2023-October-03

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A Cisco Employee Took This Photo

BY MARLIZE MULLER · CLIENT OPERATIONS DELIVERY ANALYST · SOUTH AFRICA

4 MINUTE READ · 6 MINUTE LISTEN

Ever since I could remember, I’ve had a love for nature and wildlife.

It started with family camping trips to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. I can remember my fascination with seeing wild animals in their natural habitat. I always had my dad’s binoculars and bird identifying book, and my siblings and I would have competitions of who could see the most animals in a day.

I remember when my parents bought our first digital camera to capture more memories on our holidays. Of course, my sister, brother, and I all wanted the chance to use it.

This was where the seed was planted. I loved taking pictures of all the different animal and bird species we would see.

Years later, my husband — then my fiancé — bought my first camera, a Canon 650D on our first trip together as a couple to Kruger National Park. I was so excited to use it that I even attended a beginner’s photography class from an expert wildlife photographer to learn how my camera worked and what settings to use in different scenarios.

We had the best time on our trip. I had my most memorable sighting of a beautiful female leopard in a mopani tree close to the road with an impala kill. I wanted to take the best shots to show everyone at home.

Once I started sharing them, people told me I had an eye for taking beautiful pictures.

This passion only grew when I went on more trips to wildlife reserves whenever possible. Kruger National Park became like a second home for me.

I had my first big break when a national travel magazine was interested in a series of pictures I had posted of a leopard hunt. Those pictures were published alongside my story of the event in their magazine in May 2021.

Since then, more of my photos from various wildlife reserves in South Africa have popped up in national and local magazines.

My passion for wildlife got me thinking of how I could get more involved with protecting our wildlife and their natural habitats.

My first opportunity was volunteering at a rhino orphanage, where I assisted in bottle feeding young rhinos and educating the public on the rhino poaching crisis and how they can help.

This led to more opportunities like assisting with rhino dehorning and trimming, elephant collaring, lion relocations, and cheetah rewilding in private game reserves.

I got to be part of the most amazing, fulfilling projects. But at the same time, I was exposed to the most terrible, heartbreaking scenes our wildlife faces with habitat loss and the poaching crisis.

Being at Cisco has given me more opportunities to follow my passion for wildlife photography and volunteering, which has helped me in my everyday home and work life.

If wildlife can adapt and thrive with all the changes happening, then I can just as easily adapt and evolve within my role and opportunities!

I have learned to see more things from other people’s perspectives, and when facing a problem to step back and look at the whole picture. Adapting is vital with constant change at Cisco.

Understanding that change is good can lead to better outcomes. Most importantly, I have learned to be patient and accepting.

It also helps when I have the best team in Cisco Asset Management, who are honestly my biggest supporters.

We connect professionally and personally, and more team members have been opening up and sharing their passions as well.

It’s fantastic being able to have a fulfilled life in both my personal and work life. Cisco not only supports this but encourages this.

My childhood dream was always to work in nature. Next year, I will be fulfilling that dream by attending a recognized academic institution. And by the end of the year, I hope to get my nationally recognized certificate in the field of nature studies.

With this certificate, I know more opportunities will open up and I can reach more people to fall in love and be excited about nature and our wildlife! I cannot be more excited for what the future holds.

Related Links

• Our Impact - CSR and Time2Give
• Careers at Cisco

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