Our Mission /
About Us
Our Mission
Compassionate Living is a 501c3 non-profit organization working to end farmed animal suffering and encourage vegan living. Through educational activities, community building, compassionate and inclusive outreach, always framing veganism as a justice issue, while educating on the sentience and of animals, we hope to be part of achieving a just, compassionate, non-violent, vegan world.
Our Vision
We envision a world in which animals are no longer seen as commodities and in which no animal suffers at human hands. We envision a world where human and nonhuman animals can all thrive in peace and wellbeing.
About Us
Hope Bohanec (She/Her), Founder and Executive Director
Compassionate Living was founded by thirty-year career activist Hope Bohanec. Having gathered experience and wisdom about animal advocacy through her long trajectory, Hope participated in important movements in her youth such as Greenpeace and Earth First! as well as organized anti-circus, anti-fur, and anti-vivisection campaigns and protests throughout the 1990s.
In the 2000s, as the movement shifted its focus to animals used for food, Hope shifted from radical, direct action activism to vegan education and compassionate advocacy. Hope spent fifteen years working for the national non-profit organizations United Poultry Concerns and In Defense of Animals and has published two books on the subject of humanewashing and greenwashing: The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat? and The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs. She created and hosts the Hope for the Animals Podcast, now in its third year with downloads on six continents.
She co-founded the Humane Hoax Project, the Ahimsa Living Project, and has organized hundreds of online and in-person events including the Humane Hoax Online Conference, the Humane Hoax Chicken Webinar, the Conscious Eating Conference, and the Sonoma County VegFest.
Our Board of Directors
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Aja Heisler (She/Her)
TREASURER
Aja Heisler is an independent conservation and sustainable development consultant. -
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Melanie Walker (She/Her)
SECRETARY
Melanie Walker is a long-time Compassionate Living supporter and runs a vegan baking business called Melaine’s Sweet Treats. -
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Jesse Weaver (She/Her)
BOARD MEMBER
Jesse Weaver is a graduate student in the Engaged Jain Studies program at Claremont School of Theology and Arihanta Institute.
