Kayla Worden
Asheville North Carolina Campaign Coordinator
KaylaW@MercyForAnimals.org

Kayla Worden serves as Mercy For Animals' Asheville North Carolina Campaign Coordinator - organizing local events, campaigns and coordinating volunteers.

Having grown up on a small farm in northwest Pennsylvania, Kayla befriended many of the farmed animals around her. It was during this time she formed a great sense of compassion for animals. This inspired her to move toward vegetarianism at the age of twelve.

In 1988, Kayla moved to Asheville and a year later became a vegan after receiving information in the mail about cruelty to animals on factory farms and in slaughterhouses. In 1990, she formed an animal rights group in Asheville, organizing various grassroots outreach events and campaigns.

Kayla graduated suma cum laude from University of North Carolina - Asheville with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology. She is also a trained actress with a long list of credits in a variety of venues on stage as well as on tv and in films. In fact, she was recently featured in a documentary film entitled, Cause, produced by Mirame Films which focused on her animal rights activism.

Kayla has worked as a campaign coordinator for an international animal rights organization which has taken her work abroad as well as in the United States. Today, she continues to consult for them. She lives in her mountain home with her rescued dogs, Lindsay and Jasper, who are vegan, and several rescued cats. A heartfelt dream of hers is to operate a farmed animal sanctuary on her property.