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A lot of you have been asking:
What's going on with Bite Size Vegan?
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Where have I been?
What have I been up to?
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Did I die?
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Am I coming back?
Am I still vegan?
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(Sarcastic snort) Please...
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Well, it's time for some answers.
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(Music, the sound of a pen on paper, bird song, animals and insect noises)
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Hi, it's Emily from BiteSizeVegan.org, where you can find
free resources, eCourses, kids' content,
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and a Guided Search to help you find just what
you need, even if you don't know what to ask!
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I have been wanting to update all of you for so very, very
long about all the developments with Bite Size Vegan.
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While I've been doing my best to keep my patrons in the loop,
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I know that—for the most part—there's been
radio silence on my social media platforms.
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A lot has happened since I had to stop
regular content production in order
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to focus on the foundational and internal
aspects of Bite Size Vegan.
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While there's no way for me to run through everything,
I wanted to touch on a few highlights.
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But first, I wanted to tell you what
to expect from me moving forward.
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I will be moving back into producing
new content on a regular basis.
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However, my video release frequency will not be the same as
it used to be because, in addition to the videos,
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I'll be devoting time to:
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creating free eCourses;
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writing free comprehensive downloadable
guides for all stages of veganism;
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enhancing the accessibility tools and resources for all
existing and new content on BiteSizeVegan.org;
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and ensuring that I can continue providing
quality content at a sustainable pace.
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Plus, not to bore you with the details,
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but there is a lot that has to happen behind
the scenes—like accounting, data management,
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website updates, social media management
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...and I've lost most of you.
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Moving on...
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If you want to be sure to hear about new Bite Size Vegan content,
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I'd encourage you to either sign up
for the newsletter at
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BiteSizeVegan.org/Subscribe
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or follow Bite Size Vegan on Telegram
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at BiteSizeVegan.org/Telegram.
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If you haven't noticed, social media platforms
have continued to make it more and more difficult
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to have anyone notified of new content, even if you've subscribed,
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followed, clicked a bell, done a magic incantation and
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notification dance to the gods of GoogleInstaBookTube
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So the newsletter and, even more so,
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Telegram are the most reliable ways to ensure you're notified.
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So, what have I been up to this whole time?
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I have to say that I've struggled greatly with how to communicate
the last handful of years in some abbreviated summary.
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I equally struggled with how much of the difficulties to share,
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as well as how to convey the progress and victories.
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I've had to accept that it's simply
not possible to encapsulate everything.
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Until mind-meld technology
becomes a thing.
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Nope...still not there...
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I'd like to start with the biggest
announcement that I'm the most excited about.
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I'll then share other activities
from the last few years, and finally,
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address why I've been largely
absent from social media platforms.
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One of the main projects I've been pouring my
heart and soul into is the complete rebuild of
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BiteSizeVegan.org from the ground up.
To serve as the epicenter of Bite Size Vegan content
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and provide free resources and tools to the community.
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Non-vegans, new vegans, and activists
alike can utilize new feature such as:
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an advanced guided search for finding just what you need
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allowing you to create living curated results pages
for yourself, generate vegan cheat-sheets,
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or send specific resources to non-vegan friends
and family, with a custom note and everything;
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“Get Started” guides
for every phase of your vegan journey;
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free eCourses that combine Bite Size Vegan
videos with new course content
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and quiz questions for a complete educational experience;
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and ways to search for content by topic, or
browse all content using powerful filters.
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I've always intended for Bite Size Vegan to be
a living library of information about veganism,
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bringing together the accessibility
of engaging digital and social media content
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with the integrity and depth of research-backed,
transparently-cited educational content.
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However, before rebuilding the site,
trying to find what you needed was
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like walking into a library with a big pile of books
in the middle of the room.
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Good luck!
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Information is only as effective as one's ability to find it.
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I founded Bite Size Vegan on the belief
that everyone deserves access to solid, factual information
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on issues impacting their health, our planet, society, and the lives of other sentient beings.
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With this belief at heart, I poured countless hours
and taught myself a few computer programming languages
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to make it easier than ever to find exactly what you're looking for.
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I'm so excited to give you an overview of the
new features in a dedicated video.
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Of course, you can check them out for yourself
now at
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BiteSizeVegan.org/NewSiteTour
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Another significant change is that Bite Size Vegan
is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
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In my mind, Bite Size Vegan has always been intended as a public service,
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so shifting to a nonprofit made the most sense.
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Though the process was far more extensive than I’d realized
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and I cannot ever get back the mind-numbing, soul-sucking
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time of reading dense governmental regulatory documentation
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I felt it was important to align Bite Size Vegan's structure with its mission.
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Bite Size Vegan being a nonprofit doesn't
mean it's now a large organization.
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It's still just me. I’ll explain why that’s the
case later in this announcement.
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As always, any support goes directly into the creation
of more educational content and resources,
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but now, your donations are tax-deductible to
the fullest extent allowable by law.
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(Yay).
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Not everything during this time was
mind-numbing admin and dense computer coding.
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I also delivered speeches around the United
States to primarily non-vegan audiences;
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spoke on three panels at the National Animal
Rights Conference:
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Veganism as Social Deviance,
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The Power of Language and Rhetoric,
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and The Power of Videos in Advocating for Animal Rights;
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and had the honor of speaking, via Skype, to vegan activists
in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia at the Animal Activists Forum.
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I published the Sydney speech, entitled "How to Speak Non-Vegan:
Effective Activism Through Mindful Language,"
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so if you happened to miss it, be sure to check it out at BiteSizeVegan.org/UseYourWords.
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If you've ever struggled with how to effectively speak
to non-vegans about veganism
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and especially how to communicate your message without
sacrificing your integrity, that's the speech for you.
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A completely unplanned project during this time was the
Alive by Accident documentary.
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On my first visit to Iowa Farm Sanctuary, our state’s
first and only vegan farmed animal sanctuary
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IFS co-founder Shawn, received a call from her
husband, alerting us that a semi truck
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carrying cows to slaughter had flipped
on a highway about 45 minutes away.
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In the two-part documentary, I chronicled that fatal livestock trailer
accident, which granted eight cows bound for slaughter a chance at life
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and their subsequent rescue.
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In part one of Alive by Accident, you join Shawn and me as we visit
the crash site, begin the long search for survivors,
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and finally bring the eight surviving
boys to their new forever home.
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In part two, you get to meet the survivors—each an individual in their own right.
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For those of you who have
yet to watch the documentary,
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check it out at
BiteSizeVegan.org/AliveByAccident
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The final project I want to highlight
is the new book:
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"Vegan Voices: Essays by Inspiring Changemakers."
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It is a comprehensive collection of compelling essays
from a diverse group of vegan voices.
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I had the honor of contributing to the book with my essay
"The Harm of 'Humane,'" which delves into the reality behind
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humane labels and animal welfare legislation.
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If you missed the announcement about Vegan Voices,
you can learn more at BiteSizeVegan.org/VeganVoicesRelease.
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This incredible book is all thanks
to author and editor Dr. Joanne Kong.
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Now that I’ve shared some highlights
of what I've done during this time,
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I'd like to do my best to explain why Bite
Size Vegan is still—for the most part—just me.
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When I had to stop regular content production,
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one of my primary focuses was to bring in other
people through a combination of
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professional service providers, a central employee,
and a team of volunteers.
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Delegation always appeared to be the most logical solution to
the ever-increasing demands of Bite Size Vegan.
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Coordinating volunteers, assistants, or
employees is a full time job in and of itself,
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so I'd never been able to do so while actively
producing content.
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I was cautiously optimistic that I'd be able to find and
involve others with Bite Size Vegan
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such that I could focus on what I'm good at and leave the rest to them.
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However, despite many, many efforts, this simply hasn't been the case.
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It's difficult to explain why exactly.
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The reasons varied with each situation.
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Aside from financial considerations, a major factor
complicating this entire area is the nature of my Autism.
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Despite what you see in my videos and speeches,
communication is profoundly challenging for me
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especially when it comes to logistical things I'm
uncertain about and emotionally close to.
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In order to communicate what, to many,
may be the most basic logistics
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for me requires such extreme time and mental energy
that I'm left with neither to focus on my actual work.
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I've had to accept that I must find a way forward that
works for me, with all my challenges and limitations.
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This means, in part, that involving others will remain
much more limited than I’d like.
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I appreciate that this will
not make sense to many people.
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My inability to communicate the nature of
my difficulties with—well—communication,
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is a source of great frustration.
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Accepting that is still very much a work in progress.
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Before wrapping up, I'd like to address my apparent absence from social media.
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My infrequent activity has not been due to
my walking away—far from it.
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The catch 22 of social media is that
creating the "appearance" of activity
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meaning regular output on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube,
consumes so much time that it inhibits actual activity and work.
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This may not be the case for everyone, but for me, as an Autistic,
I have to shut those doors to be able to focus on what's important.
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So, what may have appeared from the outside as
a period of inactivity was, in fact, quite the opposite
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I was working extremely hard on a number of fronts,
some of which I've already covered.
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The nature of social media platform
algorithms has been—and remains—the primary barrier for me
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when it comes to finding a sustainable way to operate Bite Size Vegan.
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I chose to make Bite Size Vegan digitally-based—
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utilizing social media in order to increase access
to solid information that's usually made inaccessible
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either through paywalls, educational requirements, or the sheer
lack of time most people have to conduct in-depth research.
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I wanted to reach people where they are, which—
for better or worse—tends to be social media.
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I still stand behind this mission;
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open-access to researched, non-biased information is a passion of mine that runs as deep as my veganism.
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However, the reality of social media algorithms is that, in order for my content to actually reach people
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for subscribers and followers to be notified, as well as for the
content to be recommended to others
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the platforms demand constant output.
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While I believe in quality over quantity,
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less frequent social media posts means that the content
I do create reaches less and less people.
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Yet, the logistics of writing and producing the kind of content I do
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at the pace demanded by social platforms was—and is—simply impossible in the end.
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So, I'm left with the options of either:
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1. producing less content and maintaining quality,
but sacrificing the reach of that content, or
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2. producing shorter, simpler, fluffier content more frequently, thus
sacrificing the integrity of the content—though, perhaps increasing reach.
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One of my focuses during this period of limited content production
has been finding how to balance the goals of Bite Size Vegan
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and the demands of social media.
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Or, more so, how to reach people with Bite Size Vegan content
and resources without compromising the integrity of the content
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or my own sanity.
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I have to admit, I'm still unsure of how to achieve this.
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This is one of the reasons I'm encouraging you to subscribe to the newsletter
or follow the Bite Size Vegan Telegram channel.
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Telegram doesn't operate on an algorithm to decide for you if you really want
to be notified of Bite Size Vegan content.
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You just are.
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Same with the newsletter, aside from spam
folder and Gmail Promotions tab issues.
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Google!
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I've always erred on the side of integrity over reach,
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though it is frustrating as my goal is to
reach as many people as I can about veganism.
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But I also have to ensure that the message
I’m reaching them with isn't diluted.
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So, my mantra has become: quality over quantity; substance over social media.
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I want to thank everyone who has been so patient and supportive
during this time of transition for me and Bite Size Vegan.
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To my family on Patreon, and independent supporters,
whose steadfast encouragement has been a rock for me
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through uncertain and tumultuous times.
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To everyone who's not given up on Bite Size Vegan
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your belief in the importance of what I've set out
to do has spurred me onwards.
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No matter what, I refuse to give up.
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Everyone deserves to know the truth.
Our planet deserves our attention and care.
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More than anything, the sentient beings in our animal
products industries deserve freedom and safety.
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They deserve everything I have to give
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and I intend to give them my everything.
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I hope to have you along this journey with me.
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To stay in the loop about new Bite Size Vegan content and updates,
remember to subscribe to the newsletter or follow the Telegram channel
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for the most reliable notifications.
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Now go live vegan, and I'll see you soon.