In this episode I interview Clare Mann, a vegan psychologist and communications trainer from Communicate31 in Sydney, Australia. Clare consults with a range of clients all over the world to enhance their communication mastery. She runs public and in-house training programs for corporations, large SMEs and non-profit organizations in communication, team-building and ethical leadership, and is editor-in-chief of the digital business magazine Ethical Futures: Conversations that Matter, which champi...
Jan 29, 2017•1 hr 6 min
In this episode I interview Tracye McQuirter, a public health nutritionist and plant-based educator in Washington DC. Tracye is a real trailblazer. A vegan of 30 years, she co-created the first vegan website by and for African Americans nearly 20 years ago with her sister, historian Marya McQuirter. She directed the country’s first federally funded and community-based vegan nutrition program, the Vegetarian Society of DC Eat Smart Program, launched with funding from the US Department of Health a...
Jan 21, 2017•54 min
In this episode I interview Doron Petersan, founder of Sticky Fingers bakery and café, and the newly launched Fare Well diner in Washington DC. Doron started Sticky Fingers in 1999 in her home kitchen before moving to a small basement storefront where she teamed up with Kirsten Rosenberg to create a vegan baking empire that included a chain of stores in South Korea. After Kirsten moved on to pursue her other passion of music, Doron went on to win the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars twice and expande...
Jan 14, 2017•53 min
In this episode I interview Stephanie Redcross from marketing and training consultancy Vegan Mainstream in Florida. Stephanie is a pioneer in providing services to vegan business owners. She started Vegan Mainstream in 2009 after leaving the corporate world where she worked for many years for Fortune 500 companies such as GE so she could meld her passion for entrepreneurship with her love for the vegan lifestyle. She formed many of the vegan professional groups on Facebook, Google Plus and Linke...
Jan 07, 2017•1 hr 8 min
In this episode I interview Susan Carskadon, a natural food and products consultant in Denver, Colorado. For decades, Susan has been identifying innovations and categories ahead of trend while creating demand and effective streams of commerce for numerous companies in the natural and organic industries. Over the past 35 years Susan has been instrumental in advancing many consumer products and new concepts. This included spearheading consumer acceptance of Tetra Pak in North America in 1985, whic...
Dec 18, 2016•1 hr 5 min
In this episode I interview Eugene Wang, founder of Sophie’s Kitchen vegan seafood company in Sebastopol, California. Eugene started the business in 2010 in response to his daughter Sophie’s severe allergic reaction to shellfish, along with learning about the devastating impact of overfishing. Currently available in more than 2m000 retailers across the US and Canada, Sophie’s Kitchen products are unique in that they use konjac (also known as elephant yam) to create the seafood taste, are soy-fre...
Dec 10, 2016•1 hr 2 min
In this episode I interview Chef AJ, an educator on plant-based eating and living. An ethical vegan for almost 40 years, AJ is driven by her passion to end animal exploitation and consumption. With a background in comedy, she has appeared on several high-profile popular TV shows including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman. A chef, culinary instructor and professional speaker, AJ is author of the popular book Unprocessed...
Dec 03, 2016•56 min
In this episode I interview Meg and Komie Vora from fashion brand Delikate Rayne in Los Angeles. The sisters grew up with a cruelty-free ethic – their father was raised Jain and their mother Hindi – and they’ve never eaten meat. As they searched for an animal-friendly wardrobe, they identified a gap in the market for high-quality vegan, ethically manufactured, sustainable clothing in the contemporary space and launched Delikate Rayne in December 2013. As the first generation of their family to b...
Nov 26, 2016•57 min
In this episode I interview Cale Drouin from Plant Based Foods, a distribution company in Brisbane, Australia. With a background in sales, Cale has worked for variety of organizations. He ran a vegan café and grocery store for three years, before moving into distribution three years ago. Through Plant Based Foods he imports US products including Gardein, Tofurky and Match Meats, as well as working with local Australian brands such as Herbisaurus to get them into retailers. In this interview, Cal...
Nov 20, 2016•1 hr 4 min
In this episode I interview Kristin Lajeunesse, freelance marketing consultant, owner of Kale Media and founder of Will Travel for Vegan Food. After graduating from Emerson College with a Master’s Degree in Integrated Marketing Communication, Kristin landed a dream 9-5 office job with an animal rights non-profit organization in Boston. In 2011 she felt herself drawn to an entrepreneurism and launched various businesses including Vegan Weddings (which she recently sold) and Kale Media, while stil...
Nov 12, 2016•1 hr 3 min
In this episode I interview Nicole Sopko and Dan Staackmann from Upton’s Naturals, an independently-owned natural foods company in Chicago that creates meat alternatives using simple, recognizable ingredients. Dan founded the company in 2005, pioneering flavored, wheat-based seitan. Nicole, his life partner, who also owns two yoga studios, came on board in 2010 and now serves as vice-president. The business started off small, operating out of a shared kitchen, and has grown to the point where it...
Nov 06, 2016•1 hr 2 min
In this episode, I interview Leigh-Chantelle from Epicentre Equilibrium, a social media and content creation specialist from Brisbane, Australia. Leigh-Chantelle has run the online vegan community Viva la Vegan! since 2005, bringing positive education, information and vegan outreach to a worldwide audience through her blogs and videos. She’s the author of several books including Expert Tips from Vegan Athletes, Fitness Fanatics & Exercise Enthusiasts; There's a Vegan in the Kitchen: Viva la ...
Oct 29, 2016•1 hr 12 min
In this episode I interview Allison Rivers Samson, founder of Allison’s Gourmet, the first online vegan bakery in the US, established in 1997, and now co-creator of The Dairy Detox online wellness program. Allison – aka the Maven of Mmm – is a born entrepreneur, buying her first business at the age of 17. She grew Allison’s Gourmet to the point where it was featured in high-profile media including the Wall Street Journal and delivered her treats to some of Hollywood’s most prestigious addresses....
Oct 21, 2016•1 hr 7 min
In this episode I interview Elizabeth Olsen, founder of Olsenhaus Pure Vegan, a footwear company that was launched in New York in 2008. Just two years later in 2010, the line was sold in 16 countries in prominent retailers including Barneys and Nordstrom as well as eco-boutique stores. Both the brand and Elizabeth have been featured in a ton of high-profile media including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Olsenhaus shoes have captured the attention of celebrities including Emily Desch...
Oct 15, 2016•1 hr 7 min
In this episode I interview Eric Lindstrom from ThankTank Creative, a consulting, design, and marketing agency in New York. Eric has more than 20 years of experience as a senior-level administrator, entrepreneur, and consultant in communications, marketing, brand management, and design for various organizations across several industries including higher education, government, facilities, financial, retail, and entertainment, picking up a slew of awards along the way. In 2014 he founded ThankTank...
Oct 08, 2016•1 hr 13 min
In this episode I interview Liza Braude-Glidden, co-founder and Executive Vice President of Culture and Sustainability at Beanfields Snacks in Los Angeles, which produces bean and rice chips. Beanfields is a family-owned business that was founded in 2011 by Reed Glidden, along with Liza, his wife, and Reed’s brother, Roy Glidden with the aim of creating delicious, plant-based, non-GMO snacks, with beans as the primary ingredient. The company’s products are sold across the US, Canada, Australia a...
Oct 01, 2016•1 hr 11 min
In this episode I interview Jessica Bailey from The Cruelty Free Shop in Sydney, Australia, a speciality retail and online store carrying more than 1,500 vegan products, ranging from food and skincare to fashion, books and accessories. Jessica started the business as an online store in 2001 after going vegan while still working full time as an IT project manager. Her aim was to provide a one-stop-shop where people could buy hard-to-find vegan foods without having to do the time-consuming label r...
Sep 24, 2016•59 min
In this episode I interview Kezia Jauron of Evolotus PR, a public relations agency that works with animal rights nonprofits and campaigns, documentary films, books, and vegan companies. She and her husband, Evolotus co-founder Gary Smith are a whizz at generating positive media coverage, helping organizations gain visibility, increase their followings, and generate revenues. Evolotus has promoted animal rights and veganism in the mainstream for nearly 10 years. Their clients include Mercy for An...
Sep 17, 2016•1 hr 26 min
In this episode I interview Joshua Katcher from Brave GentleMan, a disruptive vegan menswear label in New York. Joshua previously worked in creative media, including roles as director, editor, producer and director of photography for PBS and MTV. In 2008 he discovered an appreciation for fashion and launched men’s lifestyle website The Discerning Brute, which focused on “fashion, food and etiquette for the ethically handsome man”. The blog quickly established Joshua as a pioneer in the field of ...
Sep 11, 2016•1 hr 3 min
In this episode I interview Wanda Malhotra from Surya Brasil, a natural beauty company in Brazil. Wanda, who founded the business with her mother Clelia Angelon in 1995, moved to New York from Brazil in 2012 to help grow Surya Brasil’s business in the US, Canada and major markets around the world. The company’s products, which include henna cream and powder and skincare solutions are now sold in 40 countries. Wanda and Clelia are dedicated to sustainability and creating the healthiest, natural, ...
Sep 03, 2016•1 hr 10 min
In this episode I interview Damien Clarkson from The Growing Box, a creative agency in London, UK, providing content creation solutions for ethical brands. A longtime and passionate storyteller, Damien has written for The Huffington Post and The Guardian on vegan and environmental issues. He recently co-created the short film SWINE in partnership with renowned UK animal charity Viva! and launched a new vegan education festival Vevolution. Damien and his team have worked on some of the UK’s bigge...
Aug 27, 2016•1 hr 8 min
In this episode I interview Donna Zeigfinger from Green Earth Travel, a travel agency in Maryland, specializing in ethical and eco-friendly vacations. Travel has been in Donna’s blood for decades and she’s combined her passion with business, working for various travel companies since the 1980s before launching Green Earth Travel in 1997. Since then it’s become a leading vegetarian, vegan and eco-travel agency in the US, featuring in several prominent media including the New York Times and Washin...
Aug 20, 2016•45 min
In this episode I interview Alicia Lai, founder of luxury shoe brand Bourgeois Boheme in London, UK. After a career as a podiatrist, Alicia, who’s originally from Australia, moved to London 10 years ago to start a vegan footwear company. Originally selling a range of lower-priced shoe brands, along with accessories, she took a break from the business and relaunched it as a high-end, luxury, aspirational brand, focusing solely on her own shoe designs. The company has built up loyal fans among the...
Aug 13, 2016•47 min
In this episode I interview Nil Zacharias, co-founder and editor-in-chief of independent publishing platform One Green Planet in New York. After more than a decade working in the digital media space, at companies including Yahoo!, DoubleClick (which was acquired by Google), PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory, and as an attorney specializing in privacy and intellectual property law, Nil decided to take his passion for the environment into building a purpose-driven media company. Since its inception ...
Aug 06, 2016•1 hr 4 min
In this episode I interview Liz Dee, co-owner and executive vice-president of her family’s business Smarties Candy Company in the US and CEO of impact investment firm Baleine & Bjorn Capital. Liz has worked with the Smarties Candy Company – which is a completely separate entity to Smarties in the UK, Australia and elsewhere – for many years. In 2011, while doing research on veganism for the business (the American company’s products are vegan), Liz became aware of the cruelty and environmenta...
Jul 30, 2016•1 hr 3 min
In this episode I interview Ilsa Hess from Love & Joy Foods, producers of Nacheez sauce, in Sacramento, California. Five years ago Ilsa was working in a government job as an IT consultant for the City of Sacramento. Before that she had professional experience in web design, graphic design, photography, product demonstration and customer service. All these skills came in handy when she decided to launch her business. One day she found herself craving some nacho cheese from a pump, so she deci...
Jul 23, 2016•45 min
In this episode I interview David Benzaquen from PlantBased Solutions, an award-winning brand management and marketing agency for plant-based consumer product companies, headquartered in New York. After more than a decade working in the government and non-profit sectors with a focus on education and grassroots advocacy, David immersed himself in the plant-based business sector, working for a time as a natural products broker before evolving PlantBased Solutions into its current incarnation. With...
Jul 16, 2016•1 hr 13 min
In this episode I interview Justin Mead, owner of Vegan Style footwear and accessories store in Melbourne, Australia. Starting out with humble beginnings in two small rooms sharing with a vegan cafe and only open two days a week, to opening a flagship retail store in the vegan-friendly hub on Brunswick Street, the company has grown to become a market leader in the provision of high-quality, fashionable and stylish products that are made without harming animals and minimizing impact on the enviro...
Jul 09, 2016•55 min
In this episode, I interview Julieanna Hever aka The Plant Based Dietitian in Los Angeles. Julieanna has been in private practice in Los Angeles since 2005, specializing in weight management, disease prevention and management, and sports nutrition. She’s the host of the wellness talk show series What Would Julieanna Do? on Z Living Network and nutrition columnist for VegNews magazine. As well as being published in prominent journals, she features regularly in the media, with appearances includin...
Jul 02, 2016•42 min
In this episode I interview Kevin Newell, owner of Humane Wildlife Solutions, a humane, non-lethal and ethical alternative to ‘pest’ control in Scotland in the UK. The business uses methods to repel and deter so-called ‘pests’ rather than the current methods offered by traditional pest control services of trapping and killing. Kevin and his team are currently researching a plant-based, non-lethal, non-toxic wasp nest repellent that encourages wasps to take their young and go elsewhere. They’ve a...
Jun 25, 2016•41 min
