Spring Alumna Fellow: Misha Body ’98 on Leadership and Embracing Your Uniqueness

People always want to know what it means to be a Deputy Zoo Director for Animals and Experiences at the Los Angeles Zoo.

“I don’t say that I take care of animals,” said Misha Body ’98 at a Hopkins all-school assembly in May.

“I say that I take care of the people who take care of the animals and the guests,” she explained. “For them to do their best work, my coworkers need support, and they need an environment where they can thrive.”

Body has built a zoo leadership career on a passion for animals. What she calls the “weird and windy” path that brought her to her current role at the Los Angeles Zoo has been one of pivots, a knack for trying new things, and redirections. Each of the experiences on her path helped frame her passion as a conservation and education leader. And in the process, she has learned to embrace her true self.

Over the course of her career to this point, Body has cared for over 250 species of animals. She’s had the opportunity to hand-rear a North American porcupine, has been headbutted by a Siberian lynx, held the flashlight for a veterinarian during a polar bear’s tooth extraction, and was walloped in the head by an Andean condor’s massive wingspan.

Body spent years training sea lions at the Mystic Aquarium and later gorillas at the Bronx Zoo. She would often arrive late for feeding time, because on the way to their habitat she would inevitably be stopped by a guest who wanted to know what animal she was on her way to feed.

“I would just start yapping away with these guests, telling them about the animal, what their story was, why they were endangered, and what these guests could do to help them in the wild. And then I’d be late to feeding whatever I was feeding,” she explained.

This natural inclination to connect with guests ultimately led Body to pivot to become an educator—an initial shift in career that would be the first of several.

Throughout these shifts, Body’s motivations were driven by a lesson she learned from renowned conservation biologist Dr. George Schaller, who taught her that conservation is fundamentally a people issue.

“Zoos exist to help connect people to nature and to inspire a care for the natural world, because the natural world needs our help and species need saving. To save species, conservationists need to develop policies, build capacity, and solve the challenges that people face that end up affecting animals. That is the way to save species: through people,” said Body.

Body found that stepping into a director role allowed her to better support her colleagues in doing their best work while contributing to broader conservation efforts.

“My light bulb moment was recognizing that my impact would be in this leadership sphere, helping advance whole team efforts, rather than individual ones. I could support those around me to be the most successful they could be. Zookeepers could make innovative changes to the way that they care for animals. Educators could think proactively about how to better engage program participants. Conservation staff could forge stronger partnerships for greater impact and greater reach,” she said.

Body has always owned her own quirkiness. Reflecting on her time on the Hill in the mid-to-late 1990s, she referred to herself as a “bit of a weirdo.” She said that while that trait could sometimes feel lonely, she’s since learned to embrace the power of uniqueness. Today, she proudly wears bright, cheerful clothing and accessories, has been known to wear a silly costume, enjoys making her colleagues laugh while doing her impression of crab walks, and can’t help but make funny faces and squeak when meeting a cute animal.

She said her ability to lean into silliness comes from a comfort in being her authentic self.

“To me, authenticity is the manifestation of integrity, trustworthiness, confidence, and courage. It takes owning your own quirkiness and uniqueness to be true to yourself.”

In her assembly speech, Body reassured students that it is entirely normal not to have a finalized life map by junior or senior year. Reflecting on her own undergraduate journey—which included a brief, failed attempt at an acting career and a series of “apocalyptically stinky” microbiology lab experiments—she emphasized that getting it wrong sometimes is a vital part of the road to self-discovery.

“I share all of this to say that not getting it right with my original majors and not knowing exactly what path a Zoology degree would take me, gave me the chance to try things out and home in on what resonated,” she said.

For students currently feeling the pressure of future planning, Body offered a reassuring perspective on the true purpose of higher education.

“If you are stressing out about what to study in college or what you’re going to be when you grow up, know that a big part of growing up and going to college is simply getting to know yourself better,” she advised. “You can’t pick what you’re going to do until you embrace who you are. So pick a major you’ll enjoy and continue to hone the skills of how to learn maybe a little bit more than what to learn. Figure out and own who you are and try new things to see what sticks (and what stinks)—that will get you to a place where you can truly thrive.”

With degrees in Zoology and Biology from Connecticut College and Miami University, Body began her career as a wild animal keeper at the Bronx Zoo. From that hands-on start, she expanded her impact through leadership roles at the California Science Center, the San Diego Zoo, and now the Los Angeles Zoo, moving from caring for individual animals to helping guide major institutions. She currently oversees teams of veterinarians, animal care professionals, educators, and operations staff, all while balancing animal welfare, education, visitor experiences, and long-term strategy.

Established in 2005, the Hopkins Fellows program enriches the student experience by connecting alumni with current students through assemblies, discussions, and classroom visits—continuing the School’s tradition of fostering intellectual curiosity, civic engagement, and critical thinking.

Body’s visit was part of the 2025–2026 Speaker Series, Bringing the World to Hopkins.