lauren Ornelas is an animal rights advocate for more than 20 years and the founder and Director of the Food Empowerment Project and veganmexicanfood.com.
Ornelas grew up in Texas, where she became a vegetarian as a child. When in high school, she became a vegan and started her first animal rights group. She continued her work for animals while attending university and eventually became the National Coordinator for In Defense of Animals.[1]
Four years later, Viva! UK asked lauren to start and run Viva! USA, a national nonprofit vegan advocacy organization, where she did numerous factory farm investigations.[1] As Viva! USA’s executive director,[2] in cooperation with activists across the country, she also brought corporate changes to such powerful companies as Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, and Pier 1 Imports.[1]
In 2006, Ornelas’ desire to address a variety of social justice issues came to fruition with the opportunity to give a talk “Corporate Animal Farms: Exploiting Animals, Workers and the Environment, and Why You Should Work to Stop It” at the World Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela. It was in Caracas that she noted that many of the issues being discussed revolved around food, from labor and immigration issues to water, animals, and the environment. Ornelas knew that being more responsible about what we eat was key to fighting injustice, and her idea for the Food Empowerment Project was born.[3]
Ornelas was one of several people who provided information used in the writing of the book Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism (2008) by Mark Hawthorne.
Ornelas wrote a chapter of Lisa Kemmerer's 2011 anthology Sister Species: Women, Animals, and Social Justice.[4]
In California's 2008 Proposition 2 campaign, Ornelas was the Santa Clara County director of the YES ON 2 campaign. After Prop 2 won, Ornelas and other Prop 2 activists formed Santa Clara County Activists for Animals (SCCAA).[5]
Currently, lauren Ornelas is the Campaign Director for the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition while overseeing the all-volunteer non-profit Food Empowerment Project.[6]