Advice: finding a career in non-academic research (guest post)

Note from Jeremy: This post is an email interview I conducted with Joe Simonis. Joe began grad school wanting to go into academia, but after finishing her Ph.D. in ecology decided to leave the academic path in favor of a research postdoc at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Thanks to Joe for answering my questions about why she changed her mind about academia, how she found her current position, how it's worked out so far, and her advice for others in similar situations.