Yussef Rafikis a animal scientist and wildlife TV conferrer who hosted the BBC Earth Kids ’ showBugface(which does indeed regard a lot of bugs on faces ) and narrated the documentary seriesWild Bites . Here he babble out about how infiltrating the intimidating universe of TV is deserving it , but navigate the industriousness is a object lesson in discover to deal with rejection .
What do you do ?
I am a Zoologist and wildlife donor having worked online , on the radio , and on lively boob tube .
What did it take to get here ?
As a child , I cogitate it was always pretty obvious to everyone around me that I was blend in to rise up with an obsession for wildlife . In fact , some of my first words as a toddler regard me repeatedly state my parents that I used to “ live with the lion ” in a late living , which I assume must have creep them out quite a minute .
As I get older , my love for all things gaga produce bigger and bigger , and my bedroom became a refuge for a whole host of weird and howling creatures . I would take great pridefulness in telling people about how my geckos could lick their own eyeballs or showing them all the dead rats in my deep-freeze that I would run to my snakes .
I then began a degree in Zoology atReading University , UK , which I look back on with great warmheartedness . We were lucky enough to have our own zoology museum on campus , the Cole Museum , and studied every topic from mammalogy and entomology , to animate being behavior and palaeozoology . We also had a field trip to Kruger National Park in South Africa , and I do n’t believe I ’ve ever been quite so in my component ! For my dissertation , I investigated the factors affecting hedgehog populations in urban surroundings . That essentially involved me trail hedgehogs around the streets of read at midnight to record data point on them , which was corking fun .
After university , I landed a caper work as an animal keeper at a zoological garden , and one of my roles was to present the day-after-day animal pedagogy shows . This allowed me to get hands - on experience with some incredible animals . Some of my favorite included a two - meter ( eight - foot ) long boa constrictor , a Nile monitor lounge lizard , a hirsute armadillo , and a very cuddly skunk . I guess it was at this full stop that I really fell in love with presenting , and the shiver I vex out of changing mass ’s perception of some of the lesser - bang animal .
I had always liked the mind of a calling in wildlife TV presenting , being inspired by the likes of Steve Irwin and Steve Backshall , but it always seemed like one of those unapproachable goals . penetrate the world of goggle box seemed like such a intimidating task . I realized though that , if I did n’t at least try , I would regret it for the rest of my animation , so I start making some of my own content and putting it online . I was favorable enough to get through to the final round of a nationwide presenting competition for CBBC , which necessitate going to their studio apartment in MediaCity and take alongside their donor . I absolutely loved the experience and it made me realize that presenting was definitely the life history path I need to go down . Unfortunately , due to agenda change , that role did n’t go ahead . It was quite a bestial first lesson for me about the need to have a thick peel in this manufacture .
That taster of my dream career give me the motivation I needed to power on , and so I put together a showreel and got myself a talent agent . From there , I was able to land a role as one of the main presenters on the make - Modern on-line channel , BBC Earth Kids , and I was given my very own show to host called Bugface . I had finally mystify my aspiration Book of Job !
envisage you ’ve meet yourself as a teenager at a life history fair : How would you describe what you do to your former self ?
Essentially , my role is to prove to bridge over the gap between amusement and didactics . My passion is making people fall in love with nature , with the aim of realize my own little bit of difference to the major planet , but I have to do so in a way that ’s going to captivate the consultation and make them actually need to listen to what I have to say . Some days are fantastic and can involve me putting some bizarre species of millepede onto a rather unfortunateStrictly Come Dancingstar ’s face or being hoist 30 meters ( 98 feet ) up into the tree canopy with a GoPro stick to on my head .
Other days are less exciting and are more likely to regard me netmail producers with pitch ideas and facing what feels like unceasing rejection . The matter with presenting is , it ’s usually freelance work so you’re able to never get too well-to-do and always have to be on the observation tower for the next Book of Job . I still have many tough days fill up with self - doubtfulness about my calling choice , and I ’m a longsighted path off the succeeder of my Italian sandwich but attend back on the things that I ’ve achieved so far makes me excited for the hereafter .
What ’s the most common misconception about your transmission line of work ?
Probably that presenting is just mouth in front of a camera . In world , it ’s a lot more than that and is a skill that take sentence to develop . You need to be able to rent your interview , interact with any guests in the correct mode , and deal with any problem that may arise while you ’re on air apace and professionally . Not to mention that you are the face of that show , so there ’s a lot of pressure to do well because if it flops it ’s on you . As a wildlife donor , you are seen as the " expert " in your field , so it ’s crucial to stay up to date on all the latest scientific discipline because you never roll in the hay what might be inquire of you next – I remember my broker phone me up out of the profane one afternoon to secern me to prepare a spell on spiders because I was drop dead to be appear onGood Morning Britainthe very next morning to blab about them .
Proudest import on the Book of Job ?
Totally going to name drop here , but when I was work onBugface , I was lucky enough to haveDick and Domon the show as guests . They are legendary when it comes to the world of British kid ’s TV , so that was certainly one of those " pinch yourself " moments for me . And they did not disappoint ! The whole day felt like organized topsy-turvydom in the best path possible , with them ribbing me for not bug out at the exact import the director shouted “ action ” , and Dom go off set terrified when I tried to put cricket on his face . It was decidedly a life history highlight for me and enabled me to live out my childhood pipe dream of wanting to be onDick and Dom in Da Bungalow . Sadly , I block to need them if we could play a game of " Bogies " though .
Any memorable missteps on the job ?
I was doing some narrating on a new show for BBC Earth Kids calledWild Bites , but since it was being produced during lockdown , it had to be done from domicile . It was n’t until the very remnant of a full Clarence Day of filming in my makeshift home studio apartment with my theater director on Zoom in front of me , that I realized I ’d been using a unkept microphone and all the audio recording I recorded had a horrible crackling haphazardness running through it . Luckily , some astonishing tech champion were able to furbish up the government issue in spot - production , but safe to say I retrieve I would be in a lot of trouble that day .
What ’s your most treasured piece of outfit ?
I probably should n’t admit to this one , but my most treasured composition of kit is likely to be my phone . Not only is it great for source rum doggo memes on the net , but I also habituate it for my work on a daily footing – whether that be using it to have a last minute of arc read through of a script , help ID some random species of mallet that I ’ve never hear before , type up some notes on things I postulate to remember to do while presenting , register some birdsong while out on a nature paseo , or take selfies with all the cool hoi polloi I get to work with . I never leave home without it .
What ’s one piece of advice you ’d give to someone wanting to venture on the same career ?
When it derive to presenting , personality is often just as of import as knowledge , because nobody will hear to what you have to say if you ’re not watchable . So , if you ’re just starting out , I ’d recommend grab a camera to start ca-ca your own capacity and taking some clock time to figure out the style of portray that you feel comfy with and feel wooing you well . It ’s totally fine if you ’re not happy with the initial solvent ( my first videos were absolutely awful and will never see the light of day again ) , just keep persevering as it ’s all part of the encyclopedism curve .
In such a highly free-enterprise life history as this one , it ’s significant to be different and stand out from the crowd . Do n’t get me faulty , I ’m not telling you to manufacture a fresh personality , because , as cliché as it sounds , it ’s important to be reliable and true to yourself , but you should regain yourself a alone merchandising point . Perhaps you have a keen interest in marine biology and desire to make content specifically about our oceans , or perhaps you have a beloved of mobster tap as well as a love of wildlife and want to commingle the two in your presenting style . The possibility are endless !
One final thing I ’d like to tally is to try not to take rejection to spunk . Literally everyone in this field faces steady rejection , which , along with the flavor of imposter syndrome , can be tough on genial health . Just commemorate that , more often than not , the rejection is down to a circumstantial reason and not a personal reason against you .
