Kara has worked with children for over 9 years, having started in childcare when she left high school and is now involved in child protection. In 2019, Kara saw the Dominion anniversary action on TV and was intrigued why they were protesting, so she watched Dominion. She could only get through the first ten minutes of the documentary, finding out about how animals are legally treated in Australia and knew she had been lied to. Following Dominion, Kara continued to look into how her food was prod...
Jul 11, 2022•38 min
Livai lives and breathes basketball, having played since he was ten years old. His parents encouraged him to play a number of sports growing up, but basketball always stuck. Livai has played for a number of teams over the years and currently is a member of Melbourne Tigers (NBL1). Livai is equally passionate about sharing his skills and investing in youth participation, so he started a basketball coaching business with a friend in late 2019. A new path developed for Livai during COVID19, when he...
Jul 04, 2022•39 min
Pam's admiration for animals developed at an early age when she helped rescue, rehabilitate and rehome cats and dogs. Pam always dreamt of having a horse. She started by joining a local pony club, then soon got a horse and became a successful equestrian competing around Australia. Pam's relationship with horses led her to have a greater understanding of large animal behaviour. Pam hung up her boots to champion the cause of animals. She became involved in campaigns calling for an end to animal te...
Jun 27, 2022•51 min
Leif, Founder of The Orangutan Project, has been working with orangutans for over 30 years. Leif started his career in zoo keeping when the industry had less rules around interacting with animals. He recalls being able to sit and enjoy his lunch with orangutans, as well as playing with the baby orangutans while sitting with their mothers. Leif has been a key player in the development of conservation plans for orangutans, including the first ever successful reintroduction of Tamara, a zoo-born or...
Jun 20, 2022•57 min
Lauryn, also known as Vegan Yoga Momma, is married with 2 sons and transitioned her whole family to a vegan lifestyle two years ago. Lauryn is a Clinical Therapist, providing mental health therapy and counselling, as well as leads a grief and loss support group. In 2019, Lauryn went vegetarian after watching The Game Changers and What The Health. A few things culminated in Lauryn's life, she went to Yoga teaching training and read Yoga and Veganism by Sharon Gannon. Lauryn started making the con...
Jun 13, 2022•44 min
Sarah is a chemical engineer by trade and worked in the corporate world for a few years, before deciding to work on something more morally and ethically aligned - Compassion Creamery. Sarah founded Compassion Creamery after having many people ask her for a good vegan cheese recommendation and hearing people rave about their morning oat milk latte. Sarah has created the world's first oat creme cheese, made from 100% Australian grown oats. The ethos of the brand is compassion for animals, the worl...
Jun 06, 2022•42 min
Chris, also known as The Vegan Sheepdog, grew up hunting and fishing and drank a gallon of milk a day throughout high school. Chris' wife fell in love with a cow called Dudley, who she was following online. She began to feel like a hypocrite as she loved Dudley, but would feed other cows to their family at the dinner table, so she decided to give up meat. Chris was supportive of his wife's choice to go vegetarian, however he told her not to expect him to do the same. Chris planned a surprise vis...
May 30, 2022•32 min
Olivia is PETA Asia's Senior Activist Liaison and Co-Founder of Dolphin Freedom Fighters. Olivia went vegetarian at age thirteen but was closed off to learning about veganism until she knew she couldn't hold off any longer. Olivia knew she always wanted to be an animal activist, so after going vegan six years ago, she became involved in local activism opportunities. Olivia went to an Animal Liberation Victoria workshop and learnt how to photograph and video animals. She heard an Investigator spe...
May 16, 2022•53 min
Lara is the Co-Founder of VEats and is extremely passionate about her life, the business she is building, raising children and self development. Five years ago, Lara was busy running multiple businesses and wasn’t taking care of her health. She decided to watch the documentary “What the Health” and it changed her life. The documentary challenged Lara’s food habits in a way she could no longer ignore and at the end of watching the film, she went plantbased on the spot! Lara was not only dedicated...
May 09, 2022•27 min
Dan was born in North Shore, Sydney and was very sick for the first year of his life. He grew up in a fractured household and moved around a lot as a child, teaching Dan to be extremely self reliant. Dan had kids early in life, however he and his wife separated a few years ago. Dan met his now fiancé Tayla a little over a year ago after matching with her on a dating app. They went on their first date and Tayla suggested watching movies; she chose Seaspiracy and Cowspiracy! Dan found the footage ...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Bronwyn moved around alot as a child as her father was an army officer, so they lived across Australia and overseas. Moving often gave Bron the opportunity to become resilient and self reliant, with animals being her constant companions. Having seen some of the horrible things that go on in the world, Bron became aware from a young age that there are animals and people in the world who need our help. Bron witnessed her father and brother hunting and as a result, she was vegetarian for most of he...
Apr 18, 2022•49 min
Tony is the Co-Founder of vegan clothing and footwear brand Noskin, podcast host of "Producing with Purpose" as well as a coach working with purpose driven businesses. Tony went vegetarian at twelve years old because he loved animals. Six years later, when he made the cognitive association between animal products such as eggs and dairy and animal suffering, he went vegan. During this period, he also played in a punk band which had close ties to social and vegan movements. Tony became involved in...
Apr 11, 2022•34 min
Richard Oglesby, known as Trikky Oges to his friends, spent most of his life working in industries that exploited animals, until he started a job at Edgar's Mission, which changed his whole life. Trikky began his career in shearing sheds across outback Australia when he was 20 years old. He was a zoo keeper at Adelaide Zoo for seven years and recalls the boredom animals in captivity experienced. Trikky then became a groom at a top cattle stud in Victoria and later a contractor at equestrian cent...
Apr 04, 2022•32 min
Liz Douglas grew up in regional Victoria, but now enjoys the Melbourne vegan lifestyle with her husband Steve and cat Sooki. Liz describes herself as a vegan foodie, having created "Vegan Diaries" on social media after going vegan three years ago. Liz created her platform to connect with like minded people and prove that she could be vegan and still enjoy amazing food. Liz describes herself as a confident cook who loves cooking easy, humble, hearty and nutritious meals. Not only does Liz create ...
Mar 28, 2022•42 min
Luke is married to Aimee and they have a two year old son Wolfgang. He is the Founder of The Vegan Alliance, straightedge and an advocate for men's mental health. Luke went vegan over 25 years ago, when he was only 17. He has always loved punk and hardcore bands which introduced him to straightedge culture. After listening to Earth Crisis who sing about animal liberation, Luke started learning veganism and adopted a straightedge lifestyle. Luke created The Vegan Alliance six years ago, as he wan...
Mar 21, 2022•48 min
Edel Sanders grew up in America, but later moved to Prague while completing her doctoral degree. She is the Dean of Psychology, at the University of New York and has enjoyed the history, culture, people and food in Prague for over ten years. Edel had a number of health problems during her teenage years and when she moved to New York, she saw a nutritionist. On his advice, Edel gave up dairy and then removed all animal products shortly afterward. After becoming vegan, her health improved dramatic...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 17 min
Alex Sarandis grew up in a tightknit Greek family, in the western suburbs of Melbourne. Alex ate a relatively omnivorous diet throughout her teenage years, however she remembers disliking the taste and texture of meat from a young age. In her mid twenties, Alex questioned why she was forcing herself to eat meat and from that point, she started removing animal products from her diet. Shortly after, Alex and her brother Jonathan watched Gary Yourofsky videos and made the decision to go vegan. Alex...
Mar 07, 2022•54 min
Yasmine is a vegan chiropractor, living in Adelaide with her partner and 5 fur babies. From a young age, Yasmine remembers her family being treated by a chiropractor and being impressed by their ability to help everyone. She was adamant that she would study to be a Chiropractor when she grew up. After studying for 5 years in Melbourne and graduating as a Doctor (Chiropractic), Yasmine not only treats her clients ailments, but she also provides information about the benefits of a vegan/plant base...
Feb 28, 2022•1 hr 2 min
In this episode, I speak to Michelle the Co-Founder of Happily Heifer After, a sanctuary on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Michelle is Canadian and moved to Australia at age 19. She was a scuba diver instructor for seven years, having a passion for ocean life and the environment. Michelle then studied to be a vet nurse, but it wasn't long after working at a vet clinic, she realised it wasn't for her. Michelle found her passion when she started Happily Heifer After sanctuary in 2019 and admits i...
Feb 21, 2022•27 min
Damien grew up on the east coast of Australia, spending most of his life between Melbourne and Sydney. Some would say he lived in the ocean, enjoying free diving and scuba diving. Damien had the opportunity of turning his passion into a career with the Australian Navy, when he became a Naval Clearance Diver. He later served with the Special Operations unit of the Australian Army, an elite brotherhood that thrived on having a mission and purpose. After nine years in the military, Damien knew it w...
Feb 07, 2022•55 min
Alex Buck is an ironman athlete, lead singer in a punk rock band, addiction recovery coach and a passionate animal rights activist. Alex grew up in California, just outside of Los Angeles. Much of Alex's childhood was filled with auditions and photoshoots, kickstarted by his first acting job at 10 months old. Music became a focal point during his late teenage years, exposing Alex to the straightedge and vegan lifestyle. Alex developed negative lifestyle habits as a result of his involvement in m...
Dec 27, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Tui is a CrossFit athlete, online fitness coach and vegan of six years. She never felt at home in Finland and dreamt of living in a tropical paradise, so five years ago she moved to Bali. During her university study, Tui found herself scrolling through Facebook and came across a video of slaughterhouse footage. She was shocked and knew she needed to learn more, so she began watching documentaries. Tui knew that her actions were not aligning with her values and she no longer wanted to support the...
Dec 20, 2021•31 min
Izzy is the Founder of Animals First on the Second, as well as a personal trainer, nutritional coach and animal activist. Izzy's vegan journey began almost eight years ago when he was bed ridden following a range of injuries and minor surgeries, leaving him with a physical disability. Izzy wanted to rehabilitate himself and find a way out of his poor health, so he started conducting his own research. He came across a range of documentaries and ended up spending a whole weekend watching documenta...
Dec 13, 2021•41 min
Ayanthi De Silva is a psychologist and animal rights activist based in New South Wales. Ayanthi believes there were many seeds planted over the years that eventually resulted in her going vegan. She remembers doing a school assignment in year nine about animal cruelty and going vegetarian after viewing a report on Australian cattle being exported to Egypt. During her psychology degree, Ayanthi wrote an essay on animal liberation and then started attending Animal Liberation NSW meetings. In 2018,...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Jess Bailey is the founder of the Vegan Grocery Store (previously known as the Cruelty Free Shop). Jess created the business over 20 years ago, not long after going vegan, because she realised she couldn't find the types of foods she wanted to eat. The store started as more of a hobby, with Jess storing products in a cupboard at home. After seven years, the business had taken over her house, so she opened her first shop in Glebe (Sydney). The business has a strong focus on educating people about...
Nov 29, 2021•31 min
Catriona Marshall is studying film and photography at university and is an animal rights activist. At fifteen years old, Catriona watched Earthlings and was upset that she hadn't been aware of what happens to animals before watching. After this, she began reading articles and watching videos to learn more about the animal agricultural industry and became vegan. Catriona's interest in photography began in year 9. It wasn't long before she became known for always taking her camera to family and so...
Nov 22, 2021•36 min
Meg Watkins has lived in Geelong and the Surf Coast her entire life. Meg has a hospitality background, deep passion for travel and enjoys yoga, surfing and cooking. Meg wanted to go vegetarian as a child when she learnt that food contained animals, however her parents wouldn't allow her at such a young age. Meg managed to convince her parents to go vegetarian at age 14. In 2018, Meg went to see the screening of Dominion and has been vegan ever since. Meg explored the world in her late teens and ...
Nov 15, 2021•26 min
Zoe Cordeiro's favourite movie growing up was Charlotte's Web, she fell in love with Wilbur and would watch in hope that he wouldn't be sent to the slaughterhouse. Zoe would then sit down to a meal containing animals, just like those in her childhood favourite movie. Being a teenager, Zoe had been concerned about being different so she didn't act on her love for animals, until she met someone who had gone plant based for a month and realised it was possible. Zoe has been vegan for seven years an...
Nov 08, 2021•28 min
Naomi Harlow works in child protection, as well as being a model, mental health advocate and animal activist. Naomi went vegan six months ago after recognising she had been avoiding watching Cowspiracy, because she was trying to ignore the truth. Naomi quickly realised if she couldn't watch what happens to animals in the agricultural industry, then she needed to live in alignment and go vegan. Naomi went to Brook Farm Animal Sanctuary a few months after going vegan and formed bonds with the sanc...
Nov 01, 2021•58 min
Meg Odgers is a Clinical Psychologist, Jivamukti Yoga teacher and vegan activist. Meg, a self proclaimed health nut, went vegan overnight when her vegan friend lent her a Forks Over Knives DVD eight years ago. Meg learned how to be a critical thinker at university, so she found The China Study research too compelling to ignore. Six months after becoming vegan, Meg walked into a local Jivamukti Yoga studio and knew she had found her community after hearing the teachers speak about yoga and vegani...
Oct 25, 2021•50 min
