A life connected to Indonesia and orangutan conservation
I was born in Indonesia and spent my first years at Camp Leakey in Tanjung Puting National Park, where my parents, Biruté Galdikas and Rod Brindamour, began their work with orangutans.
In my early twenties, I returned to Kalimantan and spent several years volunteering in and around Camp Leakey. The work included caring for camps, supporting field activities, organizing supplies and transportation, helping visitors and volunteers, and dealing with the ordinary problems that come with working in a remote rainforest.
Field experience, documentary work and digital conservation
My connection to conservation began with where I grew up, but my role in it developed over time through fieldwork, nonprofit work and technology.
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01
Camp Leakey and Kalimantan
I spent several years living and working in Kalimantan and have returned to the region at different stages of my life. That experience gave me a lasting connection to its people, rivers, forests and orangutans.
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02
Conservation and documentary work
I worked with Orangutan Foundation International in the field and later through its Jakarta and Los Angeles offices. I also worked behind the scenes on wildlife documentaries in Kalimantan, including productions for Animal Planet and National Geographic, where I have worked as a location manager, host and translator.
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03
Design and nonprofit technology
For more than 15 years, I have designed websites, fundraising tools and educational resources for nonprofit organizations. I also served on the board of Orangutan Foundation International Canada and developed WordPress products intended to help small and medium-sized charities raise money and communicate more effectively.
Orangutan Conservation Initiative
I created the Orangutan Conservation Initiative to bring together the different parts of my life: growing up around orangutan conservation, working in Indonesia and building websites and software for nonprofit organizations.
For now, the project is mainly focused on education. I want it to be a place where people can learn about orangutans, the forests they depend on and the realities of conservation without having to sort through exaggerated claims or simplified stories.
The longer-term goal is to turn that understanding into practical support for credible, locally informed conservation work in Indonesia.