How Malina Tran Uses Her Engineering Skills To Help Animals

“Being a woman of color has definitely shaped my activism,” says Malina Tran, Los Angeles based software engineer

Photos courtesy of Malina Tran

“Being a woman of color has definitely shaped my activism,” says Malina Tran, Los Angeles based software engineer and member of the organization Vegan Hacktivists. “I’ve noticed that my upbringing — specifically growing up in a socioeconomically and ethnically diverse area — has also helped with my activism. It has given me exposure to all types of people, which helps when outreaching in a place as diverse as LA and making meaningful connections with the people I speak to. It’s important for people to see others who look like them in the movement.” Tran, who is of Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Chinese descent, grew up in LA’s historic Echo Park neighborhood.

In addition to her participation in the local LA activist community, Tran is a member of the online collective the Vegan Hacktivists. The group, an international collective of experienced coders and developers, develops projects like this website that directs users to vegan activism opportunities and this directory of educational vegan video playlists. Read on to hear about the importance of food in Tran’s upbringing, her educational journey to becoming a vegan activist, and the influence of her husband’s amazing home cooking.

Tenderly: What is your ethnic and cultural background? Where did you grow up?

Malina Tran: I am Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Chinese. I was born and raised in Echo Park, a culturally and economically diverse neighborhood right outside of Downtown LA.

What kinds of foods did you eat growing up? Do you have any memorable meals you ate on holidays or special occasions?

Food has played such a huge role in the formation of my identity and continues to bring my family together. Growing up, my siblings and I were incredibly fortunate to have my mom so present and active in our lives. She would always make amazing homemade meals and ensure that we ate our fruits and veggies (even though I used to be extremely averse to tofu). Our food was definitely representative of our mixed Asian heritage: we would eat traditional Cambodian dishes like beef loc lac and prahok k’tis, alongside Vietnamese foods such as phở, bánh mì, and bánh xèo, and a medley of Chinese dishes like kung pao chicken, fried rice, and chow mein. White rice was usually always the default staple in our day-to-day meals, and my ultimate childhood comfort meal was mangos with rice.

Given that we are also a product of our Westernized but Mexican-influenced environment, we would occasionally eat at McDonald’s, In ‘N Out, Church’s Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and King Taco. We would also get Mexican food from local joints and nacho trucks. The best special-occasion foods were the ones that my parents made and that brought us together, like making egg rolls by hand together. Honestly, I loved so much of the homemade food I had growing up because they were delicious and nutritious.

When did you become vegan and what led you to that decision?

I became vegan on December 9, 2017. I had just watched “What the Health” on Netflix and given all of the evidence-based connection between animal products and preventable diseases — including the fact that the World Health Organized has labeled processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen — I realized that I couldn’t not be vegan. The documentary also outlined how the animal agriculture industry detrimentally affects poor communities of color, and I could not justify contributing to this grave injustice.

At this point, I was already open to veganism, but I was not compelled to make that commitment because I didn’t realize how horrible it was to eat animals. Our household had been completely vegan for about six months (my husband became vegan earlier in the year) and I was only consuming non-vegan meals when I was out with family and friends. I had also read a good number health-related research around the benefits of a plant-based diet, like how the only Blue Zone in the U.S. is Loma Linda, a community of plant-based Seventh-day Adventists whose longevity is attributed to their diet. Plus, eating animals is inflicting so much environmental damage and since the animal agriculture industry is the biggest contributor to climate change, I knew that the decision to become vegan was one that could have a positive impact on the world we live in.

Is anyone else in your family vegan? How do your non-vegan family members react to your lifestyle?

I am so lucky that my life partner and husband, Gerard, is vegan — and if it wasn’t for him, I would have never even considered veganism. He grew up vegetarian and is an amazing cook who opened up a whole new world to me. Being married to someone who is not only vegan, but also a vegan activist, is a blessing unto itself: it means that I have someone whose values are aligned with mine and I always feel like I have someone in my corner. We constantly share things with each other, like new content from Earthling Ed, and seek new experiences together, like trying out new recipes or restaurants in LA. This year, we explored a bunch of different events for the first time: Eat Drink Vegan in Pasadena, Animal Liberation Conference in Berkeley, and Vegan Camp Out in Nottinghamshire, England. It’s honestly been a transformative journey for us and our relationship.

We’ve had fairly mixed reactions from different family members. I remember being afraid of what my mom would think about me being vegan. When Gerard first became vegan, she was initially concerned that he had joined a religious group. We did get comments about protein and nutritional deficiencies from other family members, which is standard but still irritating. Over time, my family has been more open-minded and supportive. My mom, being the food connoisseur and innovator that she is, has even veganized traditional dishes for us. Every family function has at least one if not several food options for us.

When I adopted a plant-based diet, my biggest fear was feeling like I was losing a crucial aspect of my culture, but I’ve come to understand that culture, including our food, is not static and evolves with available resources, new knowledge and shifting ethics among the collective. I’m still able to eat Southeast Asian food, whether homemade or at local restaurants or plant-based pop-ups. Culture is not a moral justification for killing animals, and regardless of how others perceive veganism or me being vegan, it is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.

How did you get involved with Vegan Hacktivists? Can you tell me about the project you’re working on for them?

I like to say that I became vegan for my health, but I became a vegan activist for the animals. After transitioning to a plant-based diet and watching documentaries like Earthlings and Dominion, I realized the extent of sentient beings suffering because as a society, we want to consume them for food, wear their skin in the name of fashion, exploit them for entertainment, and use their bodies for scientific experiments. I felt largely dissatisfied and disconnected with the world which has normalized all of these things, and it’s easy to feel pretty hopeless at this realization. Without actually planning to become activists, Gerard and I started gravitating toward opportunities where we could actually do something meaningful.

While hanging out with a friend at a cafe, I met some vegan activists and asked about how they got involved. One of them had mentioned a couple of organizations like Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV), the Save Movement, and Direct Action Everywhere. In addition to volunteering and now co-organizing Cubes of Truth with AV, we both got involved with Vegan Hacktivists, which Gerard actually found on Reddit. The group spoke to the both of us since we’re both software engineers, and it combined our technical skills with our passion for animal rights. (I had previously worked on an app to help users find vegan substitution products in grocery stores for a nonprofit, and I am currently working for a mission-driven company focused on healthy foods and their impact on individuals, communities, and the environment). Bringing together developers, designers, and content creators, Vegan Hacktivists aims to create a more vegan world through online platforms for vegan activists and projects. The latest project which I’ve helped contribute to is called Vegan Bootcamp, an educational website that seeks to motivate people to become vegan with gamification and rewards.

How do you think aspects of your identity (being a woman, being a POC) influence your experience as an activist? Do you find you encounter a lot of women and/or POC in vegan activist spaces?

Being a woman of color has definitely shaped my activism, propelling me into a movement that requires exercising compassion and advocating for individuals who cannot speak for themselves. I’ve noticed that my upbringing — specifically growing up in a socioeconomically and ethnically diverse area — has also helped with my activism. It has given me exposure to all types of people, which helps when outreaching in a place as diverse as LA and making meaningful connections with the people I speak to. It’s important for people to see others who look like them in the movement.

I think that my identity as the daughter of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees has also influenced my activism. I grew up hearing about my mom’s atrocious experiences under the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. When I became vegan, one of the connections that I made was that we treat animals similar to how humans were historically treated in times of extreme oppression, including during the Cambodian genocide. There is murder, rape, starvation, abuse, forced physical labor, and family separation involved. How could we possibly condemn these types of actions as inhumane, while doing the same thing to animals every day?

For me, animal rights is an extension of social justice, but it is a cause that is easy to dismiss when we have been ingrained for a long time, through every facet of society and mainstream media, that animal exploitation is the norm. It is easy to ignore the suffering of those who look different from us or don’t sound like us, but at the end of the day, I believe animals are here on this planet with us, not for us.

Because of my upbringing, I noticed the prevalence of inequality in everyday life and this drew me to social justice. While studying at UCLA, I engaged in campus and community activism because I cared about affordable and accessible education, housing rights, environmental justice, to name a few issues. For me, animal rights is an extension of social justice, but it is a cause that is easy to dismiss when we have been ingrained for a long time, through every facet of society and mainstream media, that animal exploitation is the norm. It is easy to ignore the suffering of those who look different from us or don’t sound like us, but at the end of the day, I believe animals are here on this planet with us, not for us.

While veganism has been characterized as a largely white and privileged movement, I’ve been surprised to find so many people who do not fit in this box. I remember attending my first Cube of Truth with Gerard (who is Puerto Rican and also grew up in a culturally diverse community) and we both noticed that there were so many people of all backgrounds. We both thought to ourselves that this was the type of movement that that we could see ourselves belonging to. Finding like-minded individuals and building a community around shared values has not only gained us cool vegan friends, but it has also given me a lot of inspiration and hope about the future.

Do you have any suggestions of where someone looking to get involved with vegan activism should start?

Figure out the type of activism that resonates the most with you. There’s a wide array of opportunities, from educational outreaching to attending vigils at slaughterhouses to disruptions to animal rescues. If there are small gestures that you can do to spread awareness around veganism, like hosting vegan potlucks or documentary screenings or developing YouTube videos, then definitely consider doing that! Because I love to write, I even started a food travel blog, which is a totally non-serious way for me to experience food and process my experiences in a different country. You can check out this website, which is powered by Vegan Hacktivists, for a bunch of different ways to get involved. Do what you feel like you can do, move beyond your comfort zone, and because there will be so many challenges down the road, make sure you’re building in self-care in the process of speaking on behalf of the animals.

What’s your go-to recipe when cooking dinner for others?

We love hosting dinners because it’s a great opportunity to introduce our friends and family, most of whom are not vegan, to delicious food. Gerard likes coming up with themes to keep it interesting and he is much more enthusiastic and creative when it comes to making food. In fact, he makes his own seitan, tempeh and various types of plant-based milks (not to brag, but his carne asada seitan and mixed berry cheesecake are notoriously popular). For me, as an easy comfort food, I love making pozole made with kale, hominy, tomato paste, onion, cilantro, lime, and a blend of spices, garnished with avocado and tortilla chips.

What advice do you have for new vegans or someone considering veganism?

Veganism is more than a diet, but its manifestation is perhaps the most apparent in food. It’s the simple notion that everyone, including non-human animals, deserve the right to live peacefully. It is not just an act of compassion, but from an ethical, environmental and health perspective — veganism is logical and rational. If you already believe that animals have the right to live, then I would say that you’ve already adopted a vegan mindset. The next part is to align your actions with your values.

Like everything that is new in your life, veganism may be hard at first but it boils down to consciously making these small decisions in your life, like opting for plant-based milk, reading the ingredients list of a package, and choosing to not support industries or companies that exploit animals. Being vegan is hard if you’re just thinking about yourself and the inconveniences you face (which are so minor in comparison to the suffering that animals endure), but it’s an easy decision if you think about the victims, the animals who do not want to die. The choice becomes much more clear.

It is not just an act of compassion, but from an ethical, environmental and health perspective — veganism is logical and rational. If you already believe that animals have the right to live, then I would say that you’ve already adopted a vegan mindset. The next part is to align your actions with your values.

The single best reason to become vegan is the removal of guilt from your conscience, knowing that you are not contributing to the unnecessary exploitation and harming of animals and that you are inflicting the least amount of harm possible. And when all is said and done, you are standing up for your beliefs and values and most importantly, you are choosing to be on the right side of history for the animals and for climate change. That is truly invaluable.

Tran also shared her top vegan restaurants and pop-ups in Los Angeles:

You can find Malina Tran on Instagram and Twitter, and view her coding work on her personal website.