4 Incredible Women Making a Difference in Animal Welfare

Though you may double-tap any Instagram photo starring an animal, likes don’t do much to improve their quality of life. From elephants captured in Thailand to amuse tourists to mistreated household pets, there are countless situations where humans need to change their attitudes to prioritize animal welfare. In an effort to build a better tomorrow for fauna of all kinds, these four incredible women have dedicated their lives to activism for animals. Here, discover their stories — and the meaningful ways you can contribute to a difference.

The activist who is paving the way for ethical animal tourism

Who: Nora Livingstone, CEO and Founder of Animal Experience International

Her history: Livingstone’s first love was dogs: big, small, fluffy, silky — she loved them all….

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Bold Moves Podcast, episode 199

What is a bold move? Is it starting a social enterprise without any business background? Is it trying to make a difference? Or.. is it believing you CAN make a difference.

Nora sits down with Mandie from the Bold Moves Podcast to talk about big moves and how you can live messy and sparkly and authentically while helping animals.

Travel Towards a Career.

Travel isn't magic, it isn't going to make you taller, it isn't going to make you funnier, it won't make you rich... but maybe it can help you find you. 

What if when we booked trips we didn't see them as debt inducing, we saw the cost as investment? What if we looked at the world as a classroom? What if we didn't label travel as a separate and different part of life? Then, what if we didn't label our home as 'the real world'? 

What if the whole world, our whole lives, all our experiences were important? What if travel wasn't 'just' for tourism? What if it was an investment in our future? 

Those are a lot of questions, maybe your next trip will just be a vacation on a beach, perhaps it will be going to visit friends in a new town. Even though we are more than the sum of our parts, our travels, no matter where they lead us, change us. All our experiences mould and change us, if we realise it's happening or not. 

Our co-founder, Nora found this out when she went to Nepal in 2007. She didn't go to intentionally change her life, she didn't even think it was possible. She just went and now more than 10 years later she credits that first big trip as one of the reasons AEI exists today. You can read more in an article she contributed to in Student Loan Hero. 

We tell ourselves all kinds of reasons we shouldn't travel: we don't have enough money, we haven't worked enough yet, we haven't travelled enough before a big trip....

We want to inspire people to invest in themselves and in their future. Travel maybe won't suddenly change your life, but what if it did? What if hundreds of tiny little travel experiences changed your life over the course of a few years? Why not take the chance? Why not book the ticket?

We'll help you change your life through travel. We'll help you invest in yourself and your future. We'll help you do this while you help animals, local communities and broader ecosystems. We did it and we will be with you every step of the way.  

Contact us to talk more about where you want to go and how we will get you there!
Apply to volunteer on an international animal program with AEI.

We're on a podcast!

Here is a quick and dirty podcast that our co-founder: Nora, get's to discuss what it's like running AEI. She also talks about the roots of AEI, how it started and where she would like the branches to grow. Of course, being a woman she also talks about the trolls on social media and why you won't find any on the AEI Facebook page. 

Give it a listen and let us know what you think: I AM CEO podcast.

Happy listening!