in Africa where
we were canoeing our own. We were, you know, canoeing
on our own. We did have a guide, and we
did have folks setting up our tents on the shore,
every water, every well, everything that could happen did happen.
(45:05):
These don't happen on Zodor's This was not a zooduor well,
here's an example. So there were some poachers from Zambia,
which was across the river, and they weren't poaching, but
they were young men and they were speeding in a
boat with their girlfriends, kind of speeding around the river.
And there are a lot of sand banks and little islands.
(45:26):
And our guide gets his gun out and I am
further back. I'm not up with him, and he points
it at them and he says, get out of here, poachers,
get out, get out. It's like, what are you doing.
You have eight of us and you're holding your gun
up at people who are poachers.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
So they sped off, but then we could hear them
coming back and it's like, oh my gosh. So we
had to go hide in the reeds where the crocodiles were.
Oh while the boat is spitting around like looking.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
For oh my, this is a movie that it is.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
A movie that was really scary. Then we were following
some elephants along the shore and we were not getting
too close, and I was with the guide and I
was in the front of the canoe shooting photographs. And
we're sitting there and we're pretty you know, we're far
(46:24):
enough away, and I'm shooting photographs, and all of a sudden,
one of them starts to charge, and literally I thought.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Oh my god, you're finally gonna die. You've finally done it.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
And then I thought, if I'm going to die, I
may as well take pictures. These are going to be really,
really good pictures. And then this is in the day
of film. I actually thought, I hope it doesn't ruin
my film when I go in the river, and I
hope my friends can retrieve my camera. And it stopped
about six feet short of us and splash, and our
(47:01):
guide's eyes were big and he said, it's okay, it's
a mock charge. I don't think he'll come any closer.
And my friends were terrified, and one of them actually
to this day says she was just thinking, am I
what am I gonna tell her mother?
Speaker 1 (47:14):
There's like nothing you can do to scare off an elephant.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
No, no, no, you just and I'm guessing maybe he
got us. I was young and naive, maybe he got
us too close. But then then what was even scarier
is right after that, there was a pod of about
fifty hippos. Hippos are really the most dangerous animal. I
have heard that, and half of our group, so we
(47:38):
had four canoes, were on the other side of the river.
So Tim says, Okay, we're going to canoe right through
that pod of hippos and they're gonna go down and
we're gonna glide right over them. That was even scarier
than the elephant charges because you could see the water
swarming and I was just praying, oh God, please don't
let them come up, Please don't let them come up,
(47:58):
because you know they could. And you turned the canoe
over and then their crocodiles everywhere. So that was pretty
crazy too. And then other things happened, and then really
our last day, he had to go meet another tour
group and he left us in the forest by ourselves.
We were so scared. We had our and we were
(48:18):
waiting for a plane to come and pick us up
on a dirt. We were so scared that we were
singing Christmas carols really loud to keep animals away.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Oh my god, So that.
Speaker 3 (48:32):
Those four days were if I had to pick and
then there then we were at a camper. There actually
was restroom, and I went in and I said to
my friends, if anything happens, come on in. And I'm
in there, and all of a sudden they opened the
door and they go holding it shut really tight, and
I says, well, welcome, what happened And they said, well,
(48:53):
we were out waiting for you to come out, and
hyenas came after us.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
So just things like that.
Speaker 3 (48:59):
And then one of our canoes accidentally ran into a
crocodile our last day, which didn't turn around and get them,
but it just went, you know, it kind of went
off into the reads.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Have you ever been bit by anything? Oh?
Speaker 3 (49:13):
A dog?
Speaker 1 (49:14):
Nothing, but nothing. I'm not a scary spider for like
the Amazon or anything. No, I'm just trying to think.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
No, I haven't I got vet by a macaw? Oh
that hurts, yes, So I wanted to be a vet
when I was young, and I went to school and
everything for it, and I did some residency at Sea World. Okay,
so I had a choice to either work with the
(49:42):
penguins or work with the birds of prey and the
exotic birds. And I was like, no, the penguins, But
then when I saw how excited they, I was like no.
So at one point I had two parrots living with me,
two macaws. I had a a a anyway they really
I had a blue Gold and I had a military
(50:06):
what the other one was. And when I first met it,
it it and they pinch and twist and her blood
whis spreading out and you have to not react, right
because then they think it's a game and they'll and
I just remember thinking, oh my god, and it just
stared at me. So I covered it up, waited two days,
(50:26):
came back, lifted the cover over, and I said, we're
going to do this again. Oh my. And she never
bit me again. She was with me for years.
Speaker 3 (50:33):
Oh I love that story. But they they can crack nuts.
It's with their be So, yeah, you do not want
to get bit by a parent, No, I really haven't.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
I mean, I blue and gold is the other one.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
They're beautiful, They're absolutely beautiful. No spiders, I mean our
wildlife care team is very so I don't. Yeah, you
mean when i've been out, Yes, No.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
Only I'm afraid of by something crazy.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Well, I've made peace with spiders, but the one living
being that terrifies me terrifies me. And I would choose
being in a room with a cobra over this animal,
and you're gonna go really, I would take a cobra
(51:24):
over a cockroach, not a madic ask or hissing cockroads.
They're big and they're like little animals even though they're insects.
But a cockroach, cockroads, I am terrified. I am terrified of.
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Them, cockroaches and spiders.
Speaker 3 (51:42):
I have made peace with spiders, I really did, but
but I am terrible.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
They've never They can't really bite you, I don't think.
But if one even touched me, it would be like
it bit me. I would be like off.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
To the hospital, okay, when we talk. These books are
available online at the San Diego Zoo Shop, which the
website is. We also have it on our.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
Webshopzu dot com, and you can buy them in our gift.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
Shops at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Safari pot.
I want to show you what my daughter bought me
at the gift shop at the Zoo. It's this bracelet
and has this little elephant on it that is made
out of some kind of stone and it's called follow
fa h l O And you download an app and
this isn't. Her name is Orchid and she's an actual
(52:27):
elephant and you can follow how many miles she's traveled
that day, how many offsprings she's had her whole entire life,
where she's at right now, like right now she's in Maru.
It is the coolest thing. There's like dolphins and you
can follow bears, you can follow any kind of animal
and they have that at the zoo. That is awesome.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
And you know, we're a nonprofit, we're conservation organization, so
everything you buy in our gift shops, on shopsuit, everything
goes right back into our mission, which is, you know,
protecting wildlife and habitats.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
And I'm loving the colors of these books, like they're
very bright, they're beautifully beautifully done, perfect for kids.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Okay, we're going to give away, Okay, we're going to
figure out how we're going to give away these books.
And I think we should give them away as a set,
because that would be incredible for some of these child
or grandchild. And then but what before we give them
to the person, we will have themselves.
Speaker 3 (53:27):
I will sign them all, Yes, I will.
Speaker 1 (53:29):
And before we take off, we need to know a
little bit more about you. This is the bowl of questions. Okay,
the bowl of questions. And I didn't put any in
here that are like scandalous or.
Speaker 3 (53:38):
Anything, thank you.
Speaker 1 (53:39):
So you pick one out and you have to answer
it honestly, and just if I don't like the question,
we'll throw it back in. Yeah, you're the guests. You
can do whatever.
Speaker 3 (53:48):
You will pick a question. Oh that's do you not
like it?
Speaker 1 (53:55):
No? I like it?
Speaker 3 (53:56):
Okay, I like it? There are it's who is someone
you really admire? There are many people I admire, but
one person I admire who is a friend of mine
is Jane Goodall.
Speaker 1 (54:09):
That woman is the.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
Most incredible person in the entire world. The work she
has done, not only setting chimpanzees, but speaking around the
world on behalf of wildlife.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
She has worked, she has she has.
Speaker 3 (54:24):
Made a huge, huge difference in my life. And and
the fact that I know her and that we're friends
because I've met her through my work.
Speaker 1 (54:34):
That is the world to me is.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
How many people have we ever met that has.
Speaker 1 (54:40):
Been I mean, that is increasible, incredible, That is incredible,
And I'm glad to know that she's a good Obviously,
she's a good person. Look what she's doing, Look what
she's done.
Speaker 3 (54:49):
She's an amazing person. And I love it at the
end of her talks. If you ever have a chance
to go to one of her lectures, she's so good
at hooting like a him you know how they go.
I can't do it, but she does that at the
end of her lectures, and she's just got it down.
It's I don't know what it is she's saying, but
it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
Can you mimic an animal?
Speaker 3 (55:12):
I can mimic a rooster?
Speaker 1 (55:15):
Okay, go for it? Okay, all right, here we go. Excellent.
That's about it. Okay. One question because I found it
on It just popped up and I thought, I want
to know what your answer to that.
Speaker 3 (55:31):
Oh, what's the last thing you completed on your bucket list?
Speaker 1 (55:35):
You've done pretty much everything, you know, there are things
I still want to do like, I have not seen
a jaguar in the wild, So I want to go
to the pantanol in South America to see jaguars in
the wild.
Speaker 3 (55:49):
Oh my gosh, because I am the most fortunate person
in the world because I've I've been able to do
so many amazing things through my job. And one of
the things, you know, we talked about me traveling a lot.
I'll never forget something that my mother said to me.
(56:10):
And I was really young, and I had spent my
money on a big trip and I didn't have a
condo yet. And I remember saying to my mom, do
you think it's really weird that I went on this
trip and I don't even own a home yet? And
you know, I eventually did. But she said, honey, you
will always regret the trips that you never took. You
(56:33):
will never regret the trips that you took. And I
like to tell young people. Her motto was go go,
go while you can. So I decided that I would
not wait until got this. I retire to follow my
dreams and when opportunities can come up and people say,
(56:55):
come with us on a trip, and I happen to
organize a lot of trips for my friends as well.
Speaker 1 (56:59):
I go.
Speaker 3 (57:00):
So I've got to think because I've never really written
a bucket.
Speaker 1 (57:03):
Okay, I was gonna My last question for you is
going to be what message you have for people about
the world About what you just said is perfect? Is beautiful?
Speaker 2 (57:15):
Yeah, if you.
Speaker 1 (57:16):
Want to say anything about like our earth something important, yes,
please do.
Speaker 3 (57:23):
Our Earth needs us and we're at a critical point
in time. I mean, there is such a thing as
global warning warming. But Jane Goodall says, and this is
another she when she talks about she says, if every
single person could do a little something together, that makes
a big something. And I think you.
Speaker 1 (57:45):
Have to have hope.
Speaker 3 (57:47):
That's what my book collection is about. You know, bad
things happen, but you can't let it get you down.
You have to have hope. You have to have hope
for our planet. You have to have hope for wildlife species,
even though some of them are diminishing in number. I'm
never gonna give up. I Am never going to give
(58:08):
up trying to inspire people to care and to do
something on behalf of our planet. And it can be
something simple. Here's here a couple things locally that people
can do. I love to tell kids to learn about
the local wildlife in your own backyard. I mean, I
love elephants, I love lions, I love tigers. We have
(58:30):
got opossums. That's a marsupial. I mean it's.
Speaker 1 (58:34):
Related to the They're quite cool to see up close
to they are.
Speaker 3 (58:37):
We have coyotes, We have mountain lions in the back country.
We have bobcats and rabbits, and we have awesome animals
in San Diego County and in other areas people have
awesome wildless I think learning about what you have in
your own backyard really helps you care about wildlife around
(58:59):
the earth. And I will never forget. We have hummingbirds.
I love hummingbirds. I have hummingbird feeders. A top scientist
from Australia came to visit this is back in the
nineteen nineties and he and a friend stop by my
condo for dinner, and I had a hummingbird feeder.
Speaker 1 (59:17):
Okay, this is a.
Speaker 3 (59:18):
Man who works with koalas and platypus and you know
what you might think of kangaroos. He had never seen
a hummingbird in his life. He was mesmerized, like this
is the most magnificent thing I've ever seen our wildlife
that lived. You know, a bird that lives in San
(59:38):
Diego County and this man lives with kuka bars and kualas.
So it's really relative to where you live. But it's
really important to care about your native wildlife. And if
you can plant, you know, native milkweed for the monarch butterflies,
do that.
Speaker 1 (59:53):
And if you've got a cat.
Speaker 3 (59:56):
You want your cat to be safe. So if you
don't want it to get hit by a car, you
don't want it to get eaten by local wildlife. So
keep your cat inside for its own safety. But what
that also does is that saves local wildlife. It saves lizards,
it saves squirrels because the cats aren't out there. Yeah,
(01:00:19):
it but it's you know, it protects your beloved pet.
But then it also protects native wildlife. So I really
I want to leave people with a message of hope,
with a message of never giving up, with a message
of believing in yourself and following your dreams and living
(01:00:40):
your best life. Don't wait to do something that you
want to do, do it now.
Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
You've got to just do it now. Gosh. Georgianna Irvine,
author Philanthropists publicist San Diego Zoo, a spokesperson extraor ordinaire
from so many years back. Uh media Maven explore, uh
just intellect I just. We're so honored that you joined
(01:01:11):
us here, and thank you for giving us a set
up talk to you and tell your stories.
Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
You're gonna go get her out of here now in
the morning.
Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
We so appreciate you being on the podcast. Thank you
so very much. And all of her links, the link
to the Zoo shop and the link to the San
Diego Zoo on our website, Laura Kane after Dark, along
with her bio and her picture and everything, and and
we will let you know how. We're giving away her
set of books because those are fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
They are adorable.
Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
She's gonna sign them for you too. So we say
something at the end of our podcast, and I'll say it,
then you say it, and Eric says, okay, we end, Okay, okay, okay.
Thank you guys so much for watching and listening. This
has been such an awesome show. I've loved it, and
I love your podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
Love your podcast, Love your podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
I love you, my sweet babies. Bye guys, bye, everybody.
Thank you so much.
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Speaker 1 (00:58):
Hello and welcome to Laura Kane after Dark. I'm Laura Kane.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
The person who is rummaging through his phone he's death
scrolling right now is Eric Rummer, my co host. We
have tonight, I know, Oh my gosh. Just wait and
then we have a producer, Brian, Hi, Brian, who apparently
worked all weekend, and I said, so did I. So
there's that. But I know we all did. And you
know what, I worked eight hours today too, just like you,
(01:27):
Just like you just today. No, over the weekend, I
worked some hours, not eight each day, But why did
you work eight on Saturday and eight on Sunday? On Saturday? Okay, Well,
I don't really feel that sorry for you. I went
to a funeral on Friday. Oh did you really? Yeah?
Oh no, gosh, sorry for a family member.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Oh no, oh no, it's fine.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Oh wait, Okay, we'll talk about this.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
After bringing down the room.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I just wanted to bring her down.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I just wanted to bring her ego down a little
bit gy always.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Okay, First, we got to say Happy Veterans Day to
all the veterans. Thank you so much for you. Yes,
absolutely Today I was asked to fill in for the
person that does the videography for the TV stations in
the helicopter. So I got to go up in the
helicopter and I videoed the Veterans Day parade, which was
(02:24):
along Harbor Drive, right right near the Star of India India,
right next to the midway. I zoomed in on the
midway because there was like a bunch of activities going
on there because it's the end of fleet week. And
then I zoomed in on a boat that had like
an American flag waving, and then like there's a there
was a big inflatable bald eagle. I zoomed in on
that real slow, and then I zoomed out when I
(02:46):
could finally get the signals to the stations.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Can you take guests on that on.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
The helicopter ride? I don't know, I should ask, yeah,
I mean there's another seat. There's two seats in the back.
I want to go on that, can you I can?
I tell you something? I'm so focused on. There's so
many buttons and moving parts and juggling so much. I
didn't look out the window one single time. I just
looked through the screen the camera because you have to,
(03:12):
like you maneuver it. You go in and out, you
have to balance the white. You have to do all this,
and then you have to transmit to the station.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Since there's two extra seats.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
There's one extra seat we can share.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
We can share lest Yeah, Brian can sider on my lap.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
If it'll take off. I don't know if there's like
a way. I'm just saying too. Sitting on top of
each other might be a little bit heavy. I think
you'll be okay. Okay, Now we are not a political show.
We take your mind off of politics. So what I
(03:50):
want to do right now is I want.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Can I start crying?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Let's play the music. Cue music, please, We're all going
to take a deep breath. Ready. Why just take a
deep breath because we're gonna calm down for a second.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I'm already.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I just have something to say. Okay, just take a
deep breath ready. Now. In my program, we say one
day at a time, right, because really, truly, in everybody's life,
we only have today. So let's not be doom and
gloom and try not to be too sad or all
(04:33):
bombed out or whatever you are. Let's just all get along.
That sounds great, and let's just all have a positive
attitude and let's just all breathe and live day to day.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Are you telling me that I should burn my kill list?
I'm not sorry you upset your candidate wine.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I'm not saying okay, he's like the only one that
is like mouths offul on the show. Yeah, sort of
that to me, I know, because he does it to.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Us because it's obviously not true.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
So anyway, okay, so coming up right now, Oh no,
we have your double D. We're going to do Double
D and then we have a special guest. Her name
is Georgianne Irvine. I've known Georgia Ane for years. She
has literally been affiliated with some way or another with
the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Safari Park for
over forty years. She is somebody that we used to
(05:31):
have on the show all the time on Jeff and Jeer.
She's an author, she's the philanthropist. She is an awesome person.
She's so nice and maybe you've probably heard her name
because she used to be the publicist and she's been
on tv I countless times. So she's going to be
on the show and she's going to share some of
the books that she's written. She's written over thirty books.
(05:54):
Cannot wait, I know, And I'm so excited she talked
to her because I haven't seen her in a while,
and it's really exciting. And that's why I wore my
animal print for you, because I know you love it,
and for her of course, and I see you drag
that chair back. Of course, why I mean a hello,
she has to sit in the leopard print chair. I know,
(06:14):
and you know it's funny she's wearing a leopard print.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I do love it.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Okay, so let's get your double d's. Let's get through them.
I don't want to say get it over with That's
not what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I want to get it over with you. I want
to get Georgiana.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I know, I know, but I want to hear what's
going on in Hollywood?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Baby, Well, there is some big news. Not a whole
lot happened this week. But oh and last week Terry
gar died.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
And all, wait, wasn't she Close Encounters? I don't was
she the mom in Close Encounters?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I have no clue she might have been. That's a
long I don't even know if I was born yet.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Laura, Oh, be quite, you're older than me. Be quiet.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Like one year, Megan Fox is pregnant with Machine Gun
Kelly's kid. That kid's gonna be a vampire.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I know that kid is going to be like nine
feet tall, a spider, yeah, like a daddy long legs. Yeah, probably,
and probably you have its first tattoo by the age.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Of onee he'll be born with it.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Born like a tattoo. How old is Megan She doesn't say.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think she's thirty eight.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, she seems like she's lived a lot longer than that.
She doesn't seem like she looks old. I just feels
like she's been around longer than that. I don't know,
that's all. She's still incredibly beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
She is. She started when she was really young. They
were still together.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Oh yeah, yeah, oh wow, that's well. Congratulations to them.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Britney Spears is reconciling with her son Jaden.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yay, good good. And is Jaden the older one or
the younger one.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I think he's the older one, okay, And I think
that'll be good for her. Maybe it'll mellow her out
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Always getting in touch with your kids centers you. That
is one thing for sure. Yes, I talked to both
my kids this weekend and it was like the best.
And you know what, Charlie, when I talked to him
on FaceTime, was wearing this thick sweater and this big
old beanie and it was all overcast and he was
freezing cold in Portland. And then Evan she was like, Mom,
(08:26):
I'm so cold. I just got off the subway. And
she had a scarf on and a jacket and a
hat on, and I was like, I was laying in
my hammock. It's like bright sunshine in the seventies. I'm like, sorry, guys, sorry,
I had to move.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Away forties last night.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I know it was cold last night, wasn't anyway? Sorry,
sorry to interrupt.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I fell asleep last night. It said it was only
twenty six minutes long. It was called Chucky. It's on
shutter and is it a movie or documentary on? I
thought it was just on the one Child's Play movie.
I think the documentary is about six hours long.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Oh no, thank you about Chucky. The whole Chucky ass phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Great, But I fell asleep during the last like two
hours of it, and I woke up for reezing, freezing
my ass off.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
When you're done, I need to tell you about a
movie I watched last night that everybody needs to see.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Okay, And I watched a movie too.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Okay, And we'll get that and then we'll have Georgiana on.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
So the drug dealer that supposedly supplied Liam Payne with
drugs is speaking out for the first time, he said
he did nothing wrong in connection with the singer's tragic
death last month.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
His name is Brian Piez and he got arrested right
he did.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
He's been accused of our team Argentinian authorities of allegedly
supplying drugs to the Star.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Do you know how they were doing it?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Soapboxes?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Isn't that like because one of the other people who
was arrested was a hotel worker. Yeah, and that's how
they give him the drugs.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Thre like a dove box, a box of soap, yeah,
he said, He told the outlet. The first time he
met Liam at the restaurant where he worked as a
waiter on October second, He claimed Liam didn't eat anything
because he was already under the influence of drugs, and
says Liam later invited him to his Buenos Aires hotel
room where he took a where they took a few
whiskey shots together, and then they had their second meeting
(10:26):
on Sunday, October thirteenth, where they both used drugs throughout
the night. He stressed that Lamb wasn't aggressive and was
actually well behaved.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Didn't the Argentinian police say it's suicide.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
That's I read that. And then I also read that
one of his friends was arrested, somebody who just abandoned
him when they they are resident because they didn't think
that he should have left his side. That was like
a reason from why they arrested this one friend. Yeah,
but so that means, never leave my side. I won't
(11:00):
are they're gonna come get you. I will leave and
I'm not gonna God willing will not end up like that. Okay, okay, okay.
So the movie I watch, yes, I I'm not usually
into Like I thought this was gonna be like lighthearted comedy.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Because oh, Aubrey Plaza.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Was in it and she is funny and a comedian,
and I thought, oh, but this looks kind of interesting.
It was her talking to her younger self. And it's
called My Old Ass.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yes, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
It is so good, tender, funny, sweet, shocking, and it's
not very long. It was beautiful wrapped in like a
perfect bow. I love that movie, right, Yes, My Old Ass.
It's called It's great. It's great. What did you watch?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I watched Elevation.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
It's oh you went to you actually went to the
movies I.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Actually went to the movies and it was packed. Oh
that's good to know on Saturday night. It's interesting. Uh,
it kind of falls apart at the end.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Who is in that one?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I think I don't know any of the.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Hugh grand Is any other one that opened? Right?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Heretic?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Now what is that a scary one?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It's more of a psychological thriller.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, we were going to see Smile too, but it
started too late.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Why didn't you see Heretic?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Uh, it wasn't at the time that we were there.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Oh okay, okay, but so elevation was like, eh, it
was okay, okay, yeah, okay, real quick.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Tom Todd died this week too, Todd from candy Man. Yeah,
that's right. I know. I was forgetting something.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yes, I don't know that person. I don't know candy
Man anyways, boy, candy Man. It's a scary movie, right, Yeah,
he's been a lot of other things.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I don't remember, but.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I would recognize his face, yes, you are, yeah, and
probably his voice. Actually is he does he always play
a scary character? Or is he like a victim? Dark character?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Not necessarily bad guys? I think?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Okay, here, get a little bit more into the show.
There you go, so we can get us all on
Instagram as cue the zoo music please or the jungle music.
I should say, oh, make my dog off the seat,
and we got to move the camera so we can
get there you go. Elvis, Oh my gosh, he is
heavier than he looks because George Anne Irvine is coming
(13:35):
on up, Come on. Georgia Irvine is a friend of
mine from so long ago. Lot are you here's justly?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Oh, thank you? And I'm so honored that Elvis was
sitting in my seat.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
That was awesome it.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I took photos of it.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You did, oh gosh, I did. The thing is with
Elvis if you sometimes he can be a real jerk
when you to move him. So I was like, I
don't want you to have to move him and then
him go right.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Oh he would have loved me.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I know you speak to animals, you are all about animals,
You're all about conservation. You are an author, you're a philanthropist,
you are a leader of women. You are so many things,
Georgianna Irvine, and I just cannot wait to delve into
everything that you are currently doing. And also let's brush
up on your past too.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh my gosh, thank you for saying all of those things.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Wow. Who is that? Well, if you've heard the name
Georgiana Ervine, it's probably because she used to be the
publicist for the zoo. She's spoken out on You've been
on many a local TV news show with animals without animals,
speaking about animals, speaking about conservation. And now your passion,
(14:52):
it seems, is writing books. And you've been doing this
for years. You have over thirty books you've written.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Wow, I have their children's books. I have written one
book for the adult audience, but I really prefer writing
for kids. They don't take as long. Now I kinda
do in a way.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I tried writing a children's book one time and I
wrote like one sentence, and I'm like, I don't because
they seem so easy to write because there's very few words.
But no, they're not. They're they're very difficult. So okay,
first tell me about the book for adults. What's the
one book you wrote for adults.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
The one book I wrote for adults was about the
Katrina dolphins that were washed out to see during Hurricane
Katrina and their rescue. And it's a book that's filled
with hope. But I had to do a lot of research,
interview a lot of people. Nonfiction and that's what I
specialize in, is nonfiction. So that was a big coffee
(15:50):
table book. The book was so big you could use
it as the table. It was gigantic size.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
She loves off a table books.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I start doing pinwheel Tea.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Is freaking out right now. Oh my gosh, how what
a beautiful thing?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Then can you can you still buy it?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
You can probably buy it on used book side? Oh okay, yeah,
it's called The Katrina Dolphins one ticket, uh, one way
ticket to Paradise.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
So it's hopeful. I love it.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
It is a hopeful book. But it was not It
wasn't published by the San Diego Zoo. Right now, I'm
writing books for the San Diego Zoo, my employers.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I love that. But we're talking Simon and Schuster, We're
talking Scholastic. She's been published by many, many, a big name,
and now the Zoo. So talk about what your children's
books primarily are about. I mean, you have over thirty
of them. What are I mean what do they each
focus on?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Well, they all have animal themes. But the books I'm
doing now for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Press. And
let me just say I've been with the organization for
forty six years, going on forty seven. I know you
said over forty and that made me sound really young.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Well you look exactly the same as you did when
I was with Jeff and jer like way back in
the day, like two thousand and four. How do you
have you not changed one bit? But anyway, that's it.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Oh, I'm buying it right now. That's it.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Oh my gosh, it that came out in two thousand
and seven. That's an old.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Okay, okay, So continue the books you're writing for the zoo.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
So this is the Hope and Inspiration collection of books,
and so their nonfiction stories about real animals that live
or have lived at the San Diego Zoo or Safari Park.
And what's interesting if a child can get to know
an individual animal like Karen the orangutan or Omeo the koala,
(17:51):
it really enables them to connect with that animal because
each animal has its own personality. And then the hope
is that they will connect with the specs and with
wildlife and be inspired to care about wildlife and get
interested in conservation. And in some of these books, like
in the case of Omeo the Kuala, which is the
newest book that came out. His mother passed away when
(18:14):
he was still in her pouch, and so Quala's need
to stay. They're marsupial, so Quala needs to say in
it's mother's pouch for six months and then you see
an arm and ear. Well, when he was only five
months old, she died and we really didn't think he
was going to make it because he was also very
small for his age. He wasn't even the size of
(18:39):
a baby Koala that was five months old. So it's
his story. But he had this will to live, and
he had ups and downs in his life. I mean
right after he was taken out of the pouch, out
of his mother's pouch and we put him in a
special pouch and an incubator, and our wildlife care team
and our veterinary team did everything they could just of
(19:00):
his life. He got pneumonia and we thought this is it.
But doctor Corras Singleton bless her with her nebulizer. He
breathed in the medicine and he made it. But throughout
his life he had a lot of ups and downs.
I followed him for two years before doctor Corus said
to me, George, he's out of the woods. You can
(19:22):
finally write the book about him.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Can we see the yes? And is he currently at
the zoo?
Speaker 3 (19:28):
He is currently at.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
The zoo at his ears.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
But the kids who have connected to these books, you know,
let me say, like in the Karen Ring, I know, well,
let's look.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
At I love beautifully little footprints.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
We have the foot or paw prints of every animal
that we write about. These are we don't face any
space in the Look when he.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Was just a little tiny bee. He's struggling to live.
Look at the pouch you made him. Oh my gosh,
so wow. Each book is the story about an individual
and that is at the zoo right now, has zoo
yes and that kids can really relate to and like
you said, become more fond of the species and learn
(20:21):
more about animals in general.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
But what I've also found is these books teach life
lessons and this is something I never expected. And let
me give you an example. There's a story about a flamingo, Floyd,
who had some issues with his legs and he had surgery,
and it's about the true story of a flamingo who
(20:44):
never gave up and about a year and a half ago,
I got a packet of letters from Born England Middle
School in Born Eastbourne, England, and somehow they had found
the Floyd Flamingo book and they used it for a
week long class teaching kids about resilience and never giving us.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Wow. And in that packet so I got the letter
from the teachers, I had fifty five handwritten letters from
the children, I mean handwritten, telling me how much they
had learned and how this story taught them to never
give up in life and to be resilient. I just
couldn't believe it. I don't even know how they found
(21:30):
the book. And then I got a letter, an email
from a school in the Eastern US that had done
something similar and our book about Karen Orangutan.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
This is Karen.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Karen So yeah, she is your namesake. She still lives
at the zoo. She just celebrated her thirty second birthday
on June eleventh.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Wow. God.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
But when she was a baby she had a hole
in her heart. And so when she was two years old,
and I was in pr at the time, and I
so vividly remember watching her surgery from you know, the
viewing room in our Zoo Hospital and one of the
top heart lung surgery teams in the nation volunteered their
(22:15):
time to repair her heart.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
They got like a human like doctor, doc doctor, and
they brought equipment and all the nurses, everybody donated their
time to helping Karen.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
It was really it was really amazing. I could have
probably had a heart lung transplant in our Zoo hospital
because of all the equipment that they But so they
repaired her heart, and doctor Jamison said, if her parents
were human, I would tell them that everything went just fine.
(22:49):
But that evening she got an infection in her lungs
and she was on a ventilator for two weeks, and
we got get well letters. This is before the days
of INNT and social media. The word got out all
over the world about Karen's heart surgery, and she got
get well letters from all over the world. And I
(23:10):
want to tell you about one of the letters. But
I'd like to also say that to this day, I
get emails from parents telling me my daughter has a
hole in her heart and she's got to get it fixed.
And she reads Karen's book and that has given her
the courage to go ahead with the surgery or they've
(23:30):
said my child. One of my colleagues has a daughter
who had open heart surgery, who had a whole fix
and she sent me a note and said, I've never
been able to explain to my daughter what happened to her,
and this book tells it. This book has helped me
explain that to her. So there are life lessons. We
have a book about a baby monkey who was raised
(23:51):
by his grandmother. How many families have grandparents that play
an important role in the lives of their family.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Now was this your was this your reasoning for writing
the book or just write books about animals? And then
it was just a happy accident that they all became life lessons.
And then by helping people deal with their own issues, well.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I would work with our wildlife care team to find
out what animals might have some challenges in their lives.
A lot of these have had, some of them have not,
but a lot of them have. And in the case
of Karen, it was a story from nineteen ninety four,
so that story we had the images and all. But
the key to these books is photography. If you don't
(24:35):
fall follow an animal through whatever it's going through and
have photos of it all, you don't have a book.
So when I decided I wanted to create this nonfiction
hope and Inspiration collection, I started with a Karen book,
but then by working with our veterinary team and our
Wildlife Care team, I came upon other animal stories that
(24:58):
were potentials for books. They don't all turn into a book.
There are some animals I followed that have not yet
turned into a book, but I consciously followed them. I
worked with the Wildlife Care team, and I feel really
honored because I feel like the orchestra conductor. I researched
the books, I write them, I gather the photos. We
(25:19):
have a fabulous photographer, but I shoot some myself. But
I feel I'm getting to tell the stories of our
people who donate their lives to caring for and protecting wildlife,
as well as the stories of our wildlife who were
amazing conservation ambassadors. So it's something that really I started
(25:41):
with Karen and immediately I came up with a couple
other book ideas and it has just grown over the years,
and it's just so near and dear to my heart
being able to do these stories because I have seen
how the books connect not just children, but oh for
sure wildlife by learning about these individual animals and then
(26:04):
taking it out from there. And our organization, San Diego
Zoo Wildlife Alliance is dedicated to conservation and we like
to look at the zoo and Safari Park as our
two front doors where we can inspire people to care.
But our vision is creating a world where all life thrives.
So that means wildlife, that means habitats, that means people
(26:27):
where we can cohabitate together. So I love being able
to write these stories that inspire people to care and
that really help educate people about the work that San
Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is doing.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Now, do these particular books come in a set or
do you can buy them individually? Like? How how does
one purchase these books?
Speaker 3 (26:49):
You can purchase them individually if you go, you can
purchase them on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
But if you go to shop zoo dot com, there's
a link on our website Lauracane after Dark.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Which is our San Diego Zoo shopping site, which has
amazing oh my gosh if you want to buy everything.
But if you go, you will find the books. But
what's really great is if you put a note into
your order that says, I want Georgia Ann to personalize
these books and then say who you want them to.
(27:22):
My office is right by shopsu and they will bring
them to my office and you will get personalized copies
of the books, which makes them all the more special.
And I like to write messages. I don't just sign
my name. I write inspirational messages to the kids.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Oh my gosh, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And they're beautiful, They're beautifully done. I mean, I'm all
about learning, and I love this the fun facts about Koalas.
Do all the.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Books have yes, they all, yes, they all have the
animals handprints or footprints. And interestingly with Karen, she's an
adult now and her hands are like this big. I
was exaggerated, but we happen to find a handprint from
Karen when she was a baby. And this was the
first book that we did. So there is Karen's baby.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
It does she was.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
I don't know exactly how she was. I believe that
was when she was two.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Years ago, Karen. And then she's a baby here right.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Yes, And we do show photos of Karen in the
book when she is and this is Karen now and
she loves to hold cord at the window of our arrangetans.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
She loves attention, and she loves.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
To turn somersaults. I've even seen her jump up and
do a pirouette and then lay down and roll. She's
really quite the character. So you can see. And when
I can recognize the orangutans by their faces, I mean
they just like people look different. They look different, but
if you don't know what to recognize, sometimes it'suff. But
(28:53):
Karen has very light colored eyes. So the other orangutans
have darker eyes, but her eyes are very light. And
then we have our fabulous volunteers in the Red Shirts
who are there who can point out Karen and and
you know Aisha and Inda and you know all of
the other animals that live with her.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Okay, when we are young kids, we sometimes we have
a proclivity for something that we turn out doing in
our adult life. Is there something in your childhood that
like led you to be this animal ambassador of sorts,
I mean of all sorts.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
I grew up in San Diego until I was in
third grade.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Are you a native?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I am a Mercy Hospital, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And I'm an Aztec yeah, yes too.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
And I grew up on a canyon and there was
wildlife there. My parents moved to Orange County when I
was in third grade, and you know, I guess I
had to go with them, but that was just my
ten year leave of absence. But I grew up going
to the Sandy Diego Zoo and I loved it. And
I was also a curious child. I did not want
to miss out on anything. And when I give talks,
(30:09):
there's a slide that I show that's really pretty hilarious.
It's a photo of me in our children'szoo. Now our
Wildlife Explores base camp sits on the site, but it's
a photo of me in the children's zoo eating popcorn,
looking in a trash can to see if there is
(30:29):
anything interesting in this trash can. Because I'm a storyteller.
I've always been a storyteller, and I thought, oh my gosh.
And I used to look in the storm brains too,
just because I thought there might be something worth a.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Story in there.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
So I've always had this love for animals. And then
on my twenty first birthday, one of my sorority sisters,
what are you in Cayamega?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Oh give you alay?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Oh my god. That was the second my second preference.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I had girl.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yes, I almost was in alphae. They were my friends.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
I love the alpha fe so much fun.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Okay, anyway, my sorority sister gave me a Curious George
monkey for my twenty first birthday left animal, yes, and
I still have it. It looks over my desk, and
I think that was indicative of what was to come
in my life. So there were all of these indicators
(31:25):
growing up, and just my love of animals and my
love of storytelling and investigating things. So I think that
really led me to my career at the San Diego Zoo.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Did you just go to the zoo and apply? Did
you like or was it a whole? Like? How did
that happen?
Speaker 3 (31:42):
So my major was public relations, Well, it was actually
journalism with an emphasis and public relations, and I had
an internship at what was then the Convention and Visitors Bureau,
and when I was there it was my you know,
summer of my senior year.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
A position as.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Public relations assistant came up at the Zoo and it
required a year's experience, which of course I didn't have.
But in my resume I put everything i'd ever written,
including being editor of the sorority newsletter. You know you
have to use it working when you're that young. And
I applied and I made it to the top two
(32:23):
and I didn't get the job. I didn't get it,
and I never thought I would make it that far.
But to get that I was twenty one, to get
that far and not make it, I was devastated. I
remember calling my mother and I was in tears because
it was my dream job. Six months later, the job
(32:45):
opened up again and they called me, And what I
later found out is they did not interview anybody else.
They called me, brought me in for another interview. I
had to take a writing test. I'll never forget. They
gave me a spelling test. And I don't know how
I was so brave to do this, but I left
the room and went to the person who was going
(33:07):
to be interviewing me. I said, excuse me, I know
you've given me a spelling test, but I would use
a dictionary. I can guess how these are, but I
would use a dictionary.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
And a big smile. She says, that's all.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
We wanted to know WHOA so I know testing. So
the second time around, I got the job as public
relations assistant, a dream job. And I've been there ever since,
and I've had three different careers at the Zoo, public
relations and marketing, so I was a media spokesperson, and
(33:44):
then I worked in our philanthropy division overseeing a communications
design team. So we created all of the materials that
we needed to raise, you know, one hundred million dollars
a year for new habitats and conservation. And then in
twenty sexen Are then CEO, decided we needed to start
a book publishing division. Because it's interesting. There was a time,
(34:10):
and I had friends tell me this when people thought
the printed book was dead. And at this point there
was a resurgence, and especially with parents with kids, the kids,
they don't want their kids on devices.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
So I still never read a book on it. I
always have it.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I'm on my computer, so I want a printed book.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Or it was a.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Resurgence, and now you know, if you read publishers weekly,
people are buying printed books get particularly children's books. So
we publish other books. We publish historical books about key
figures for the adult audience. We publish illustrated books for
(34:53):
children about animals, and a local author writes those, and
then of course I do the hope and inspiration books.
It's really fun to my daughter had a baby. I
have a two and a half year old grand Oh,
she's so cute.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
What's her name? Give her shout out?
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Madison, Madison, mad mad Maddie.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
She's hilarious.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
And they live in Colorado Springs. And I am now
a member of the Chyenne Mountain Zoo, a grandparent member
because when I go, she lasts about two hours. But
when we visit, we can visit every day with a membership,
just like it's so important that people live here who
are here have membership to ours. But anyway, when she
(35:34):
when there was a baby shower for her, she wanted
everybody to bring their favorite book that they had as
a child. Start her.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Okay, library, it's so awesome. That is a shower idea everybody.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
That's a very cute idea.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Incredible, that is incredible. Okay, wait, you said you were well,
I know you were the meaty person for the zoo
for a very very long time. So that means you've
probably had to give tour special tours to celebrities or
you've had to be on talk shows. So can you
give us like who what was your favorite memory? Or
you're the most famous person you've ever talked to? And
(36:10):
do you have any of those stories? Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yes, I do. The first one Steven Spielberg visited the
zoo and when and I still work with our social
media team to take celebrities around, so I still get
to do that. But he really wanted to know about
the zoo, and so I really told him all about
what we were doing, our conservation work. And I only
(36:33):
asked him one movie related question, and that question was
we were at the Galopogus tortoises.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
It was just you him and his family, Yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
And I asked him, I said, did you model et
after a Galopogus tortoise? Because think about his hit? And
he actually said no, I didn't, but they do look alike,
you know. I see why you asked me that, and
I just I just thought that was kind of awesome
(37:03):
to ask. And then I got a handwritten thank you
note when they were finished.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Is that framed on your wall? Oh my gosh?
Speaker 3 (37:11):
From even Oh it's in a folder, but so other celebrities.
I am a musical theater.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
I was going to ask you about that. Oh God,
I know that knows you says, don't get her started.
On musicals. She will go on and on and on and
on and on, but anyway, continue, But.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
One of my absolute favorite musical artists, Julie Andrews, came
to the zone and that was awesome. And she brought
Blake Edwards, her husband, and she brought her two daughters
who were, you know, in their teens at the time.
And it was so cute because every time something would
(37:51):
excite her, she would go, I don't speak like this,
but these she would go, damn, that's a good story.
We should do it TV show about this, and she
would she would use.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
That word a lot.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
It was hilarious, yes it was, but it was cute.
It was in a positive way. But it kind of
surprised me a little bit. But we went over to
the Sumatran rhino that we had that had just surreved
its critically endangered species, and we were looking at this
rhino and I talked about how it was a new
rhino at the zoo and how it liked to wallow
(38:25):
in the mud and in the zoo. In her Mary
Poppins's voice, she said, why I know a song about
a rhino. As a matter of fact, it's about a
rhino who likes to wallow in the mud. As a
matter of fact, it goes like this, and she sang
me a song in the zoo like kind of the
sound of Music.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Okay, your mind just was a smoke coming out of
your years the top of your head.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Blow off, my god, just I felt like I was
one of the kids in the Sound of Music. She
didn't belt it, but she literally sang me a song.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
I will never forget that ever, ever.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Ever, ever. What's your favorite musical?
Speaker 3 (39:03):
It depends if you want a new one or an old.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Okay, let's do old first.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Okay, old ones. I do love Mary Poppins, I love Gypsy.
I love the Sound of Music.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Are you gonna see Wicked the movie?
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (39:19):
I mean you've seen Wicked.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Well, I have seen the Wicked Show because I've had
I always make this excuse. I've had a lot of
friends in the cast. But and it's been out for
a long time. I have seen it well over two
dozen times, probably thirty times over the years. My first
alphaba was Stephanie J. Block in Los Angeles, And you'll
(39:42):
laugh at this. I was so excited to finally be
seeing Wicked, and I didn't have good seats. I like
to sit in the front row of the theater, so
I had binoculars and I'm watching the whole shows through binoculars,
and when they're singing, defind gravity and I'm starting to
feel a little sick to my stomach and thinking, oh
my gosh, you're getting the flew. In the middle of Wicked,
well intermission, I felt fine. I finally realized I was
(40:05):
getting motion sickness from looking at the show on my binoculars.
But I got better and I didn't use binoculars the
second half of the show. But I also I love
Six the musical. I love that show is that I
don't know, Oh that's new. It's about the six wives
of Henry the Eighth that was in town.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
They used to the zoo.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
It was awesome. And I also love and Juliet, which
has not yet toured. But it's a show with music
by Max Martin like Rower, and since you've been gone,
you would know all of the music. And it's a
story about what if Juliet didn't die, So it's a
Shakespearean but it's just so awesome. When it comes to town,
(40:49):
and I don't know when it's coming. You've got to
go see it. It's just magical.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Did you love Mulin Rouge?
Speaker 3 (40:54):
Oh my yes, I love Mulin Rouge. So I've seen
it on Broadway a couple of times. And the last
time I saw it on Broadway, across the aisle, there
was a woman holding a little Wiener dog, a little
long haired Docson and when the before the show, the
cast comes out and they kind of dance and I
could see them looking at the dog and they were
(41:16):
just cracking up. You can see they were trying not
to break a smile because they were in character. So
with intermission, I went up to the lady and I said,
oh my gosh, me I take a photo of you
in your dog, because I wanted to. I didn't want
to say, oh can I touch it? She has, Oh no,
you can hold him here. So I held this little
dog and got my photo with him, and I said
(41:37):
does he go to Broadway shows often? And she said no,
this is only a second show. But he also did
go to the Michael Jackson show as well. But the
doc I watched it was hilarious. So yes, I love them.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Oh my god. My daughter is in theater at Fordham
in New York City and she is like same theater
freak and she just loves everything and she she really
loved Mulin Rougel whole heck of a lot, and of
course Hamilton all my favorite. I mean, like knows every
single word, every single is long, like most kids did
(42:12):
at that time when it came out. But I just
love that you are so multifaceted and what is your goal? Like,
what is what does the next five years look like
for Georgia and Irvine.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
I'm not retiring just yet because I love what I'm doing,
I love the people.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I can't do that.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
It's just magical for me. But the next five years
will be continuing to write the Hope and Inspiration books.
I also love to travel to see animals in their
native habitat.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Where's the craziest location you've ever had to spend the
night in?
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Probably it was probably in Borneo when we were with
doctor Berrute Goldikos, who's the Jane goodall of orangutans, and
we were going out into the forest to confront illegal
loggers and we ended up having to spend the night
(43:15):
in the forest. We had we had security with us
and all, but I wasn't expecting to spend the night
in the forest and so that was really interesting. But
they had brought some supplies, so that was pretty crazy.
And then the next morning we confronted the illegal lockers
and that was quite a story unto itself, so that
(43:35):
that was awesome. But I've spent a lot of time
in Africa. I love India.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
We want to go on, we want to go on.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
But are magical, Yes, a real one, Like I want
to be in a tent on the ground. I don't
want to.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Let's not let's let let's not go that far.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
There are very nice.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
There are very safaris and the Zoo actually offers tours
in Africa and other places in the world.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Oh, yes, they do.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Through their website.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Yeah, they can look at our website and we offer
awesome tours and they're all wildlife related, which is which
is really.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Great idea to do it through the zoom.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Yeah, I highly recommend going on our San Diego Zoo tours,
and so I have led some of our tours, and
I've also traveled a lot of places on my own.
My very first trip to Africa was in nineteen eighty
nine and a friend had put it together and probably
if you wanted me to tell you, the craziest thing
(44:38):
that has ever happened on a trip was a four
day canoe trip on the Zambizi River in Africa where
we were canoeing our own. We were, you know, canoeing
on our own. We did have a guide, and we
did have folks setting up our tents on the shore,
every water, every well, everything that could happen did happen.
(45:05):
These don't happen on Zodor's This was not a zooduor well,
here's an example. So there were some poachers from Zambia,
which was across the river, and they weren't poaching, but
they were young men and they were speeding in a
boat with their girlfriends, kind of speeding around the river.
And there are a lot of sand banks and little islands.
(45:26):
And our guide gets his gun out and I am
further back. I'm not up with him, and he points
it at them and he says, get out of here, poachers,
get out, get out. It's like, what are you doing.
You have eight of us and you're holding your gun
up at people who are poachers.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
So they sped off, but then we could hear them
coming back and it's like, oh my gosh. So we
had to go hide in the reeds where the crocodiles were.
Oh while the boat is spitting around like looking.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
For oh my, this is a movie that it is.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
A movie that was really scary. Then we were following
some elephants along the shore and we were not getting
too close, and I was with the guide and I
was in the front of the canoe shooting photographs. And
we're sitting there and we're pretty you know, we're far
(46:24):
enough away, and I'm shooting photographs, and all of a sudden,
one of them starts to charge, and literally I thought.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Oh my god, you're finally gonna die. You've finally done it.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
And then I thought, if I'm going to die, I
may as well take pictures. These are going to be really,
really good pictures. And then this is in the day
of film. I actually thought, I hope it doesn't ruin
my film when I go in the river, and I
hope my friends can retrieve my camera. And it stopped
about six feet short of us and splash, and our
(47:01):
guide's eyes were big and he said, it's okay, it's
a mock charge. I don't think he'll come any closer.
And my friends were terrified, and one of them actually
to this day says she was just thinking, am I
what am I gonna tell her mother?
Speaker 1 (47:14):
There's like nothing you can do to scare off an elephant.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
No, no, no, you just and I'm guessing maybe he
got us. I was young and naive, maybe he got
us too close. But then then what was even scarier
is right after that, there was a pod of about
fifty hippos. Hippos are really the most dangerous animal. I
have heard that, and half of our group, so we
(47:38):
had four canoes, were on the other side of the river.
So Tim says, Okay, we're going to canoe right through
that pod of hippos and they're gonna go down and
we're gonna glide right over them. That was even scarier
than the elephant charges because you could see the water
swarming and I was just praying, oh God, please don't
let them come up, Please don't let them come up,
(47:58):
because you know they could. And you turned the canoe
over and then their crocodiles everywhere. So that was pretty
crazy too. And then other things happened, and then really
our last day, he had to go meet another tour
group and he left us in the forest by ourselves.
We were so scared. We had our and we were
(48:18):
waiting for a plane to come and pick us up
on a dirt. We were so scared that we were
singing Christmas carols really loud to keep animals away.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Oh my god, So that.
Speaker 3 (48:32):
Those four days were if I had to pick and
then there then we were at a camper. There actually
was restroom, and I went in and I said to
my friends, if anything happens, come on in. And I'm
in there, and all of a sudden they opened the
door and they go holding it shut really tight, and
I says, well, welcome, what happened And they said, well,
(48:53):
we were out waiting for you to come out, and
hyenas came after us.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
So just things like that.
Speaker 3 (48:59):
And then one of our canoes accidentally ran into a
crocodile our last day, which didn't turn around and get them,
but it just went, you know, it kind of went
off into the reads.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Have you ever been bit by anything? Oh?
Speaker 3 (49:13):
A dog?
Speaker 1 (49:14):
Nothing, but nothing. I'm not a scary spider for like
the Amazon or anything. No, I'm just trying to think.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
No, I haven't I got vet by a macaw? Oh
that hurts, yes, So I wanted to be a vet
when I was young, and I went to school and
everything for it, and I did some residency at Sea World. Okay,
so I had a choice to either work with the
(49:42):
penguins or work with the birds of prey and the
exotic birds. And I was like, no, the penguins, But
then when I saw how excited they, I was like no.
So at one point I had two parrots living with me,
two macaws. I had a a a anyway they really
I had a blue Gold and I had a military
(50:06):
what the other one was. And when I first met it,
it it and they pinch and twist and her blood
whis spreading out and you have to not react, right
because then they think it's a game and they'll and
I just remember thinking, oh my god, and it just
stared at me. So I covered it up, waited two days,
(50:26):
came back, lifted the cover over, and I said, we're
going to do this again. Oh my. And she never
bit me again. She was with me for years.
Speaker 3 (50:33):
Oh I love that story. But they they can crack nuts.
It's with their be So, yeah, you do not want
to get bit by a parent, No, I really haven't.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
I mean, I blue and gold is the other one.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
They're beautiful, They're absolutely beautiful. No spiders, I mean our
wildlife care team is very so I don't. Yeah, you
mean when i've been out, Yes, No.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
Only I'm afraid of by something crazy.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Well, I've made peace with spiders, but the one living
being that terrifies me terrifies me. And I would choose
being in a room with a cobra over this animal,
and you're gonna go really, I would take a cobra
(51:24):
over a cockroach, not a madic ask or hissing cockroads.
They're big and they're like little animals even though they're insects.
But a cockroach, cockroads, I am terrified. I am terrified of.
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Them, cockroaches and spiders.
Speaker 3 (51:42):
I have made peace with spiders, I really did, but
but I am terrible.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
They've never They can't really bite you, I don't think.
But if one even touched me, it would be like
it bit me. I would be like off.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
To the hospital, okay, when we talk. These books are
available online at the San Diego Zoo Shop, which the
website is. We also have it on our.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
Webshopzu dot com, and you can buy them in our gift.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
Shops at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Safari pot.
I want to show you what my daughter bought me
at the gift shop at the Zoo. It's this bracelet
and has this little elephant on it that is made
out of some kind of stone and it's called follow
fa h l O And you download an app and
this isn't. Her name is Orchid and she's an actual
(52:27):
elephant and you can follow how many miles she's traveled
that day, how many offsprings she's had her whole entire life,
where she's at right now, like right now she's in Maru.
It is the coolest thing. There's like dolphins and you
can follow bears, you can follow any kind of animal
and they have that at the zoo. That is awesome.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
And you know, we're a nonprofit, we're conservation organization, so
everything you buy in our gift shops, on shopsuit, everything
goes right back into our mission, which is, you know,
protecting wildlife and habitats.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
And I'm loving the colors of these books, like they're
very bright, they're beautifully beautifully done, perfect for kids.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Okay, we're going to give away, Okay, we're going to
figure out how we're going to give away these books.
And I think we should give them away as a set,
because that would be incredible for some of these child
or grandchild. And then but what before we give them
to the person, we will have themselves.
Speaker 3 (53:27):
I will sign them all, Yes, I will.
Speaker 1 (53:29):
And before we take off, we need to know a
little bit more about you. This is the bowl of questions. Okay,
the bowl of questions. And I didn't put any in
here that are like scandalous or.
Speaker 3 (53:38):
Anything, thank you.
Speaker 1 (53:39):
So you pick one out and you have to answer
it honestly, and just if I don't like the question,
we'll throw it back in. Yeah, you're the guests. You
can do whatever.
Speaker 3 (53:48):
You will pick a question. Oh that's do you not
like it?
Speaker 1 (53:55):
No? I like it?
Speaker 3 (53:56):
Okay, I like it? There are it's who is someone
you really admire? There are many people I admire, but
one person I admire who is a friend of mine
is Jane Goodall.
Speaker 1 (54:09):
That woman is the.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
Most incredible person in the entire world. The work she
has done, not only setting chimpanzees, but speaking around the
world on behalf of wildlife.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
She has worked, she has she has.
Speaker 3 (54:24):
Made a huge, huge difference in my life. And and
the fact that I know her and that we're friends
because I've met her through my work.
Speaker 1 (54:34):
That is the world to me is.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
How many people have we ever met that has.
Speaker 1 (54:40):
Been I mean, that is increasible, incredible, That is incredible,
And I'm glad to know that she's a good Obviously,
she's a good person. Look what she's doing, Look what
she's done.
Speaker 3 (54:49):
She's an amazing person. And I love it at the
end of her talks. If you ever have a chance
to go to one of her lectures, she's so good
at hooting like a him you know how they go.
I can't do it, but she does that at the
end of her lectures, and she's just got it down.
It's I don't know what it is she's saying, but
it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
Can you mimic an animal?
Speaker 3 (55:12):
I can mimic a rooster?
Speaker 1 (55:15):
Okay, go for it? Okay, all right, here we go. Excellent.
That's about it. Okay. One question because I found it
on It just popped up and I thought, I want
to know what your answer to that.
Speaker 3 (55:31):
Oh, what's the last thing you completed on your bucket list?
Speaker 1 (55:35):
You've done pretty much everything, you know, there are things
I still want to do like, I have not seen
a jaguar in the wild, So I want to go
to the pantanol in South America to see jaguars in
the wild.
Speaker 3 (55:49):
Oh my gosh, because I am the most fortunate person
in the world because I've I've been able to do
so many amazing things through my job. And one of
the things, you know, we talked about me traveling a lot.
I'll never forget something that my mother said to me.
(56:10):
And I was really young, and I had spent my
money on a big trip and I didn't have a
condo yet. And I remember saying to my mom, do
you think it's really weird that I went on this
trip and I don't even own a home yet? And
you know, I eventually did. But she said, honey, you
will always regret the trips that you never took. You
(56:33):
will never regret the trips that you took. And I
like to tell young people. Her motto was go go,
go while you can. So I decided that I would
not wait until got this. I retire to follow my
dreams and when opportunities can come up and people say,
(56:55):
come with us on a trip, and I happen to
organize a lot of trips for my friends as well.
Speaker 1 (56:59):
I go.
Speaker 3 (57:00):
So I've got to think because I've never really written
a bucket.
Speaker 1 (57:03):
Okay, I was gonna My last question for you is
going to be what message you have for people about
the world About what you just said is perfect? Is beautiful?
Speaker 2 (57:15):
Yeah, if you.
Speaker 1 (57:16):
Want to say anything about like our earth something important, yes,
please do.
Speaker 3 (57:23):
Our Earth needs us and we're at a critical point
in time. I mean, there is such a thing as
global warning warming. But Jane Goodall says, and this is
another she when she talks about she says, if every
single person could do a little something together, that makes
a big something. And I think you.
Speaker 1 (57:45):
Have to have hope.
Speaker 3 (57:47):
That's what my book collection is about. You know, bad
things happen, but you can't let it get you down.
You have to have hope. You have to have hope
for our planet. You have to have hope for wildlife species,
even though some of them are diminishing in number. I'm
never gonna give up. I Am never going to give
(58:08):
up trying to inspire people to care and to do
something on behalf of our planet. And it can be
something simple. Here's here a couple things locally that people
can do. I love to tell kids to learn about
the local wildlife in your own backyard. I mean, I
love elephants, I love lions, I love tigers. We have
(58:30):
got opossums. That's a marsupial. I mean it's.
Speaker 1 (58:34):
Related to the They're quite cool to see up close
to they are.
Speaker 3 (58:37):
We have coyotes, We have mountain lions in the back country.
We have bobcats and rabbits, and we have awesome animals
in San Diego County and in other areas people have
awesome wildless I think learning about what you have in
your own backyard really helps you care about wildlife around
(58:59):
the earth. And I will never forget. We have hummingbirds.
I love hummingbirds. I have hummingbird feeders. A top scientist
from Australia came to visit this is back in the
nineteen nineties and he and a friend stop by my
condo for dinner, and I had a hummingbird feeder.
Speaker 1 (59:17):
Okay, this is a.
Speaker 3 (59:18):
Man who works with koalas and platypus and you know
what you might think of kangaroos. He had never seen
a hummingbird in his life. He was mesmerized, like this
is the most magnificent thing I've ever seen our wildlife
that lived. You know, a bird that lives in San
(59:38):
Diego County and this man lives with kuka bars and kualas.
So it's really relative to where you live. But it's
really important to care about your native wildlife. And if
you can plant, you know, native milkweed for the monarch butterflies,
do that.
Speaker 1 (59:53):
And if you've got a cat.
Speaker 3 (59:56):
You want your cat to be safe. So if you
don't want it to get hit by a car, you
don't want it to get eaten by local wildlife. So
keep your cat inside for its own safety. But what
that also does is that saves local wildlife. It saves lizards,
it saves squirrels because the cats aren't out there. Yeah,
(01:00:19):
it but it's you know, it protects your beloved pet.
But then it also protects native wildlife. So I really
I want to leave people with a message of hope,
with a message of never giving up, with a message
of believing in yourself and following your dreams and living
(01:00:40):
your best life. Don't wait to do something that you
want to do, do it now.
Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
You've got to just do it now. Gosh. Georgianna Irvine,
author Philanthropists publicist San Diego Zoo, a spokesperson extraor ordinaire
from so many years back. Uh media Maven explore, uh
just intellect I just. We're so honored that you joined
(01:01:11):
us here, and thank you for giving us a set
up talk to you and tell your stories.
Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
You're gonna go get her out of here now in
the morning.
Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
We so appreciate you being on the podcast. Thank you
so very much. And all of her links, the link
to the Zoo shop and the link to the San
Diego Zoo on our website, Laura Kane after Dark, along
with her bio and her picture and everything, and and
we will let you know how. We're giving away her
set of books because those are fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
They are adorable.
Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
She's gonna sign them for you too. So we say
something at the end of our podcast, and I'll say it,
then you say it, and Eric says, okay, we end, Okay, okay, okay.
Thank you guys so much for watching and listening. This
has been such an awesome show. I've loved it, and
I love your podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
Love your podcast, Love your podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
I love you, my sweet babies. Bye guys, bye, everybody.
Thank you so much.
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