Autumn Shafer

Membership and Visitor Services Coordinator

 

Highlights:

• Worked at MOI since 2023
• Degree in organismal biology (Montana State)
• work experience at Idaho Falls Zoo

 

Profile:

Q: Explain what you do at the museum in 20 words or less.

Autumn: I work with our amazing team to create fun and meaningful experiences for visitors and members.

Q: What’s a museum-related accomplishment that you’re particularly proud of?

Autumn:

• I worked to design the Halloween stations and treat bags for our 2024 Halloween event. I felt so fortunate that we were able to make the event happen. It was so much fun to seeing everyone interact with our volunteers at each station and getting to see their costumes!
• I also repainted all four animal statues (and tree) for Under the Canopy. It was such an enjoyable experience and I loved seeing everyone’s photo ops with them.

Q: What do you do for fun?

Autumn: I enjoy hanging out with my friends and getting together to let our dogs play. I also love to draw, paint, and sculpt. It’s mostly wildlife or random ideas that come to mind. Right now I am working on an art collage for my book nook.

Q: What would you do for a career if you weren’t doing this (and if money were no object)?

Autumn: After changing my answer literally five times I’ve come to the decision that 1. I’m very indecisive and 2. I would love to do anything that allows me to be creative (and lets me bring my dog along – we’re halfway there 😉).

Q: What’s the weirdest / most interesting past job you’ve had?

Autumn: I used to work for the Idaho Falls Zoo and (as if you couldn’t tell already) I absolutely loved it. I was basically getting paid to talk about animal facts all day — something I constantly harass my coworkers with now. If you observe me out in the public, please ask me for one; I am full of them. (This is also how I hooked my fiancé – he made the mistake of asking me for one before our first date and I haven’t stopped since. Oops).

Q: Name a setback in your life that has ended up being a good thing.

Autumn: When I was in college, I ended up, as most of us do, having a rather rough couple of semesters where I was completely lost and wasn’t sure what to do. After much consideration, I ended up switching majors from microbiology to organismal biology to better connect with my passions. It was the best thing I ever could have done for myself as it led me to the museum. (Definition: studying the structure, function, ecology, and evolution of an organism. I took many fish and game and genetics classes).

Q: What’s something – large or small, useful or not – that you’re really good at?

Autumn: I am unfortunately very good at starting (and losing) staring contests with the MOI neighborhood squirrels. My office desk faces a window which the squirrels, and one in particular, likes to stare into and flick its tail as I type. I have taken to lovingly calling it my overfed chihuahua squirrel, as it is quite large. 

Q: What were you like in high school?

Autumn: I was very socially anxious and very much an introvert. (Don’t let me fool you, I am still an incredible ball of anxiety — they just pay me to pretend.)

Q: What’s your favorite book, movie, and TV show?

Autumn:

• I always have such a hard time picking a favorite, so I normally name my most recent reads/watches or genres. I enjoy reading horror/ sci-fi books. My favorite author at the moment is Josh Malerman. I am currently reading his book titled Pearl.  
• My go-to movies are anything in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise. I have to rewatch (and read) them a couple times a year. (Again – if you observe me in the public ask me for a dinosaur fact… I’m begging you.)
• My all-time favorite TV series is The Simpsons. I have watched EVERY. SINGLE. EPISODE. (I think I’m on my 5^th? run-through of the series). I love the “Treehouse of Horror” and the “Maggie Makes Three” (season 6, episode 13) episodes. I really want to recreate the board from the episode that says “Don’t forget. You’re here forever” that Homer later covers with pictures of Maggie to say “Do it for her,” but with pictures of my dog Bear.

Q: Tell us something about you that might surprise us.

Autumn: It’s not really a surprise, but I am no longer allowed to bring home any kind of spider, real or fake.

I once purchased and hid my pet pink-toe tarantula (Tiptoe) from my fiancé for six months due to his fear extreme of spiders. He was (strangely) upset when he discovered her take-home container, accusing me of trying to kill him. Sadly, she was really young and didn’t survive her first molt. After about six more months of convincing, he briefly considered letting me get another tarantula, but quickly changed his mind when he learned their fangs grow with each molt.

Later, our curator, Kristina Frandson, strongly encouraged (peer-pressured) me into replacing Tiptoe with a fake one. She told me to then prank my fiancé by pretending it had escaped and placing it near/in places he frequented. Instead, I placed the fake tarantula in Tiptoe’s old container, set it on my bookshelf, and completely forgot about it.

Months later, when I had to travel out of state, my fiancé agreed to feed my pacman frog (Toad) for me. Unfortunately for him, he rediscovered the fake tarantula by choosing the wrong container (the crickets are kept in the same type of container on the same bookshelf… again quite unfortunate). I received a rather upset and frantic call accusing me once again of trying to kill him and that it almost attacked him! (He’s fine btw and doesn’t care so much about our residential jumping spiders anymore – if anything I helped!)