SPONSORS & EXHIBITORS
We hope you will join us on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at Cocoanut Grove at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk! Our top priority will be to accommodate our sponsors and exhibitors of products and services directly related to the Santa Cruz VegFest mission.
We ask that all food and other products being exhibited or sold at VegFest be vegan (no honey, milk, whey, eggs, gelatin, or other animal products).
For all food sampling/selling exhibitors, it is our goal to reduce waste as much as possible in our efforts to be an environmentally responsible event.
Learn more about being part of Santa Cruz VegFest 2019!
2020 SPEakers
All presentations will be simultaneously interpreted in Spanish.
11:30am-12:00pm - Jackie Busse, MD - "Plant-Based Kids"
12:15-12:45pm - Scott David - "Undercover Investigations: The Fight for Transparency"
1:00-1:30pm - Colleen Patrick-Goudreau - "From Excuse-itarian to Vegan"
1:45-2:15pm - lauren Ornelas - "Food Justice: The Power of Our Food Choices"
2:30-3:00pm - Brian Manowitz - "Vegan Black Metal Chef"
3:15-3:45pm - Jocelyn Dubin, MS, RD - "The Power Packed Plant-Based Diet"
4:00-4:30pm - Hope Bohanec - "The Humane Hoax"
4:45-5:15pm - Bruce and Mindy Mylrea - "Foods for Optimal Health"
Jocelyn Dubin, MS, RD
"The Power Packed Plant-Based Diet"
Jocelyn Dubin, MS, RD has a Master's degree in Nutritional Science, is a registered dietitian, completed a medical nutrition residency, has worked with thousands of patients and clients, and has been voted the Best Nutritionist in Santa Cruz multiple years in a row. Jocelyn has been vegan for 25 years. nourishsantacruz.com
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
"From Excuse-itarian to Vegan: Debunking the Myths that Keep Us from Making Changes"
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is changing the way we talk about, think about, and treat other animals.
A recognized expert and thought leader on the culinary, social, ethical, and practical aspects of living vegan, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is an award-winning author of seven books, including the bestselling The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, Vegan’s Daily Companion, On Being Vegan, and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge. She is an acclaimed speaker and beloved host of the inspiring podcast, “Food for Thought,” which has been voted Favorite Podcast by VegNews magazine readers several years in a row, and her new podcast, “Animalogy,” is changing the way we talk about animals. She also co-founded the political action committee East Bay Animal PAC to work with government officials on animal issues in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Colleen shares her message of compassion and wellness on national and regional TV and radio programs, including on a monthly vegan segment on Good Day Sacramento and as a monthly contributor to National Public Radio (KQED). She has appeared on the Food Network, CBS, PBS, and FOX; interviews with her have been featured on NPR, Huffington Post, U.S. News and World Report; and her recipes have been featured on Epicurious.com and Oprah.com. www.colleenpatrickgoudreau.com
Jackie Busse, MD
"Plant-Based Kids"
Jackie Busse, MD, is a board certified pediatrician with a full time practice in Santa Cruz and a national expert in plant-based nutrition for kids and families. Dr. Busse grew up in Wisconsin and got her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She went on to do a pediatric residency and chief residency at Rush University in Chicago. Shortly after moving to Santa Cruz in 2011, she was introduced to The China Study and it changed her life and practice - she has been living and teaching plant-based nutrition ever since.
She is the lead author and editor of the newly-released Pediatric Quick Start Guide from the Plantrician Project and is the pediatric lecturer for the Plant Based Nutrition certification program through eCornell. She currently teaches a regularly occurring whole-food, plant-based nutrition appointment series and is active in the community, speaking to local interest groups and schools. Dr. Busse is also a busy mom of two lifelong plant-eaters (2 and 4 years old) and loves sharing tips and meal ideas on plant-based eating. Dr. Busse will be presenting at Plantrician Project's International Plant Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference in Sept 2019 in Oakland. www.plantbasedpediatrician.com
Hope Bohanec
"The Humane Hoax"
Hope Bohanec has been active in animal protection and environmental activism for over 25 years and published the book The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat? She is a nationally recognized leader and speaker in the animal protection movement, and serves as Projects Manager for United Poultry Concerns. Hope is also the Executive Director of Compassionate Living, a California based vegan advocacy organization. Before this, Hope offered her organizational talents as the Campaigns Director at In Defense of Animals. Hope is the primary organizer for UPC’s annual Conscious Eating Conference at UC Berkeley as well as the Sonoma County VegFest and the Berkeley Earth Day.
lauren Ornelas
"Food Justice: The Power of Our Food Choices"
lauren Ornelas is the founder/director of Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.), a vegan food justice nonprofit seeking to create a more just world by helping consumers recognize the power of their food choices. F.E.P. works in solidarity with farm workers, advocates for chocolate not sourced from the worst forms of child labor, and focuses on access to healthy foods in communities of color and low-income communities.
lauren has been active in the animal rights movement for more than 30 years. She is the former executive director of Viva!USA, a national nonprofit vegan advocacy organization that Viva!UK asked her to start in 1999 and for which she investigated factory farms and ran consumer campaigns. In cooperation with activists across the country, she persuaded Trader Joe’s to stop selling all duck meat and achieved corporate changes within Whole Foods Market, Pier 1 Imports, and others, and she helped halt the construction of an industrial dairy operation in California. She was also the spark that got the founder of Whole Foods Market to become a vegan. In addition, lauren served as campaign director with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition for six years. Watch her TEDx talk on “The Power of Our Food Choices.” Learn more about F.E.P.’s work at foodispower.org, veganmexicanfood.com and veganfilipinofood.com
Scott David
"Undercover Investigations: The Fight for Transparency"
Scott David worked for two years as an undercover investigator for Compassion Over Killing, filming hard-hitting footage that exposed animal abuse at three slaughterhouses across the country. Now retired from the field, he spends his time assisting with the research and support COK’s current investigators need to expose animal cruelty. After getting his master’s degree in Applied Ecology, he taught students about animals and the environment in an after-school education program.
Join former undercover investigator Scott David as he discusses his experiences working and documenting in slaughterhouses across the country. You’ll learn what it’s like for both the workers and the animals as he takes you through the day to day life of investigators while in the field. He’ll give insight into COK’s newest releases and show how investigations are a powerful and necessary tool for change.
Brian Manowitz
"Vegan Black Metal Chef"
Brian Manowitz hails from Tampa, Florida. He has been a vegan since 2000 and a musician since 2002. His quest to make awesomely amazing food, music, and blasphemy has culminated into YouTube cooking videos that are informative, hilarious, and highly entertaining. He recently compiled his rantings and incantations into a cookbook titled The Seitanic Spellbook.
He has appeared in Time Magazine, the Washington Post, and The Guardian, as well as on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and ABC's Nightline, among others. He now lives in California. veganblackmetalchef.com
Bruce and Mindy Mylrea
"Foods for Optimal Health"
Bruce and Mindy have worked together for 16 years in the fitness and wellness industry and present both fitness programming and nutritional education together. They live in a fruit and veggie covered RV, traveling the country spreading the wellness word.
Bruce and Mindy are on track to reach a record number of people with their powerful nutrition education, which was born out of Bruce’s desire to educate himself following a diagnosis of prostate cancer in 2011. He became a plant-based eater soon after learning he had prostate cancer. So did Mindy. Today, in spite of tests showing he still has prostate cancer, Bruce feels and looks healthier than ever, something he credits to his nutrition and wellness-focused lifestyle. They developed the One Day to Wellness certification in 2015 and hosted over 40 workshops in 2016, as more and more people expressed a desire to immerse themselves in nutritional education.
Mindy has won almost every major award the fitness industry has to offer including IDEA Fitness Instructor of the Year, PFP Trainer of the Year, and International Presenter of the Year.