Sample Talks: Ditching Dairy, Finding Freedom; How to Make a DIY Salad Bar; Sustainable Activism; Self-Care for the Compassionate Soul; How to Transform Exercise into Joyful Movement; Nia Technique Movement Classes

Bio: Allison is a sustainability expert who empowers youth and builds communities. She consults with organizations, businesses, media, and producers to align their actions with values so they can use their work for good and profit to benefit all. Allison cofounded PWR (Plastic Waste Reduction) Coalition, is an award-winning vegan chef, author, cocreator of the Dairy Detox, Nia First Degree Black Belt Instructor, and Mom. AllisonRiversSamson.com/contact

Sample Talks: Food, Mood, and Behavior: Keeping Kids Healthy, Focused, and Learning; Food & The Environment: Teaching Kids the Most Powerful Thing They Can Do to Save the Planet; Diet & Disease: How to Help Your Children Avoid the Most Common Diseases.

Bio: Amie Hamlin has been executive director of the Coalition for Healthy School Food since its founding in 2004. She wrote a NY state legislative resolution for healthy plant-based entrees and nutrition education in schools which passed unanimously in 2004. The Coalition developed recipes and distributed to 25,000 schools nationwide, a middle school Family and Consumer Sciences Cooking Curriculum, a Pre K through second-grade curriculum Food UnEarthed: Uncovering the Truth About Food, and nutrition education resources. Amie consults with schools to help them implement healthy change.

Sample Talks: The Patient with Multiple Risk Factors; Household Nutrition; Plant-Food Literacy; What It Means to Live Vegan

Bio: Ana M. Negrón, M.D., was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Dr. Negrón is a board-certified family physician who has made cooking with patients integral to her practice. She helps people transition to a whole-plant diet, thereby reducing the inflammation which is at the root of most chronic medical conditions. Dr. Negrón volunteers at a clinic for the uninsured and teaches family doctors the role of food in medicine. Her book, Nourishing the Body and Recovering Health: The Positive Science of Food published by Sunstone Press, is an antidote to our reliance on pharmaceuticals.

Sample Talks: Raising Veg Kids; Empowering Kids to Make a Difference; How a Vegan Diet Can Help Kids Better Focus & Function; Being More Effective Vegans; The Ten Commandments to Better Health; Veganism: A Jewish Ideal.

Bio: Andy Mars, PhD is a visionary leader in education. He has been directing totally vegan camps for kids since 1993 and runs vegan K-12 school and enrichment programs. Andy is the director of Veg Kids and of the Kids Make a Difference Foundation as well as the rabbi of Bnai Tov vegan synagogue. His mission is: “Helping make a difference in the lives of kids; helping kids make a difference in life.” vegkids.orgvegancamp.org

Sample Talks: Dynamic Harmlessness for Today’s World; Four Secrets to Healthy Recipes Everyone Loves; Cross-training for Anyone Anywhere; Vegan Cuisine Activism

Bio: Anne Dinshah is vice president of American Vegan Society, a rowing coach, lifelong vegan, third-generation vegetarian, mom to vegan son Clint, and author of Dating Vegans and Healthy Hearty Helpings. She coauthored a kids’ cookbook with her mother Freya Apples, Bean Dip, and Carrot Cake and coauthored Powerful Vegan Messages, with her late father Jay. Anne credits Freya for instilling in her a love of cooking and Jay for a love of speaking to large audiences. americanvegan.org

Sample Talks: Vegan Diets as Evidence-Based Practice; Lifestyle Medicine & the Future of Health Care; Debunking the Top Myths in Nutrition; Plant-Based Diets & Men’s Health; Health Information Literacy: How to Spot Bad Science

Bio: Anthony is a registered dietitian nutritionist, focusing on plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine. He works as a professor at Stockton University in the School of Health Sciences, and teaches courses on human nutrition, therapeutic nutrition, community and public health nutrition, health communication, health literacy, and the medical humanities. In addition, Anthony provides presentations and workshops on nutrition, health, and wellness for a number of different nonprofit organizations throughout NJ.

Sample Talks: Steering Relationships with Nonvegans; Managing Life’s Emotional Challenges as a Vegan Activist; Compassion Fatigue: Support Group for Animal Caregivers & Advocates; Coping with Loss of an Animal Family Member.

Bio: April Lang is an LCSW, SEP psychotherapist in NYC. Part of her practice is devoted to working with animal advocates and people grieving the loss of their animal family members. April is also a humane educator, speaker, and writer. She writes a column, “The Relational Vegan” for the online magazine, La Fashionista Compassionista. She is author of Animal Persuasion: A Guide for Ethical Vegans and Animal Advocates in Managing Life’s Emotional Challenges.

Sample Talks: How I Became a Vegan; Ahimsa and Societal Behavior; How Veganism Impacts the Environment and Sensibilities

Bio: Barata El is a lifelong resident of South Jersey; he became vegan July 1 1991. As a law enforcement officer in the NJ Department of Corrections for twenty-five years, he only met two other vegans in his line of work. Barata has a B.A. in theater arts from Rowan University. He married a beautiful native Jamaican woman in 1988 who is not vegan. They have four children and two grandchildren. Since age fourteen, Barata has been writing universal poetry—poems with which anyone from any culture can identify.

Sample Talks: From Average Joe to Joe Vegan: If I Can Do It, You Can Too; It’s All in the Family: Keeping the Peace when Everyone in the Family is Not Aboard the Vegan Train

Bio: Blake Tumbleson completely changed his diet and his unhealthy life, primarily through a vegetarian—and later a vegan diet—and lost over 50 pounds. Today Blake is a runner, hiker, meditator, and evolving master of his life. He enjoys sharing his story, hoping to motivate others, and delivers inspiration and practical suggestions. His approach is light, informative, and nonjudgmental.

Sample Talks: Unleashing the Power of Plant-based Diets; Deconstructing Keto and Paleo Diets; Kick Diabetes: Unmasking a Metabolic Monster; Cardiovascular Counterattack; Diet and Cancer; Are Meat and Milk Nutritional Necessities?; Plant-based Nutrition during Pregnancy and Lactation; Plant-based Nutrition for Infants, Plant-based Nutrition for Children.

Bio: Brenda is a leader in her field and an award-winning author. She has spoken at medical and nutrition conferences in over 20 countries. She is the lead clinical nutrition specialist for the diabetes intervention project in the Marshall Islands. Brenda is a past chair of the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, recipient of the Plantrician Project’s Luminary Award, and inductee of the Vegetarian/Vegan Hall of Fame.

Sample Talks: Making the Connection: Veganism and Social Justice; Why the World Can’t Wait for You to Go Vegan; Veganism: A Diet, Philosophy or Ethical Choice?

Bio: Brenda Sanders serves as one of the directors of Open the Cages Alliance, an animal advocacy organization for which she organizes a vegan education program, animal rights demonstrations, and family-friendly events promoting the vegan lifestyle including Vegan SoulFest in Baltimore. She’s also the executive director of Better Health, Better Life, a community-health organization for which she conducts lectures, workshops, healthy-living classes, and food demos.

Sample Talks: Whole Foods as Medicine; Tips from a Thirty-Year Vegan; Preparing Vegan Cuisine for Friends or Family; The Science of Being Vegan

Bio: Brook Katz has dedicated his life to the sciences and maintains a logic-and-reason approach to life. He has training in emergency medicine and holistic medicines. Brook uses food as a healing tool and has become a gourmet chef in order to get the messages across. He authored several cookbooks including New Favorites and made videos. Brook feeds vegan food to thousands of people every year absolutely free-of-charge because he feels it’s one of the best and most dramatic ways of convincing people to listen to the rest of the truths.

Sample Talks: Reversing Autoimmune Disease with Supermarket Foods; Reversing Chronic Disease with Supermarket Foods; How I Became Lupus Free; How to Overcome Self Sabotage & Addiction to Unhealthy Eating; Healthy or Unhealthy? The Truth About Fats

Bio: Dr. Goldner is a board-certified medical doctor and the author of three best-selling books. She is a regular contributor to the  T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and  is featured in the Journal of Disease Reversal reversing lupus in herself, as well as multiple case studies in reversing end-stage lupus nephritis (kidney failure) with her hyper-nourishing nutrition protocol. Brooke is the founder of VeganMedicalDoctor.com, GoodbyeLupus.com and creator of the Hyper-nourishing Protocol for Lupus Recovery.

Sample Talks: Learn to Love Food That Loves You Back; The Cancer Diagnosis: Taking Charge of Your Health and Healing

Bio: Caryn Hartglass, a vegan since 1988, combines science with practical knowledge educating about the healing benefits of a plant-based diet. She is co-founder of Responsible Eating And Living (REAL), co-director of nutrition programs at the Food Revolution Network, and editor of the Food Revolution Family Cookbook. She hosts the weekly It’s All About Food show. An ovarian cancer survivor, she’s a contributor to the book 25 Women Who Survived Cancer: Notable Women Share Inspiring Stories of Hope.

Sample Talks: How to Best Help Nonhuman Animals; Mom, Dad, I’m Vegan: Understanding Your Vegan Family Member; Violence or Compassion in the Home and on the Farm

Bio: Casey Taft, PhD is a professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine. He is an internationally recognized clinical researcher in the area of violence prevention and has published over one hundred journal articles, book chapters, and scientific reports. He is also co-owner of Vegan Publishers, a vegan-themed publishing company, and sees the prevention of violence towards nonhuman animals as a natural extension of his interpersonal violence work. He is the author of Motivational Methods for Vegan Advocacy.

Sample Talks: Eat Up, Slim Down, and Get Healthy; Overcoming Your Weight Obstacles; Seven C’s to Success; How to Eat Healthfully Anywhere; How to Deal with Cravings and Food Addictions.

Bio: Chef AJ is host of the television series Healthy Living with Chef AJ airing on Foody TV. A chef and culinary instructor, she is author of The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss and Own Your Health. Chef AJ is the creator of the Ultimate Weight Loss Program. She is a former executive pastry chef that was famous for her sugar-, oil-, salt-, and gluten-free desserts. In 2018 she was inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame. She also does cooking demos, iron chefs, and hosting. ChefAJWebsite.com