Our Hen House

Press

Below is a smattering of some recent press covering Our Hen House — as well as press covering the co-founders, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan. For a more extensive list of press, please visit the press page for jasminsinger.com.

If you are a member of the media wishing to inquire about Our Hen House, or if you’d like to speak with Jasmin or Mariann, please email us at media (at) ourhenhouse.org, or visit our contact page.

September 2010

Thanks to SuperVegan for their feature on Our Hen House!

Keep reading.

August 2010

Thanks to Meatout Mondays and FARM for featuring Our Hen House as their “Inspiration” for their Aug. 2 newsletter!

According to Meatout Mondays:

“Jasmin Singer (pictured left) and Mariann Sullivan co-founded Our Hen House, a clearinghouse for ideas and opportunities to create change for animals. Mariann is a lawyer involved with animal law. Jasmin was campaign manager for Farm Sanctuary and writes for VegNews Magazine. As executive director of Our Hen House, Jasmin uses the website, daily blog, weekly podcast on itunes, and video page, as well as Facebook to mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals by showcasing opportunities that empower individuals to find a way to change the world for animals.”

Keep reading.

July 2010

Thanks to Planet Green for their feature on Our Hen House and Jasmin Singer.

According to Planet Green,

“Jasmin Singer is the executive director and co-founder of Our Hen House, a central clearinghouse for all kinds of ideas and opportunities to create change for animals. “With a daily blog, weekly podcast, and video page, we identify possibilities, report on successful activists and enterprises, and brainstorm ideas ranging from the brilliant (if we do say so ourselves) to the farfetched,” she explains. Singer founded Our Hen House in January 2010 with her partner, Mariann Sullivan, a lawyer “heavily involved” with animal law. Prior to starting Our Hen House, Singer was the campaigns manager for Farm Sanctuary and still serves an a consultant for them. You may also be familiar with Jasmin through the writing she does for VegNews. ”When I’m not doing all of that,” she adds, ‘I am a performer. I live in NYC with Mariann and our precious pit bull, Rose, who is perfection.’”

Keep reading.

May 2010

Thanks to VegNews for their web feature about Our Hen House’s series, Art of the Animal.

According to VegNews:

“Recently, animal activist media group Our Hen House released a web series titled Art of the Animals profiling vegan artists and activists who are creating thought-provoking, cruelty-free art. The first installment features visual artist Jonathan Horowitz’s “Go Vegan” exhibit currently showing in a former New York City slaughterhouse. The second installment documents the work of compassionate musician Joy Askew, who will be playing an acoustic set today with Chrissie Hynde at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. Our Hen House Executive Director and VN contributing writer Jasmin Singer founded the non-profit to bring exposure to cruelty-free artistic expression, an issue that is close to her heart.”

Keep reading.

Thanks to Latin American magazine, Trece:Veinte, for the amazing feature on Jasmin and Our Hen House.

According to Trece:Veinte,

Activism Bursting Through the Skin

Jasmin Singer is cofounder of Our Hen House, a group that collects, organizes and distributes information about how indviduals can help protect animals. A podcast, a blog and a website of videos form part of this effort. In an exclusive for Trece:Veinte (Thirteen:Twenty), Jasmin introduced us to the world of vegetarianism and activism in defense of living creatures. It could be said that she was born to be an activist, to raise her voice for life and respect of all living things.

Through this group, Jasmin fights to create change. The dedication she displays with activism began several years ago after participating in the movement to fight against AIDS. But her altruism has no limitations when it comes to humans and animals, as she is also an environmental activist.

Jasmin is vegan, beginning as a vegetarian after she became repulsed by meat. She used to consider veganism as radical, but a friend taught her about farm life and working farms, which she considered to be “radical” too.

“In a perfect world, being vegan would be a given. Eating meat would seem so absurd, akin to cannibalism.”

Approximately 50 billion animals are killed and converted into food that we eat daily. In the U.S., 10 billion animals are consumed each year. The sheer numbers horrify her and inspire her to continue with her work.

“When I visualized the horror that occurs behind closed doors in the farms, I realized that I could not support it, nor overlook it.”

What caught my attention most when speaking with Jasmin, which is more incredible than it seems, is that animal activism is based on something very simple: at least three times a day you can choose to give up the cruelty on your plate.

It is about consuming a vegan diet. Factory farm workers are poorly paid and work in a dangerous environment. But factory farming cannot disappear overnight. Factory farming is one of the principal causes of global warming, and is unsustainable.

Additionally, there is not sufficient land on the planet to provide resources to all humans and animals. Singer proposes a benevolent plan for the world: a plant-based agriculture which gives the planet, animals and of course, the health of humans, a rest.

Jasmin has a lot of tattoos, the most recent one done by artist Brian Wilson of scapegoattattoo.com in Portland, Oregon. Scapegoat is part of a vegan supermarket. Some tattoos found on her arm serve to accentuate, with a tribute to her pitbull named Rose, and on her side a chicken that has just escaped from her pen. “She’s free!” Jasmin told us excitedly.

She also has one that reads “267,” in relation to the number of chickens murdered EACH SECOND in the U.S. But since she got the tattoo, the statistic has risen to 286 per second. Chickens are her favorite animals for being valiant, social and friendly. Their grace seems amazing to her.

“When I look at my wrist, I have perspective. The enormous violence that occurs makes me remember not to become wrapped up in trivial problems. There are a lot more things at stake.” On her leg she has a cow tattooed that was called Valentine who she met in a farm animal sanctuary. That is her favorite tattoo.”

Jasmin likes to have her skin decorated because it matches her personality. She confessed that she’s addicted to it, and if she were a millionaire, she would have so many tattoos that there would be no more space on her body. Despite that, she’s lately been saying “that’s enough.” When I asked her why, she responded that before having them, she asked someone else who had them all over their body the same question, and met with the response that it was more fun to have color on your skin.

“I am creative and I love the idea of being…. decorated. The most important thing: it’s encouraging to have the cause for which you fight written all over you.” On her ankle, she has recorded the Sanskrit word, Ahimsa, that signifies “nonviolence.”

The ironic thing about vegans with tattoos is that the tattoos themselves aren’t. Normally, they are made with a pigment base that gives color, but surprisingly, are made from animals. Black pigment, also called “black bone,” is made with burned animal bones which have converted into ash [carbon].

In some instances, glycerine is made with animal fat and some products used for caring for tattoos, like Vitamin A and D creams, contain lanolin derived from sheep, and beeswax.

Fortunately, there exist vegan alternatives, like for food, for the world of tattoos and tattoo-care products, some of which are Merry Hempsters and Jason Cosmetics. ”If you do your homework (unless you want animal fat permanently part of your skin) you will look for and find many artists that get tattoos with products that don’t derive from animals.”

For the moment, Jasmin finds herself focused on Our Hen House and dreams hopefully that the world will continue accepting that factory farm cruelty is unsustainable.

Translation by Kyna Morgan

Thanks to Best Friends International for covering the story of Tips, the dog we rescued in Puerto Rico and documented on film.

Thanks to the wonderful people at The Vegan Police for the feature they did on Jasmin.

According to Dylan Powell of The Vegan Police:

“I had known about Jasmin for a little while before I saw her speak last summer at the Farm Sanctuary Hoe Down in Watkins Glen, NY. Nothing really prepares you for the first in person meeting though. She took over the room immediately, I was not shocked at all to later find out she had theatre experience, and she had everyone signing the most ridiculous vegan song that she apparently sings to her brother over the phone. When I later got to meet Jasmin at the ICAS Conference at SUNY Cortland we both got to commiserate about podcasting and vegan media, as Jasmin and her partner Mariann had started a non-profit vegan/animal rights activist hub called Our Hen House. Being the posi kids we both are, we immediately started brainstorming ways to work together. A double interview was a agreed upon and I am very glad to get the chance to not only get to interview Jasmin, but also show my support for everything her and Mariann are doing with Our Hen House.“

Keep reading.

Thanks to the lovely people at Kiss My Vegan for listing Our Hen House as one of their “reasons to smile.”

You make us smile, too!

Thanks to Zodiographer.com for featuring Our Hen House as their non-profit spotlight!

According to Zodiographer.com:

“Our Hen House has a central website and seeks to be a clearinghouse for ways persons can make changes to benefit animals.  Among several features on their site, they have videos.  Here is an interesting one where art meets vegan activism at a closed meat processing plant converted to an art exhibit gallery.

I can only imagine how the smell described in the video adds to the experience of those in the gallery at the time.

In their website, Our Hen House simultaneously addresses the animal protection movement, various forms of activism, and the need for being practical.  In my opinion, many organizations either miss the concerns about practical matters or only exclusively provide services for animals after a problem’s occurred without making progress for long-term sustainable change to prevent such problems.  By addressing these matters strategically within the animal protection movement, Our Hen House has the potential to build effective momentum within the movement.

Our Hen House was co-founded by Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan.  Its website has sections for activism through the arts, academia, the law, business, and communication.  The organization has produced an array of podcasts and has a growing like/fan base on Facebook.  With a promising start, I look forward to seeing exciting developments for animal advocacy from this nonprofit in the future.”

Keep reading.

April 2010

Thanks to CNN for the incredible story on the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale, featuring Jasmin and Our Hen House.

Read the full story.

Thanks to Will Potter from the popular blog, Green is the New Red, for the awesome shout-out about Jasmin and Our Hen House.

According to Will Potter, Jasmin’s quote in this CNN article was the best quote he’s “ever seen on CNN.”  Read the full blog entry.

Thanks to the radio show, Animal Voices Vancouver, for interviewing Jasmin.

Just below, you can listen to the segment of the radio show featuring Jasmin. But we highly recommend you listen to the entire episode — and their other episodes, too — which you can do via their Facebook page. Seriously, follow Animal Voices Vancouver.

March 2010

Thanks to Kiss My Vegan for the wonderful feature on Jasmin, and for the kind words about Our Hen House.

According to Kiss My Vegan:

Jasmin is not only an unbelievably kind, funny, honest, and passionate person, but her love for animals runs so deep that it is just a natural part of her.  Her positive energy is infectious, and the amount of work she has already accomplished in her life is nothing short of astonishing (check her bio below if you need convincing). I am honored to know this rock star of a woman and activist, and it gives me a world of pleasure to share her beautiful and touching story with you all. Read on…

Thanks to The Actor’s Diet for their nice shout out about our podcast!

According to The Actor’s Diet:

On the way there and back I listened to the first episode of my dear friend Jasmin’s new podcast, “Our Hen House” which is all about veganism and animal activism. I know we have a lot of vegan readers, and I have to say that I highly recommend downloading this free resource – it’s very informative, witty, and well done. They already have 10 episodes, so I can’t wait to listen to the rest of them – I’m a fan!

In honor of Jasmin, I made a vegan lunch.

Thanks to Kind Green Planet for including Our Hen House as one of four recommended podcasts.

According to Kind Green Planet:

Our Hen House is the new kid on the block, and it’s really fresh, funny, and informative. Hosted by awesome animal advocate Jasmin Singer and her partner, animal law professor Mariann Sullivan, it’s an entertaining mix of personal stories, news bites, and great guest interviews that will leave you feeling inspired to change the world for animals.

Perfect for: animal activists and people interested in animal protection law

What I like best about it: it might make you giggle in inappropriate public places.

Thanks to The Discerning Brute for giving Our Hen House such a nice shout-out in their blog!

According to The Discerning Brute:

I was recently interviewed on the podcast “Our Hen House, Episode 9” where I discussed The Cave Man Diet, Mainstream Manliness, and other interesting tidbits with fabulous hosts and activists Jasmin and Mariann. If you aren’t subscribed to this podcast that discusses all kinds of ideas on how individuals can make change for animals, you should SUBCRIBE.

Thank you to Vegan Soapbox for featuring us in their blog entry, “Celebrating the Victories of Vegan Women & Female Animals.” We are honored to be included!

According to Vegan Soapbox:

Mariann Sullivan and Jasmin Singer began a website and podcast called “Our Hen House” which is “a central clearinghouse for all kinds of ideas on how individuals can make change for animals.” The pair does stuff like talk to “The Dosa Man” and “feed compassion.”

Thank you to Health and Happiness Club for featuring us as part of their series on “women who inspire” in the blog entry “Two Fabulous Animal Activists.”

From Health and Happiness Club:

I had the pleasure of spending some time with Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan, two amazing animal activist women who live in NYC.  Mariann is an attorney and Animal Law professor at Cardozo Law School and Jasmin is a grassroots activism expert, writer and actor.  They recently started their own animal rights focused website called Our Hen House .  I wanted H and H Club readers to have a chance to get to know these inspirational women a little bit better because, I believe, that their activist’s enthusiasm is contagious. …

January 2010

Thank you to Animal Blawg for the nice shout-out about Our Hen House from their blog!

According to Animal Blawg:

Mariann Sullivan and Jasmin Singer are two of the jewels in the crown of the animal advocacy movement.  Both women have labored tirelessly on behalf of the voiceless for many years and in many ways.  Now they have a new way.  Their new project is called Our Hen Houseand is much more than blog.  It is, in their words, “a central clearinghouse for all kinds of ideas on how individuals can make change for animals.”  Below is some skinny from an email blast inviting people to the site.  It is a great thing they’re doing.  But don’t take my word for it.  Go and see.  And then stay and help.

2009 and Earlier …

Please visit the press page for jasminsinger.com for a thorough list of press on Jasmin Singer, co-founder of Our Hen House.

Some highlights include:

When Jasmin was 29, she named by VegNews Magazine “20 Under 30″ activists to keep your eye on.

Jasmin was interviewed in The New York Observer.

For video and radio interviews — including one with Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan for a South African web-based  show — please visit our video page.