2024 Guest Speakers

 

VICTORIA MORAN

Best Selling Author, Animal Advocate, Founder of Main Street Vegan Academy

Victoria Moran has been vegan for 40 years and is the author of twelve books including the iconic Main Street Vegan and the international bestseller, Creating a Charmed LifeShe hosts the Main Street Vegan Podcast and the Main Street Vegan Salon, streaming on UnchainedTV. Victoria is also the founder and director of Main Street Vegan Academy, training vegan lifestyle coaches and educators since 2012. She appeared twice on Oprah, was voted Peta's Sexiest Vegan Over 50 in 2016, and long ago before either was even vegetarian, Paul McCartney bought Victoria a drink. 


ROBERT CHEEKE

Bestselling Author “The Plant-Based Athlete,” Champion Body Builder

Robert Cheeke has been the face of vegan bodybuilding for the past two decades. He has spent his career working tirelessly to prove that you can build muscle and have a world-class physique eating a plant-based diet. 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, 2024. He is often referred to as the “Godfather of Vegan Bodybuilding,” growing the industry from infancy in 2002, to where it is today. 

As 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, The Vegan Gym, and No Meat Athlete, is a former multi-sport athlete, and has followed a plant-based diet for more than 28 years. Robert lives in Colorado with his wife and two rescued Chihuahuas.


STUART WALDNER

Author of Escape The Meatrix: Eat Plants, Feel Great, and Save the Planet!

Kentucky native Stuart Waldner, acclaimed 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. Since the release of his groundbreaking book in October 2022, he has been a sought-after guest on numerous podcasts and a featured speaker at prominent conferences and festivals.

DR. RUBY LATHON

Holistic Nutritionist

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. She was featured in the hit documentary, What the Health and the newly released documentary, They’re Trying to Kill Us. Dr. Lathon now teaches others how to re-engineer their health and live disease free.

Dr. Lathon is an inspirational and sought-after speaker on motivation and natural healing. She teaches other about the benefits and power of plant-based nutrition through health conferences, workshops, vegan cooking classes, consultations and coaching programs. 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 the host of "The Veggie Chest," plant-based cooking show aired on Washington’s DCTV.


MARISA MILLER WOLFSON

VEGUCATED Filmmaker, Cookbook Author

*HOSTING A PANEL ON RAISING PLANT-POWERED KIDS

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.


ADRIANNA DAME

Founder of HighVibe Mettaverse

*COOKING DEMONSTRATION

Adrianna Dame is the former owner of LOVAFARE, a vegan cafe that once nestled in the Highlands, serving up scrumptious plant-based delights (healthy, gluten-free, soy-free, low-glycemic, primarily oil-free). Hearty bean-based LOVApatties and sandwich spreads/sauces were their specialties. Desserts became neighborhood favorites, and they made a mean Sassy Kale Salad and Nacho Feast.

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.