Q – Tell us a little about yourself, what you are passionate about, and how your path led you to MFA.

A – I grew up in the rural Midwest, not knowing a vegetarian or even the word vegetarian. I’ve always loved all animals and viewed them as friends, not food. At age 13 I announced to my devastated parents that I would no longer eat any animals. Eventually, my two siblings followed suit, and one of them has been a vegan M.D. for over 20 years. I read Diet for a New America in junior high school and for the first time I didn’t feel alone. It also helped connect the dots: Eating animals is not only horrendous for human health; it destroys the environment and is fatal to hundreds of billions of sentient farmed animals. Not eating animals is a win, win, win!

Q – What part of MFA’s work is closest to your heart?

A – The undercover work is game-changing and integral to pushing this vital social justice movement into people’s awareness. 

Q – What change affecting farmed animals do you most want to see?

A – The banning of gestation crates for pigs, battery cages for chickens, and veal boxes for calves; and an end to the grinding up of baby “surplus chicks and the horrendous conditions under which farmed animals are transported to slaughter. The list is long but confining doomed animals and robbing them of every conceivable natural instinct is abhorrent and must stop. Human beings will not evolve until it does.

Q – Which of MFA’s successes do you feel happiest about?

A – MFA is a vibrant, nimble, effective bullhorn for social change. I’ve been active in animal rights for 30 years and am really proud of and energized by MFA’s tribe and their far-reaching influence. On a regular basis, MFA’s undercover video breaks down walls of deception and silence, shouting the truth through news and other social media. We must reach people’s hearts before we can change their minds and ingrained behavior.  As a photographer, I know that a picture (or video) speaks a thousand words and cannot be “unseen.