How I Learned to Love Shrimp

Monica Chen on theories of change, collaboration and leadership within the animal advocacy movement.

November 15, 2023 Amy Odene & James Ozden
How I Learned to Love Shrimp
Monica Chen on theories of change, collaboration and leadership within the animal advocacy movement.
Show Notes Chapter Markers

Today, we speak with Monica Chen, the Executive Director of New Roots Institute, formerly Factory Farming Awareness Coalition.
 
We speak about several big topics: 

  • Theories of change for the animal advocacy movement
  • Why collaboration between organisations isn’t always easy,
  • The importance of focusing on changing culture and social norms
  • The difficulties around management and organisational leadership, as well as some lessons Monica learnt along the way

Monica is an inspiring organisational leader who spends lots of her time thinking about what can benefit the movement as a whole so it was a real pleasure to speak with her about these topics.

Resources from our conversation:

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Intro
ACE sponsorship
Monica's journey into animal advocacy
What is New Roots Institute
Why focus on students
NRI theory of change and strategy
Concrete cultural and social norms shifts
How can we influence cultural and social norms
Communities open to pro-animal views
Long term strategy for the animal movement
Challenges of movement-wide collaboration
What are we doing well in terms of collaboration
Theory of change for ending factory farming
Management and leadership
Organisational DNA
Reacting to COVID
Advice for organisation leaders
Closing questions