Veganuary Expands to Canada!
Animal Justice Academy Lunchtime Live
with Wendy Matthews, Nital Jethalal, Alan Wong, & Daniel Monoogian
12pm - 1pm

Veganuary, one of the world's biggest vegan campaigns, is officially expanding into Canada.

Veganuary encourages people to eat vegan for January and beyond through organizing workplace challenges, getting restaurant chains to feature new vegan items, and offering a 31-day program for participants. In 2024. Veganuary inspired 2100 new vegan products and menu options, as well as 10,000 media stories.

Now various veg advocacy organizations across Canada are helping to usher Veganuary into the Great White North next month. We'll talk to the folks heading that up, along with Veganuary's U.S. Director Wendy Matthews, to see what the game plan is blowing it UP in Canada and what part we can play!

Learn more about Veganuary and sign up free at: https://veganuary.com. 💚

*We invite folks to have their video on during this event to enhance the sense of community, but it’s not mandatory

About Our Guest: 

Wendy Matthews is the International Head of Partnerships and Expansion at Veganuary and previously served as the US Director, helping to launch the campaign in the US. She has been actively involved in the vegan/animal-protection movement for over a decade, having spent a portion of her career with Farm Sanctuary, most recently as Senior Manager of Engagement and Social Impact. Wendy is passionate about creating resources that help people live in alignment with their values and supporting businesses in shifting towards plant-based.

Nital Jethalal is the outgoing president of VegTO, where he has led the team on a number of projects to advance the organization’s mission to inspire people to choose vegan lifestyles.  He has also been focused on shifting Canadian food systems more plant-based through a range of work since 2006, after helping coordinate Canada’s first national agriculture and agri-food policy framework.

As the Director of Policy and Economics for Plant-Based Data, Nital synthesizes the latest research, policy and best practices in food and agriculture to incentivize different stakeholders to move their food environments and procurement more plant-based.

Daniel Monoogian is an Assistant Director with Ernst & Young LLP (EY), one of the "Big 4". He leads the Canadian Eco-Innovators network, which uses smart thinking and smart technology to solve environmental problems. For the last two years, he has led a Veganuary campaign and workplace challenge across all EY offices in Canada.

Daniel is also the Outreach Director on the VegOttawa board. He aims to advocate for a vegan lifestyle at various government levels and within community groups.  Most recently he traveled to Costa Rica, to take part in a field research project studying nesting sea turtles on Playa Grande, one of Guanacaste's protected national parks.

Alan Wong became vegan in 2021 after watching documentaries that opened his eyes to the impact of the food system on animals, the environment, and human health. With a decade of experience in public transit operations, Alan recently transitioned to a career in animal protection, where he works for a nonprofit dedicated to creating a better world for animals. He also volunteers at a local vegan restaurant. As President of the VegOttawa board, Alan is excited to advocate for animals and develop the vegan community.