Thirteen Wonder Women Fighting for Animals

Their activism takes many forms, inspiring women across the world are doing the hard work of saving animals and making a healthy, sustainable vegan lifestyle the norm.

Women activists are in front of the camera sharing a vegan message, behind the hidden camera recording factory farm footage, making healthy food more accessible and proving that athletes can be vegan, too.

As a women-led organization, Animal Outlook would like to honor these trailblazers of animal rights: real-life Wonder Women fighting for human and non-human animals.

This list offers just a few names from the vast community of women fighting for a more compassionate world.

pattrice jones

Co-founder of VINE Sanctuary, as well as an educator, author and activist, pattrice jones is a vital voice for animals and eco-feminism. Some of her inspiring writings include The Oxen at the Intersection and Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World.

Lauren Ornelas

As the founder and Executive Director of the Food Empowerment Project, Lauren Ornelas has a laundry list of accomplishments, including convincing Trader Joe’s to stop selling duck meat and pushing the CEO of Whole Foods to go vegan. In 2018, she was inducted into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame.

Genesis Butler

The youngest woman on this list, as well as one of the youngest ever TEDx speakers, Genesis Butler is an inspiration at just 12 years old. She advocates for animals through speaking events, social media, and even started her own foundation called Genesis For Animals. In 2018, she was honored with the Lisa Shapiro Young Animal Activist Award, presented to her by Animal Outlook’s Erica Meier. Her latest project: encouraging the pope to go vegan for Lent.

Anita Krajnc

Co-founder of Toronto Pig Save and the Save Movement, Anita Krajnc made headlines in 2015 when she faced up to ten years in prison for providing water to slaughter-bound pigs. Fortunately, the charges were dismissed and Anita continues to encourage activists across the world to bear witness to slaughter-bound animals and organize impactful vegan outreach.

Erica Meier

Vegan for more than 20 years, Erica Meier started her animal protection career as an animal control officer in Washington, DC. In 2005, she became Executive Director of Compassion Over Killing (now Animal Outlook) and has since led the organization to huge victories that include ending the egg industry’s use of the misleading claim “Animal Care Certified” and successfully persuading BOCA foods to stop using eggs.

Dr. A. Breeze Harper

Founder of the Sistah Vegan Project and creator and editor of Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak On Food, Identity, Health, and Society, Dr. A. Breeze Harper addresses the intersections of race, class, health, parenting, veganism–and a wealth of other issues she addresses in her books, talks, and blog. Be sure to support her upcoming third book: Black Mama Scholar: On Black Feminism, Food Ethics, and Toddler Tantrums.

Brenda Sanders

Based in Baltimore, MD, Brenda Sanders is on a mission to make a healthy and ethical diet more accessible for everyone. This involves her founding and running multiple important vegan organizations such as the Afro-Vegan Society, and Thrive Baltimore and co-creating groundbreaking outreach programs like Vegan SoulFest.

Aph Ko

In 2017, sisters Aph and Syl Ko released Aphro-ism, their book of essays on pop culture, feminism and black veganism. This groundbreaking work is integral to the future of the animal rights movement, discussing the animalization of Black bodies and emphasizing the importance of recognizing and understanding interconnected oppressions. Aph is also a digital media producer and the founder of Black Vegans Rock.

Carol J. Adams

A landmark in both the animal activism and feminism arenas, Carol J. Adams is the author of the groundbreaking book The Sexual Politics of Meat. She has co-edited many other books on animal rights and eco-feminism, and recently debuted her cookbook with Ginny Messina titled Protest Kitchen.

Jo-Anne McArthur

Award-winning photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur is the founder of We Animals, a multimedia project featuring powerful images and video of images and video of  farms, rescued animals, protests, and more “to photograph our interactions with animals in such a way that the viewer finds new significance in these ordinary, often unnoticed situations of use, abuse and sharing of spaces.” You can also find many other inspiring stories of women fighting on the frontlines of animals through Jo-Anne’s The Unbound Project.

Jessica Carter

Jessica Carter is the Vegan Food and Lifestyle Coach at Compassion Over Killing (now Animal Outlook). Committed to making plant-based eating more accessible for all, she organizes and hosts cooking demos, develops online trainings and multimedia content for TryVeg.com, and coordinates collaborations with vegan influencers. Her recipes have been featured on FOX45 Baltimore, Let’s Talk Live, and Good Morning Washington.

Tracye McQuirter

Tracye is a 30+ year vegan, public health nutritionist and author of the bestselling By Any Greens Necessary and Ageless Vegan. In partnership with Farm Sanctuary, she also authored the African American Vegan Starter Guide, which is available to download for free at TryVeg.com.

Dotsie Bausch

As a silver Olympic medalist, Dotsie Bausch is one of the many athletes proving that we can be be healthy, strong, and fast eating vegan foods. After her Olympic success, Bausch saw a pro-milk advertisement and was motivated to fight back against the dairy industry’s lies. She filmed a commercial in response, which debuted during the 2018 Olympic closing ceremony, and shortly after her nonprofit Switch4Good was born.