Yolarnie Maria Amepou graduated with a bachelor's degree in science, majoring in marine biology from the University of Papua New Guinea in 2011. She began her master's program in applied science at the University of Canberra, Australia, working with the declining pig-nosed turtle in the Kikori river of PNG. She shelved the master's program in 2017 to co-found the Piku Biodiversity Network. Today, she helps facilitate community environmental education, conservation action, and fosters sustainable management of our land and sea resources from the community up. She currently facilitates work to prevent the local extinction of two river dolphins; six species of turtles, of which four are freshwater; and 41 species of sharks and rays, where they work with some of the last healthy populations of sawfish in the world.