Below, you’ll find a roster of our highly skilled and resourceful mentors, all offering their support at no cost. Please review their bios, select your top three preferences, and then complete the application by clicking the button below.
Amy
(Requests from people living in Minnesota please!)
Back in 2003 I became a vegetarian at the request of my youngest son (who is now an adult). In 2012, at age 42, Facebook vegans let me know that I was still contributing to the violence and death of animals, so I became vegan instantly. The Animal Rights Coalition and Vegan University have helped support me, and I would like to offer that same support to you.
I can offer you phone, text, online, and in person support. If you want recipes, someone to go grocery shopping with, to tell you about what you can eat at a restaurant, or to join you at a vegan meetup, I’m your gal. If you need backup on your Facebook wall… I’ve got you covered. You need a batch of chocolate chip cookies? I can help you make some that will fool an omnivore. Dismayed because the world (or a particular relative) seems too cruel? I’ll offer hope!
I love food. A lot. I do believe that I love food more than I ever did pre-vegan, which is why I love volunteering to host ARC dine outs at local vegan friendly restaurants. I’d be happy to help you navigate eating out at restaurants!
I have two amazing jobs – I’m the Campaign Manager for ARC and a professional henna artist. In my free time I ballroom dance, read a lot of books, hang out with vegan friends, and run Chicken Butt Microsanctuary for six residents.
Anika
Howdy! I’m Anika (she/her/hers), and I’ve been vegan for 2+ years. I am 24 years old. I grew up in rural Minnesota in a hunting/fishing family. I am vegan for the animals, but have also noticed amazing health benefits and am a total science & nutrition nerd! I love all kinds of activities-from board games to backpacking, eating pizza to rock climbing & beyond! I am here for all your veg needs, whether it be a grocery shopping trip together, a run down of what I eat in a day, discussing ethics, how it has impacted my personal health, current health research, or challenges with family members and old friends, bringing you to some of my favorite vegan restaurants, introducing you to some rescued friends at local sanctuaries, the list goes on! Welcome to the veg community 
AmyLeo
At the age of 15 one of my sisters and I became vegetarian overnight after she told me her horrifying experience of witnessing a truck load of live chickens awaiting their slaughter at a neighborhood deli. I had never liked the idea of eating animals, yet I continued to do so because I didn’t know that I had another option. My mother had no issue with me becoming vegetarian, though I had to cook my own “vegetarian part” of my meals. I understood her stand as I had started cooking for my family of 10 at the age of 13, and I knew what it took to feed that many mouths. To add in a “specialty” diet would only “complicate” things.
Shortly after moving to Minneapolis, in 1989, I started volunteering with the Animal Rights Coalition. I attended weekly meetings and conferences, created and taught programs for the Speakers Bureau, performed street theater and more. This immersion in the movement helped me to finally (35 years after becoming vegetarian) recognize the discordance in being vegetarian for the animals yet not being vegan. Thus, the beginning of my vegan journey.
I am a life-long animal advocate (having stared advocating for animal long before becoming vegan) reserving my paid work for work that aligns with my vegan ethics. Among other micro-business, I have founded Vegan Affairs: Advocating for Animals Through Food and Conversation in which I teach private and public cooking classes, offer personal chef services, and coach my students and clients along the way. Who would have thought that my early entry into cooking would lead to a profession?
I have “been around the block”, as they say, and I am 100% in for mentoring anyone who seeks to eat plant-based as well as live a vegan lifestyle. I recognize two main challenges for those embarking on the vegan path: dealing with the food and dealing with the social push-back. My food journey has helped me move gracefully into plant-based eating and my work with communication skills has helped me peacefully and effectively engage in difficult conversation with non-vegans.
Having said all that – I look forward to the possibility of working with you. The journey is what we make it. It can be beautiful, fun, comforting, liberating, empowering, and of course compassionate and delicious. So, let’s get started. In person, over the phone, e-mail or texting – we can cover it all as you embark on this journey of yours. Oh, yes…you will have access to the many recipes that will eventually appear in the cook book I keep promising to publish.
I currently volunteer for the Animal Rights Coalition, Compassionate Action for Animals and Rooster Redemption. I love to dance and be outdoors in just about any kind of weather and sometimes simply be a goofy human.
Brooke
Brooke has been vegan since 2011 after being vegetarian for a year and realizing the harm that dairy and eggs and other animal industries cause to animals, the planet, and our health. Since then, she has frequently volunteered and protested with ARC and other animal rights organizations and farm sanctuaries.
In addition to a full-time computer job, she is a nature and wildlife photographer who has traveled around the world with her husband, while still managing to stay vegan. Brooke loves to cook vegan food, especially whole food plant based, and loves to share healthy and delicious recipes! She has a lot of tips on traveling as a vegan, choosing healthy foods, and hosting vegan potlucks. She is passionate about helping others on their vegan journey, realizing everyone might have different needs and concerns to getting there. Brooke is sure you can do anything you put your mind to! Her other passions are hiking, biking, and anything outdoorsy. So let’s get moving!
Kala
Hello! My name is Kala (pronounced Kay-la), and I’ve been vegan since January of 2018. Before that, I was ‘mostly’ vegetarian for a couple of years – believing vegetarianism to be the best thing I could do for animals, and for my own health. On January 4th, 2018, I watched the documentary “What the Health”, and decided afterward that I would go fully vegan overnight. Given its name, it focused on the health benefits of going vegan, not necessarily how it benefits the animals. Wanting to learn more about what all went into eating animals and their secretions, the documentary “Earthlings” followed. I am now a lifelong vegan.
Now, I work as a CT/X-ray technologist, and live in Saint Paul. I volunteer with Animal Rights Coalition in Minneapolis as often as I can, and of course go to all the vegan eateries surrounding me. Often. When I first went vegan, I only knew one other person that was. I know how helpful it can be to have someone to talk to and to have support, no matter where you’re at in the process! Whether you just want to ask a quick question, have a conversation, get recipe/grocery/documentary suggestions, grab a bite – I’m all for it, and I look forward being your mentor!
Megan
Hi, I’m Megan. I’ve been vegan since late 2005. I made the vegan transition without taking a pit stop in Lacto-Ovo Land, like most vegans because I was ready to end my participation in suffering as soon as possible. I was working at a bookstore, and was there when the first copy of Skinny Bitch came off the truck. This book had received no publicity at first and I picked it up because I was in charge of the diet/nutrition sections. I decided to read it, not knowing that it was about veganism. Once I figured that out, I opened my mind and kept reading. It made me say “I didn’t know that.”
I soon embarked on a 30-day vegan experiment. I bought soy milk, veggie burgers, Toffutti cream cheese, and my first bottle of Bragg’s. I also remember saying, “If soy ice cream sucks, this might not work out.” Luckily, it doesn’t suck. I didn’t have any vegan friends at the time, so I relied heavily on the internet and books. During my 30 days, I read a LOT. At the end of it, not only did I feel 100% better physically and mentally, but I knew that I could no longer be a part of the horrors I’d read about. I threw away all the meat in my freezer.
I’m a big foodie. I won’t even tell you the horrible things I’ve eaten in my carnivorous past. I basically had to learn to cook all over again, and I’m a much better cook because of it. I joined the Post Punk Kitchen forums and bought a ton of cookbooks. It was on the PPK forums that I found out about ARC’s Vegan Drinks. I still had no “real life” vegan friends, and I wanted to become more active with animal rights, so I went to ARC’s Cosmopolitan-soaked Vegan Drinks event in March 2009. It was there that I met other vegans, washed a lot of martini glasses, and the rest, as they say, is history. I now have a vegan blog (downhomevegan.blogspot.com) and always participate in any events that call for cooking or baking and sharing.
I am not what you would call a “warm and fuzzy” vegan. I tend to tell it like it is and point out when excuses are being made. Animals don’t care about excuses. I also discourage any mention of how “difficult” or “expensive” veganism is. There are a million reasons why this is not the case.
I will answer the phone at all hours of the day or night if you have questions. I will happily answer text messages you send while standing in the aisles of Rainbow like, “What the heck is DATUM?” I will bake muffins for you. I’ll hold your hand through your first trip to whole Foods for Tings and nooch. I’ll hold the tissues for you while you watch Earthings. And I hope you don’t mind, but if there’s Silk Nog to be had, I may crash your family Christmas. Just sayin’.
Steve
Hello to all that may need assistance on their vegan/plant based journey.
My name is Steve Leinen. I went vegetarian in 2002 and then vegan in 2012. I’ve gone through all of the issues that many experience when going vegan/plant based. What can I eat? Where do I get protein? How to deal with the push back from friends and family? What about cheese? And many others?
I am here for you to vent to, take on a grocery shopping tour, to help meal plan, give you cooking demos and cheese making instruction if you wish. I can show you how to be plant based for your health or a junk food vegan. I tend to eat more plant based for my health, but I do enjoy some vegan junk food.
A little about me. I am vegan for the animals. I am not an “animal lover” like most vegans, I just respect their right to life and happiness. I am married with three adult sons and six grandchildren.