June 22, 2024
Speaker Schedule
12PM
STUART WALDNER
Author of Escape The Meatrix: Eat Plants, Feel Great, and Save the Planet!
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Join us for a compelling presentation as author, activist, and educator Stuart Waldner shares the critical connections between animal agriculture, climate change, and the environment. Learn why transitioning to renewable energy is just one part of the solution, and why decarbonizing our global food system is essential for achieving our climate goals.
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Kentucky native Stuart Waldner, author of the award-winning book Escape the Meatrix, didn’t set out to be an activist. Growing up, he embraced the standard American diet until 1985, when he made a transformative shift to a 100% plant-based lifestyle.
For years, Stuart quietly pursued his path while respecting others' choices. However, as he delved deeper into the statistical correlations between our dietary habits and global crises, he felt compelled to awaken people to the urgent need for change—for our health and the planet's well-being.
Drawing inspiration from the iconic Matrix movie, Stuart invites everyone to choose the "red pill" and uncover the truth about our world.
1PM
DR. RUBY LATHON
Holistic Nutritionist
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Dr. Ruby will discuss how she used food to help heal cancer and teach how to use plant foods and natural remedies to get well and stay well.
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Dr. Ruby Lathon is an engineer who turned holistic nutritionist after healing herself of thyroid cancer by drastically changing her lifestyle through a plant-based diet. Now she teaches others how to re-engineer their health and live disease free. She was featured in the hit documentary, What the Health and the newly released documentary, They’re Trying to Kill Us.
Dr. Lathon served as Nutrition Policy Manager at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, where she developed and led a national grassroots campaign to advocate legislation for more healthful, plant-based meal options in the National School Lunch Program. She is also the host of "The Veggie Chest," plant-based cooking show that airs on Washington’s DCTV and YouTube.
2PM
VICTORIA MORAN
Bestselling Author, Animal Advocate, Founder of Main Street Vegan Academy
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Victoria Moran, Author of Main Street Vegan and Age Like a Yogi , encapsulates the practices of smart living in an easy acronym, reminding us to "MEND our ways" through Meditation, Exercise, Nourishment (plant-powered, of course), and Detoxification.
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Victoria Moran is the author of 14 books including Main Street Vegan and the upcoming Age Like a Yogi. Vegan for over 40 years and mother of a lifelong-vegan daughter who works as a stuntwoman, Victoria was featured twice on Oprah, listed among the Top 10 Living Vegetarian Authors by VegNews magazine, and voted Peta's Sexiest Vegan Over 50 in 2016. She is the director of Main Street Vegan Academy, training Vegan Lifestyle Coaches and Educators, and co-screenwriter with her husband, Rev. William Melton, of the feature film in development, Miss Liberty, about a cow who escapes from a slaughterhouse.
3PM
ROBERT CHEEKE
Bestselling Author “The Plant-Based Athlete,” Champion Body Builder
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Learn how to make the greatest impact for animals by leveraging what Robert Cheeke calls, our STRONG V. Discover how to use your Skills, Talents, Resources, Other strengths, Network, Generosity, and Volunteering to make a 100x greater impact on reducing animal suffering than just being vegan alone. Robert's highly anticipated new book, The Impactful Vegan, is available at VegFest before it is released to the general public on June 25th.
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Robert grew up on a farm in Corvallis, Oregon where he adopted a vegan lifestyle in 1995 at age 15, weighing just 120 pounds. Today he is the author of the books, Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness, Shred It!, Plant-Based Muscle, the New York Times bestseller, The Plant-Based Athlete, and his latest, The Impactful Vegan, to be released on June 25 (and on sale at the fest!)
He is often referred to as the “Godfather of Vegan Bodybuilding,” growing the industry from infancy in 2002, to where it is today. A natural bodybuilding champion, Robert is considered one of VegNews Magazine's Most Influential Vegan Athletes. He tours around the world sharing his story of transformation from a skinny farm kid to champion vegan bodybuilder.
Robert is the founder of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness and maintains the website, VeganBodybuilding.com. He is a regular contributor to Forks Over Knives, The Center for Nutrition Studies, Vegan Strong, and No Meat Athlete. He is a former multi-sport athlete, and has followed a plant-based diet for more than 28 years. He lives in Colorado with his wife and two rescued Chihuahuas.
4PM
MARISA MILLER WOLFSON
VEGUCATED Filmmaker, Cookbook Author
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It’s one thing to choose to eat plant-based yourself, but what about raising kids on just plants? Vegucated documentary filmmaker and vegan family cookbook author Marisa Miller Wolfson moderates this panel of fellow vegan mom panelists from the region to help answer all your questions about the ins and outs of vegan parenting.
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Marisa Miller Wolfson is a Kentuckiana native who grew up on the banks of the Ohio River in Evansville, Indiana before moving to New York City, where she became a vegan over 20 years ago.
She is the writer-director of Vegucated, an award-winning documentary that has screened at over a dozen film festivals worldwide and won several awards—including best documentary at its worldwide premiere at the Toronto Independent Film Festival—before becoming a digital bestseller and running on Netflix.
The mother of two vegans since birth, she co-wrote The Vegucated Family Table, the first mainstream cookbook and guidebook for raising vegan littles. She lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband, children, three rescued cats and rescued goldfish.
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Chef Kristina J. Addington owns Louisville vegan restaurant, V-Grits, and is mom to 5 year old Andrew, a proud vegan kiddo and hero for the animals since birth.
Nancy “Sultra” Smith is a vegan mother, chef, entrepreneur, and hip hop artist. Her passion for vegan cuisine led her to open two former beloved local vegan cafes - Flora Kitchenette and Café Zinho. She and her husband have raised four vegan children into adulthood, imparting their knowledge and love for plant-based living to the next generation.
Christine Beyer has been vegan for 12 years. She and her husband are raising two vegan children and together they manage Vegans of Evansville Indiana on Facebook. She is a passionate activist for animals and encourages others through her advocacy to go vegan.
Quiana Counts' family has been vegan for almost nine years. She has four children, aged 14, 9, 7, and 3. Her youngest two have been vegan since birth. Finding new vegan dishes to make is something they love and enjoy doing as a family.
5PM
ADRIENA DAME
Founder of HighVibe Mettaverse
*COOKING DEMONSTRATION & SAMPLES
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The sexy systems that comprise the human body are constantly doing their best to serve us despite myriad threats to our vitality that range from environmental pollutants, depleting habits and trauma.
This interactive workshop invites participants to learn the essential functions of the lymphatic system and why it's crucial for our overall well-being—not to mention discovering what in the world constitutes a “sexy” system. Along the way, workshop participants will embark on a rendezvous through mindsets, actions, and plant-based deliciousness that boosts your health without depriving you of some of your favorite treats and indulgences. To top off the conversation, Adriena will share the secret recipe for the Lemon Blondies that were once a LOVAFARE (her former plant-based restaurant) favorite.
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Adriena Dame is the former owner of LOVAFARE, a vegan cafe that in the Highlands, that served up scrumptious plant-based delights that were healthy, gluten-free, soy-free, low-glycemic and primarily oil-free.
She is the founder of HighVibe Mettaverse (HVM), where people come for deep and abiding expressions of loving kindness through bodywork, energy healing, intuitive readings, and vitality coaching. HVM is also home to Louisville’s only Thai Metta Bodywork Academy; HighVibe School of Integrative Massage & Bodywork, which is a pre-licensure program for aspiring massage therapists, and a variety of continuing education and personal growth workshops. The company serves a national and international audience using virtual platforms.