2022 Speakers

Co-founder and President of Farm Sanctuary, Gene Baur has been hailed as “the conscience of the food movement” by Time magazine. A pioneer since the mid-80’s in the field of undercover investigations and farm animal rescue, Gene has visited hundreds of farms, stockyards, and slaughterhouses, documenting the deplorable conditions. His pictures and videos exposing factory farming cruelties have aired nationally and internationally, educating millions about the plight of modern farm animals, and his rescue work inspired an international farm sanctuary movement.

Gene has also testified in courts and before local, state, and federal legislative bodies, advocating for better conditions for farm animals. He played a key role in the first-ever cruelty conviction at a U.S. stockyard and enacting the first U.S. laws to prohibit cruel farming systems. He is the author of Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals & Food and Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day.

His work has been covered by major media organizations, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, NPR and the BBC.

After his mother was diagnosed with colon cancer, ex-college basketball player and fitness expert John Lewis went down a road of discovery as to the contributing causes of cancer and other diseases. In his research, animal protein emerged as the smoking gun in many of the most common ailments. With his moniker Bad Ass Vegan, It became his mission to spread the word via his speaking engagements and social media, especially to underserved communities.

As such, he teamed up with the makers of What the Health to direct the forthcoming feature-length documentary They’re Trying to Kill Us, which explores the connection between veganism, food justice, and hip-hop culture.

John has appeared in multiple television shows and fitness magazines such as Muscle & Fitness and Men’s Fitness, as well as Maxim and Sports Illustrated.

Dr Milton Millls, MD was the featured physician in Netflix’s hit documentary What the Health, from the same team that made Cowspiracy. Dr. Mills practices urgent care medicine in the Washington DC area and has served as Associate Director of Preventive Medicine. He’s currently a member of the National Advisory Board for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). He has been a major contributor to position papers presented by PCRM to the United States Department of Agriculture regarding Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Dr Mill’s talks are renowned for being accessible, highly informative, laced with humor and thought-provoking ideas.

Founder & Vegucator-in-Chief of Herban Eats, LLC, Dawn Hilton-Williams (aka The Vegucator) is Author of “Flava My Plate: Your Tasty Vegan Guide to Health-Wealth" a vegan chef and food justice advocate. 

From direct-to-consumer vegan food products and public speaking to cooking veugucation classes, demos and annual Eat Drink Disrupt Vegucation & Flava summits, Dawn’s passionate about sharing the innumerable benefits of a healthy, flavaful plant-based vegan lifestyle to communities that need it most. 

Recently awarded a $10,000 economic impact grant from Beyoncé’s beyGOOD foundation, Dawn is also dedicated to the mitigation of food-apartheid communities where chronic disease risk factors disproportionately impact communities of color. 

Dawn holds a Certificate in Plant-based Nutrition from T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies (eCornell), a BA in Political Science from Virginia State University, is mentored by renowned vegan physician Milton Mills, MD and has cooked professionally north of 20 years. 

Toni Okamoto is the founder of Plant-Based on a Budget, the popular website and meal plan that shows you how to save dough by eating veggies. She’s also author of the Plant-Based on a Budget Cookbook, co-author of The Friendly Vegan Cookbook, and the co-host of The Plant-Powered People Podcast.

Okamoto’s work has been profiled by NBC News, Parade Magazine, and she’s a regular presence on local and national morning shows across the country, where she teaches viewers how to break their meat habit without breaking their budget. She was also featured in the popular documentary What the Health.

When she’s not cooking up a plant-based storm, she’s spending time with her husband and their rescued dog in Sacramento, CA.