Jodi's Success Story

Jodi Chemes was a long-time, active volunteer with Compassionate Consumers. She was also the spokesperson for the group's Wegman's Cruelty campaign. Her career background is in the field of accounting, a skill set and history that led her to an idea: creating tax incentives that would encourage factory farms to incorporate more humane farming practices into their business, similar to the tax benefits businesses can benefit from when they adhere to certain environmental standards. It was a possibility that would mean putting her hard-earned industry skills behind a long passion for animal activism. It was perfect! The problem, as Jodi put it, was, "It was overwhelming because I didn't know where to begin. There were so many options and different ways to go about starting it and I needed a push in the right direction."

Jodi was feeling burnt out from her heavy involvement with the Wegman's campaign. She was intending to move to Florida both to take a break from activism and to be closer to her family when we began to work together through life coaching. She was struggling with guilt about needing more time to herself and leaving the Wegman's campaign behind her. Florida would also mean the anxiety of navigating traditional holiday meals with her family, meals that had been proven to bring out the differences between her and her family's beliefs about eating meat. The move signified the beginning of what she thought would be about four years off from animal rights activism before she would really buckle down and do the research and preparation needed to approach HSUS with her tax idea.

During coaching, we focused in part on ways she could make the family meals more comfortable for herself. The sessions helped Jodi develop a plan to be assertive with her family regarding her feelings about meat. She decided to ask them to make some small changes that allowed her to feel more comfortable during shared family meals. Coaching also brought to the surface a truth she found inspiring: just because her role in the Wegman's campaign was going to change as a result of her move, didn't mean that she couldn't contribute to the group. The new geographical distance actually exposed a new opportunity: she could provide a different perspective now that she would be more removed from day-to-day operations. Her departure also left an opening for someone in the group to step up and become more involved, a great benefit to the movement overall, which she found especially exciting.

Jodi is now living in Florida and continues to be involved with Compassionate Consumers. She's also had the opportunity to join local animal advocacy groups in Florida: recruiting new volunteers to support the Adopt A College leafleting program, and helping to develop a more active and powerful veg community in the area. In the meantime, she's begun a dialogue with staff at HSUS about her tax credit idea and has gathered input from experts about how best to put her idea into action. She has been able to do all of this without feeling like she is sacrificing her own desires and fun in order to do activism effectively. She balances the social life she values, time with her family, and her activism collectively and remains a driving force behind some important and profound action on behalf of animals.

Jodi Says

The best part about coaching with Dallas is I felt like I could say anything to her without being judged. After having the sessions I saw how much I had accomplished and what potential there was to achieve so much more for animals. I realized that I needed to change the way I was going about helping animals, and not just give up completely or take a hiatus.

In the past few months I have started an animal rights meet-up group, leafleted 1,600 Even If You Like Meat pamphlets through the Adopt-A-College Program, helped start a website called VegTampaBay.com, and created restaurant outreach packages. Without Dallas' help, I would not be as productive as I am now. There really is no disadvantage to trying her service. And in my case, I received the invaluable benefit of motivation, renewed energy, and focus.

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