Mission

Voters For Animal Rights’ mission is to help elect candidates who support animal protection, lobby for strong laws to stop animal cruelty, and hold elected officials accountable to humane voters.

We work to gain legally enforceable fundamental rights for animals by codifying animal rights into law. VFAR focuses exclusively on political advocacy for animals in New York. We mobilize voters and organize lobbying efforts to amplify the voices of animals. Through the political process, we are building a coalition of advocates seeking to strike at the root cause of animal abuse and cruelty, which is a lack of fundamental rights and laws to protect them. Check out our 2026 legislative policy and budget agenda here.

We founded this organization because there is a dire need for a multi-issue political advocacy group specifically for animal protection in New York. Filling this need is especially crucial in the current political climate. If we want to stop the endless cycle of cruelty to animals, we need to change our laws to protect them in the first place — or we’ll just keep chasing our tail. (Pun intended) And to do that, we need to elect compassionate people, train animal advocates to run for office, and organize humane voters.

In the pursuit of our mission, VFAR supports diversity, equity, and inclusion of BIPOC persons (Black, indigenous, and persons of color), the LGBTQIA+ community, and gender identity equality.

Our Team

Leadership

• 
  Julie
  CappielloPresident, Board of Directors

  Julie is a vegan and animal activist focusing on urging fellow activists to get involved in their local communities. As a descendent of former circus-owners, animal “trainers”, and circus aerialists, Julie spends her days working for animal-free circuses and helping animals (ab)used for entertainment.

  As an experienced global communications manager, Julie has worked on political campaigns for animal rights, animals in entertainment campaigns, and farmed animal campaigns for nearly a decade. Julie is the co-founder and former vice president of Long Island Orchestrating for Nature (LION), former campaign organizer for banning horse carriages, district leader for The Humane Society of the United States, and former social media manager, current board member, and social media advisor for CompassionWorks International. She is currently the global content manager for Mercy For Animals, overseeing MFA’s United States Facebook page and international social media staff.

  Julie is excited to be a part of Voters For Animal Rights because motivating the animal rights voting bloc means more laws for protecting animals. It’s time politicians knew how powerful the animal rights movement can be.

  You can find her at local vegan restaurants, protests or cuddling with rescue cats Stripes, Sam, Sawyer, and rescue dog, Bella.

• 
  Michelle
  AptmanTreasurer, Board of Directors

  Michelle is a professional art director and graphic designer in NYC and she combines those skills with her passion for animal advocacy by leading the visual communications for Voters For Animal Rights. She learned early on in her activism how important it is to put strong laws in place to truly protect animals and to help them get the rights that they deserve. She is thrilled to help launch Voters For Animal Rights and looks forward to giving our animal friends a much-needed voice while engaging other caring voters to do the same. She is a long-time volunteer and advisor at Animal Haven shelter and has been a foster Mom to many needy dogs and cats. Helping heal puppy mill survivors holds a special place in her heart. Additionally, she has spent time volunteering with Farm Sanctuary, ASPCA, Rational Animal and the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals.

• 
  Suriya
  KhanMember, Board of Directors

  Suriya Khan is a lifelong animal and social justice advocate, born in Brooklyn and shaped by more than five decades of commitment to animals, vulnerable communities, and systemic accountability. A lifelong New Yorker at heart, she has also lived in California and Connecticut and brings a cross-sector background in pharmaceutical specialty work, nonprofit fundraising, food insecurity, public policy, and advocacy for justice-impacted communities.

  Suriya earned her B.S. from St. John’s University and her Master’s in Public Policy from Vermont Law and Graduate School, with a focus on animal protection law and systems change.

  She has also served as executive producer on three documentary films focused on animal liberation and the environment, helping support public storytelling that challenges systems of exploitation and invites deeper accountability.

  Suriya also serves as an advisor and consultant to the Fair Start Movement, where her work focuses on exposing false public claims of responsibility, sustainability, and benefit when those claims depend on excluding harms to animals, future generations, vulnerable communities, and the environment.

  Her advocacy is grounded in the belief that animal protection is inseparable from democracy, truth, public integrity, and justice. Brooklyn remains her home in spirit, and her work is driven by a lifelong commitment to ending institutionalized animal exploitation.

• 
  Mian
  OsumiAdvocacy & Policy Manager

  Mian’s Bio Here.

Advisors

• 
  Jabari
  Brisport

  NYS Senator Jabari Brisport represents Brooklyn’s 25th senate district.

  Jabari is a 3rd-generation Caribbean-American from Prospect Heights. He has spent his life working with and for his neighbors as both an activist and educator. Whether it is working with his students as a public school teacher, advocating for teachers and students with his union, or organizing his neighbors to fight for progressive legislation, he has always fought for his community. Jabari’s experiences as a queer, black, public school teacher, union member, and child of immigrants, have shaped his drive to make his community and all New York communities more just and equitable. He wants to fight to provide a home for every New Yorker, to guarantee quality healthcare to all, and to empower workers.

  At NYU, he was a founding member of The Glass Theater Company, an anti-gentrification theater group that railed against the NYU takeover of real estate in the Village. At the Yale School of Drama, he devised the piece Derivatives, which tackled growing income inequality. Through that piece, he was able to sign up over 100 people to the micro-loan website Kiva. After Yale, he joined the anti-racist artist collective Artists for Change, which held marches, protests, and online petitions to address the crisis of police violence. And for the past seven years, he’s performed with the political comedy theater group Political Subversities. He’s spent the past ten years making political theater and marching in the streets. Jabari has been vegan for over six years.

• 
  Cynthia
  King

  Cynthia King is the Founder and Artistic Director of Cynthia King Dance Studio (CKDS) located in Brooklyn, New York. CKDS has been a vital part of Brooklyn’s rich dance culture for nearly 2 decades. In 2014 Ms. King opened her new studio and performance space in Flatbush.

  CKDS and Ms. King herself are staples in the community, having received numerous citations for her outstanding leadership in the arts, business, and community activism. In 2015, she received the prestigious Boston Conservatory Distinguished Alumni Award and in 2019 a Compassionate Business Award from Peta.

  Ms. King has lobbied, organized, and served as advisor and board member for many political, dance, and animal advocacy organizations, including the Coalition for Healthy School Food and she has been a featured speaker at conferences and events. CKDS has been a sponsor of the groundbreaking BlackVegFest since its inception in 2018. Her dedication is also evident in her deeply personal choreography, and recent work explores issues of freedom versus captivity in the animal and human worlds.

  In the fall of 2015, Ms. King established the Cynthia King Humane Artist Scholarship, awarded to an incoming Boston Conservatory student who embodies compassionate and cruelty-free living.

  Ms. King lives in Brooklyn with her family – both two and four legged.

• 
  Stewart
  Mitchell

  Stewart Mitchell is a native of Brooklyn, NY. He is a father to two children and two rescue cats. Stewart is a self-published author of four books including Kayla The Vegan and Liberation Summer. He has also been published in Gotham Gazette. He is the founder of V.O.I.C.E.4Change, a human rights/animal rights advocacy group that centers activism around performing arts.

• 
  Libby
  Post

  Libby Post is the Executive Director of the New York State Animal Protection Federation. She has grown the organization seven fold since starting with the Fed in November of 2013. Among her accomplishments the establishment of the Companion Animal Capital Fund, a state program providing $5 million annually to shelters for capital projects.

  A political consultant and a lobbyist, Post is president/CEO of Communication Services and the Managing Partner of Progressive Elections. She has worked on scores of political campaigns with a specialty in judicial races. She has served as President of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society located just outside of Albany, NY.

• 
  Sherry
  Ramsey, Esq. Legislative Consultant

  Sherry Ramsey is a licensed attorney in New York, New Jersey and Virginia. For the last 15 years, she has worked almost exclusively on animal related legal issues. Ms. Ramsey has worked with several animal welfare organizations including the Humane Society of the United States as their Director of Animal Cruelty Prosecutions. Ms. Ramsey previously served as an Assistant Prosecutor in New Jersey and also worked in private practice where she focused on animal law. She has spoken around the country at numerous prosecutorial and judicial conferences, as well as presenting seminars to the FBI, the Army JAG School and the United States Department of Justice on animal cruelty crimes. She has served on the faculty of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys as a member of their Animal Cruelty Advisory Committee as well as the National Coalition on Violence Against Animals in cooperation with the National Sheriffs’ Association. She has served as Chair of the Animal Law Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association and as a member of the New York State Bar Committee on Animals, as well as the New York City Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee. Ms. Ramsey has written numerous articles on prosecuting animal cruelty for legal and judicial publications, as well as articles for the United States Department of Justice website and also for the U.S Army magazine, Army Lawyer.

  Ms. Ramsey was appointed by Governor McGreevey to be part of the Governor’s Animal Welfare Task Force, by Governor Corzine as a member of his Environmental Policy Transition Task Force and by Governor Christie to serve as a member of the Domestic Companion Animal Council.

  Ms. Ramsey has served as an adjunct professor teaching Animal Law at New York Law School, CUNY Law School and most recently at Seton Hall Law.

• 
  Allie
  Taylor (Feldman)Founder, Board Emeritus

  Allie is the founder and past president of Voters For Animal Rights (VFAR), New York’s leading political animal advocacy organization. Since founding VFAR in 2016, she built the organization into a political force for animals by developing an electoral program that interviews and endorses candidates for New York City, New York State, and federal office every election cycle, helping elect hundreds of pro-animal candidates.

  She has led the passage of numerous landmark animal protection laws and budget initiatives, including:

  • Passed Local Law 138-2017 prohibiting the use of wild animals in circuses
  • Passed Local Law 202-2019 prohibiting the sale of foie gras from force-fed ducks and geese
  • Passed Local Law 201-2019 prohibiting the trafficking of wild birds
  • Passed Local Law 54-2023 prohibiting the sale of guinea pigs in pet stores
  • Passed Local Law 132-2024 prohibiting the sale of animals from residences
  • Passed S.7421B / A.8043C prohibiting industrial octopus farming
  • Secured $2 million in New York City funding for affordable spay/neuter services and pet food pantries

  Prior to founding VFAR, Allie led the campaign to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City. She also managed the successful “Anybody But Quinn” campaign, which helped defeat an anti-animal candidate for mayor and brought animal rights into mainstream New York City politics for the first time.

  Her previous experience includes working for the New York State Senate, Obama for America, and the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate. She was named to the New York Observer’s Political Power 80 and City & State’s 40 Under 40.

  Allie is a graduate of Florida State University and the mother of two young children. She lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where she volunteers as a trap-neuter-return (TNR) rescuer and cares for several rescued cats.

Media

For press inquiries, please contact Julie Cappiello at 516-509-8631 (cell) or julie@vfar.org.