Jan 12 2011
Board of Directors
- Derek Goodwin (president)
- Megan Shackelford
- Chris Phillips
- Sugati Phillips
- Heather Bargeron
- Ryan Peterson
- Aviva Rabins
- Yoshi Bird (secretary)
- Jaime Tancredi
Derek Goodwin is an activist, writer, visionary, and the founder of Evolvegan. In 1998 he served on the board of directors of the Rochester Area Vegetarian Society (RAVS). In 2000 he created the web site Veganica.com, an online community for vegan artists and musicians. In 2001 he began voluntarily photographing events and animals for the national non-profit Farm Sanctuary and also became the photography advisor for VegNews magazine. His photographs of sanctuary farm animals have since been published in dozens of magazines, newspapers and books all over the world.In October of 2005 Derek began programming an FM Radio show called Vegan Radio with co-hosts Megan Shackelford and Scott Lahteine. The show aired on the non-profit low power FM community radio station Valley Free Radio (103.3FM Northampton, MA), and was also made into a podcast. Vegan Radio was one of the earliest vegan podcasts and remains one of the most popular today. In August of 2006 Derek received Farm Sanctuary’s Outstanding Activist Award.
In 2006 Derek came up with the idea for a vegetable oil powered school bus (The Vegan Bus) to use for educating about veganism and sustainability. By 2007 he had purchased a full sized school bus and began using it to fulfill that vision. The realization that it would take more resources to fund and maintain the bus project along with Vegan Radio and Veganica.com inspired him to form Evolvegan.
Megan Shackelford is an activist, educator and vegan baker extraordinaire currently living in Leverett, MA. She founded ‘Oh Sweet Mama’s’ vegan bakery In 2004, and it quickly became a favorite source of decadent snacks for vegans and non-vegans alike living in Western Massachusetts. She is a co-host on Vegan Radio, an internationally popular podcast. She is also an active board member of Evolvegan, a non-profit organization working to educate people about veganism and sustainable lifestyles. Although she sold her bakery in 2009 she still fills special orders for those wanting to experience the bliss of her decadent delights.
Chris Phillips is an activist, musician, graphic artist and visionary. Chris has worked as an event planner for the past 10 years, most recently coordinating a host of events pertaining to social justice at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, CT. He is skilled in consensus-based decision making and group meeting facilitation.In 2008, Chris bought a full-size school bus and transformed it in to a vegetable oil and solar powered motor home using mostly recycled materials. Chris is looking forward to sharing his skills on alternative energy and school bus transformation with Evolvegan and the Vegan Bus.
Sugati Phillips is a visual artist, dancer and author and has been active in animal rights and environmentalism for over a decade. Her passion lies within connecting her activism with her artistic endeavors. She has been involved in many art shows throughout her native state of Connecticut. In 2008, Sugati wrote the book She is a River, which explores our awakening to a more compassionate view of the world and all of its inhabitants. It is Sugati’s mission to express stories still untold to support our culture’s evolving consciousness.- Heather Bargeron lives at Porcupine Hill, a 200 acre organic farm in windsor, MA. The farm has been the home for many dozens of WWOOFERS (World Wide Opportunities On Organic Farms) from around the world. The farm has also been home to many animals that were adopted from shelters or rescued directly. She is a qualified natural hoof trimmer and offers her services to shelters. Her present duties include vegetable growing, horse maintenance, building projects, maple sugaring, haying (including restoring old fields) and taking in and scheduling WWOOFERS. She ran a small graphic arts business for 20+ years from the farm, and acted as the director of a theater camp/company that was held there for 13 years.Heather has been vegetarian for 42 years and vegan for 32. Heather was a pioneer in the animal rights movement as one of the founding members of Advocates for Animals, an animal rights group in Berkshire County during the eighties. She has been employed for the last four years at Cafe Evolution, a vegan retaurant in Florence, MA. as chef. Her current plans for Porcupine Hill in conjunction with the vegan community in Western Massachusetts include developing a program utilizing the gardens, barn and kitchen wherein she can demonstrate the entire process of making a garden and then making simple vegan meals from the harvest.Heather has been a board member for the past 25 years at a community cross country ski area in Windsor, MA called Notchview, where she also gives lessons. Heather’s hope in becoming part of Evolvegan as a board member is to assist the group with outreach beyond the vegan community. She would like to find ways demonstrate to the general public the benefits of a life lived conscientiously with both the animals and environment.
Ryan Peterson is a musician, bicycle fanatic, and performance arts enthusiast currently living in New Orleans, Louisiana. He considers movement to be one of the most powerful tools of communication and introspection. Ryan has studied briefly with the internationally renowned dance company Pilobolus and has performed in various circus productions including “Revenge From the Deepwater” during the New Orleans Fringe Festival 2010.In August 2010, Ryan founded The Trailer Trash Initiative – a donation-based, bicycle-trailer-powered recycling pickup system. The Trailer Trash Initiative serves residents near downtown New Orleans by utilizing carbon-neutral methods to pick up and deliver household recycling. This is especially important in a city that lacks a traditional curbside recycling program, like New Orleans.
Aviva Rabins has been vegan since 2004. She loves to play with food — growing, fermenting, sprouting, dehydrating, baking, pickling, preserving, and, of course, cooking and eating with her friends and family. She cooks vegan (and mostly gluten-free) food and bakes vegan pastries for several coffee shops in New Orleans. Aviva believes in self-reliance. She has been focusing her time on educating herself in primitive skills, including found-object shelter-building, wild edible plant harvesting, traditional basket weaving, and, controversially, hide tanning (but only hides that have been found, such as roadkill). She prefers living in the woods, but sees urban homesteading as a bridge between modern civilization and traditional lifestyles.When not attending primitive skill-shares throughout the country and sleeping outside, Aviva is an avid practicer of both Bikram yoga and AcroYoga, as well as a hoop-dancer, bicyclist, musician, traveler, and member of a New Orleans-based Double Dutch team. She enjoys movement and creative expression of all kinds, and is always looking for new ways to play!
