People Helping Nature Podcast · Conservation Amplified

Finding A Career With Purpose (EP30 with Michelle Impey, Save the Kiwi)

·37 min·1 clip

If you're doing something for the greater good, there's an expectation you should do it for free or less

Anna and Callum open by introducing Michelle Impey, the CEO of Save the Kiwi, for a second conversation on Conservation Amplified. The focus is her career path and what day-to-day work in conservation actually looks like. Michelle marks her 20-year workiversary at Save the Kiwi and talks through how she ended up in the role. She says it was never something she chased. When the opportunity came up, she went after it hard. The discussion then turns to the pros and cons of purposeful work versus traditional employment. Michelle jokes that the con list can look longer on paper, but the meaning of the work still wins out. She says she recently came back from a holiday to Canada and found the shift back into work rough, even though she loves her job. That contrast becomes part of the point. Work is harder to leave behind when it matters. She sets that against the thought of going back to a job you hate. Michelle explains that conservation lets her use her business skills and interests in a way that serves kiwi instead of shareholders. She puts the mission simply: do the job well, save more kiwi. If the work is done well, the team can do its work well, and the results follow. She says loving what you do matters because it gets you out of bed on the days you do not feel like getting up. She also admits she has had short-term roles that felt soul destroying. Those experiences make her value meaningful work more. Michelle says this is not unique to conservation, because plenty of people in mission-led sectors face the same trade-offs. She notes that she grew up in an oil and gas family, so she has seen the appeal and perks of well-paid corporate industries too. That background gives her a useful comparison. The episode stays practical rather than preachy. It does not treat purpose as a magic fix. It treats it as something that can make the hard parts worth carrying. Near the end, Michelle encourages listeners to follow Save the Kiwi on social media, where the organization shows more than cute bird photos. She points to the mix of content as a simple way to see the bigger picture without needing to dive deep right away. The conversation closes on a plain invitation: find the work that fits your strengths and get involved where your superpower can help.

As heard by us

A steady look at purpose-driven conservation work that does not ignore the hard parts.

Michelle Impey's second appearance keeps the focus on purpose-driven conservation work and what it costs in practice. She makes clear that Save the Kiwi is the real beneficiary of her effort, and that her business skills still matter in the role.

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Want a straight talk about work that feels worth doing?

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