Kat Von D’s resume is nothing short of extraordinary: a celebrated tattoo artist, model, musician, entrepreneur, and television personality. But many people may not know that she’s also a proud vegan and animal rights activist.







We recently chatted with Kat about anything and everything animal rights for our upcoming issue of CL magazine





What inspired you to live a vegan lifestyle?





After being a vegetarian for years, I stumbled upon the documentary Forks Over Knives. The straightforward information on food and its direct connection to the current state of the world’s bad health just hit home with me. After watching it, I never looked back.





It may sound silly, but when I first made the transition to eating plant-based, I foolishly thought veganism was just about diet. But the more I learned, the more it was obviously so much more than that.





Veganism changed me. It taught me to look past myself—to consider how my choices affect others—the animals, the people around me, and the planet we live on. To me, veganism is consciousness.







How would you describe your brand of activism?





As much as people wearing fur boils my blood, I’m definitely not the type of activist to throw paint on fur-wearing people. I’m also not the kind of activist who wants to get naked to sell a message through sex (although if I believed those methods were effective, I’d strip down in a heartbeat).





My personal approach to activism is sharing what I know as effectively as possible. I want to do everything in my power to influence the fastest possible change.





As for the content I create, whether it’s tattooing, beauty products, or shoes, I see all of these business ventures as an opportunity to make it easy for the consumer to choose compassion over cruelty.





What part of MFA's work most resonates with you?





I love the “voice" of Mercy For Animals. The delivery of the message is smart, informative, honest, direct, and easy to follow. It speaks not only to the vegan community, but more importantly, to the non-vegan world.





Kat Von D Beauty recently announced the entire line would be vegan. How did that make you feel?





I wasn’t yet vegan when I started KvD Beauty almost 10 years ago, so reformulating preexisting non-vegan makeup products has been a great thing. I love being able to show not just makeup junkies, but other brands (both indie and corporate), that conscious ethical changes are important, realistically doable, and profitable. If I can do it, so can you.





Any words of advice for people thinking about going vegan?





Follow @mercyforanimals ! I’ve learned so much from them about how awesome and important becoming vegan is—for the animals, for humanity, and for the planet! Let’s do this!





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Join Kat and the millions of people worldwide who have made the compassionate decision to go vegan and reduce animal suffering



