Tommy Sonnen
Tommy Sonnen is co-founder of Rowdy Girl Sanctuary and is a multi-generational Texas cattle rancher who retired from Dow Chemical in 2014. After more than 30 years on the job, Tommy was ready to get back to his roots and revive the ranching legacy of his great-grandfather. When his wife Renee went vegan and bought the herd, his life changed forever. Six months later, Tommy went vegan and became co-founder of Rowdy Girl Sanctuary.
Until he was about 57 years old, Tommy ate a Standard American Diet and it showed. He was overweight and tired. His doctor pressured him to take statins for cholesterol control. When Reneé went vegan in the fall of 2014, Tommy thought she was crazy, but after learning about veganism and thinking about his father who had died of a heart attack at the age of 62, Tommy knew that his unhealthy lifestyle was not sustainable. He became a full-fledged vegan on May 2, 2015 with the discovery of So Delicious™ ice cream and Follow your Heart™ cheese.
Tommy has shifted his expertise on herd longevity and high quality pastures for the care and nutrition for large bovine populations from cattle ranching to caregiving. He has created a veganic farm at the sanctuary to feed the animals, staff and neighbors.
Tommy loves to hunt… but now he hunts for historical relics and arrowheads. Tommy is a long time, avid and accomplished metal detector and enjoys walking the land with the herd looking for amazing finds.
Tommy is vegan for his health, the environment, and the animals. He’s still amazed that people like their animal products, but don’t want to know the dirty details of what factory farming has become. “It’s just not sustainable, even if you don’t care about the horrors of factory farming!”
