Resume

Janina Schan – Master in Environmental Studies

Focus: Tropical Conservation and Protected Area Management

Education

Master in Environmental Studies

York University, Toronto, Canada
Sept. 2009 – Sept. 2011
Final Grade: A+
Major Paper Research Topic: Wildlife Capture and Wildlife Kept as Pets: A Case Study of Squirrel Monkeys in Costa Rica

Bachelor of Sciences

Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
Oct. 2005 – Oct. 2008
Final Grade: A

ERASMUS Exchange Year

Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Aug. 2007 – Aug. 2008
Completion of Bachelor Thesis in Sweden – Topic: A survey of the epiphytic lichen diversity in the Botanical Garden of Uppsala (Sweden)

German Abitur

(High school equivalent) – Hannover, Germany
Graduation Year: 2003
Grade Point Average: 2.1 (1.0 best grade – 6.0 = worst grade)

Work Experience

FOUNDED A VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION IN COSTA RICA – GREEN LIFE VOLUNTEERS COSTA RICA
Feb. 2012 – Present Day

  • Established all contacts with projects in Costa Rica
  • Built website and all content, including marketing and SEO
  • Providing customer service via email, telephone and live chat
  • Coordinating all participants
  • Managing some projects, for example Teaching English projects
  • Visiting Projects around Costa Rica to inspect

FREELANCE WEB DESIGNER AND SEO
Feb. 2012 – Present Day

  • Building websites for small-and medium businesses in Costa Rica
  • SEO and marketing for the businesses
  • Currently working with 5 – 6 different clients, including tour companies and hotels

MARKETING AND TOUR MANAGER – CABINAS TROPICALES, PUERTO JIMENEZ

April 2012 – October 2012

  • Helped with General Marketing of the Cabinas (in form of flyers, posters, & brochures)
  • Created website for the Cabinas
  • Managing incoming clients and tourists
  • Answering emails of incoming clients
  • Making payments and bookings for tours and fishing clients

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM MANAGER AND ENROLLMENT OFFICER
UVOLUNTEER, SAN RAMON, COSTA RICA
Sept. 2011- Feb.2012

  • Responsible for responding to all leads and inquires of clients
  • Providing customer service via email, telephone and live chat
  • Coordinating all participants’ pre-arrival Information
  • Contributing content to the company’s online journal and project listings
  • Visiting Projects around Costa Rica to inspect and write reports of progress
  • Content creation (in English) for the company’s website
  • Becoming involved in other aspect of the volunteer management service when required

ADMINISTRATIVE PERSON/RECEPTIONIST/CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
DOGZIES, KELOWNA, CANADA
FEB. – SEPT. 2009

  • Proofed great management and administrative skills with training three new staff members after just six weeks in the company while working mainly unsupervised, assisting my manager in the hiring process of new staff, improving the overall organizatonal structure of the company with introducing and teaching myself and staff a new computer software.
  • Improved the communication and advertising system of the company with developing a monthly online newsletter, for which I learned and used web-design and programming software (Dreamweaver) for the first time and sent out regular emails with updates. Received great customer and management feedback,
  • Multi-tasked daily between accepting up to 50 incoming and outgoing dogs and their concerned owners, promoting training classes and other dog services to 10-20 new customers daily, advising numerous customers on the phone regarding dog issues, selling dog products, training staff, fulfilling daily accounting duties, solving computer problems, maintaining the website/ newsletter, and re-organizing the customer filing system.
  • Promoted with pay rise after one month.

 

Other Experiences

VOLUNTEER MEDIA COORDINATOR – OSA BIRDS, OSA PENINSULA, COSTA RICA

January 2012 – 2013

Osa Birds is a new conservation organization on the Osa Peninsula, and my tasks include:

  • Update the social media presence of Osa Birds
  • Work and develop the website of Osa Birds (www.osabirds.org)
  • Graphical Work, for example develop logo and letter heads

FOUNDED AND LEAD A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
VOYCE (VOICES OF YOUTH FOR A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT), KELOWNA, CANADA
Jan. – Sept. 2009

  • Established a not-for-profit group called VOYCE
  • Successfully planned, organized, and implemented several environmental
    events and activities
  • Fundraised for events and organized donations for our organization and for
    activities
  • Proofed great organizational and leadership skills with coordinating and
    leading around 10 volunteers. Planned the rally and events, coordinated and scheduled the
    volunteers

Biology Research and Environmental Activities

  • Monitored several troops of squirrel monkeys for 6 months in the South Pacific of Costa Rica, and wrote a Master major paper on the impacts of wildlife capture and wildlife kept as pets, using squirrel monkeys as a case study.
  • Monitored raccoons using camera traps in an urban protected area in Toronto, and wrote an official technical report for the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority (TRCA), about improving the wildlife management of raccoons in the park.
  • Assisted in the organizational procedures at a climate science workshop “Regional climate modeling capacity in Ontario” on February 5th, 2010.
  • Attended the COP15 climate change conferences as part of the York University delegation in Copenhagen in December 2009.
  • Participated in a specialist workshop on introducing REDD to Costa Rica, held at
    the Radisson Hotel, from September 20th to September 21st., 2011.
  • Participated in a University field course “tropical ecology and conservation”
    and traveling through Costa Rica, May – June 2010

More Skills

  • Up to date Wilderness-First-Aid certification and CPR certification (from January 2012)
  • Excellent computer skills, Good knowledge in website building based on WordPress, basic knowledge in PHP, CSS, and intermediate knowledge in SEO
  • Good software knowledge of: ArcGIS, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Dreamweaver, and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), and the equivalent Mac OS X software (Pages, Numbers, Keynote).
  • Languages: German (native, fluent), English (excellent, fluent), Spanish (advanced, almost fluent), French (beginner), Swedish (beginner).

Other Personal Interests

  • Hiking
  • Wildlife
  • Photography
  • Computer/ Websites/ Graphic Design
  • Snowboarding, Surfing, Running, Yoga
  • Dog Training
  • Painting