[3] After graduating from high school, Matola enlisted in the United States Air Force, in which she received jungle survival training.

[3] She left graduate school for a job as an exotic dancer in a traveling circus in Mexico, hoping to do biological field work during the day before dancing at night.

[3] Matola's job in Mexico brought her to the attention of filmmaker Richard Foster, who hired her in 1982 to care for 20 animals being used in the making of a wildlife documentary film.

[6] Matola served as a consultant for the filming of the 1986 movie The Mosquito Coast, bringing her and the Belize Zoo to the attention of Harrison Ford and prompting him to become a supporter.

Her struggle was documented in the 2008 book The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird by Bruce Barcott.

[3] "The Reef...and the Rainforest," a 1992 episode of the PBS television series Return to the Sea, includes an interview with Matola and footage of the Belize Zoo.