Michelle Carrera

Michelle Carrera is a fierce advocate for collective liberation and ecofeminism, proudly representing the queer community. Trained as a Death Doula by Bodhi Be and Ram Dass, she approaches life and death holistically with profound compassion. Continuing her journey, she’s working towards becoming an Ordained Animal Chaplain with Compassion Consortium. Recognized as a “Grassroots Powerhouse” by Vegnews and a “radical tender-hearted queer vegan” by writer Leah Kirts, Michelle’s community leadership and unwavering activism inspire change. She’s also an unschooling mother, dedicated gardener, business owner, and nonprofit professional, making her a force for justice, compassion, and sustainability in our world.

About

Michelle Carrera is a queer Puerto Rican liberation activist. She founded Chilis on Wheels in 2014, making veganism accessible to communities in need; and the Casa Vegana de la Comunidad in Puerto Rico in 2018, a vegan sustainability house which also hosts a microsanctuary. She is on the Board of Directors of The Mircrosanctuary Resource Center.

Current projects include the Queer Vegan Supper Club (in NYC), a Vegans of Color Liberation and Renewal Summit (2020), Veganic Community Garden (in Brooklyn, 2020), and consulting on community projects with Dream Together.

She was co-founder of Latinos for Animal Protection in 2009 which served animal protection organizations in Latin America, and organized a Vegan Latinos in NYC Meetup which fundraised for Latin American vegan organizations from 2015-2017.

She is a professional translator and writer and currently lives with her human unschooled child, and rescued dog, in a vegan collective house in Brooklyn.

Personal reflections can be found in Veganism in an Oppressive World; and in Food Justice: a Primer both produced by Sanctuary Publishers. Her work has been featured in a number of vegan media, including VegNews, Vegan Italy, Thrive, Vegan Health and Fitness, Raise Vegan, Edible Brooklyn, among many others. Her work has also been featured in local news NY1, AMNY, NYC Media, and country-wide in Univision. She was listed 20 Most Influential Vegans of 2019, was voted New Yorker of the Year in 2015 by NY1, and 30 under 40 by the Hispanic Coalition of New York in 2016.

Michelle practices radical authenticity, and is passionate about a number of subjects, including community building, justice, urban gardening, minimalism, meditation, unschooling, decolonization, anti-capitalism, and finding the corners where Venn diagram circles intersect.