Ayanthi De Silva is a psychologist and animal rights activist based in New South Wales.
Ayanthi believes there were many seeds planted over the years that eventually resulted in her going vegan. She remembers doing a school assignment in year nine about animal cruelty and going vegetarian after viewing a report on Australian cattle being exported to Egypt.
During her psychology degree, Ayanthi wrote an essay on animal liberation and then started attending Animal Liberation NSW meetings. In 2018, Ayanthi attended a Dominion screening in Sydney and committed to a 30 day vegan mentor program. Ayanthi committed to being an animal rights activist very quickly after going vegan, as she recognised the importance of doing more than just eating vegan food.
Ayanthi has been involved in all forms of activism over the last three years including protests, street outreach, stickering, chalking and social media content creation. She recently delivered a webinar for Young Animal Justice Party NSW on mental health for activists.
In this episode, Ayanthi shares how she steps outside her comfort zone when conducting street outreach, the importance of mental health awareness for activists and vystopia.
https://www.instagram.com/ayanthiii/
