My News

My whole life I have always had a passion for animals. I grew up on a small farm spending most of my childhood riding horses and catching any little critters I could get my hands on. I went to Clemson University in 2015 starting out in Veterinary Sciences and later transferred into Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. I fell in love with my major and all of the native wildlife that I was only beginning to fully appreciate. While at Clemson I started volunteering for the Bob Campbell Natural History Museum under Melissa Fuentes. It was during this where I realized that the skills that I have (the artistic side from my mother and the engineering side from my father) wonderfully blended together to create a much deeper love of taxidermy than I ever anticipated. I am very thankful to have gotten my toes wet at the museum where I was allowed to try a whole host of things from skinning alligators to preserving organs. Getting to start my education in taxidermy under Melissa was exactly what I needed to explore my new found passion.

I graduated from Clemson in 2018 with my bachelors in Wildlife and Fishers with a minor in Veterinary Sciences. I was excited to get into the wildlife field, but also knew somehow I would incorporate taxidermy into my life when the time was right. I started working for South Carolina's Department of Natural Resources for a couple years under the state herpetologist. It was an amazing experience and while I was sad to leave, I was excited to move onto pursuing my love for taxidermy. I started taxidermy classes in the fall of 2020 at the Montgomery Community College in North Carolina under the schooling of Andy Speer and once I had completed my certifications in spring of 2021, started working for Andy in his personal taxidermy business. Thanks to Andy, not only did I learn a tremendous amount of schooling in mounting mammals and birds, I also learned valuable lessons in running a successful business.

Now I am opening my own taxidermy business in the Upstate of South Carolina and am excited to apply what I have learned to new clients and fall even more in love with this field of work.