WPZ: What is your job title and what duties does that entail?

TB: ZooStore manager. It entails overseeing one of the zoo’s major revenue-generating businesses.

WPZ: What’s your educational background?

TB: I have a B.A. in architecture and I did my Masters work in museum studies.

WPZ: What was your first job?

TB: My very first job was bussing tables for the summer at a restaurant at a mountain resort. I was 12.

WPZ: What’s the best part of your job?

TB: Being able to make a significant difference in helping to get a conservation message across while raising much-needed revenue.

WPZ: What are the biggest challenges of your job?

TB: Competing with people’s perceptions of what retail is and what it does, including striking the balance between encouraging consumption while encouraging conservation.

WPZ: What skills are necessary for a job like yours?

TB: As far as being a manager goes, you have to have people skills for dealing with staff and customers. It’s also important to have a strong business acumen. And I’ve found that my background in anthropology and non-profit administration provides me a solid foundation for dealing with running a small business within a bureaucracy.