Having grown up in the rugged landscape of Mongolia, in a village located near the Great Gobi National Park, and coming from a family with a shared passion for wildlife, Nadia’s path was set early-she was going to become a wildlife conservationist. Her father taught her all about the plants and animals in the region, and when she was a teenager, a team of biologists and scientists came to her village to study the elusive snow leopard. Watching them work deepened her resolve to pursue conservation as a career, particularly with a focus on snow leopards.
This mysterious, endangered cat represented all that was beautiful about her homeland and Nadia was determined to save it. Unfortunately, others in her village didn’t see the same beauty she did. The harsh and hard life of the mountains was one of the reasons, and Nadia was determined to gain the education necessary to someday change their perceptions about snow leopards.
Today, Nadia has made significant headway in community outreach by establishing an eco-camp for children in a village located in South Gobi that is extremely popular with children and adults. Her work with Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC) has helped her gauge and monitor the attitude of local herders towards snow leopards, allowing them to improve conservation efforts in the area. With a PhD from the University of Mongolia, Nadia wants to expand her work to cover more of Mongolia, and continue her community outreach efforts with local villages to educate them about the beauty of their homeland, the same way her father did when she was a child.