A Kynd Life

Brinkley is a marine biologist, surfer, free diver and founder of Balu Blue Foundation. Brinkley grew up in South Australia and began surfing when she was four. She would surf every day after school and was the only girl in school surfing competitions for many years. Brinkley was surrounded by animals throughout her childhood and learnt to care for them from a young age. Brinkley became involved i...

To celebrate my five year vegan anniversary, I have decided to shave my head! WHY you ask? It's for a good cause! During the month of September I am calling on you to donate! I have a goal of raising $3000 to fund a ranger on the ground in Africa. International Anti Poaching Foundation (IAPF) rangers are the first line of defence for Africa's wildlife. IAPF was founded by former Australi...

John Thomas successfully competed in two bodybuilding shows and is working towards being the first vegan IFBB Pro in men's open bodybuilding. John remembers going fishing with his father when he was four years old and realising you had to suffocate the fish, by pulling them out of the water, in order to eat them. He had a similar experience with burgers at age 10 which resulted in him going v...

In April 2019, over 200 activists converged on Excelsior Hog Farm in British Columbia, Canada as part of a Meat The Victims action.  Excelsior Hog Farm is known as one of the leaders in the industry, however nothing but cruelty and abuse was witnessed by over 50 activists inside the facility. Pigs were being kept in horrific conditions and were suffering from wounds, tumours, gashes and hernias. ...

Kelly works full time at Edgar's Mission, where she found the love of her life Kyle and gave herself the title of "sheep cuddler". Kelly went vegan 13 years ago after giving birth to her daughter Isabelle. She wanted to raise Isabelle to love animals and knew she couldn't do that if she was eating them. At the time, Kelly was breastfeeding her daughter and couldn't imagine...

Rhiannon's entire life changed course after going vegan. Rhiannon studied Speech Communication, created an animal rights club at University, became involved in a mentor program at The Gentle Barn and more recently founded Higher Consciousness Events. Rhiannon was raised on a heavy dairy based Slovak diet. She remembers always feeling scared of meat because she recognised it as an animal. Rhia...

Brent is an inventor and self confessed fitness junkie, consistently working on his #vegainz. He is based in Michigan and spends most of his time working or working out. Brent has always had a passion for creating things, coming up with ideas and making something out of nothing. Brent started his career repairing appliances, installing antenna towers and satellite dishes, which eventually evolved...

Tayla, also known as Vegan Mama of Two, is a mother of two vegan warriors Riley and Lyla. Tayla sadly lost her late fiancé to a battle with leukaemia and used grief to fuel her fire to fight for animals.  Tayla always felt connected to animals, she loved them deeply. Tayla started avoiding meat when she was pregnant with Lyla and eagerly watched her friend and her friend's husband and childre...

Austin Cram started a micro sanctuary called Tonie's Raynebow, following the sudden passing of his partner Tonie. The sanctuary is located in South Gippsland, Victoria and is home to 29 rescue animals. Austin grew up in suburban Melbourne with cats as companion animals. Being raised with companion animals taught Austin many lessons about caring for animals as well as managing the health strug...

Kara has worked with children for over 9 years, having started in childcare when she left high school and is now involved in child protection.  In 2019, Kara saw the Dominion anniversary action on TV and was intrigued why they were protesting, so she watched Dominion. She could only get through the first ten minutes of the documentary, finding out about how animals are legally treated in Australia...

Livai lives and breathes basketball, having played since he was ten years old. His parents encouraged him to play a number of sports growing up, but basketball always stuck.  Livai has played for a number of teams over the years and currently is a member of Melbourne Tigers (NBL1). Livai is equally passionate about sharing his skills and investing in youth participation, so he started a basketball...

Pam's admiration for animals developed at an early age when she helped rescue, rehabilitate and rehome cats and dogs. Pam always dreamt of having a horse. She started by joining a local pony club, then soon got a horse and became a successful equestrian competing around Australia. Pam's relationship with horses led her to have a greater understanding of large animal behaviour. Pam hung u...

Leif, Founder of The Orangutan Project, has been working with orangutans for over 30 years. Leif started his career in zoo keeping when the industry had less rules around interacting with animals. He recalls being able to sit and enjoy his lunch with orangutans, as well as playing with the baby orangutans while sitting with their mothers. Leif has been a key player in the development of conservati...

Lauryn, also known as Vegan Yoga Momma, is married with 2 sons and transitioned her whole family to a vegan lifestyle two years ago.  Lauryn is a Clinical Therapist, providing mental health therapy and counselling, as well as leads a grief and loss support group. In 2019, Lauryn went vegetarian after watching The Game Changers and What The Health. A few things culminated in Lauryn's life, she...

Sarah is a chemical engineer by trade and worked in the corporate world for a few years, before deciding to work on something more morally and ethically aligned - Compassion Creamery. Sarah founded Compassion Creamery after having many people ask her for a good vegan cheese recommendation and hearing people rave about their morning oat milk latte. Sarah has created the world's first oat creme...

Chris, also known as The Vegan Sheepdog, grew up hunting and fishing and drank a gallon of milk a day throughout high school. Chris' wife fell in love with a cow called Dudley, who she was following online. She began to feel like a hypocrite as she loved Dudley, but would feed other cows to their family at the dinner table, so she decided to give up meat. Chris was supportive of his wife&apos...

Olivia is PETA Asia's Senior Activist Liaison and Co-Founder of Dolphin Freedom Fighters. Olivia went vegetarian at age thirteen but was closed off to learning about veganism until she knew she couldn't hold off any longer. Olivia knew she always wanted to be an animal activist, so after going vegan six years ago, she became involved in local activism opportunities. Olivia went to an Ani...

Lara is the Co-Founder of VEats and is extremely passionate about her life, the business she is building, raising children and self development.  Five years ago, Lara was busy running multiple businesses and wasn’t taking care of her health. She decided to watch the documentary “What the Health” and it changed her life. The documentary challenged Lara’s food habits in a way she could no longer ign...

Dan was born in North Shore, Sydney and was very sick for the first year of his life. He grew up in a fractured household and moved around a lot as a child, teaching Dan to be extremely self reliant. Dan had kids early in life, however he and his wife separated a few years ago.  Dan met his now fiancé Tayla a little over a year ago after matching with her on a dating app. They went on their first...

Bronwyn moved around alot as a child as her father was an army officer, so they lived across Australia and overseas. Moving often gave Bron the opportunity to become resilient and self reliant, with animals being her constant companions. Having seen some of the horrible things that go on in the world, Bron became aware from a young age that there are animals and people in the world who need our he...

Tony is the Co-Founder of vegan clothing and footwear brand Noskin, podcast host of "Producing with Purpose" as well as a coach working with purpose driven businesses. Tony went vegetarian at twelve years old because he loved animals. Six years later, when he made the cognitive association between animal products such as eggs and dairy and animal suffering, he went vegan. During this per...

Richard Oglesby, known as Trikky Oges to his friends, spent most of his life working in industries that exploited animals, until he started a job at Edgar's Mission, which changed his whole life. Trikky began his career in shearing sheds across outback Australia when he was 20 years old. He was a zoo keeper at Adelaide Zoo for seven years and recalls the boredom animals in captivity experienc...

Liz Douglas grew up in regional Victoria, but now enjoys the Melbourne vegan lifestyle with her husband Steve and cat Sooki. Liz describes herself as a vegan foodie, having created "Vegan Diaries" on social media after going vegan three years ago. Liz created her platform to connect with like minded people and prove that she could be vegan and still enjoy amazing food. Liz describes hers...

Luke is married to Aimee and they have a two year old son Wolfgang. He is the Founder of The Vegan Alliance, straightedge and an advocate for men's mental health. Luke went vegan over 25 years ago, when he was only 17. He has always loved punk and hardcore bands which introduced him to straightedge culture. After listening to Earth Crisis who sing about animal liberation, Luke started learnin...

Edel Sanders grew up in America, but later moved to Prague while completing her doctoral degree. She is the Dean of Psychology, at the University of New York and has enjoyed the history, culture, people and food in Prague for over ten years. Edel had a number of health problems during her teenage years and when she moved to New York, she saw a nutritionist. On his advice, Edel gave up dairy and th...