A Kynd Life

Cam Sherry is a 40 year old husband and father of two energetic boys. Cam works in the liquor industry and was a national track and field representative in his younger years.

Cam describes his journey to veganism as a slower one, because little seeds were planted along the way. Cam's wife Hannah is a veterinarian and after she spent time with piglets, Hannah declared to Cam that they were no longer eating pigs. 

Cam and Hannah volunteered at Free the Bears Sanctuary in Cambodia for their honeymoon and later Elephant Nature Park in Thailand. Elephant Nature Park was a vegan sanctuary and the couple found themselves enjoying all of the food during their stay.

After returning home, they decided to become vegetarian and six months later, Cam conducted his own research to determine the difference between vegetarians and vegans. Cam felt compelled to go vegan after learning about the dairy and egg industries, even though it went against everything he knew about nutrition.

Cam has been vegan for six years and has been involved in a range of animal rights initiatives such as vigils, street outreach and silent protests. Cam now focuses on using his social media platform to share vegan food, children's recipes and nutrition, which sparks interest and plants seeds in the minds of non vegans.

In this episode, Cam also talks about the importance of patience when trying to educate non vegans, vegan alcohol and holidaying with a difference.

https://www.instagram.com/cssherry/

Asal grew up in Iran and moved to Australia as a student. The catalyst for Asal becoming vegan was when she saw fur farm footage on PETA's social media. Asal recalls feeling so upset, angry and helpless, she continued her research and decided going vegan was the only way forward. 

Asal became active soon after she went vegan, getting involved in local campaigns, however she didn't feel like she was being effective. Asal met her partner Paul in 2015 and in 2016, they started Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV) in Melbourne.

Soon after they started AV, Asal and Paul moved to Thailand having saved enough money to dedicate their time solely to the development of Anonymous for the Voiceless  for 2 years. This became their full time job, refining the concept, setting up chapters, events and the organisation itself. After only seven months, AV went global, with over 20 chapters across the world. Now five years on, there are over 500 chapters in 70 countries. 

In this episode, Asal speaks about her personal activism journey, using your passion to get active, the challenges AV has faced and the impacts of COVID on activism.

https://www.instagram.com/asal__av/
https://www.anonymousforthevoiceless.org/

Georgie went vegetarian when she was four years old after witnessing a truck full of innocent pigs being taken to a slaughterhouse. Later in life, during her first year of university, Georgie watched "A Bloody Business" and "Earthlings" and recognised she needed to do more for animals, so she went vegan.

Studying Law and Communications at university, Georgie knew she wanted to help protect animals and began work on three major animal campaigns at the time - Victorian puppy farms, jumps racing and duck shooting. Georgie has held several positions with Oscar's Law, including her current role as President. Georgie was involved in the successful banning of puppy farms in Victoria and is now working with other states to bring about the same change.

Her passion for animal protection and politics, led her to become the youngest Chief of Staff in the Victorian Parliament at age 26. Georgie very bravely wrote an opinion editorial in The Guardian about her fears of being shamed in her political career, because of previous employment during her university studies.

In this episode, Georgie reflects on her struggle with anger and sense of responsibility after going vegan, hopes for her future and the future of young people in Parliament. 

https://www.instagram.com/georgiepurcell/
https://www.instagram.com/kinglouislamb/

Avalon Todaro is a well regarded vegan tattoo artist in Melbourne. Almost a decade ago, Avalon became aware of the horrors of meat, dairy and eggs from her older sister and became vegan after realising she couldn't support these industries.

After following Edgar's Mission for a little while, Avalon saw they needed homes for a large number of rescued battery hens. She was drawn to the opportunity of providing a loving home and put in her application. Avalon and her partner Josh adopted their first five hens and instantly fell in love. Five years on, they cannot imagine their lives without the beautiful girls.

Avalon has always had a creative flair, she enjoys painting and drawing which developed into her love of being a tattoo artist. Avalon wanted to integrate her love of animals and veganism into tattooing and began creating her own animal rights tattoo designs. Avalon also kindly donates her time, design skills and profits to raise funds for animal organisations by creating prints and merchandise.

In this episode, Avalon shares her delightful experiences of being a chicken mum, her passion for creating unique tattoos that spread the vegan message and her next big project - a children's book written and illustrated by Avalon.

http://www.instagram.com/avalontattoo
https://hensarefriends.bigcartel.com/

Jack Rock, also known as That Vegan Dad, is a husband and father of two young boys. Jack and his wife decided to go vegan after trying many ways to clear their youngest son's eczema. The family adopted a vegan diet and found great health benefits, but also understand the ethical and environmental aspects of living a vegan lifestyle.

Jack is an avid cook, mastering quick and easy vegan meals for his family in under 30 minutes. His social media and website showcases simple vegan recipes, grocery hauls and tips for individuals and families.

In this episode, Jack also shares his plans for reaching more people to help them enjoy a vegan lifestyle.

https://www.instagram.com/that_vegan_dad/
https://www.facebook.com/that_vegan_dad-112191633857740
https://www.tiktok.com/@that_vegandad?lang=en
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBf-I-AYAGgLYSB3rHAt-JQ
https://www.thatvegandad.net/

Geelong Duck Rescue (GDR) formally began in 2016 and consists of a dedicated group of volunteers who actively have a presence at the Lake Connewarre wetland system in Geelong each duck shooting season.

GDR's mission is to protect native waterbird species who call this ecosystem home. Volunteers attend the wetlands from dawn to dusk to rescue wounded birds and collect evidence of shooters breaching regulations. The number of shooters attending the wetlands has declined since GDR's involvement.

In this episode I speak to the Coordinators of GDR Nat and Mish who provide an insight into what is involved in duck rescue, their experiences and their vegan journey. They provide great suggestions for people to get involved both on the wetland and from their home.

https://www.facebook.com/geelongduckrescue
https://www.instagram.com/geelongduckrescue/

TAKE ACTION!
https://animaljusticepartyvictoria.good.do/banduckshooting/email/
https://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/duck-shooting-is-not-a-sport/

OTHER VIC DUCK RESCUE GROUPS
https://www.facebook.com/CADSDuckRescue/
https://www.facebook.com/Regionalvictorians

Nanda grew up in Argentina and once finished at school, he began travelling to experience the world. Nanda was always looking for more from life and began to delve deeper into spirituality.

Nanda found meaning in the teachings of Hare Krishna and within a few months of joining his local Temple, Nanda became a Monk at age 21. Around the same time, he watched a video by Gary Yourofsky and recognised he could no longer be part of another being's suffering,  so he went vegan overnight.

Nanda now manages the kitchen at the Hare Krishna Temple in Albert Park, Victoria and serves up delicious vegan meals for their visitors.

In this episode, Nanda speaks about leading by example in his community and providing opportunities for people to connect with spirituality and veganism.

https://www.instagram.com/nandadas.bdds/

Andy began his career in the construction industry and trade unions, always being a strong voice when it came to safety concerns and marginalised workers.  During his construction career, Andy worked on a jobsite next to a pig slaughterhouse and could not bear to hear the pigs screaming in the facility.  He recognised the injustice animals face and decided to follow in his wife April's footsteps and go vegan.

Andy has always had a love for politics, teaching himself about Australian, American and English politics over the last 30 years. Andy became involved with the Animal Justice Party Victoria in its infancy and played a pivotal role in getting the party registered and building the membership base. 

In this episode, Andy shares insights into his political journey and favourite accomplishments as an MP to date. Andy strongly encourages people to get involved in the party to help animals have a voice and become the change you want to see in politics. Andy speaks openly about the challenges and how he manages the demands of being a politician.

https://andymeddick.com.au/
https://www.instagram.com/andymeddickmp/
https://www.facebook.com/AndyMeddickMP

Angela’s vegan journey is a little bit different to most, she became an activist before she became vegan. After watching “The Cove” Angela attended her first dolphin protest in August 2013 and signed up to her first Sea Shepherd campaign in Taiji as a Cove Guardian. In doing her research for the Taiji campaign, Angela read a book by Captain Paul Watson’ (founder of Sea Shepherd) and decided to go vegan in preparation for her time with Sea Shepherd.

In 2014 Angela witnessed the horrific capture and slaughter of dolphins on her first trip to Taiji. This experience haunted her and when she returned home, Angela went into fight mode and became an activist. 

Angela started attending and organising protests for various issues concerning the planet, ocean and animals (land and sea). She moved to Coffs Harbour in 2017 to protest the local dolphinarium, Dolphin Marine Conservation Park every weekend (mostly on her own).  Angela has since co-founded Dolphin Freedom Fighters with regular protests and demos organised at Sea World and Dolphin Marine Conservation Park. 

Angela returned to Taiji in 2015 and then attempted to re-enter Japan in 2018, however, she was stopped at immigration, interrogated, detained in a cell and deported back to Australia. She then joined the Sea Shepherd Vessel, the M/V Sharpie in Mexico for 3 months as the chef for Operation Treasured Islands.

In this episode, Angela shares her experiences across a wide range of activism activities including Sea Shepherd campaigns, disruptions and peaceful protests. She also provides insight into running effective events involving the collaboration of groups.

https://www.instagram.com/jovigirl81/
https://www.facebook.com/angela.banovic.5
https://www.instagram.com/dolphinfreedomfighters/
https://www.facebook.com/dolphinfreedomfighters/

In this episode, I welcome back Sam Vas who shared his story in an earlier episode of A Kynd Life.

Sam returns to share his knowledge and insights into meditation, having practiced meditation from the early age of five. Meditation has always been part of Sam's daily routine as he believes it's the key to life - we cannot experience life fully without a mind, body and soul connection.

In this episode, Sam discusses his favourite types of meditation, the benefits and myths of mediation and some tips for beginners.

Sam conducts an 8 minute guided mediation at the end of the podcast - you won't want to miss this!

https://www.instagram.com/superveganofficial/
https://www.superveganfitness.com/