Michelle Rojas-Soto is the chief talent and equity officer at KIPP SoCal charter schools. She previously served as managing director of Encompass, where she trained, coached, and consulted with animal protection leaders and organizations. Michelle is focused on creating equitable systems so that future generations on Earth thrive.
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Aryenish Birdie is the founder and executive director of Encompass. Prior to Encompass, Aryenish worked at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine promoting alternatives to animal tests. In addition to her more than two decades in animal protection, Aryenish has worked in other social justice movements, including those striving for racial justice, queer liberation, and reproductive freedom.
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Jasmin Singer is the author of The VegNews Guide to Being a Fabulous Vegan (Hachette Go, 2020) and Always Too Much and Never Enough: A Memoir (Berkley, 2016). She is the co-host of the long-running Our Hen House podcast, is the vice president of editorial for Kinder Beauty, and serves on the board of directors for the Newark LGBTQ Center and the advisory board for Encompass, Sentient Media, and Rancho Compasión. Learn more at jasminsinger.com.
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Karen Levenson directed Animal Alliance of Canada’s ten-year campaign to end the slaughter of Canada’s harp seals, beginning in 2004. She achieved Canada’s only municipal wildlife trapping ban and successfully lobbied its oldest veterinary college to end terminal spay/neuter exams. She holds an MFA in Film and Video from York University, and kickstarted the women’s studies program at Brandeis University. She lives in Guelph, Ontario.
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Dr. Joanne Kong, DMA, has been praised as one of the most compelling advocates for plant-based nutrition today, centered ethically in raising awareness that greater compassion for animals and our planet is vitally necessary for transformative growth and positive world change. Her TEDx talk, The Power of Plant-Based Eating, has over 1 million views on YouTube. She has appeared at numerous conferences and festivals, including the North American Veg Society Summerfest, San Francisco World Veg Fest, Veggie Pride Parade in New York City, National Animal Rights Day, VegFest Colorado, Twin Cities Veg Fest, Dr. Sailesh Rao’s Vegan Convergence of the Peoples, Peace Advocacy Network, Compassion Arts Festival, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Plant-Based Climate Summit, and many others. Her vegan advocacy has been recognized around the world with international talks in Italy, Spain, Germany, Norway, Canada, and a three-week, ten-city tour of India. Dr. Kong is the editor of Vegan Voices: Essays by Inspiring Changemakers, which features fifty vegan advocates from around the world, is the author of Vegan Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Plant-Based Living and If You’ve Ever Loved an Animal, Go Vegan, and was profiled in the book, Legends of Change, about vegan women impacting the world. She appears in the documentaries Eating Our Way to Extinction and Taking Note. Dr. Kong is a critically acclaimed, award-winning classical pianist on the music faculty at the University of Richmond and draws upon a diversity of skills as a musician, writer, speaker, and creative artist in her advocacy activities. Find further information on the websites www.vegansmakeadifference.com and www.joannekongmusic.com.
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Linnea Ryshke was born in Los Angeles, CA and received her MFA in Visual Art from Washington University in St. Louis, and her BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute. She creates paintings, drawings, artist books, and poetry that seek to restore the value of nonhuman animals as kindred beings worthy of our adoration, respect, and empathy. Alongside her art practice, she is an educator and has served as the Administrative Director for Culture Push, Inc., a non-profit arts organization in New York City. She currently resides in St. Louis, MO. You can learn more about her work at www.reembodimentproject.com.
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Soraya Beheshti has worked for several years with refugees across the Middle East and Asia. She is the CEO and founder of Karvan, a non-profit organization that leverages innovative Blockchain technology to improve the lives of refugees around the world. Karvan was a recipient of the Columbia University Innovation Grant and was a semi-finalist for the Tech.Co Startup of the Year competition and the 2018 Hult Prize, the world’s largest social venture competition. She currently runs the Middle East and North Africa operations for Crimson Education, a US/UK university admissions support consultancy, from her base in Dubai.
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JJ Flowers is a screenwriter, author of a number of children’s books, and (under the name of Jennifer Horsman) the author of several historical romances. She is also the author of The Spiritual and Scientific Power of Veganism. When not reading and writing, JJ Flowers enjoys spending time with her beloved family, friends and pets, teaching yoga, and healing walks.
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Peter Marsh secured a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wesleyan University in 1976. After receiving a law degree four years later, he represented people with disabilities and organizations that provide services to them. He also helped humane organization rescue groups, animal care and control agencies, and foundations establish effective animal shelter overpopulation programs in communities throughout the United States.
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Gretchen Primack is the author of two other collections, Visiting Days (Willow Books Editors Select Series 2019), set in a maximum-security men’s prison, and Doris’ Red Spaces (Mayapple Press 2014), as well as an earlier version of Kind (Post Traumatic Press 2012). She also co-wrote, with Jenny Brown, The Lucky Ones: My Passionate Fight for Farm Animals (Penguin Avery 2013). Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, FIELD, Ploughshares, Poet Lore, The Massachusetts Review, The Antioch Review, and other journals and anthologies. Primack has administrated and taught with college programs and poetry workshops in prison for many years, and she moonlights at an indie bookstore in Woodstock, NY. Reach out to her at www.gretchenprimack.com.
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