I first met Meghan at the Annual Humane League Gala event in early 2017. I walked in on the event by chance - probably saw it on Facebook - without much background knowledge of what The Humane League was about. I have never heard of the organization before. What drew me in that night was “animal rights”, “vegan food” and Bruce Friedrich as a key note speaker. Sold!

I arrived at the venue by myself. Not having a companion to distract me with conversation allowed me to become an attentive observer. The venue was a good size, neatly set up, but didn’t strike me as anything special. What did strike me though was the energy – the whole place was buzzing with excitement. It felt like a celebration. But I couldn’t put my finger on what to attribute it to right away.

I later realized that this is what it feels like to be in the room where everyone’s passions align, where everyone is vibrating on the same frequency. It feels like the end of a good size yoga class, when through breath, movement and guidance of the teacher, everyone gets in sync. That gala event was a celebration of the beautiful community that represents something much greater than the sum of its parts and that synergy was the secret ingredient of its magnificent presence.

Meghan Smith was the engine of that evening. She gracefully floated between groups, beautiful and joyful, igniting conversations and sparking connections, welcoming new folks and introducing people to each other. She seemed completely effortless, but one could only guess the amount of work and planning that must have gone in that event. I got a chance to introduce myself and briefly chat with Meghan. Her humongous kind heart and the desire to be of service were shining right through her contagious cheerful smile. Meghan’s friendly demeanor, her openness and light that evening were the main reasons for my engagement with The Humane League today.

I actually found a picture from that gala! Meghan, Allison and me, smiling away as we meet for the first time.

Fast forward 10 months. I have been working with Team Humane – the athletic division of The Humane League – for a few months now (Post #1 and Post #2 ), but have not had the opportunity to really get to know Meghan.

I met Meghan at Kale-Me-Krazy a few weeks ago during my lunch break. I wanted to know her story, what motivated her personally and professionally. And so I decided to interrogate her for an hour. Because this is what you do when you meet inspiring and interesting people, right? Neither of us ate (lucky me!) so I got straight to the point.

I asked Meghan to give a quick rundown on her background and to answer my favorite question ever – How and why did you become vegan?

“I was born a vegetarian, - Meghan started. - I went vegan at the age 12. I am 35 now.”

Meghan told a story of how her mom started taking her to the Animal Rights National Conference from when Meghan was 10. It was 2 years later, at that same conference, that Meghan saw a footage of downed cow and it “clicked” for her. Meghan, then 12, already knew she did not want to be a part of the meat industry and when she made a connection between dairy and meat industry it all became clear.

Meghan remembers conversation with her mom when she made that decision:

“On the car ride home from DC to TN I told mom I was gonna go vegan. She said: ‘If you can do, I can do it!’ And it was settled.”

Meghan laughed and then added:

“So, YES! – people can survive and thrive on vegan diet! I am a living proof to that. I have been vegan for 23 years!”

Meghan went into more details answering my questions about her motivations:

“My main motivation was ethics. Mainly, I wanted my actions to align with my values.

I vote with my fork. Every day. And I believe in kindness and compassion, and exhibiting that in as many ways as you can. Leaving living beings off of my plate is a way to align my actions with my values.”

I loved the way Meghan expressed her view. I supported her perspective, and could talk about ethical side of veganism forever, but I was also excited to get some insight on Meghan’s work. So I forced myself to transition into how she found herself involved with The Humane League.

“Few years ago I was doing volunteer work for a number of organizations. I started with Farm Sanctuary ( https://www.farmsanctuary.org ), leading their Walk for Farm Animals here in Atlanta. I was also doing other volunteer work, including organizations like Mercy for Animals, and Georgia Animals Rights and Protection.”

Meghan says she has always held a special space in her heart for farm animals:

“Most people have soft spots for more domesticated animals, like cats and dogs, and I think farm animals are often overlooked. And so that’s where I wanted to focus.”

Meghan soon became a committed volunteer with The Humane League. She was doing that while working full time. Soon enough her volunteer time added up to a second full time job and Meghan began contemplating if this was something she wanted to pursue as a career.

“ I attended the National Animal Rights Conference again and got a refresher. Soon a position became available for THL as a grassroots director. It was a hard decision and a complete change of career. I was making a change from something I was trained to do for over 10 years. It felt really scary. I took this change very seriously.”

Meghan is an architectural lightning designer by training. She has a masters degree and 10 years (!) of experience under her belt in that area of work. I can only imagine the amount of courage it took for her to make the leap. The “big departure”, as she called it, may still be an understatement of what actually took place.

“Eventually, thankfully, I went through with the decision. I made a switch 2 years ago and became the THL Atlanta Grassroots director.”

Since then, Meghan has grown into a role of a Campus Outreach director. We will get in in both of those roles shortly, but I thought it was appropriate to get a general overview of The Humane League first.

The Humane League (THL) is an international animal rights non-profit organization. It started in 2005 as grassroots advocacy in Boston. A small group of people got together to state a case for hens who were raised in cages for eggs. They started a petition on the college campus with intention to provide cage free campaigns on campuses. It was a success and has quickly spread.

Today THL is international. It has a staff of about 70 people, and another 60 students as interns who organize communities around animal rights at their school campuses. How is that for exponential growth?!

The Humane League’s mission is to reduce animal suffering by inspiring change at all levels:

Meal by meal
Person by person
Community by community
Corporation by corporation

Now, let’s get back to what Meghan’s roles entailed.

As a grassroots director, Meghan focused on all four levels of change mentioned above: meal by meal, person by person, community by community, and corporation by corporation.

Meghan spoke about many different strategies of various scales. They included public outreach efforts, tabling at different events (ex. Atlanta Veg Fest), working with businesses, organizations and students to raise awareness about animal rights issues, cohost events with different partners as a way to show support for similarly minded organizations.

The Humane League booth at Atlanta Vegfest, 2017

One approach that stood out to me was the “Takeover Tuesdays” series. Monthly social event promoted through social media, intended to bring together those who are passionate and/or curious about animal rights to meet at a business (a restaurant) that is not explicitly vegan, but has vegetarian and vegan options.

“There are two main reasons, - Meghan explained. One – to support businesses for having vegan options in the first place; and two – to show them that there is demand for vegan food. We would show up in huge numbers and order tons of vegan food. This is grassroots at its best – community coming together to acknowledge their values and vote with their dollars.”

This sounded like the most genius idea to me. On so many levels. Businesses get exposure to a new customer base, they get free marketing and information on the preferences of their consumers. The Humane League helps with menu item suggestions that business can simply adopt after a trial run at the event. This, in turn, develops loyal customers, who are more likely to come back, because they know exactly what to order. Customers get great vegan food options at a good price point and an awesome company to share it with. Those who are newer to cruelty-free way of eating get “educated” on dining out, what and how to order. They may try things they wouldn’t try before at places they wouldn’t normally go to. It builds confidence in the fact that their newly discovered vegan life can be sustainable and satisfying. I mean, c’mon! Does it get any better? It is a total win-win for both sides!

Sharing my excitement, Meghan added:

“It has become a norm now – we have an event every month. Some of the results of businesses responding positively to these events are permanent vegan menu options being added, as well as direct donations made by those businesses to THL.”

Next we spoke about Meghan’s work as a Campus Outreach Director.

“There are about 60 students – nationally and in Canada - who are enrolled in a paid internship program. They are selected through a rigorous process of applications and interviews, and are trained to become future leaders in animal rights movement and spread the mission of reducing animal suffering. There are 3 Campus Outreach Directors and each has 20 students to manage.”

This put things in perspective for me. Both, the unique importance of the work that Meghan was doing, and the tremendous impact it must have, was inspiring to the point of intimidation.

Just think through this: each of these 60 students are responsible for either starting a veg club, an animal rights club, or an animal welfare club on their campus, or being an active member within an existing club. They are the experts of their community and THL trusts them to make decisions regarding the most appropriate format.

With coaching on effective animal activism - delivering speeches, talking to people about being vegan in respectful but persuasive manner, explaining what is vegan in the first place etc - interns transform into mini grassroots directors at their respective campuses helping with campaigns and other initiatives locally. With these resources and support, the potential ripple effects have absolutely no limits. Imagine how many lives are touched by this work! It took ONE campus-based cage-free egg campaign to lay the foundation of The Humane League as it is today. Now there are essentially 60 similar activism centers around the world, connected through this network, with resources available to them… Unbelievable.

My next question was about what sets THL apart from other animal rights groups.

Meghan needed no time to think about the answer.

I learned that there are several things that set The Humane League apart from other animal rights organization. In no particular order, here are few of them:

THL’s focus is specific to farm animals.
THL “secret” approach is a combination of grassroots and corporate campaigns (Meghan called it a “one-two punch”), which has proven very effective because it addresses the issue from several angles simultaneously.
THL is international – it also has offices in Mexico, UK and Japan.
THL shares their tactics and trains leaders world-wide through Open Wing alliance.
THL has been rated Top Charity by ACE (Animal Charity Evaluators) for every year they have done evaluation, which means that among other animal rights organizations The Humane League has been able to achieve the most change and affect the most lives per every dollar donated.

The last one was particularly important to me, as a quantitative indicator of the effectiveness of this organization. I work hard for my money, and I wanted my money to work hard for the animals.

When I shared my thoughts with Meghan she pointed out:

“We take the work very seriously. Being nominated Top Charity is not the goal but the result of the work that we do.”

Next, we spoke about the most memorable wins that stood up for Meghan:

“Most memorable wins… Honestly, every time we have a successful event or a Takeover Tuesday – it’s a win. People working together is a win. Every time an organizer makes headway on their campus – it’s a win. We have recently won a campaign with Moe’s – thanks to actions here in Atlanta (it is an Atlanta based company) we got their attention very quickly and Moe’s produced an animal welfare policy. That is a huge win.

Internationally, THL was able to take on and produce results working with large companies like Subway and Starbucks for example. They usually own other restaurants and are also able to influence their suppliers due to volume.”

I was hesitant about my next question, but Meghan seemed very open and non-judgmental, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

“Meghan - you seem very gentle and considerate with your words. I am curious to know what is your opinion on a more aggressive approach – like PETA for example?”

I have a lot of respect for PETA. It was actually where my vegan ethics education began and I have my own answer to the question I asked. But I was really interested in Meghan’s perspective, as a professional in the field of animal rights, mainly because I get this question so much myself.

Meghan did not seem taken back at all:

“There is a place for any kind of activism. In my opinion, everyone is an activist. If you buy Gucci – you are voting with your dollar for that company. You are an activist, regardless… Activism applies to everything. It is what you do in order to get your message across. There is no shame of being active. You should be proud of that… If you so chose to be proud of those actions of course.

[Animal agriculture] is such a huge machine that we have to take down, so there is a place for everyone. That being said, if we are coming from a place of kindness, if we are asking everyone else to be kind, we have to start with kindness ourselves. We have to be able to speak to people openly. We have to hear what people have to say, not just talk over them.”

Next, we talked self-care. It seemed to me to be a double-edged sword. Most people I met, who are engaged with animal rights, especially professionally, have a huge heart and are deeply empathetic to the suffering and injustice surrounding them. Which is great, because this is what it takes to choose this path as your career. But on the other hand, suffering, injustice, indifference, cruelty – are the things you see every single day as a part of that career. So how does that huge empathetic heart survive??

Meghan agreed:

“In terms of activism you can get completely burned down. To be completely honest, I have always put everyone else first. I have struggled with boundaries.

Being vegan is a lifestyle, it’s not just a dietary choice. But you are a person beyond your dietary choices and ethical choices. Getting outside of the bubble is important. Some of your friends’ values may not necessarily align. I play cards with these people, do yoga here… Inserting yourself in different “bubbles” enables you to have conversations with people who may not even know what vegan means…

I also promised myself to do artwork on regular basis, because it feeds my soul.”

Another question that I love is “Where do you see hope”? In the world, that is often so focused on negative, and propagating that through news and social media, I am always curious about what helps others to keep the perspective and be able to focus on positive.

Meghan smiled:

“What gives me hope - people who are doing what they can in their current surrounding. Any time I hear people having success in their environment it gives me hope. If it is just one meal. Or one day – like meatless Mondays – it gives me hope…

I passed out a leaflet a year and a half ago and then they came to the gala and said they are now vegan! It took 20 seconds of my day to change someone’s life and I don’t even remember it!

To know that people are choosing compassion every day, over the alternative, gives me hope… Look at “What The Health” – everyone went nuts over it! To see where things were 23 years ago in comparison to where we are now gives me hope. Now I can go to Kroger and there is a whole wall of non-dairy milk! AND cheese! AND ice-cream! Back in the day, you would have to go to a special store and it would cost a lot! Now huge companies are making cheaper and cheaper options available on the market, as well as adding new options. That is amazing.”

I then asked about Meghan’s prediction of the future: did she see the change being driven top-down or bottom-up? I often hear that it has to make economic sense for things to go mainstream. Incentives need to be properly aligned so that providing plant based options and encouraging vegan lifestyle becomes profitable for the companies.

“I don’t know economics, or large companies, but I know people. People are just doing their best with the information they have. It is up to us to keep giving them information. When they are learning about what they are buying, it changes them. And that’s what I see.”

Resources and Links

To watch a quick video of The Humane League's impact follow the link below:

https://thehumaneleague.org/impact/

To get active with The Humane League check out the resources below:

Join THL's Fast Action Network .
Subscribe to THL's mailing list to learn how to get active in a particular area if they have a grassroots office there, or remotely if they don't.
Join Team Humane League .
Work with THL (both jobs, internships, as well as campus organizer positions posted).
And donate!

To make a contribution to my Team Humane Campaign go here.

FUN FACTS about Meghan:

Favorite foods:

Collard greens, mac and cheese, different kinds of soups, and… BROCCOLI!

Favorite restaurants:

Personal favorites: VeGreen, Avocado Café, Elmyriachi, Graveyard Tavern for vegan wings…

"Name a food that you want that and I can tell you where to get it vegan! We are very lucky to have that many options - Atlanta has it going on! So many restaurants have opened in just the 5 years since I moved here."

Inspiring individuals:

Michelle Obama: poised, outspoken, real, who eloquently speaks her mind, she leads initiatives for preventative measures, and understands the power and importance of grassroots.

Impactful book:

Animal Liberation, Peter Singer

Closing words to people on the fringes, those who are “vegan-curious”, but not sure:

““What have you got to lose?? Just do it! Start anywhere you can. Just try it! Meatless Monday? Great. Willing to try meat-free for a month? Great. There is NO HARM. NO HARM to yourself or anyone else. Just try it. Start with something. Start with non-dairy milk in your coffee or cereal. If you like baking, try to explore non-dairy options. Make it personal to you. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.””