Bethany Micheletti

Bethany is an Administrative Associate at the Brookfield zoo where her position is ever-evolving and breaking the mold of administrative duties. Some of her duties include digitizing new and existing paper records, being the point of contact for the Veterinary Education Program students and holding and organizing information for the Animal Welfare Committee, Biological Research review Committee and the IACUC. She has also helped create and manage three websites for internal staff use as well as massive databases for public tracking, veterinary student information and finances. While she does not directly work with animals, Bethany still has opportunities to observe them.

Bethany grew up dancing in Pow Wows with a Ute Medicine Man and Sundance Chief named Bear Boy LaRose, someone she was in awe with from the moment they met. Bear Boy took her under his wings to find her own even despite the cultural differences between their tribes. Both he and her family instilled a tremendous amount of appreciation and respect for every aspect of nature. At age 16 she worked at a family member’s holistic pet store and gradually moved on to a larger pet store where she was in charge of small animals, fish and reptile care. While pursuing her degree, she found herself at the Brookfield Zoo where she eventually found her way up to the animal hospital.

Bethany finds every aspect of her job to be her favorite. She truly enjoys being apart of the Veterinary Education Program and loves cheering the students on and seeing how they evolve as well as learning the diverse and fascinating histories of animals while digitizing records. Most of all, those around her in her field make even the worst days better due to their passion to help animals daily. Bethany advises to always be yourself, cheer yourself on and go for it. Even if you don’t have a huge team behind you, you can be your own team – you are enough.