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Meet a PETA Campaign Staffer

“I was sitting in a biology lecture when it occurred to me that I didn’t care what the definition of mitochondria was because it wasn’t going to help me be a better activist.”

PETA Staffer: Ian Blessing

Job Title: Campaign Coordinator

Department: International Grassroots Campaigns (IGC)

Los Angeles native and former California State University, Chico, student Ian Blessing recently led a victorious, 11-week, nationwide campaign to persuade fashion retailer J.Crew to stop selling fur. Ian’s campaign included protests at J.Crew stores across the country at which activists covered their nearly nude bodies in “blood” to represent animals who are literally skinned alive for their fur. One such “die-in” was held outside a Grand Rapids, Michigan, store despite a snowstorm. PETA and J.Crew entered into successful negotiations shortly afterward, and the campaign ended with a champagne celebration outside the J.Crew store in Santa Monica, hosted by Heather Mills McCartney.

Oddest Activist Experience: “The ‘Demand Liberation’ conference in Berkeley, California, in 2003. There was a KFC demo after the conference, and I got to be the chicken with crutches. There was a tattoo parlor across the street, and the guys that worked there came out and started yelling at us very angrily. They eventually filled up a bucket with water balloons and started throwing them at us but couldn’t get them all the way across the street and just hit cars driving by instead.”

Before PETA: “I started an animal rights group called Chico Students for Animal Rights during my sophomore year at Chico State University. After two years, I realized that I wanted to devote all my time to animal rights, and school wasn’t allowing me to do that. After interning at PETA last summer, I realized that I eventually wanted to come back and work full-time. About a month later, I was sitting in a biology lecture when it occurred to me that I didn’t care what the definition of mitochondria was because it wasn’t going to help me be a better activist. That’s when I decided to come back to PETA.”

Favorite Food: “Soy cheese pizza with barbecue sauce, pineapples, olives, and veggie ham.”

When You’re Not Campaigning: “I enjoy biking, sleeping in, walking around towns that I’ve never been to before, independent films, and local coffeehouses.”

Advice for Other Activists:

peta2 Street Team

interning at PETA