Hi there!
Welcome to Wanda's online profile.
This website is going through a much needed revamping process. We are soon to publish the final product. Sorry for the inconvenience. In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out.
Blacktip sharks are very similar to spinner sharks and both species have been observed to breach and spin.
Interested in a fun fact about
the Blacktip shark?
Wanda M. Ortiz Báez, MS
MARINE SCIENTIST & EDUCATOR
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF LITTLE WOMEN, BIG SHARKS LLC
Latina in STEM
Wanda is a latina marine scientist and educator who is passionate about sharks. She is dedicated to understanding these predators and informing her community about this group of fish. She is proud of her roots and feels a deep connection to the place where she was born and raised: the beautiful archipelago of Puerto Rico. On the left, a picture of La Perla, El Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Bread and butter
Wanda's goal has always been to combine all of her interests (science and education) into something that could be useful and, hopefully, make a difference. The product that emerged from this is her small educational business Little Women, Big Sharks LLC. Through this educational initiative, Wanda seeks to fill in the gaps regarding the sharks and rays of Puerto Rico, for which the information is limited to non-existing. Also, Wanda works at Sea Grant Puerto Rico as a marine educator.
See for yourself
Currently, Wanda offers talks, workshops and other educational activities about the sharks and rays of Puerto Rico to people from all ages. You can request her services through through Little Women, Big Sharks and Sea Grant Puerto Rico. She is also available for research, outreach and education collaborations.
A statement
"I want for my fellow Puerto Ricans to be able to learn information that would otherwise be inaccessible to them, in English (rather than in our first language), portrayed in a technical manner (which could be very hard to understand), or both at the same time. Overall, I want to provide my community with a good scope about the elasmobranch (sharks and rays) world and perhaps, discretely but not so secretly, help change the overwhelming negative perception that many Puerto Ricans have towards sharks."
"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts."
- Winston S. Churchill