Two Locals Are Finalists in PETA’s ‘Sexiest Vegan’ Contest

Marketing Director and Air Force Veteran Battle It Out in an Attempt to Take Top Honors—and a Tropical Vacation

For Immediate Release:
April 26, 2019

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

PETA is preparing to crown this year’s Sexiest Vegan Next Door—and two Atlanta-area residents have beaten out hundreds of other entrants from across the nation to advance to the final round of 20 contestants. Visitors to PETA.org can now help PETA select the two winners, who will each receive a free vacation for two to Hawaii, courtesy of Humane Travel.

• Alpharetta resident Tabatha James is a marketing director at a law firm who watched the documentary Vegucated a year and a half ago and immediately dropped animal-derived foods. She says, “I was mortified. I was shocked. I cried. Most importantly, I knew I could never eat or purchase animal products ever again. I literally became vegan overnight, and it’s one of the best decisions I have ever made!” She currently runs a vegan snack-box company with the help of her daughter and husband, and she’s launched a vegan blog and started speaking at vegan festivals to share her tips and recipes with others. Her next project is a vegan children’s book.
• McDonough resident Kesha Pressley is an Air Force veteran who, after being injured during service, started volunteering full-time in her community, transporting dogs and cats to their adoptive homes across Georgia and helping PETA check on animals living in poor conditions or abusive situations. She recently inspired the staff of a local organization in which veterans help at-risk members of society make a transition into the workforce to take a 30-day vegan challenge.

“Tabatha James and Kesha Pressley are dedicated to helping others improve their health and save animals’ lives by choosing vegan meals,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “All the finalists in PETA’s Sexiest Vegan Next Door contest prove that there’s nothing sexier than making the world a kinder place.”

Voting to help PETA determine which finalists it should select as the winners ends at 12 noon EDT on May 13. The winners—who will be selected based on several factors, including vote count—will be announced on May 20. This is the first year that the contest is gender neutral. See the full contest details here.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.