Danielle D.

Danielle earned two Unity degrees while working full time at an aquarium. Now she leads guest services at Georgia Aquarium and mentors others in ocean science.

Danielle grew up in North Carolina watching Steve Irwin. She knew with a child’s unshakable certainty that she was meant to work with animals in the wild. That feeling never left her. It just took a few detours to find its shape.

She started with an associate’s degree and built toward a career in the nature field without a clear road map. Then COVID-19 arrived and brought an unexpected opening: a job in the aquarium industry. Something clicked as she stood among marine life every day. She switched her focus to environmental science and began looking for a bachelor’s program that could take her further.

She found Unity in January 2021.

Balancing a full-time role at the aquarium with her coursework wasn’t easy. But Danielle found the challenge worth it; not just for the credential, but for what she was actually learning. Unity’s courses pushed her in ways she hadn’t anticipated. The support she received along the way made the difference.

Her favorite course was Marine Mammals. The professor’s enthusiasm was contagious. Extra reading materials and assignments pushed well beyond the syllabus. It was the kind of class that reminds you why you chose a field in the first place.

Group projects brought their own rewards. Coordinating schedules with other working adults across the country wasn’t always simple. It built real connections all the same. Danielle made friends through the program: people who understood exactly what it meant to study and work while pushing forward at the same time.

One course stood out for its practical impact: a class focused on reading, writing, and communicating science. Danielle worked closely with her professor to develop a scientific document. She learned each step of the publishing process along the way. The skills she gained transferred immediately to her work at the aquarium, where she uses them to educate guests about conservation and the natural world.

That audience is not small. Her aquarium welcomes up to 20,000 visitors a day.

“I use what I learned at Unity to talk to guests about conservation,” she says. “Understanding the bigger picture (environmental law, collective action, why it all matters) changes how you communicate it to people.”

She walked the stage for her bachelor’s degree and felt every bit of what that moment represented. Then she kept going. Danielle went on to earn her Master of Science in Marine Conservation Biology at Unity. The late nights after her shifts came back. So did the moments of exhaustion and self-doubt. She kept going.
When she graduated with her master’s, it did not feel real at first. At commencement, she heard Bill Nye deliver the address, a moment she says she will never forget. She also heard President Melik Peter Khoury tell graduates their degrees were “earned after 11 PM when your shift ended.” For Danielle, those words captured what it took to get there.

Today, Danielle is Assistant Manager of Guest Services at Georgia Aquarium. She recently served as interim manager and took full oversight of her department. That meant coordinating across departments. It meant responding to incidents. It meant leading a team.

She also works as an on-call maintenance diver and aquarist, and she is completing her Divemaster internship.

She gives back to the field too. Through Women in Ocean Science, she helped grow an international ambassador network from 30 to more than 125 members. She also developed alumni and mentorship initiatives and co-developed the University Ambassador Program’s first strategic plan.

She plans to keep building a career that connects marine science and conservation with leadership and public engagement. A doctorate may follow someday.

For Danielle, the path from a childhood fascination with wildlife to leading in her field was never perfectly straight. But each turn makes sense when she looks back.

Unity didn’t just give her a degree. It gave her two. It also gave her the knowledge and confidence to step into the field and make a difference.