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It has been a year since Santa’s First Vegan Christmas, my debut children’s book, made its
debut.
Illustrated by the talented Kara Maria Schunk,
Santa’s First Vegan Christmas tells
the story of Dana, a strong and determined reindeer who helps make the holidays
merrier for all creatures when she gently opens Santa’s eyes to how we can be
more kind.
As for me, I had my eyes opened to a lot of awesome things in the
vegan community while promoting the book.
1. There Are a Lot of
Awesome Vegan Podcasts
I had the good fortunate to be a guest on some
big vegan podcasts.
Before I started promoting the book, I wasn’t as familiar
with vegan podcasts as I should have been.
After discovering a lot of great
ones while promoting the book, I’ve been happily listening to them ever since. Some
of the incredible vegan podcasts that are available include:
·
Main Street Vegan
with host Victoria Moran
·
It’s
All About Food with host Caryn Hartglass
·
Earthix
with hosts Athena and Caitlin
·
MikeyPod
with host Michael Harren
·
Brown Vegan
with host Monique Koch
·
Which Side
with hosts Jordan Halliday and Jeremy Parkin
·
The
Bearded Vegans with hosts Andy Tabar and Paul
Steller
·
All Things Vegan Radio
with hosts Barb and Judy
·
Go Vegan Radio
with host Bob Linden
Those are just some of the wonderful vegan
podcasts available. Evanna Lynch of Harry
Potter fame recently announced that she has a vegan podcast in the works
that sounds very promising, too.
2. Some
Young Vegans are Already Community Leaders
I was so
fortunate to have a variety of amazing writers, podcast hosts, and YouTube
hosts who were happy to review Santa’s
First Vegan Christmas.
One awesome review came from a talented then-12-year-old
who has her own dynamic YouTube channel called Lillycution, and The Vegan Geezer’s child JoJo plays an important part on his
channel.
I realized how many young people are leading the way with their own
important activism in a variety of ways in the international vegan community,
and that gave me even more optimism than I already had for a better future
world.
3. Vegan Leaders and
Celebrities Make Time to Support Others’ Work
The many people who got behind the book and gave
it their sincere support will forever fill me with gratitude and amazement.
Alicia Silverstone posted a photo of her copy of the book and praised its
sweetness. Marla Rose had me as a ‘Vegan Rockstar’ guest on Vegan Street.
I was thrilled and honored that Jackie Day, Peter Singer, Jo-Anne McArthur, Leinana
Two Moons, Kip Anderson, Will Tuttle, Ana M. Negrón, Lee Hall, Marc Bekoff,
Jonathan Balcombe, Julia Feliz Brueck, and Mark Hawthorne took time to provide
a sincere blurb for Santa’s First Vegan
Christmas.
Many other celebrities and leaders in the vegan
community also provided blurbs or shared links or write-ups about the book. No
matter how busy many people in the vegan community are, they take the time to
look at others’ work and get behind it if it speaks to them.
Who could ask for
more than that? It’s a big reminder to me to always do the same whenever I can.
Their generosity of spirit left a big impression on me.
Finally…
What
stands out to be most about the vegan community is its compassion.
Sure, there
are a few bad apples in the bunch who make me want to shout: “People are
animals, too!” (It’s so important to be kind to people along the way as we care
for animals).
However, the majority of vegans I encountered were kind,
gracious, and oh-so-caring about others.
It made me feel proud to be a part of
the vegan community, and I will forever treasure the memories and new
friendships that were made along the way.
READ MORE:
Vegan School Teacher Makes A Veggie Rap Music Video
‘Reader’s Digest’ Reports That Kids Can Thrive On A Vegan Diet
