Meet Wendy Hapgood | Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Wendy Hapgood and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Wendy, what inspires you?
I am deeply inspired by the beauty of nature that is all around us. Nature’s wonders can be experienced in our own backyards, in urban places and big city landscapes, not just in ‘the wild’. This Spring I have been awakened before sun-rise by the whimsical, wide-ranging musical repertoire of a starling singing to welcome the morning (and hopefully a mate) from my rooftop in the middle of Manhattan! It’s a reminder that no matter how urban we are, how disconnected we are as a culture from a sense of wildness, we are – perhaps often unknowingly- in the presence of nature and wild animals on an almost daily basis. My neighbor downstairs has never heard the beautiful Starling song as he keeps his windows shut. I am passionate about reconnecting people’s hearts to nature, to move more people to care as much as I do about the wild word, to rewild our hearts.

My work takes me regularly to South Africa, where the charity I co-founded, Wild Tomorrow, is saving and restoring habitat to save threatened species from extinction. Inspiration is everywhere in each blade of grass, termite mound and for me personally, the arrival of new life. Each new zebra foal, giraffe calf, wildebeest or discovery on a leaf of an alien-like mantid, is a little miracle of nature and its ability to regenerate.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As the co-founder and COO of Wild Tomorrow, my career and life today is dedicated to protecting wildlife and their last wild places. But that was far from the case just 8 years ago.

I was working in finance after 10 years building a career in the capital markets, climbing the ladder of corporate success to reach a senior level, as Director of Sales in the currency markets. However, I felt a growing disconnect within my heart between the work I was doing, the way I felt about the world, and who I wanted to be. Like a tsunami flooding my inner world, I began to focus more and more on the trouble nature was in – from climate change to the mass extinction of wildlife. I was outwardly successful but inwardly very sad beneath my smile and my business suit. I thought back to my most happy memories, and they all involved volunteering to help animals and wildlife, or being outdoors exploring the wonders of nature. Then came March 11th, 2011. I was on the 31st floor of my bank’s office tower when the Fukushima earthquake hit, and the nuclear meltdown and fall-out that followed. I was struck by my own complicity in this event as an energy-hungry consumer in a big city, and the poisoning of our earth for millions of years as a result. It literally shook me out of my depression and sadness, and from that moment on I was determined to help restore some of the damage we have done to our planet. I just wasn’t sure how to act.

After moving to NYC, I met and fell in love with my partner John Steward, also an animal lover, working in advertising. He’d had a recent life-changing experience volunteering to help monitor endangered species in South Africa, where seen first-hand how under-resourced the rangers were. Rangers he’d met were protecting some of the last big-tusked elephants in Africa – and yet they lacked the most basic supplies. They are the boots-on-the ground, literally risking their lives daily to save elephants and rhinos from poachers, yet they didn’t even have good boots! We had found our opportunity to act.

Together we decided to launch our charity, Wild Tomorrow, dedicated to saving wildlife and their disappearing wild spaces. It was a big, scary decision to leave my well-paid job in finance and start something completely new. But we both felt like we had to try – and it was easier together. It is a mission that is true to our hearts and our ethics, and we felt confident that our experiences in the corporate world would be a platform of strength from which to launch the charity and make it a success – fighting for a wild tomorrow.

What I want the world to know about our story is that regular every-day individuals like me can make a real difference. I could never have imagined that after only 8 years working on Wild Tomorrow and our mission, we have now saved over 3200 acres of habitat to create a legally protected Nature Reserve in South Africa, protected at the same legal level as a national park! I’ve watched giraffe jump out of a truck to their new home, and waited for the beautiful moment of the arrival of our first wild-born giraffe calf. I want people to know that while big, depressing, complicated environmental challenges such as climate change, the poaching of rhinos, habitat loss, and more can seem overwhelming, it’s very much possible as an individual acting locally to not only stop the escalating impacts, but to begin to restore and regenerate nature. We can undo some of the damage we’ve done and begin to restore and rewild our world!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in New York City where there are always always amazing things happening, especially in the arts.

I love both Spring and Fall in the city. For my guests, I love taking them to see Manhattan from a new perspective – the water! Sailnyc.com has several boats, including a sail boat, and my crowd-favorite for friends visiting is to take them on a champagne sunset cruise! Seeing Manhattan’s skyline from the water as the sun sets, champagne in hand, is magical and unforgettable!

I love to show friends the city as a local. Hell’s Kitchen where I live is filled with amazing restaurants and cuisines from across the globe. Cheap thai at Yum Yum Too followed by jazz at The Rum House is a local fun night out. Or in the Summer, grabbing a picnic blanket, and healthy to-go boxed dinner from Wholefoods, and heading to Bryant Park or Central Park for a free movie screening with other New Yorkers!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I dedicate this Shoutout to my father in Australia, Jim Hapgood. He is fighting terminal brain cancer. As he nears the end of his journey, he tells me every time we speak how proud he is of me, my siblings and what we have achieved in life. It is his greatest joy. I credit my Dad with instilling in me a love for nature and especially birds, which he loved so much and passed this appreciation on to me. His book of Australian birds was akin to a bible in our family home, a book to be gently brought to the table, to consult to find the species name of a new bird that had flown by. Dad knew many of their names and calls by heart, which truly was amazing to me as a child. He could call with a whistle to the wild birds, who often would respond as they flew by into the dusk. Thank you Dad for inspiring my love of birds and animals.

Website: www.wildtomorrow.org

Instagram: @wildtomorrow

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-hapgood-9893081/

Twitter: @wildtomorrow

Facebook: www.facebook.com/wildtomorrowfund

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/wildtomorrowfund

Image Credits
Wild Tomorrow