In addition to her keyboard performance career, Dr. Kong is also recognized as a leading international advocate for veganism, the environment, and greater compassion for our kindred animals. She has spoken around the world about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle, including appearances at numerous conferences, veg fests, and universities including New York University, Rice University, Tufts University, MIT, the University of Southern California, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University and many others.
Her highly-praised TEDx talk, “The Power of Plant-Based Eating,” has over 1 million views on YouTube and is placed on numerous websites internationally. Kong is the author of If You’ve Ever Loved an Animal, Go Vegan, is profiled in Legends of Change about vegan women changing the world, and she is editor of the highly-praised 2021 book, Vegan Voices: Essays by Inspiring Changemakers, released by Lantern Publishing & Media. Dr. Kong appears in the major documentary Eating Our Way to Extinction narrated by Kate Winslet and will appear in the new film, Taking Note, about vegan musicians. She produced the powerful video, An Urgent Plea for Healing: Cherish All Animals, and is a Sustainability Leadership Award recipient at the University of Richmond.
Kong uses the power of music to raise awareness and motivate others to reach a deeper level of understanding and compassion for the natural world and all beings. With a unique combination of skills as musician, writer and speaker, she is a regular participant in the Compassion Arts Festival, presented a critically-praised multi-media presentation, “The Act of Courageous Compassion That Can Heal Our World,” at the North American Vegan Society’s 2019 Summerfest, and in 2018 travelled on a 10-city concert and speaking tour of India. She collaborates with vegan musicians including baritone Bulent Guneralp, and cellist Christoph Wagner in a duo known as Vegan Virtuosi.