Meet Katherine Hobbs | Public media journalist, documentarian & scientist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katherine Hobbs and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katherine, how does your business help the community?
18 Species Productions grew from my university thesis. I studied wildlife conservation and marine biology. I knew that the research I conduced on penguins’ mitochondrial DNA, their breeding behavior and the impacts of climate change was something I wanted as many people as possible to see and understand. It’s also highly unlikely that most folks will stumble across a peer-reviewed research paper and read it for fun. Penguins are sentinels for the planet’s health, canaries in a coal mine if you will. The more we understand about their responses to a warming planet, the better we can prepare ourselves, even in DFW, to mitigate those effects. A key part of my program was finding ways to bring that information to the public. Penguins are such charismatic birds, so I knew having a visual aid of some sort would give me the best chance of getting their message out into the world. I settled on producing and hosting a vlogmentary, “Sequencing for Survival,” all about their plight. My hope is that people will see “Sequencing” and be inspired to join the movement to keep these penguins waddling around in the wild as long as possible. That can take so many different forms from incorporating more eco-friendly products into our homes to donating to organizations that protect wild penguins and making sure that any zoos or aquariums we visit are fully accredited and participating in the the Species Survival Plan, which make sure penguins’ genetics are diverse in captivity. I hope that my work on “Sequencing” helps bridge the gap between the “those penguins are so far away, I’ll never see them in person” apathy and “Oh my gosh, I can make changes from continents away that can positively impact penguins!”

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve known since I was a little girl, that I wanted to do so many things professionally. My career trajectory has been pretty nontraditional but each experience has helped me with next. I started out teaching high school English, then teaching pre-K. All the while, I was doing freelance journalism and building up clips at lifestyle and scientific publications. In 2019, I landed my first contract with an NPR partner station and fell in love with radio. I still work in public media and hope to forever. Now, I’m with KERA here in Dallas where I produce “Morning Edition” and the “Wake Up with KERA News” newsletter, as well as covering the environment and science. I also regularly contribute science stories to NPR and BBC. My current newsroom at KERA is far and away the best I’ve ever worked with, due in no small part to my tenacious (and wildly talented) colleagues and our fearless leader, Paul DeBenedetto. In terms of hosting “Sequencing for Survival,” my skills as a teacher and a journalist – paired with a hefty dose of time onstage as an actor and ballet dancer – made me pretty fearless in front of the camera. Like most small projects, though funding is forever our Achilles heel, but I love a good challenge and a chance to whip out my creative problem-solving skills. The most important thing I’ve learned in all of my roles is that integrity is non-negotiable. Leading with the whole, contextualized truth is essential in all aspects of my work. It is forever my hope that this candor, paired with an entertaining delivery, is what people will associate with me and my work.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Okay, so I just got to host an out-of-towner for a long weekend in June, and I think we had a pretty great time. Here are our must-sees.
Day 1: We wandered around Deep Ellum. Stuck our heads into all the boutiques and shops, enjoyed live music and took a ton of pictures.
Day 2: We went to Six Flags Over Texas where we rode every rollercoaster and laughed hysterically all day. After a cool-down, we went back to Deep Ellum for dinner at the stunning Yellow Rosa. From there, we went to Klyde Warren Park and lied in the grass talking for hours.
Day 3: First stop was the the Frontiers of Flight museum. I’m a bit of an aviation nerd and the curators were so kind to answer all my questions. Then, we headed downtown for a delicious lunch at The Exchange Hall: Chilangos for him and Baboushi for me. We finished with cake pops from The Flour Shop. After lunch, we went to the Perot where we spent hours exploring every room. The T-Rex exhibit was my favorite, while he loved the sports hall. Later that night, we went to Cedar Hill State Park with a picnic. We swam in the lake at sunset, drew tarot and enjoyed listening to all the birds.
Day 4: Can you really host an out-of-towner without a trip to Meow Wolf? We spent ages screaming “did you see this?!” to each other across rooms and playing with all the interactive art. After that, we headed to a Rangers game – another must-do – and hosted a cookout that night.
If we’d had a few more days, I would have added Reunion Tower, White Rock Lake and the DMA to the list.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I don’t know how I got so lucky to be surrounded by so many people who support my work, but I truly hit the jackpot. Professionally, Katie Propp, who I work with at Penguins International, has supported “Sequencing” from the very beginning. She might be one of the few people I’ve met who is as madly in love with penguins as I am. The keepers I work with at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, the Dallas Zoo and Dallas World Aquarium have gone above and beyond to accommodate our filming needs and answer my hundreds of questions. I’m autistic and penguins are my special interest, so info dumping about them is pretty much a daily activity. My family: Jeremy, Josh, Cara and Badge have listened to hours of penguin facts and each one of them has worked on the documentary with me to bring this story to life. I also have the most supportive group of friends who celebrate my love for penguins. Last, but not least, my teachers who have supported me in all my weirdness and intensity: Liz Flasig, Gaylene Hasha, Paula Coxel, Judith Harm, Sheryl Paulmbo – y’all are the best of the best.

Website: https://www.katherineghobbs.com/ & https://www.18speciesproductions.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katherineghobbs/ & https://www.instagram.com/18speciesproductions/ & https://www.instagram.com/sequencingforsurvival/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineghobbs/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katherinegracehobbs/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@18SpeciesProductions & https://www.youtube.com/@KatherineGHobbs

Image Credits
Professional photo on first page: Yfat Yossifor
Second page:
1: Meg Rose Photo Co.
2: Yfat Yossifor
3: Josh Torres
4: (selfie)
5: Josh Torres
6: Isabella Lee
7: A kind crew member