Born and raised in Lima, Peru, Vasco Chavez-Molina moved to the United States when he was 18 to attend College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He graduated with a double major in environmental studies and anthropology and a concentration in African studies.
Before pursuing a master’s degree in environmental policy at the University of Colorado Boulder, Vasco worked as an international conservation associate for Defenders of Wildlife in Washington D.C. focusing on topics in illegal wildlife trade, the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), and international environmental policy. His most recent article, “Long term persistence of wildlife populations in a pastoral area” was published in the Ecology and Evolution Journal in August 2020.