She Quit Her Finance Job to Live on a Remote Wildlife Reserve in Zimbabwe. She Says She’d Do It ’10 Times Over’ (Exclusive)

Alex Blumenfeld burst into tears the first time she arrived at the wildlife reserve she now calls home.

After years of dreaming about working in conservation, the 24-year-old couldn’t believe she had finally made it to a remote reserve in southeastern Zimbabwe.

“I started crying out of sheer joy and gratitude,” Blumenfeld, who grew up in Dallas, Texas, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “After years of dreaming about a life like this, I couldn’t believe I was finally being given the privilege to live on a wildlife reserve and contribute to the mission of protecting such an incredible ecosystem.”

For Blumenfeld, the emotional moment marked the beginning of a completely new chapter — one that looked nothing like the life she had envisioned just a few years earlier.

Before moving halfway across the world, she’d built a career working in finance on Wall Street in New York City. Although she enjoyed the work, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she wanted something more fulfilling.

“I left my finance job in search of something that felt deeply meaningful,” she says. “Something that allowed me to contribute to a cause I genuinely cared about.”

Looking back, Blumenfeld says her decision to leave finance was years in the making. As a child, whenever she had a difficult day, she’d escape to a small patch of nature.

“I’d walk to a forgotten little nature area at the end of my street and just sit quietly, alone, listening to the birds,” she says. “I’ve always felt most at home outdoors and among animals.”

That connection never faded. Although she always imagined working in conservation, she didn’t initially see it as a realistic career.

“I’d always said to myself that if money weren’t an object, that’s what I’d choose to do with my life,” she says. “After a few years in finance, I realized one day that I wanted my career to be driven more by purpose than pay. A switch had flipped.”

Once she made that decision, Blumenfeld threw herself into finding an opportunity that would allow her to fully immerse herself in conservation work.

The search proved far more difficult than she’d expected. Few wildlife reserves hire internationally because of the administrative and visa hurdles, she explains, and many programs marketed online focus more on wildlife tourism than meaningful conservation.

Eventually she stumbled upon a reserve in Zimbabwe. Unlike many of the opportunities she’d come across, this one centered on rigorous scientific research, ethical wildlife management and community engagement, which is exactly what she had been searching for.

“When I came across such a well-run, science-driven conservation organization, I was immediately drawn to it,” she says.

“The opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a reserve where rigorous research, ethical wildlife management and meaningful community engagement are all central to the mission felt incredibly rare,” she continues.

Today, Blumenfeld works as a fundraising and strategy consultant for the reserve.

She says her job is really about translating decades of scientific research, conservation work and community impact into narratives that inspire people to support the reserve’s work.

“The work being done here is undeniably important,” she says. “To now work somewhere where the entire workforce has dedicated their lives to protecting wildlife and wild places really is a dream come true.”

Not long after arriving, Blumenfeld experienced one of the moments that confirmed she’d made the right decision.

Just two days into her new life in Zimbabwe, she was driving through the reserve with a friend when she spotted what looked like an animal standing in the middle of the road.

“I turned to my friend and said, ‘Wait…is that…a lion?’ ” she recalls. Her friend laughed, convinced it couldn’t possibly be. But as they got closer, both women fell silent. It was a lioness.

The animal calmly walked toward their vehicle before stopping just a few feet from Blumenfeld’s window. Moments later, the rest of the pride emerged from the surrounding brush, casually crossing the road in front of them.

“Almost every day, something would happen that I simply couldn’t believe was real,” Blumenfeld says. “A leopard walking past my car, rhinos in my backyard, a snake in my bed.”

“The people I’m working with here have grown up around these things, so to them, many of these moments are ordinary,” she adds. “But to me, every day felt extraordinary, and I wanted to share that sense of wonder with people who had never experienced anything like it.”

It was moments like that that inspired Blumenfeld to document her new adventure on TikTok, where she’s since amassed over 136,000 followers, with many of her videos reaching millions of views.

Her hope is for her videos to spread education about wildlife conservation and garner appreciation for the people working behind the scenes to protect the animals and reserves.

“Over time, though, I realized the videos had the potential to serve a greater purpose… places like this don’t exist by accident,” she says. “They require decades of scientific research, habitat restoration, wildlife management, and an enormous amount of dedication from people who have devoted their lives to protecting them.”

“I hope that by inviting people into my daily life, they begin to understand not only how beautiful these places are, but also the incredible effort required to keep them that way,” she continues.

Now, almost a year after making the move, Blumenfeld says there hasn’t been a single moment she’s questioned her decision.

“Without question,” Blumenfeld says when asked whether she’d do it all again. “I’d make the same decision 10 times over.”

She hopes her own journey encourages others to take a chance on the dreams they can’t seem to let go of.

“I would encourage anyone who’s considering pursuing something they’re passionate about to take the leap,” she says. “Buy the ticket. Go get the firsthand experience.”

“There really is no substitute for immersing yourself in the people, the places and the work that inspire you,” she adds. “The world is so much bigger than we often allow ourselves to imagine, and sometimes the greatest rewards come from having the courage to go see it for yourself.”

Source: She Quit Her Finance Job to Live on a Remote Wildlife Reserve in Zimbabwe (Exclusive)