In addition to health and environmental concerns, my primary reasons are animal rights and spirituality. With regards to animal rights, I shudder to think of how animals are abused on today's factory farms. They are treated simply as commodities, not as the living, feeling beings they truly are. Their flesh, eggs and milk are demanded, with no trace of reverence, gratitude, or even acknowledgement that their lives are being sacrificed to sustain our own. I do not want to subsidize this phenomenon.

With regards to spirituality, I believe that all beings are expressions of the Divine. In my view, torturing or killing an animal is, to put it mildly, insulting the Divine. To use an analogy, we do not compliment a painter by destroying his/her paintings; similarly, I do not believe we please the Creator by torturing and killing His/Her creations. On an even deeper level, I believe we are all connected, and thus, causing suffering to any aspect of creation ultimately causes suffering to ourselves.

I am an animal rights activist because I feel that animals have just as much right to be treated with respect and allowed to live descent lives as we do. In addition to running Models with Conscience, I live a cruelty-free lifestyle, sign pro-animal petitions, write letters of protest in cases of animal abuse, etc. My form of activism is a gentle one, based on my spiritual belief that we are all connected. I avoid harming animals because I view doing so as ultimately harming myself. Likewise, harming people would have the same effect.

So, I try to have compassion, not only for the animals being abused, but also for the people inflicting the abuse. While the impulse to fight violence with violence is understandable, in the long run, following that impulse would be counterproductive. I believe it was Gandhi who said "You must be the change you wish to see in the world". If I wish to see more compassion and peace in the world, I must exemplify these qualities as I work steadily toward my goal.

Models with Conscience is an international group of models dedicated to promoting animal-friendly products. We are introducing a revolutionary paradigm in modeling - one centering not on greed and ego, but rather, on compassion and heart. Our membership currently includes approximately twenty active members (both women and men) of various ages, sizes, experience levels, nationalities, looks, etc.

The Models with Conscience philosophy is summarized in our motto, . radiantly representing cruelty-free products.. It embodies the four primary ways in which Models with Conscience strives to contribute to the world: by serving models, consumers, animals, and companies. The word, "radiantly," indicates how we serve models by giving them the opportunity to promote products they can truly feel good about, thereby helping them to be more fully radiant and to add meaning to their careers. The word, " representing," relates to our serving consumers by presenting an expanded concept of beauty (we accept members of various ages, sizes and looks), offering information and tools to help consumers choose products they can use with a clear conscience, and demonstrating that we humans can thrive while allowing our fellow beings to thrive as well.

The word, "cruelty-free", indicates that we strive to assist animals by encouraging people to use products which do not involve the needless suffering or death of innocent animals, and by donating a portion of our profits to animal-friendly charities. Finally, the word, "products", refers to the way in which we intend to help cruelty-free companies prosper by offering them the opportunity to have models who share their humane ethic, and who possess the rare combination of radiance and compassion associated with their products, bringing positive attention and, hopefully, increased sales to their company.

Anyone interested in learning more about Models with Conscience is welcome to visit our website at Modelswc.com

"Beauty Without the Beasts:" How to Look and Feel Great and Be Cruelty Free is essentially an introduction to humane living, offering consumers information and tools to choose animal-friendly skin care products, apparel, foods, entertainment, and more.

My intention for "Beauty Without the Beasts" was to present animal issues in a way that was accessible to a wide range of readers who were being introduced to these issues for the first time, and to share with them how they can help animals through their everyday consumer and lifestyle choices. I strived to appeal to the readers eye with photos of models enjoying the cruelty-free lifestyle, to inform the readers mind with basic facts on animal issues presented in easy-to-understand language, to touch to the readers heart with essays by select Models with Conscience members and personal anecdotes from my own life, and to uplift the readers spirit with inspiring quotes from some of historys great minds, and animal-related stories from some of the worlds great spiritual traditions.

"Beauty Without the Beasts" will be published by Lantern Books at the end of June, 2001, and will be available via the Models with Conscience website, Modelswc.com