A Kynd Life

Mike recently retired after 40 years of service with Ambulance Victoria. Mike's father died of sudden cardiac arrest when he was 19 years old. It was a huge loss for his family, however Mike found his purpose in life when he decided to become a paramedic. Initially Mike trained as a paramedic before he started working on the road as a clinician and more recently a local supervisor, managing a...

Louise reflects on pivotal moments in her life and there are a few common threads - reading Peter Singer's books and the birth of her first child, all of which had a profound impact and led her to where she is today. During Louise's university studies, she read Peter Singer's book "Practical Ethics" which covered a range of ethical issues, including animal rights. This boo...

Phoebe co-founded Companion Cows after falling in love with cows and years of experience rescuing and fostering them.  Companion Cows is on a mission to create a kinder world for dairy cows and their babies. Starting as a volunteer with Til the Cows Come Home who were working with The Owl and the Pussycat, Phoebe quickly learnt how to care for rescue calves. Although it was a steep learning curve,...

After ten years trialling beauty products, Marisa founded Wild & Cruelty Free - an online boutique featuring a carefully curated collection of tried and tested vegan beauty products. Marisa's always loved beauty, having started blogging over a decade ago and gaining a qualification in makeup artistry.  Everything changed for Marisa during Christmas 2018, when she saw an Edgar's Missi...

This week we talk to Bronwyn Currie,  Animal Justice Party's State Convenor in Victoria,  as she shares everything you need to know about the upcoming AJP National Conference. The conference is being held on 11th & 12th November 2023 at the Fitzroy Town Hall, with the option to attend online as well. The theme of this year's conference is "It's Politics" and will host...

In 2012, after a 33 year career with Victoria Police, mostly in the mounted branch, Jan went vegan and faced what she describes as an “existential crisis”.  What she did next changed the trajectory of her entire life! Jan's vegan journey started after she saw the Four Corners expose on Live Export, "A Bloody Business". She signed up to the Animals Australia newsletter and soon after...

Tully is an entertainer, entrepreneur and educator. Be prepared, this episode will have your mouth watering as Tully shares his passion for creating easy and authentic vegan curries. Growing up in Amritsar, the food capital of Punjab, Tully developed his passion for food while enjoying local cuisine and learning to cook with his mother. At age five, they moved to an army base where his mother was...

Alicia recently opened her own real estate agency Saint & Wood after being involved in real estate for over two decades. The agency is well on the way to being an entirely vegan agency, with 3 staff already vegan and one vegetarian. Alicia went vegan overnight after reconnecting with a friend over Facebook who happened to be vegan. She studied all of the animal rights content on her friend&apo...

Jess was inspired to sign up as a volunteer at Liberation Sanctuary after going vegan. Less than a year later, Jess started working at the sanctuary, managing social media and coordinating volunteers. As a child, Jess wanted to help animals by becoming a vet. She always thought she would go vegetarian when she grew up and started her journey by refusing to eat pig products when she was young after...

Chloe and Jacques are the organisers of Vegan Kids Gold Coast, while raising two vegan children and embarking on a year long trip around Australia in 2024. Chloe was seven when she made the connection between eating meat and the animals she loved so dearly. She had been vegetarian for years when she met Jacques. Not long after they began dating, Jacques decided to go meat free for a month and ende...

Amanda and her husband Matt created Herbidoor to supply ready made vegan meals to their local community. Five years on and the company has a wide range of meals delivered across Australia. The inspiration behind Herbidoor was Matt's passion for re-creating childhood classics such as lasagne. The alternative meat products created for the meals were so popular, the couple created Plant Providor...

It's been a year since I first interviewed John Thomas and what better time to have him back on the show, than while he is in the middle of a bodybuilding competition prep! John is aiming to compete in an amateur division bodybuilding class later this year. He is working with a coach who has no prior experience with a vegan competitor, which John sees as an opportunity to change the sport fro...

Being a qualified Clinical Nutritionist and vegan for twelve years, Lisa helps clients optimise their plant based lifestyle. Going vegan sparked Lisa's curiosity to learn more about nutrition, so she studied a Bachelor of Nutritional & Dietetic Medicine, as well as a Bachelor of Complementary Medicine. Having worked in the health and wellness space for over a decade, Lisa recently opened...

Lynne started Galahad's Animal Sanctuary to provide care and a forever home to as many rescued animals as possible. Galahad's Sanctuary rescues and rehabilitates farm animals from various circumstances within the food system, as well as camels, horses, donkeys and dogs. These animal ambassadors spread the message that they deserve our compassion and respect.  The sanctuary residents have...

Amber has been a musician all her life and wants to use her musicianship as a platform to spread the animal rights message. As a child, Amber's parents enrolled her in piano, violin and guitar classes, as well as choir.  Playing the piano has always been a big part of Amber's identity. In college, she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance and is now a piano teacher...

Alyssa founded Victorian Kangaroo Alliance after recognising the need for a state-wide coordinated approach to targeting the persecution and exploitation of kangaroos, the victims of the world’s largest land-based wildlife trade. Alyssa has been involved in wildlife advocacy for eight years, beginning with the Coalition Against Duck Shooting, followed by co-founding the Australian Native Parrot Pr...

Holly is an Ecologist working with a national conservation NGO to save threatened species. She is extremely passionate about identifying the early warning signs of decline in common species, so we can act before it's too late.  Growing up in England, Holly was influenced by her father's love of bird life, enjoying family field trips admiring the wildlife. After studying Ecology in Scotla...

Krystal's purpose in life changed after rescuing two bobby calves, Frankie and Fletcher. She founded Companion Cows, a registered charity on a mission to create a kinder world for dairy cows and their babies. Krystal, her husband and two children moved to Tasmania four years ago.  They very quickly saw the realities of the dairy industry when they came across a bobby calf on a dairy farm. It...

Working as an educator in an animal sanctuary, Emma saw the impact sharing animal's stories had on people. She had the opportunity to curate their stories through film and found it so fulfilling, that Emma and her partner John decided to become full time filmmakers, co-founding Veganography. Emma has been a classical musician from a very young age and went on to study Cello Pedagogy at Univer...

Jess quit her eight year career as a Midwife and founded Project Bali Dog to protect and restore the welfare of dogs in Bali, Indonesia. Jess has sponsored Robbie, a rescued street dog in Bali for eight years. On her last visit, Jess walked out of the shelter where Robbie lives a safe and comfortable life and saw street dogs needing help on the other side of the gate. Having always loved animals a...

Liz went vegan in the 80s and dived straight into activism. She got involved in chicken rescues from the broiler farm and egg industries and in 2013, Melbourne Chicken Rescue was born. Liz grew up in England and moved to Adelaide when she was three. She went vegetarian in 1984, signed up to Animal Liberation SA a year later and went vegan in 1986.  Liz became heavily involved in the South Australi...

Alix identified there was a gap in the advocacy of Australian wildlife and created a coalition initiative called Defend The Wild.  Defend The Wild focuses campaigning efforts where agriculture and wildlife intersects such as lethal dingo control, crocodile farming, emu farming and kangaroo culling. Last year the initiative launched a campaign highlighting the decimation of dingoes through the Vict...

Ingrid, her husband and two children went vegan during lockdown. A friend suggested she watched Seaspiracy and Ingrid was blown away, it was the catalyst that changed everything. Ingrid first went vegetarian and then went vegan after seeing male chicks being ground alive in Dominion. Last year Ingrid became involved in activism, starting with Animal Rights Activism Sydney cubes, protests and outre...

Kate's maritime journey began when she moved to Australia almost ten years ago and started volunteering for Sea Shepherd and Coast Guard. By chance, Kate and her friends attended a Sea Shepherd screening of Cowspiracy. It turned out to be a life changing experience, as Kate changed her diet immediately and signed up to be a Sea Shepherd volunteer. Her time as an onshore volunteer has seen Kat...

Astrella created Cause & Events to support small vegan businesses, encourage people to implement a vegan lifestyle and showcase organisations fighting animal cruelty. Born and raised in Bombay, Astrella's childhood was influenced by western culture. At ten years old, she had an epiphany and went vegetarian after realising meat came from an animal who didn't want to die. Seven years a...