 Drugs, gangs, extreme violence, treachery, deception, gun violence, stabbings, kidnappings, this was my life. Today, eight years ago, after serving six months in prison, I decided to go vegan. I didn't know it would take me to the places that it's taken me. I had no idea that this decision would change the whole course of my life. I'm a recovered addict. I spent 12 years of my life on some type of substance. It has been one of the greatest obstacles to me living my best life. It's what put me in prison. It's what got me involved with the gangs. It's what made me the violent person that I was. But when I entered those prison gates, I left the drugs behind and started to see my life with new eyes. Part of this variety meant analyzing my life, all of my mistakes up until this point. The victims of my crimes, the people I was hanging around with. Is this what I wanted my future to look like? Prison bars, being strip searched, gang politics and violence, drug dealing. But when I left those prison gates, I had a new lease on life. I knew what it was like to have my freedom taken away from me, and I didn't want that to happen again. I'd seen a few videos about plant-based living, raw vegan lifestyle while I was on house arrest before going into prison. So I had some seeds planted. But after talking to my mum and criticizing her about smoking cigarettes, she told me there's a lot of vices people have that don't change. And when she said that, I reflected. What was it about me that I hadn't changed? I'd always felt like a hypocrite claiming to care about animals, while there was a chopped up piece of an animal on my plate. Sure, the animals I cared about were like dogs and dolphins and whales and, you know, the cool animals. The ones everyone loves. But how were they any different to that cow on my plate? How were they any different to the pig, the chicken or the fish on my plate? I hated being a hypocrite. I wanted to change my life. I wanted to be accountable for my mistakes. And the next day, after that conversation with my mum, I said, you know what mum, you're right. I'm going vegan tomorrow. It just so happens, that decision. And when I took that course of action was actually World Vegan Day. And I didn't know I wasn't connected in any way to the vegan movement or scene or anything like that. It was a spontaneous decision where I followed my heart. Ever since I'd been sober, I always had this burning desire in my heart to inspire people. And I thought YouTube's the best platform to do that. I can reach people. After seeing what happened to the animals, seeing images from inside slaughterhouses and farms and animals suffering and being tortured, it angered me. And when I seen that, it compelled me to change. So in my heart, I knew that if other people witnessed that and if I just talked to them, they'd change too. So this is where my activism journey started. I couldn't be silent while that was happening to the animals. And video after video, chipping away, editing. I learned to edit. I had really crappy equipment when I first started, but I did have a desire. And I was dealing with social anxiety. I always used drugs and alcohol to socialize. I didn't know how to communicate with people. I'm from the gang world. I had a troubled past. I left school really early. I had learning difficulties, ADHD. I had PTSD from my past. I went into the deep end and started advocating online. And being an ex-gang member, I didn't know if it was dangerous for me to have a public profile. If people were looking for me from my past, dealing with fears and nightmares, it was a crazy time. It was difficult. It was difficult. I just kept following my heart and something in my heart just kept telling me, just keep going, just keep going. You're doing the right thing. Speak for the animals. They don't have a voice. 2017, it started to get more full on and I got invited to the UK to do a speech. And after seeing the UK, I was like, you know, maybe I need to do this full-time and I quit my job. When I first got out of prison, I was working as a bricklayer for about 250 pounds a week or 500 Australian dollars a week. I quit that job and I went straight to being a traffic controller for three days a week and I was doing my YouTube and my activism and inspiring people. And then after I got back from the UK, I decided to quit my job and start a Patreon. And people supported me. I think they believed in me and believed in my work. And from that point onwards, I started to take this really seriously. And I, at this stage, was editing all of my own work. I had to get someone to hold the camera for me and I'd take that footage home and just spend hours and hours and hours and hours in front of the computer spreading those videos, trying my best to navigate YouTube and making mistakes along the way. But in 2018, I started something called the Vegan Prophecy Tour. Vegan Prophecy was like, it's going to happen. It was like a manifestation and what happened on that tour I never would have dreamed of and one thing led to the other, like all these coincidences happening I started touring around the UK and doing slaughterhouse vigils and outreach and speeches and the media found out that I was rallying and I was sort of motivating vegans to get out there and be active and they decided to make a short documentary on following me around and a bit about the vegan movement and the save movement and it was the rise of veganism. It went viral. Found myself on Radio, 7 Million Listeners with Jeremy Vine and I don't know whether you're angry today or just generally about the whole thing. Well I'm a bit upset to see your sandwich has a piece of a pig's body in there a dead pig that didn't want to die. Kicked off all over the newspapers everywhere all around the world and then I was on this morning's show more newspaper articles debating farmers on the radio and it was insane. It was crazy. I didn't expect that to happen and it just threw me right into the deep end because I've got all this PTSD anxiety and it was hard for me to be attacked, attacked, attacked, attacked, attacked but I'm so grateful I did that. I nearly burned myself out in 2018 but I kept going. It's difficult to keep going especially sometimes you put a lot of work into things it doesn't always go your way. The animals are suffering. You're trying to reach people. You get tired. You get overwhelmed and why am I telling you all this? Well today's World Vegan Day and it's an important day and I want all the vegans out there to know that you can make a difference and if you're not vegan by being vegan you're actually making a difference too. To the animals that are suffering in slaughterhouses and farms all across the world the ones that you don't see. The forgotten victims, the invisible victims. I've been inside slaughterhouses in Austria and in Bali. I've been inside farms in Australia. I've been inside farms all across the UK. These places are horrible. I don't think I've ever walked into a nice looking factory farm. There's always suffering animals in there and they're horrible places and if you've got any compassion which most people watching this do like the vast majority of you do then I believe you don't want to be paying for that and that's why you should be vegan as World Vegan Day. It's an important day to do this. Why not do it today and have your vegan anniversary on World Vegan Day and all the vegans out there I know what gets tough. I've been through a very hard road and I like to reflect on that because it still gets hard and I'm still trying to navigate this world and trying to step things up and trying to be a voice for the animals and yeah sometimes it can be difficult but I'm optimistic and I'm keep moving forward of course I won't give up and never give up especially considering where I come from and how being vegan and becoming an animal rights activist gave me a purpose that I didn't have before the reason I was emboldened gangs and drugs and violence I had the bad role models around me I was easily led I had a harsh childhood and the drugs gave me solitude I developed many mental health issues from using the drugs exacerbating any trauma that I had just led me into prison and led me on a one-way street to either getting shot, having a serious drug addiction or losing the rest of my life behind bars I got a second chance I didn't waste it and I will never waste it ever again I will continue to try my best to leave a mark on this world and I encourage you guys to do the same like I have incredibly low self-esteem incredibly low confidence which is why I was lashing out at people in the gang world and I was insecure and I still am quite insecure I mean I'm an introvert I put myself in uncomfortable situations all the time that I don't really like to do but I do it because I believe the outcome is way more important than my discomfort in the moment like you might be watching this and be thinking I could never do what you do Joey I could never put myself out of my comfort zone like that you know it was a gradual process for me and I had a series of mental health difficulties after coming out of the gangs and it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do which changed my entire circle had to disconnect from all of my friends all of everyone I ever knew everything I ever knew and rebuild myself from the ground up I didn't even know who I was anymore I could still make a difference you know it's not huge what I've done but from where I was it's a big impact considering I didn't think I could really didn't know if I could do anything at the start when I first made my first video I had like 100 views on there I was like wow 100 views oh cool 1000 subs and who knows maybe we could make it a million one day but I just wanted to make this video because it's World Vegan Day to inspire those vegans who are a little bit shy to get out of their comfort zone they don't really know what to do just follow your heart start where you are with what you have don't let fear hold you back and don't let self doubt hold you back you'll be so surprised if you just let go of that fear where it can take you if you're not vegan watching this one of the main things vegans will hear vegans say is my only regret is not going vegan sooner because one day you're actually going to realize what you've been supporting all this time and you're going to kick yourself that you didn't stop supporting it earlier because this is a supply and demand system and you're part of that supply and demand system you're paying these people to do this to these animals so you can eat their body parts and their byproducts so World Vegan Day here's your chance to either get out there and start making a difference being an activist or to stop doing something that is against your nature if you enjoyed my story subscribe down below and I'll see you all in the next video no matter what you do you're going to get criticized ok so just do what's right and you know what's right because your heart tells you