Our Hen House

Our Flock

Welcome to Our Hen House. Meet our vegan flock …

Jasmin Singer; Executive Director; Photo by Lauren Krohn

Jasmin Singer (Executive Director) is a writer and activist living in New York City. From 2007-2010, Jasmin was the campaigns manager for Farm Sanctuary. Currently, Jasmin is a consultant for Farm Sanctuary, where she continues to lead monthly activist meetings in NYC. She is a contributing writer for VegNews Magazine, and was also named by VegNews as one of twenty stand-out stars of the animal rights movement. She has also written for Satya Magazine and Heeb Magazine, and contributed to various blogs including Crazy Sexy Life, Civil Eats, Making Hay, VegDAILY, Toastermag, SuperVegan, Girlie Girl Army, and Zaftig Vegan. Her workshops — which have been featured in publications such as TimeOut NY and The Village Voice — have been presented at universities and law schools throughout the country, as well as conferences such as Taking Action for Animals, Farm Sanctuary’s Hoe Down, Let Live Northwest Animal Rights Conference, the Institute for Critical Animal Studies North American Conference, the SUNY Social Justice Conference, and the NYC Food & Climate Change Summit at Climate Week NYC, which was organized in conjunction with the United Nations’ Climate Change Summit. For her activism, Jasmin has been featured in media outlets such as CNN, Trece:Veinte, and the New York Observer. Prior to her animal activist career, Jasmin was an actor-educator with the AIDS-awareness theatre company, Nitestar. As an actor, she has also performed in (and produced) the show, Mortified, and has been seen in New York City at the Midtown International Fringe Festival, where she won rave reviews for her starring role in “Exhibit This”. Visit her website, www.jasminsinger.com. Email her at jasmin@ourhenhouse.org.

Mariann Sullivan; Board President; Photo by Lauren Krohn

Mariann Sullivan (Board President) is a lawyer and an adjunct professor of animal law at Brooklyn Law School and Cardozo Law School. She found her way into animal law through the Committee on Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals of the New York City Bar Association and eventually served as chair of that committee. She is currently chair of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial Insurance Practice Section’s Animal Law Committee. With David Wolfson, she is the author of a trilogy of articles on farmed animals and the law: “Foxes in the Henhouse: Animals Agribusiness and the Law, A Modern American Fable” in Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions; “What’s Good for the Goose… The Supreme Court of Israel, Foie Gras, and the Future of Farmed Animals in the United States,” in the 2007 volume of the Duke Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems; and “If it Looks Like a Duck: New Jersey, The Regulation of Common Farming Practices, and the Meaning of ‘Humane,’” in Animal Law and the Courts. Mariann is also the author of “The Animal Welfare Act: What’s That?” which was published in the New York State Bar Association Journal. She has spoken at various conferences and animal law related events throughout the country, as well as Animal Rights Africa’s Animal Law Review Consultation Workshop in Johannesburg. Mariann has served on the board of directors for Farm Sanctuary and The Animals Agenda, and currently serves on the board for Animal Welfare Trust and Animal Welfare Advocacy. Email her at mariann@ourhenhouse.org.

Suzanne Gorman (Treasurer) is a CPA and an animal rights activist living in Long Island. She has a Masters in Accounting from Pace University and almost 10 years accounting experience with preeminent accounting and law firms, as well as major public corporations. Suzanne adopted a vegan lifestyle in 2007 after viewing PETAs ”Meet Your Meat” video, and  she began her animal rights activism volunteering for Farm Sanctuary. Suzanne aims to educate others on issues of animal cruelty and the health benefits of a vegan lifestyle. She gave birth to a son last summer and is dedicated to raising him with a vegan lifestyle.

Carol Leifer, Advisory Board

Carol Leifer (Advisory Board) is an accomplished stand-up comedian and an Emmy-winning writer and producer for her work on such television shows as Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, Saturday Night Live and The Academy Awards.  She has starred in several of her own comedy specials, which have aired on HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central. Carol’s book, entitled When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win is a bestseller. In promoting her book, Carol recently appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, The View, The Today Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR, and The Howard Stern Show on Sirius/XM. Carol recently guest starred on Curb Your Enthusiasm as the “Lemonade Mom.” She was one of the writers for this year’s Oscars with hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin and for her work on that, she was just nominated for an Emmy.

Dan Piraro, Advisory Board

Dan Piraro (Advisory Board), creator of the BIZARRO cartoons, was raised in Oklahoma in the late 1900s and escaped as soon as possible. In addition to 13 collections of BIZARRO cartoons, Piraro has published two books of prose, including “Bizarro Among the Savages” (Andrews McMeel, 1998), and a political satire disguised as a children’s book recounting the Bush administration’s foray into Iraq called, “The Three Little Pigs Buy the White House” (St. Martins, 2004). BIZARRO has won an unprecedented three consecutive “Best Cartoon Panel of the Year” awards from the National Cartoonists Society, and in 2010 was given their highest award, “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.” Piraro regularly speaks and performs comedy across the country, and works as an animal rights and environmental activist. For his animal rights-themed cartoons, he has won numerous awards from the Humane Society of the United States. He also writes a monthly humor column for VegNews Magazine. Since 2002, Piraro has sporadically toured the U.S. with his one-man stand-up comedy show called “The Bizarro Boloney Show”. Piraro has appeared on CNN and “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross on NPR. In 2007, Dan Piraro reached the self-proclaimed pinnacle of his career thus far when he and BIZARRO appeared as a clue on the popular game show, “Jeopardy!” and was included as a clue in a New York Times crossword puzzle.

Ari Solomon, Advisory Board

Ari Solomon (Advisory Board) is the President and co-creator of the celebrated vegan candle line A Scent of Scandal®. After graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Ari first worked as an actor in New York and Los Angeles, and later hosted the wildly popular ARI’S HOLLYWOOD UPDATE on Miami’s Y-100FM. Now a prolific activist and writer for animal and human rights, Ari’s letters have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, and The Advocate. He regularly blogs for The Huffington Post.

Kyle Knies, Reviewer

Kyle Knies (Reviewer), also known as “El Gallo,” is a vegan chef, filmmaker and writer who lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. When he is not serving the discerning clientele at Sacred Chow vegan restaurant in Greenwich Village, he tends his backyard garden with his rescue dog, Becky Mae Dominguez. Email him at kyle@ourhenhouse.org.

Allison Bair, Graphic Designer (photo by Erin Howard)

Allison Bair (Graphic Designer) is a freelance artist who works and lives in upstate New York. While photographic evidence may prove otherwise, everyone who has met Allison believes she was born with a pencil in her hand. With a BFA in Graphic Design and Fine Art and a minor in Illustration, she is currently making a career out of her life-long passion by freelancing and launching Brown Bair Studios. When she’s not working, you can find her out walking Truman, her 3-year-old rescued beagle, helping him to pursue his lifelong mission to sniff every inch of town. Visit Allison at BrownBair.com.

Rose Singer-Sullivan (Resident Dog), photo by Jessica Mahady

Rose Singer Sullivan (Resident Dog) is the official dog of Our Hen House. When she is not going for a run along the Hudson River, Rose enjoys sitting directly on top of you, french-kissing you without your permission, chomping on carrots and bananas (she is vegan, after all), and making sure that you are fully aware when things are INAPPROPRIATE! Rose is the brains behind Our Hen House and is usually the one to keep the rest of us on track.