Learning Center Coordinator
Isabelle fell in love with parrots as a kid when she started visiting a bird store down the street from her home. Eager to learn and help out, the staff let her help out for a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoons through her middle and high school years.
In the summer of 2015, she became an intern at Free Flight. Since then, she’s officially joined the staff (Spring 2018) and started leading the youth education programs, where she shares her passion for studying avian (and human) behavior and companion parrot husbandry with the youngest members of our community. She truly loves seeing youngsters develop a lasting love and concern for parrots!
Outside of Free Flight, Isabelle’s expertise lies in music education. She holds Bachelors degrees in Instrumental Music Education and Percussion Performance, and a single subject teaching credential (music) from CSU Long Beach. She also holds a Masters Degree in Elementary Education (SDSU). You can find her teaching music in Cardiff by the Sea, Long Beach, and Murrietta. Despite the crazy commutes, she is grateful for the opportunity to teach so many different types of music, and musicians!
In the future, Isabelle hopes to maintain a balance of her three great loves: education, music, and birds!
Operations Manager and Volunteer Coordinator
After watching the documentary “Parrot Confidential,” Diane became interested in the well-being of parrots in captivity. When she moved to San Diego in 2014, she looked for a bird sanctuary to visit and possibly volunteer. She found Free Flight and quickly found herself visiting once a week and spending the entire day here.
After several months of visiting, Diane became a volunteer, and found herself becoming very fond of several birds, especially “Midori.” She found it hard to leave after her volunteer shift was over, so when she was offered a position on staff she was ecstatic! As a staff member, Diane finds educating the visitors about parrots especially enthralling and looks forward to introducing more people to our flock in the future.