I became a vegetarian after doing research for a high school philosophy paper — I chose animal ethics as my topic. As you can imagine, it was quite the world-shattering deep-dive into uncovering the brutal reality of how animals are mistreated, tortured, and killed. To be perfectly honest, I completely broke down, as I was not able to understand how people could possibly be so cruel. I remember crawling underneath my computer desk, crying for all the lost lives, and wanting to not exist anymore — at least not in a world full of animal torture. But my sadness quickly turned to anger, and I decided that from that moment on I would become their voice in the world. I immediately stopped eating meat, against the protest of my family at the time — who are now on the journey to discovering the beauty of a vegan life — and began spreading awareness through all possible means. Keep in mind that this was in 2006, so vegetarianism was still a relatively ‘new’ concept, and I experienced insane pushback from everyone that I came into contact with. I am so proud of the development since then, with more and more people realising that veganism is the next step in living ethically, compassionately and progressively. I turned vegan many years ago, and my only regret is not doing it sooner!