Vanessa studied veterinary bioscience at Ngee Ann Polytechnic before becoming a marine mammal specialist at Dolphin Island for 11 years. In her career as a marine mammal specialist, Vanessa taught classes on behaviour modification techniques (operant conditioning), partitipated in veterinary procedures, and represented Dolphin Island at the International Marine Animal Training Association (IMATA) conference with 2 original poster presentations.

Currently, she is working with Matthias Hoffmann-Kuhnt on acoustic research in bottlenose dolphins, with the very same animals she spent 11 years with.

In her free time, Vanessa enjoys playing with and training her pet cat – Sushi, going scuba diving and watching horror films.