Photo courtesy of Nadia Masoudi.
No one is too young to make a big change in the world. Filmmaker and animal activist Nadia Masoudi has been proving that for a long time. Masoudi started as an early teen and now, at 18 years old, she is anticipating her first animal rights documentary, which is set to release in the summer of 2011. Through her compassion for animals and filmmaking talents, she is beginning on her journey to bring about positive change in the world. Vegan Mainstream recently had the chance to sit down and talk to her about her efforts.
Vegan Mainstream: Tell me a little bit about yourself and why you became vegetarian at the young age of 12.
Nadia Masoudi: …I am an animal rights activist and the filmmaker of the upcoming documentary film “Don’t Eat Me.” I became a vegetarian at the age of 12. Before then I was always contemplating being vegetarian, [it] was something I did on and off again…Me and my dad always saved a lot of [animals]. For example, if there was a spider in our house, we would set it free as opposed to crushing it. Or if we found a turtle in the middle of the road, we would bring him to a forest or pond area. So I’ve always loved animals and not until I was 12 years old did it really hit me that being vegetarian was something that I needed to do if I really loved animals.
Also, I had a bad experience when I was with my dad. We went to the store and we picked up…some ribs - I wasn’t eating red meat then but he was. He asked me to go and get them a couple days later from the freezer, and it was the most disgusting sight I’ve ever seen. The ribs resembled human flesh so much, and it just grossed us out so badly that it turned me off completely from all meat…I became vegetarian that day and so did my dad…
VM: What prompted you to transition to a vegan at the age of 16?
NM: …I never really ate or drank milk or ate eggs or dairy products — I wasn’t big on them. But I would eat stuff like cake that had milk and egg products in them. [Then] at the age of 16, I learned more about dairy cows and egg-laying hens and what they actually undergo. [I learned that] eating dairy products and egg products [contributes] to the slaughtering of them, as well as to factory farming. I learned about how they live in horrendous living conditions, and they’re injected with hormones that are bad for the animals as well [for] us. It’s something that I didn’t want to partake in anymore, so I became vegan at that age.
VM: What is the main vision behind Animal Freedom Day (July 24)? How successful was it this year? What are your hopes for next year (July 23-24, 2011)?
NM: …We created it to try to promote our cause further, and it’s also the climax of the film “Don’t Eat Me”. With Animal Freedom Day, there is a whole concept behind it of how we can bring about a vegan world. [During the] first year of Animal Freedom Day, we asked everyone to go vegan for one day. In the second year [we will ask people to go vegan for] two days, third year three days and so on. So, by the year 2375, we hope that the world will be fully vegan, since [we] would have gone a full year of being vegan. I know it’s way out there in the future, and I would obviously love for the world to be vegan sooner, but it’s a set time that we’ve put out there so we at least have somewhat of a goal to accomplish by that time. We have different goals around how you can help animals and help yourself, help world hunger and the environment — it’s all part of Animal Freedom Day.
This year it was very successful, I think, for the first year. It’s the year we’ve launched it and it got a lot of media attention. A lot of people became members even on the Facebook page and the social media pages for it. There’s a lot of people attending and liking it and following it, etc. I’d say in total we had over 500 different members for the first year, and I was really impressed with that, and a lot of people did watch it online too. It was a success for the first year. We worked hard at it, so I’m glad it paid off.
For next year, as I mentioned, it’s going to be two days. And next year also we’re planning, hopefully, to release the film “Don’t Eat Me” on Animal Freedom Day… But until then, I have lots of plans.
We are releasing a new campaign. It’s been linked with the Veg Pledge, which is what Animal Freedom Day promotes, and it’s called “What’s Up Doc?”. I’m going to be [approaching] different, more political people and asking them to take the Veg Pledge for one day. In doing so, they have to go vegan for one day and try to promote it to their city, town or country to do the same thing. The whole “What’s Up Doc?” — it’s a carrot that they take, which signifies that they’ve taken the Veg Pledge…We already have a few political persons behind us, and now we’re reaching out to more. I’m trying to reach out now to [Canada's Prime Minister] Stephen Harper to try to get him to take it, as well as the Queen, and hopefully either Michelle or Barack Obama. And eventually I’m planning to go to the United Nations and get them to take the Veg Pledge. All we’re asking is just one day to promote veganism…
VM: Who are some of your celebrity supporters?
NM: …We started off very small contacting Karen Dawn, she’s the author of “Thanking the Monkey“, and that book was really inspirational to me. So I asked her if she’d come on board and give an interview for “Don’t Eat Me,” and she was very interested. So from there, I had her support, and I contacted more people, and I started building up more and more.
Then I thought, ‘it’s time to reach out to the celebrities now, because they would definitely help to get this movie more attention’. So I reached out to their agents, and I provided them with the synopsis, the intent of the film, what I planned to do with it when it’s released, and how I would need their help. A lot of celebrities were actually very intrigued by it, and they thought it was a great idea and they wanted to help out. Either they helped out with supporting it or providing us with an interview or even a voice over for one of the animal characters for the story part of the film, “Don’t Eat Me.”
VM: What can people expect from your upcoming film “Don’t Eat Me”?
Photo courtesy of Nadia Masoudi.
NM: They can expect a very unique documentary, a lot different than all of the other animal rights and vegan documentaries, in my opinion. It doesn’t just show the negative side of everything. It shows the positive side… I want to show that, you know what, I used to eat meat too. We all once did, and if not, that’s great, but I’m sure most of us did. So I want to show that there are alternatives, there’s solution and a way to help the world and to help the animals.
It’s very unique, because people can expect a story from it…We went to South America and filmed tons of footage of animals. Each of those animals has a different story, and a personality and characteristics. A lot of them are voiced by some of the celebrities that we have on board. Each story kind of segues into an interview that I’ve conducted with different people from around the world. So it’s a very unique documentary, and it’s going to be very emotional — it’s going to make people laugh, cry, feel angry — all of those types of feelings it will hopefully bring about.
VM: How can people get more involved and improve the welfare of all living creatures? Tell us about your 10 guidelines.
Photo courtesy of Nadia Masoudi.
NM: [First, what] I would tell people about how to get involved is to go vegan. I think that’s the most important thing you can do to help yourself, the animals, the environment, world hunger and all of those things - is to go vegan…
But going vegan is not just about your diet – it goes with all of the other guidelines. It goes with not wearing animal clothing or using products that were tested on animals. People have to be more conscientious and start reading the labels of what they’re buying and just make an effort to try to better your own life and the lives of the animals.
One of our other guidelines is that we’re trying to pass legislation to [ban] advertisements of raw flesh and meat appearances. So to help us with that, we need more people to sign up. I encourage people also to go to Animal Freedom Day’s website and sign up and become a member…that’s one step forward to a vegan lifestyle.
VM: For those people who can’t seem to go fully vegetarian or vegan, what is your advice to them?
Photo courtesy of Nadia Masoudi.
NM: My advice to them is that everything takes time. For some people, it’s a lot quicker than others…everyone is different. So [my advice is to] take it one step at a time – even if you want [to take] one month to cut out all red meat, and then the next month chicken, and the next month fish, and the next month seafood, and then dairy and eggs. Hopefully by then, you can adapt to a vegan lifestyle. If not, I encourage people at least to follow Animal Freedom Day, and to be a part of it, because all we asked this year is one day and next year is two days. That’ s something that anyone can accomplish.
VM: How do you use social media outlets to spread the word about your cause?
NM: We are on Facebook right now, both Animal Freedom Day and “Don’t Eat Me.” “Don’t Eat Me” also has a Twitter page, so I encourage my friends and family to help out and support it. From there, it’s kind of like we pay it forward. I ask them, and then I ask them to ask their people and they do the same. It just gets bigger and bigger. With the media helping out and getting involved, that’s really been helping it spread even more. It’s getting there, it’s definitely growing.
Check out Animal Freedom Day on Facebook and “Don’t Eat Me” on Twitter.
Masoudi is an ambitious 18-year-old woman. Along with launching Animal Freedom Day and debuting her upcoming film, she incorporates her beliefs and passions into her personal life. Her cats Pink (orange cat) and Floyd (black cat) are lucky to have a responsible owner who is working hard to help the world transition to veganism.
