A Message From Our Founder

It was 2020. A year that presented the world with countless challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic. Conflicts over racial injustice. Ongoing threats from climate change. And a food system that was increasingly being called into question for its cruelty and inefficiency. Not only did the pandemic originate at a live animal market, but outbreaks of the virus showed up around the world at meat processing plants, reinforcing the fact that the food industry is cruel for both animals and humans. And it's unsustainable. I was riding out the quarantine at my home in Southern Italy where the virus was not rampant, but threatening nonetheless. And I remember thinking to myself this can't be it. I still have things to accomplish. The world is at a tipping point. I have to do something! I'm a vegan. An animal rights advocate. An environmentalist. I needed a project that would pull together these passions and allow me to make an impact in whatever time I have left on this planet. And so, in May 2020...no time like the present...I decided to launch this organization. Despite the craziness of starting a US-based non-profit from a house on a hill in Puglia, I did it!
Toward A Vegan World evolved out of my belief that embracing a vegan lifestyle is the most important step anyone can take as a good global citizen. And that should be an obvious choice, right? Particularly given the circumstances in which we all find ourselves these days, who would not "go vegan"? At the same time, however, I acknowledge that my perspective, my knowledge base and ultimately my choices are, for varied reasons, not yet shared by a majority of people in the world. And there is a huge opportunity to reach out to people and meet them where they are in their journeys. In my heart you might say I am a "militant" vegan. But I realize that we can accomplish a lot through non-confrontational engagement, working alongside all forms of activism, to win hearts and minds and palates. Therefore all of our Toward A Vegan World initiatives are designed to encourage trial of vegan products in a supportive and fun environment....knowing that any step we can encourage is one in the right direction. I hope you'll join us in our efforts to make the world a little more vegan every day. For the animals, the planet and our health, Tracey Tracey Kleber (Bio) Founder and President Toward A Vegan World, Inc,