About Us |
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Mad City Vegan Fest is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization which is fiscally sponsored by Madison's Alliance for Animals (address below). Mad City Vegan Fest Our Mission Statement
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Meet the Mad City Vegan Fest team! |
Hannah West: Organizer
I've been vegan for six years, vegetarian for eight. My path to veganism started with a seventh grade project on modern slavery. I cannot overestimate how this project changed my life. Years later, I can still recall the awful stories of five year olds in the textile industry, middle school aged kids in the sex industry, teenage boys forced to be camel jockeys. The stories of children struck me the most, because I just couldn't understand how anyone could exploit such helpless beings. At that time I was vegetarian, but not really committed to it. Those next few years, I made the connection between the exploitation of one helpless being and that of another, and started on the path towards veganism. I went vegan my 9th grade year as my new year's resolution, and still haven’t broken it :) Every day that I lead a vegan lifestyle, filled with compassionate, non violent choices and healthy food, I know that I am doing what is right, what is in accordance with my morals, the best thing for my body, and the most loving action I can take for human and non-human animals and our earth. It's a dream come true to help organize a fest celebrating and sharing veganism with the rest of Madison and an honor to work with the amazing volunteers listed on this page. Ben West
In addition to being the "wonderful vegan boyfriend" Gina mentions below, I work as a programmer doing web development on a C#/ASP.NET-MVC stack as a day job, but I have some personal sites running django and I play with / get mad at Haskell a lot. My hobbies currently center around number theory, but if you have an idea from a field with "theoretical" in the title, I'd probably be interested. My sole contribution to mankind thus far has been creating the following joke: "Why was Sun-Tzu always on time? Because he knew the Chinese Reminder Theorem!" If you thought that joke had too much humor and not enough math, you'd probably enjoy my blog. Carrie O'Connor
I live and work in the Madison area and am a local business leader and also serving on a number of boards and committees in my community. I am also a mother of one, and as my son would say, I have only been vegan for "about 15 minutes", given that I only made the leap in Spring 2010 after a number of inspiring and eye-opening "encounters", including watching Oprah’s special on Food, Inc., participating in Dr. Neal Barnard's 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, reading Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet, meeting local vegans through Madison's Vegetarian Meetups, and hearing Colleen Patrick-Goudreau speak at the Alliance for Animal's 2010 Vegantines event! That said, I am personally committed to sharing the joy I have found in knowing that I am making choices now that positively impact my health and the world around me! As a devoted animal-lover and someone who wants to reduce their carbon footprint, veganism fits perfectly with my values and my lifestyle! I was immediately drawn to Mad City Vegan Fest because I hope to help others see the benefits of adopting a vegan lifestyle and to offer them the resources they need to be successful in their transformation! Dave Friedman
I've been vegan for a year and was vegetarian for 32 years before that. I organize the Madison Area Vegetarian Meetup Group, which hosts monthly vegan dinners at local restaurants. We also have many other events: potlucks, cooking lessons, game nights, camping trips, scenic hikes, apple picking outings, and many others. Check out vegmadison.org for more information. It's free to join. I'm also working on TofuConnection.com, which will be a place for single vegetarians and vegans to find each other. It will also help foster connections between vegetarian and vegan parents. Non-vegan aspects of my life include ultimate frisbee, word games, and gadgets. Gina Stuessy
I think of my decision to become vegan as one of the best decisions I've made in my life, and only wish that I had made it sooner! I transitioned to veganism when I met my wonderful vegan boyfriend in grad school. I enjoy Dave's (above) meetups, Alliance for Animals' events, and of course planning Vegan Fest! I also work at a small hyperspectral imaging company mostly writing image processing software. I enjoy baking, scrapbooking, watching medical dramas, and recently got back into gymnastics. I occasionally write in my blog. Lauren Wojtasiak
I’ve been vegetarian for about eight years and vegan for about three. I love vegan cooking and baking and can be found cooking in the kitchen every day. My husband went vegan about a year ago, and our two kids have been raised vegan. We have four rescued dogs, two rescued cats, and a rescued guinea pig that are part of our family. We are also Dane County foster parents. I work for Direct Supply, Inc. out of Milwaukee, but I get to work in my home office in Monona. It has been very exciting to find a wonderful group of caring and concerned vegans in Madison, and I feel fortunate to be part of Mad City Vegan Fest! Miranda Browning
I am a speech-language pathologist here in Madison, working with geriatric adults with cognitive-communication disorders. When I'm not at work, I spend my time in the kitchen baking vegan treats for my fiancé, or playing with my rescued dog and cat. I have been vegan since February 2007, and consider the decision to live a more compassionate lifestyle one of the best choices I've ever made! |