We were learning everything we could learn about this butterfly.

It literally like liquefies while it's in the chrysalis,

and then starts to form these butterfly wings and these colors.

And I remember just thinking like, that's me. That is what's happening right now to me.

I am metamorphosizing into this person, this person that I meant to be. And I remember just thinking like, where am I?

This is not a typical occurrence that happens here in prison.

I'm Dr. Ray Wyn Grant, and this is a different kind of nature show,

a podcast about the human drama of saving animals.

This season, we're talking to all kinds of nature advocates.

From a paleoanthropologist who hunts fossils in conflict zones to someone who helped save an endangered species while in prison.

We're going to hear from real-life heroes

with widely different expertise and life experiences about what led them to be champions for the

natural world. What transformation did they go through to create change within themselves,

their community, and the world? Together, we'll find out how these ordinary people fell in love with nature and became their

most extraordinary selves.

This is Going Wild.

Carolina Landa is an equity and policy analyst at the Washington State House of Representatives.

She spends her days advising on bills, making sure that laws created by the state legislature are fair and equitable for all Washingtonians.

We should say here that the views Carolina expresses in our conversation are her own and are not

connected to her employer in any way. But Carolina hasn't always been in government. In fact,

her professional journey began in a very surprising place while she was incarcerated at Mission Creek Corrections Center for

women.

...