Tennessee Aquarium’s Natali Rodgers inspires the next wave of conservationists to be part of needed change.
Courtesy of Natali Rodgers
Natali Rodgers: “I always had a love of water. I would pretend as a kid that I was doing underwater explorations like Jacques Cousteau.”
When Natali Rodgers visited Chattanooga’s Tennessee Aquarium in sixth grade, she was so captivated by the animals on exhibit that her classmates had to keep nudging her along so they wouldn’t be late for the next stop on their field trip.
“I was about to get us all in trouble, just being able to see all of those large fish but not the kind I was used to seeing on TV, where you didn’t see a lot of emphasis on freshwater fish,” she recalls. “I just remember standing still and having to be pushed along.
“That is really the first time I truly understood I could do this as a career,” adds Rodgers, 41, who became the aquarium’s director of learning and evaluation in 2021. “I still didn’t know what that actually entailed, but I saw people working in this space.”
These days, the personable biologist and educator spends much of her time overseeing the facility’s floor educators (formerly called docents); creating awareness about conservation issues, especially those affecting fresh waterways in the Southeast; and engaging the community at libraries, schools and community centers. She is also in charge of summer camps, preschool programs and other early-childhood educational initiatives, with a focus on making them accessible to those without the means to visit the aquarium. The goal is always the same: to share the importance of taking care of the natural environment.
“Whether people want to admit it or not, we are in a conservation crisis,” Rodgers says. “Part of that is just a lack of awareness and understanding of what’s going on with our planet.”
A Memphis native and lifelong science fanatic, Rodgers would rather watch a good special on PBS than play outside with her friends. She loved nature, though, from digging in the dirt to rescuing stray cats and peering at butterflies through a magnifying glass. As she got older and became hooked on the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week,” she felt an increasingly strong connection to the ocean she’d never seen. That would come later, when she finally visited the beaches of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. By the time she joined a tour at the UGA Extension Center in Savannah and learned all about sand dollars—how to dig for them, how to hold them, how to gently return them to the water—she was sold on an aquatic career.
Courtesy of Natali Rodgers
“I always had a love of water,” Rodgers says. “I remember going to the local community centers and learning how to swim and just exploring underwater. Sometimes I would pretend as a kid that I was doing explorations like Jacques Cousteau.”
By middle school, she’d made up her mind to work with marine life, maybe as a dolphin researcher or a trainer at Sea World, engaging visitors about Shamu and the other orcas. But in 2006, when she was about to graduate from Savannah State University with her degree in marine science and biology, a favorite professor took her aside: “I think you should consider going into education. You have a knack for it.”
Shrugging off the advice, Rodgers headed to Zoo Atlanta where, ironically, she facilitated educational programs as an overnight instructor and later became a seasonal keeper. Even in the latter role, she often talked to visitors about the animals and the facility’s conservation efforts.
“So I ended up kind of pushing my husbandry goals and working with animals to the side and decided to give my full attention to education.”
Ping-ponging between Zoo Atlanta and the Kansas City Zoo for more than 15 years, Rodgers coordinated everything from camps to birthday parties to interactive programs with sea lions and penguins.
While serving on the diversity committee of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, she heard about the job opening in Chattanooga. The Tennessee Aquarium was closer to home than Kansas City, and the role sounded like a good fit, so she applied.
One of her greatest accomplishments so far is developing inclusive programming for disadvantaged youth and people with different abilities. She and her team ask for input from the community to make sure they’re not making assumptions about desired accommodations, for example, for people with visual impairments who may need a different type of sensory experience. When appropriate, parents and professionals are invited to come along as caretakers for children with special needs.
Rodgers naturally gravitates toward people, but not everyone does, she admits. “A lot of things have changed within our industry, but I think one of the things we realize is that trying to protect our natural spaces is crucial. We’ve got to try to be a little bit more people-oriented. We can’t do this work alone. With everything that’s going on in the world, we can’t and we shouldn’t. For me, that’s why the people piece is so important.”
Not surprisingly, Rodgers sees herself in the wide-eyed kids who visit the Aquarium, some of whom have never seen aquatic creatures up close before.
“I hope they leave with something tangible that they feel like they can do to make a difference. I hope that they feel compelled to share their experience and spread that message and spread that word. I also hope that they feel a sense of belonging when they enter the space and understand that this is a space for them, that they can be part of this change.”
Right before she moved to Chattanooga to take on her new role, Rodgers paid a visit to the professor who told her she’d make a great educator.
“We had a couple of chuckles,” Rodgers says. “She didn’t necessarily tell me, ‘I told you so,’ but she said it her way: ‘I remember that conversation.’”
Natali Rodgers' 3 Best Things About Being a Science Educator
Courtesy of Natali Rodgers
Engaging with people and sparking their curiosity. “I don’t get to teach as much as I used to with my role, and I miss those pieces. So whenever I’m able to go on the floor and interact with our visitors or go on one of our programs and engage people in this work, that excites me. And more importantly, if through that engagement I am able to make somebody go, ‘I never knew that’ or ‘Maybe I’ll change this behavior to help with this problem,’ that is when I can pat myself on the back.”
Being a change agent. “I like being able to make a difference, having some type of impact.”
Sowing seeds for the next generation of conservation advocates. “The camp kids that come here year after year—they can literally take over some of my educators’ jobs. That’s a show of the change we’re having. The information they share with us about things they learned two years ago always impresses me. They always come back with fun facts. Sometimes they stump us.”
The story above first appeared in our November / December 2024 issue. For more like it subscribe today or log in with your active BRC+ Membership. Thank you for your support!