Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE), and is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement, which works to create a humane, peaceful, healthy and just world for all people, animals, and the environment through education. Zoe created IHE’s M.Ed., M.A., and graduate certificate programs as well as IHE’s acclaimed humane education and MOGO (most good) workshops and online courses.

Zoe is the author of Nautilus Silver Medal winner, Most Good, Least Harm: The Simple Principle for a Better World and a Meaningful Life (2009), The Power and Promise of Humane Education (2004), and Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times (2003). She has also written books for young people, including Moonbeam Gold Medal winner, Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs (2007), about 12-year-old activists inspired by an eccentric substitute teacher to right wrongs where they find them, and So, You Love Animals: An Action-Packed, Fun-Filled Book to Help Kids Help Animals (1994). She has written numerous articles on humane education and humane living and has appeared frequently on radio and television. In 2012, she and her work were featured in Forbes magazine online.

In 2010, Zoe gave her first TEDx talk “The World Becomes What You Teach” which became among the 50 top-rated of more than 12,000 TEDx talks. Since then she has given three other TEDx talks including “Solutionaries,”  “Educating for Freedom,”  and “How to Be a Solutionary.”

Zoe speaks regularly at universities, conferences, schools, and in communities across the United States and Canada and periodically overseas. She has also served as a consultant on humane education to people and organizations around the world, and serves on the board of directors of HEART.

In 2012 Zoe debuted her 1-woman show, “My Ongoing Problems with Kindness: Confessions of MOGO Girl,” and now brings humane issues to communities through entertainment.

In 2010, Zoe was inducted into the Animal Rights Hall of Fame, and in 2012 she was honored with the Women in Environmental Leadership award at Unity College. In 2012, her portrait was painted by Robert Shetterly for the Americans Who Tell The Truth portrait series.

Zoe received a Master’s in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School (1988) and a Master’s in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania (1983). She is certified in Psychosynthesis counseling, a form of psychotherapy which relies upon the intrinsic power of each person’s imagination to promote growth, creativity, health, and transformation.

Zoe blogs regularly at www.HumaneEducation.org and www.zoeweil.com and periodically for sites like Care2.com,, One Green Planet, and Common Dreams. Follow her on Twitter at @ZoeWeil and become her friend on Facebook.