Meet the peta2 Staff: Helena

Hometown: Pebble Beach, California

Fave bands: Bob Marley, Nick Drake, Ben Harper, Françoise Hardy, The Black Keys, OutKast, Amos Lee, A Fine Frenzy, Manu Chao, Stephen & Damian Marley, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, The Streets, Jeff Buckley, Amadou & Mariam, The Roots, Lykke Li, Bon Iver, Emiliana Torrini, Fiona Apple, Sigur Ros, A Tribe Called Quest, Paolo Nutini, Beirut, Jamie Lidell, Camera Obscura, Nina Simone, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Sam Cooke, Etta James, Leonard Cohen, French pop from the 60s, blues, 90s R&B, shake yer booty music, and too many more to list.

About me: Before coming to peta2, I taught English to kids in Seoul, South Korea, and then moved to Los Angeles and worked in the music industry. It was pretty rough meeting my music idols every day and going to shows all the time, but someone had to do it. ;) After that, I went galavanting across the country with my dear friend Alison Sudol and her band A Fine Frenzy on their U.S. tour. When we returned to L.A., she brought me to PETA's holiday party, and I knew right away that I had found my home. I am SO stoked to be a part of the peta2 posse now!

I love: TRAVELING. The beach. Music. Yoga. Combining the previously mentioned activities. Bonfires. Hiking. Camping. Playing guitar and piano. Writing. Learning languages. Farmers markets. Cruelty-free fashion. Bali. Big Sur. San Francisco. Seoul. Europe. Books by Tom Robbins, Paulo Coehlo, Peter Singer, Jonathan Safran Foer, and The Dalai Lama. Dancing—in a class or out with friends. Vegan food—cooking it, eating it, taking pictures of it, reading about it. Being an auntie to my friends' animal companions. People who care and actually DO something about it. Change. Working for animal liberation. My coworkers. My job!

I hate: Ambivalence and apathy. Bigotry and discrimination. "Ignorance is bliss"—The truth, people. Embrace it! People who wear fur. Factory farm "workers." Circus "trainers." People who litter. The smell of movie-theater popcorn. Recycled air on airplanes. The sound of Styrofoam. Indoor lighting during the daytime. Reality TV. Fast food. Plastic surgery. L.A. traffic and smog.

Fave foods: Korean food! Vegan Mexican food. Thai curries and noodles. Indian food. Vegan pizza and lasagna. Fresh veggies from farmers' markets. Avocados. Fruit smoothies. Tofutti Cuties. I eat hummus almost every day, and I'm shamelessly-addicted to kombucha and coconut water.

Why did you go vegan? I ran out of reasons NOT to! I used to make excuses for not going vegan, but after I watched "Meet Your Meat," I couldn't forget the fear and pain that I saw in the eyes of the animals who were being abused. I even had nightmares! If something that you witness gives you nightmares, shouldn't you stop paying for it to happen in real life? I want to help animals, fight climate change, reduce world hunger, and stay healthy—and going vegan is the easiest way to do all the above. And I'm sorry, but have you tried vegan food? I rest my case!

Is it true that you wanted to work at PETA when you were little? Why, yes it is. I even wrote about wanting to work for PETA "when I grew up" in my fifth-grade diary.

Any other interesting tidbits? I grew up living, breathing, and loving the ocean, so I don't understand people who don't appreciate it. I speak Korean and a little Italian. A lot of my friends are musicians, so I only see them a few months out of the year because they're always touring. I've traveled to 20 different countries. Despite being a girl and having a love for fashion, I hate going to malls. I also dislike the color pink. If I go more than a few days without swimming in the ocean during the summer, I lose my mind. I love big-city life as much as I love being immersed in nature … it's the in-between that gets me!