Farmed animal Advocacy Leaders Foster racial equity in organizations to increase innovation, collaboration and stronger impact

Photo courtesy of Encompass’ blog.

Encompass, a program created to increase effectiveness in the animal protection movement by fostering greater racial diversity, equity, and inclusion while empowering advocates of color, started with a vision to reflect the racial diversity of the United States while its organizations and advocates embrace a culture of inclusion and equity.

The VEGWORLD Team had a chance to sit down with founder Aryenish Birdie to hear her insights on the Encompass movement as a whole.

• What sparked you to launch Encompass? 

One of my favorite quotes comes from Audre Lorde, a fierce Black writer, feminist, and civil rights activist. She says, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” 

We have to acknowledge that most people come to our movement with experiences and identities that shape who they are. We come from different class backgrounds, different abilities, different genders, we are queer, come from immigrant households, and more. All of these backgrounds are needed if we want to take on the complex issue of animal exploitation and we need all types of people and ideas to be heard and valued if we are to succeed. We are a social justice movement so we need to acknowledge that our struggles and our liberation are bound up with each other.

There are two core reasons I decided to found Encompass: 1) it’s the right thing to do and 2) it’s the smart thing to do.

As a queer, light-skinned woman born from immigrant parents, I’ve struggled with identity and place my whole life. I never feel totally at home anywhere, so I’m always searching to belong. As I’ve worked to develop the core tenets of Encompass, I’ve realized that, like me, most advocates of the global majority also need a sense of belonging to thrive in this movement.

Over the last few years my path has taken me in directions I couldn’t have anticipated. I’ve engaged in extensive conversations with Encompass advisors, experts on racial equity from the academic, business, and nonprofit communities, I worked intensely with racial equity coaches, held focus groups, and more. All of these entry points made it clear that while yes, we need more representation at all levels in our movement, we also need organizations to understand our desire for equity.

Working to develop Encompass has been personally satisfying because it’s an organization I myself need, and it feels wonderful to build something not only for myself but more importantly, for other people of the global majority.

My journey has shown me that the power of belonging must be central to our work as animal advocates, for without that we risk losing out on valuable talent which means we risk our success as a movement at-large.

• How did your journey in Animal Advocacy start? 

I came to veganism by way of a frog dissection project as a 12-year-old in Lawrence, Kansas.

I don’t remember having strong feelings one way or the other about the assignment but my mom vehemently objected to my participation. We were a family that cared deeply about animals and would never eat foie gras or veal (due to the publicly known extreme cruelty inflicted on those animals), but we still ate chickens at least five times a week. Curious by my mother’s objection to the frog dissection, I started to learn more about how animals are used and abused in laboratories and what I saw ignited a fire in me. We ended up successfully convincing my junior high school to include a non-animal option, but that was just the beginning. 

Once I learned about how animals are treated in laboratories (for cosmetics, household products, and more) I couldn’t turn away. From there I learned about how animals are treated throughout society; from animals in circuses, to fur farms, in puppy mills, and of course, factory farms. For me, caring about animals was (and is) both an act of justice and compassion. 

I made an internal commitment that I wanted to be part of the solution through both my individual choices and as an advocate. However, eating meat was deeply rooted in me so I decided to go vegetarian, eliminating the products I liked least out of my diet. 

I was never a fan of fish, so for several months I intentionally chose not to eat it if it was presented to me. This was an easy action that allowed me to feel like I was making a difference even though it actually didn’t take too much sweat off my back. Once I felt comfortable with that elimination, I went to the next group of animals I didn’t care much to eat: turkeys. Again, for several months I intentionally abstained from eating turkeys (and fish). I got myself used to eliminating products—while venturing into the world of plant-based protein—and I did it slowly. From there I went to chickens, pigs, and cows.

I was careful not to beat myself up if I “slipped up.” I knew that it was inevitable and I didn’t let perfection be the enemy of the good. I let each meal be another opportunity and I wouldn’t move on to the next challenge before mastering the current one. I was in no rush because I knew I was moving towards a life-long commitment to veganism and was willing to take my time to do it in a sustainable way. After I removed all flesh products out of my diet I stuck with vegetarianism for about a year and then used the same process for other animal products, like eggs and milk. 

Since I made a deep ethical commitment from the outset I was willing to take my time transitioning slowly because it was a decision I wanted to stick with for life. I worked through my challenges during this multi-year process and by the time I was ready to say “I’m vegan,” I felt confident. Even though I was a child when I went through this process, I had a very supportive family. While there was some initial resistance by my parents, it was short lived and I’m incredibly lucky for that. 

The thing I love most about being vegan is that I do something every single day that aligns my actions with my values. Now, I’m a few months short of my 20th year being vegan and I can’t imagine eating (or living) any other way. 

• What are the most important ways your organization seeks to make a positive impact in the world?

Based on our two-pronged approach, we have many offerings to make a positive impact in our movement:

1. Encompass works with farmed animal protection groups to strategize and implement racial equity principles throughout their organizations—our services include:

• Equity Assessment: We use the Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmarks assessment tool to provide a macroview of the organization’s strengths, areas in need of improvement, as well as next steps for future work to incorporate racial equity culturally, operationally, and programmatically.
• Transformational Consulting: This is an in-depth, culturally-transformational, racial equity engagement. We typically work with organizations for 11-24 months, in three consecutive phases looking at all levels of the organization.
• Guided Facilitation: We support group discussions including at all-staff retreats, executive teams, boards, mid-level managers, committees, or other segments. 
• Ad-hoc and Retainer Services: We offer services forshort-term isolated or emergent needs.
• Individual Coaching: To advance the professional development of advocates who attend our Racial Equity Institute and wish to continue their learning, we offer one-on-one support. Coaching is a client-led alliance that helps to bring out the best in the Client in a quest to achieve their desired leadership results in their career and in life. 

In addition to our consulting services we are working to launch a high-quality research project to illuminate our movement’s current strengths and challenges with regard to racial equity, while paving a path forward for organizations individually. 

2. Encompass empowers advocates of the global majority by cultivating our innate leadership potential, providing resources and support, and building a stronger community so we can thrive and propel the whole movement forward. Our work with advocates of the global majority was developed based on extensive research, discussion with experts in the field, and importantly, focus groups with animal advocates of color. 

Based on what we’ve learned since our launch, our services for advocates of the global majority include:

• A talent database geared towards entry- and mid-level jobs, board positions, and speaking engagements. Coupled with this offering, we will be offering a short, intensive training to maximize the impact of the database and support the applicants within it. 
• A leadership development program for a select group of global majority leaders seeking to grow professionally.
• Community building events both in-person (when appropriate) and web-based, as one of the most common needs we hear is overcoming the feeling of isolation.

Through all this work, we work to foster a stronger sense of belonging and camaraderie amongst advocates of the global majority by hosting in-person (when appropriate) and web-based events aimed at strengthening bonds and representation.

If you identify as a person of the global majority (including Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian and Pacific Islander folks) and are able to attend programming in English please sign up today — we’d love to have you!

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