S2E6: Snakes, Mistakes, and the Power of Storytelling

Your Nonprofit Life

This episode features one of the most unique nonprofit organizations I'm aware of. In fact, as far as we know, this is one of only two organizations with this mission in the entire world. Let's set the stage a little bit.

Like many of you, my family switched to watching Sunday Services online when the pandemic was declared. Last week's sermon was based on a passage in the book of Numbers in the Hebrew Scriptures where the people were being bitten by snakes. Not exactly the kind of story you're expecting to hear on a Sunday morning! Then the priest shared a story about her own experience being trolled by a snake in her backyard. She cannot stand snakes!

Maybe you're now thinking about all the movies you've seen where snakes are the representation of evil, or maybe even they're the villains themselves.

Well, today we're here to flip the narrative around snakes and learn about them from a completely different perspective.

My guest today is Melissa Amarello, the founder and executive director of Advocates for Snake Preservation (A.S.P.).

Asp! Isn't that a cool name for this organization?!

Melissa has been fascinated with snakes since she was a little girl, but it wasn't until she was in college that she saw her first rattlesnake out in the wild. And that experience changed the trajectory of her career.

Over time, Melissa realized that she had a gift for helping people better understand snakes. She found that being face-to-face with people, she could break through the misinformation and help people care about the snakes they might encounter in their yards or out on a trail.

Melissa focused her passion, started a nonprofit from scratch, and is now the first paid staff at her organization, the Executive Director. Her story will inspire and educate you.

https://yournonprofitlife.com/s2e06-melissa-amarello