Staff

Aline Silva
Co-Director, Community Development

Aline (Ah-lee-nee) Silva (she/her/hers) serves as the co-Director of CreatureKind. Prior to coming to CreatureKind, Aline served for over a decade as a local parish pastor of rural and farming populations in Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado. Aline shares herself as a queer, Black & Indigenous immigrant of Brasil to the US. Aline chooses not to eat non-human animals, her fellow-worshippers of God. Aline is a pastor, an excellent preacher, and a life coach. You can most often find her laughing out loud, twerking, and sharing her life with her emotional support pup and main squeeze, Paçoca (pah-saw-kah). You can learn about Aline and her work by following CreatureKind on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. She writes today from the unceded lands of the Tequesta, Taino, and Seminole peoples, namedly South Florida, USA.

Sarah Withrow King
Co-Founder and Co-Director, Policy and Operations

Sarah (she/her/hers) has spent eighteen years in the trenches for animals, serving on the front lines of a movement to raise awareness and reduce suffering (ask her about the time she rescued chickens in Austria). She teaches, mentors, and trains future leaders and provides senior policy-level consultations for institutions around the world. The author of Animals Are Not Ours (Cascade) and Vegangelical (Zondervan), Sarah holds an MTS with a concentration in Christian Faith and Public Policy from Palmer Theological Seminary. She is fueled by black coffee, the NYT crossword, and repeat-watching The West Wing. Sarah lives with her family and a pack of rescued companion animals in the Willamette Valley, on the traditional lands of the Chelamela and Kalapuya tribes.

Shae Washington
Manager, Operations & Anti-Oppressive Strategies

Shae Washington (she/her/hers) is a lover of coffee (with non-dairy creamer), road trips, musicals, the ocean, and is committed to the liberation of all beings. Bringing almost 15 years of experience within the nonprofit sector in the areas of youth development, social and environmental justice, conflict resolution and LGBTQ+ inclusion, Shae believes deeply in the sector’s ability to address injustice and radically work for change. Shae specializes in leadership development, team building, anti-oppression and movement work, and supports groups in weaving their vision for justice into their internal culture and organizational policies. In addition to her professional experience, her personal experience living at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities as a Black, queer, woman, sharpens her analysis of injustice and focuses her intersectional lens. Shae has a background in the performing arts, but her favorite role is in real life as an auntie to a growing brood of niblings.

Megan Grigorian
Campaign and Events Manager

Megan (she/her/hers) came to CreatureKind with over a decade of experience as a writer, campaigner, organizer, and strategist for international animal protection non-profits. She’s spent her career working to improve the lives of farmed animals through media and collaboration with companies, farmers, scientists, vegans, and meat-eaters alike. She’s also led successful campaigns that ended the use of animals in entertainment venues like circuses and theme parks. Megan strongly advocates for progress over perfection.She believes that to successfully change our food systems so that they are kind and just for animals, systemic oppression against people must also come to an end. At CreatureKind, Megan plans public-facing events to address these and other food justice topics while also overseeing the DefaultVeg program. She lives in Virginia with her family and rescue dog Georgie and loves analyzing Bravo shows, cross-stitching, hosting game nights, baking vegan treats, and pretending she is on a competition cooking show.

Karla Mendoza
Communications & Development Coordinator

Karla (she/her/ella) is a storyteller, writer, podcaster, and mostly a bubble of laughter. Currently living in the land of the Iroquois in Toledo, Ohio though originally from Lima, Peru. She spends her time wearing many hats but is passionate about anti-racist discipleship, hosting people (when there isn’t a pandemic), and creating beauty to engage the good news of justice. Karla has spent many years in different ministry roles as well as corporate roles but is excited to join in the CreatureKind community to keep learning and growing.

Regular Contributors

David Clough
Co-Founder and Strategist

David (he/him/his) is Professor of Theological Ethics in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Chester and he is a lay preacher in the UK Methodist Church. David has published quite a lot, including On Animals: Systematic Theology, which was called “indisputably the most important and comprehensive theological treatment of animals to have appeared in any language at any time in the Christian tradition.” David lives next-door to Chester Zoo, in North-West England, with his family of five humans, one cat, and three gerbils. He can be followed on Facebook or Twitter @DLClough.

Ashley Lewis

Ashley (she/her/hers) is currently a full-time MDiv student at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. Her ministry focus is helping Christians make food choices informed by faith – to help relieve animal suffering, reverse food-related injustice, and restore earth as a harmonious dwelling place for God and all creation. She left behind a decade-long career in Hospitality Management and Event Sales and holds degrees in Culinary Arts and Food Service Management. In addition to her studies, Ashley enjoys coaching and educating in schools, churches, and workplaces. At home, she is a cat mom to Tesla and Westinghouse and the beloved wife of her childhood sweetheart, Ryan.

Liesl Stewart

Liesl lives with citizenship in the US and South Africa. For the past 27 years, she’s been rooted in Cape Town, where she and her husband live with their three mostly grown children. She currently works in the world of alternative food networks and plans to spend the rest of her days working toward food systems that are much more just.”