261 - The Next Girl Exposes Dairy’s Secrets with Filmmaker Lisa DeCrescente

Episode • Dec 20, 2023 • 54m

Our guest today has done whatever it takes to grow the vegan community by working tirelessly in many different avenues. A vegan for over 20 years and a former restaurateur, Lisa DeCrescente is now the director of special projects at Farm Animal Rights Movement, she’s a board member for Sustainable Earth Eating, AND she’s the writer of the powerful, heart-wrenching short film The Next Girl, which has already received a plethora of awards and has a twist of an ending that will leave you floored.

You definitely want to stay with us as we talk about this profound film and hear Lisa’s thoughts on how to be the most effective difference-maker possible!

“I think it’s important to address that there are two purposes here. Yes, this movie is for vegans. This is for people who already know because once they see it, they realize this is another tool they can use to share with people who are just on that edge or who are curious or really need to understand something. And maybe this is a way to approach them differently than other ways they’ve attempted to. Friends, family, coworkers. But it’s also for people who are not vegan because they won’t see a documentary or a film about animals because, at that moment in time, when they think about it, it’s not on their radar. They don’t care, or they think it’s not true. Or they just don’t want to know. They know but they don’t want to know. We find that a lot. Or they’re in denial. Exactly. And I don’t know if we’ll get to those people with this film because if they’re in denial even showing them footage, they’ll say, ‘Well, you know, this is a very, very random thing.’ They don’t realize that this occurs every day all over the world, all the time.” - Lisa DeCrescente

What we discuss in this episode:

- How Lisa came up with the concept of The Next Girl.

- The conditions dairy cows live in and the abuse they endure.

- The fates of male and female calves.

- How the treatment of dairy cows is woefully overlooked.

- The importance of having a “why” when adopting a vegan lifestyle.

- Why Lisa decided to become vegan.

- Lisa’s advice for vegans in relationships with non-vegans.

- Events Lisa is planning in 2024 and how you can see and support The Next Girl.

Resources:

- UnchainedTV link: The Next Girl

- The Next Girl website: https://thenextgirlfilm.com/