Kantai's father belonged to a nomadic Maasai community, which gave her an early knowledge about wildlife and how to protect them.
[6][7] Early in her career, Kantai was part of an elephant conservation project aimed at improving cross-cultural understanding between China (the world’s biggest consumer of illegal ivory) and Kenya.
As part of this trip, they travelled to five different cities in China, to better understand ivory trafficking and use, as well as to provide educational talks on elephant conservation.
[8][9][10] In late 2021, Kantai gave a TED talk on the importance of empowering local communities in conservation biology.
Most notably, in November 2020, she wrote a commentary article on Mongabay, where she addressed racism in conservation science in Africa.