NARN
Board of Directors

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Mike Hines

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Frankfort, Kentucky, spending summers at my grandfather’s farm in south central Kentucky. I went to college in Murray, Kentucky and then moved throughout the US over the years, living in North Carolina, Colorado, Washington and California. I’ve been in Seattle since 2008, but lived in Malta for a short stint in 2012.

Why vegan?

There are so many reasons. I grew up an omnivore. I always loved animals, but had the same cognitive dissonance that abounds in our society. Around 2002 I decided I couldn’t support the torturous nature of industrial animal farms and switched to being a ‘free range’ vegetarian. Two years later I learned that a number of the companies claiming they were raising animals free range were doing horrible things. I also came to the conclusion around the same time that the consumption and use of animals was entirely about convenience and pleasure. I could no longer ethically justify any choice other than veganism.

Since then, I’ve come to understand many more reasons for being vegan, including general ecological impact, human costs in animal agriculture, antibiotic resistant bacteria and general impact of ignoring animal welfare on our society’s mentality.

Why animal rights activism & why NARN?

I’ve done a lot of volunteering and organizing in other areas over the years, primarily focused on race & social justice equity work. I’ve volunteered with NARN several times, but it hasn’t been my key focus. I appreciate NARN’s intersectional and inclusive approach to animal rights activism, and I believe as a society we desperately need both veganism and compassion that isn’t drawn across arbitrary lines.

What inspires you? 

I am inspired by the lengths to which so many passionate volunteers, activists and organizers have gone throughout history to make change where they saw injustice or need. I am inspired by the beauty, complexity and diversity of nature and believe that we have a responsibility to protect it and preserve it for all sentient beings.

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Rachel Bjork

Where did you grow up?

Seattle! I am a rare Seattle native. I am lucky to have grown up on Capitol Hill in the heart of Seattle. I am grateful that my parents sent me to schools with a diverse student population, and that I learned to enjoy and learn from people that are different from me.

Why vegan?

I become vegan in 2000. I had previously been a slow convert to vegetarianism because I thought it was healthier. After coming back home from attending college out of state, I started going to EarthSave potlucks in Seattle and watched a few videos about what happens to dairy cows and layer hens. I learned that not only were eggs and dairy unhealthy, but what happened to animals raised or food was just horrible. I just knew I couldn’t be a part of something so awful. Simply not contributing to such injustice seemed like the least I could do.

Why animal rights activism & why NARN?

Since I was in High School, I knew that I wanted my life to matter and to me, that meant working on making the world a better place. I wanted to do what I could to change the world for the better.  I am not happy sitting back and allowing injustice to happen. I love being involved with NARN because we believe in community, inclusion, that animal activism is a social justice movement and that a variety of tactics are necessary in order to achieve Animal Liberation. I love being a part of a wonderful community that is always striving to do better.

What inspires you? 

Other activists! Not the superstars of the movement, but the everyday “average” folks that spend their free time fighting for the animals.

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Gina Tomaselli

Where did you grow up?

I am a rare San Francisco native. I went to college at New York University and pursued a dance career until I sustained a severe spinal injury that ended my career and left me unable to function for nearly two years.  I decided that if I could not dance, I needed to pursue a career that would allow me to give back to the community, so I finished my undergraduate degree and then obtained a law degree from UC Berkeley. I took an animal law course in law school and was hooked. I moved to Washington, DC after law school to join the Animal Protection Litigation section at the Humane Society of the United States, where I worked on farmed and companion animal litigation and legislation. I eventually moved back to the Bay Area because it was too difficult being so far from my family, and took a job with the Social Security Administration, hoping to secure a job in the animal law field soon. After several years at the state government, I am now in Sacramento pursuing my greatest passion – animal protection law.

 

Why vegan?

I have been vegan for 17 years, and it was the best decision I ever made. I gave up “red” meat when I was 8 years old after getting a flier about factory farms. From there it was a slow progression to giving up other animal products until I became completely vegan in my first year of law school. There are so many reasons to be vegan that I wonder why everyone isn’t vegan, but my motivation was primarily to prevent animal suffering. The videos I watched of innocent animals being tortured and killed haunted me. I saw no reason why the fleeting pleasure of taste should justify this torture. My first project out of law school was to draft a petition to the United States Department of Agriculture to close a loophole in the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act that allowed veal calves to be shocked and brutalized in order to get them to walk towards the slaughter pen. As part of the petition, I worked closely with undercover investigators stationed at a Vermont veal processing plant. Most of the calves came from idyllic, small dairy farms in Vermont, the kind of farms where one imagines cows prancing joyously across green fields. What most people don’t realize is that in any dairy farm – small or large – male calves are a byproduct and of no use to the farm. These calves – mere hours or days old – are sold for pennies, and rounded up in trucks to take them to the veal facility. They are so weak and young that they can’t even walk, and the mother-calf bond is so strong that mother cows will often injure themselves trying to get to their calves and bellow for days after they are gone. I never looked at cheese the same way again.

 

Why animal rights activism & why NARN?

One of the many things I love about NARN is its commitment to intersectional values. In order to effectively advocate for the rights of non-human animals, we must also recognize the injustices suffered by humans, particularly those of historically and politically disenfranchised groups. I have been involved in many social justice movements through my life, and being involved with NARN dovetails perfectly with my passions.

 

What inspires you? 

I am inspired by children and teenagers who advocate for animals despite the risk of being perceived as weird or different. When I was a kid, I remember crying because my peers – and even many adults – made fun of me for circulating petitions against animal testing or refusing to eat hamburgers. I didn’t know there were so many others out there like me. It is so beautiful to me to see children and young people reject the compartmentalization that society ingrains in us from the day we are born: to view “farmed” animals as different from “companion animals” and to ignore that the “pork” and “dairy” and “beef” arrived on our plates through immense physical, psychological, and emotional suffering and torture. It is not an easy task – it requires critical thinking, the ability to question what we have been taught, and incredible bravery.

 

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Kate Nikolaeva

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Moscow, Russia and moved to the US for school almost two decades ago. I have been living on the East Coast until my husband and I moved to Seattle in late 2015. I grew up in the city but always loved and appreciated the natural world around me. Once we moved to the Seattle area, the beauty of the PNW with all of its lifeforms led to even stronger meaning and admiration on my part.

 

Why vegan?

I have always been passionate about the well-being of all animals. However, in the last three years I have become increasingly aware of the current state of the global animal food industry and I can no longer be a part of it. After learning what animals have to suffer and struggle through every day just so people can eat them opened my eyes to the horrors of the food industry. Since then my husband and I have been vegan. We are not looking back! There are many more reasons to be vegan but that is what started me on the journey.

 

Why animal rights activism & why NARN?

I feel responsible to make the world a better place for all beings, but especially those that cannot speak for themselves. NARN’s mission and advocacy for the rights of all sentient beings – the right to choose, to be free from oppression and exploitation is something I strongly believe in and support. I look forward to being a part of the NARN community and bringing my skills and passion to a wonderful cause!

 

What inspires you? 

People who show up and do the right things to help all sentient beings. Compassion, focus and knowledge that over time the world will be a better, healthier and more humane place.

 

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Lindsey Soffes

Where did you grow up?

I grew up largely north of Seattle, though I was fortunate enough to enjoy several years of my childhood in my mother’s home country of Switzerland. After graduating from high school, I spent almost a decade on the east coast before returning to the Pacific Northwest.

 

Why vegan?

After many years as a vegetarian (credit to the movie Babe, which opened my eyes to important issues when I was a child!), I adopted ethical veganism about 15 years ago. I remember coming across an article that quoted Gary Francione as saying that there is more suffering in a glass of milk than in a pound of steak, and my vegetarian self was shaken – after some additional reading, including Animal Liberation by Peter Singer, I became a passionate vegan overnight. It remains the best decision I have made.

 

Why animal rights activism & why NARN?

I believe firmly that animal rights is a core social justice issue, though it is all too often not recognized as such. Shortly after adopting veganism, I spent two years working at a nonprofit that championed human civil rights, and I was struck by my peers’ disinterest in (and, really, stark resistance to) recognizing the fundamental and overwhelming parallels between the animal rights ideology and the ideologies underpinning human social justice efforts. The emphasis on this fundamental connection – on intersectional justice – is one of NARN’s unique and important contributions that drew me in.

 

What inspires you? 

Those for whom we are advocating! On the most difficult of days – when the atrocities inflicted by humans knock the wind out of me – I picture the other-than-human animals for whom we are fighting, and they help restore my breath.

 

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