Meet our Director Michelle Claud-Clemente!
Michelle grew up in California on state park land where her dad was a ranger. Her love of nature and animals began early and by age 7, she knew she wanted to work with animals. She started her formal animal career in 1991 at the Santa Ana Zoo where she worked as program coordinator, zoo keeper, senior zoo keeper and eventually animal curator. Michelle was assigned to care for many animals including large carnivores, but she worked primarily with primates and finds them to be fun, interesting, and challenging. With the birth of her two boys, Michelle decided to step back from work to spend more time with them. After her children started school, she took a position with the City of Newport Beach and eventually served as the natural resource supervisor. Her philosophy with her work in Newport Beach was if you love animals, it's important to protect places for them to live. After 10 years in Newport Beach, Michelle was offered the community programs director position for Irvine Ranch Conservancy. There she oversaw all public education programming and three large volunteer programs. When a friend told her about the position with Mission Viejo Animal Services, she jumped at the opportunity! This was the best decision for Michelle. Her role pulls all the different aspects of her experience together and provides her the opportunity to share her knowledge and talents.
When not at work, Michelle enjoys hiking and traveling. In fact, she has been around the world twice. Michelle lives in Orange County, but her happy place is a tiny cabin in the woods in Oregon where she spends vacations and holidays with her sons Evan and Nathan, husband Jason, and two dogs Astro and Clifford. Her favorite animal is the octopus, and she has worked with many special animals including Tucson the Mountain Lion and Omaha the Ruffed Lemur, but her list of special animals is long.
"Actually, every single animal I've had the privilege of working with has been amazing and has taught me how to be a better person," she said. "I absolutely love working to teach people while helping improve the lives of all animals!"
If you run into Michelle at the center, please say hello.
