Growing up fishing in south Texas fostered a fascination for aquatic ecosystems, and attending Texas A&M Galveston for my BS degree guided that fascination towards a budding career in fisheries biology. After graduation and a summer as an invasive fisheries technician in Yellowstone National Park, I began my graduate studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to study the physiology of invasive northern pike in the context of their management to protect critical salmon habitats. I graduated in August of 2022 with a MS in Fisheries, and currently reside in Fairbanks, Alaska where I work on publishing thesis manuscripts and take freelance art and science illustration commissions. My goal is to find a meaningful role conserving our aquatic resources directly through research, monitoring, or management, while also finding ways to creatively communicate this important work to empower the next generation of stakeholders in Alaska.