Vegan Posse

Alyssa Almond began her career with Teach For America as a third-grade bilingual teacher in Washington Heights, New York City. Her fascination with languages and language learning called her to specialize in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). She helped immigrants acquire the language skills necessary for them to succeed in the U.S. Alyssa worked both as a middle school ESOL...

An award-winning chef, educator and authority on plant-based cuisine, Chef Mark Reinfeld is the founding chef of the Vegan Fusion Institute, with over 25 years experience preparing innovative vegan and raw food cuisine. He has written eight acclaimed books and conducts virtual and in-person culinary trainings around the world. Chef Mark was inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame. He was the fou...

Special Thanksgiving Day Episode! JH Burnett of Wilderness, South Africa, is an ex-farmer who is now a full-time vegan activist and author. He has been plant-based for five years and fully vegan (for the animals) for two and a half years. He's got a unique story that I guarantee you don't want to miss. Resources: Website:  www.veganismhaswon.com Ex-Farmer Goes Vegan eBook: https://mailchi....

Jenn Friedman is a therapist, writer, musician, and vegan from New York City. She is the author of  Veganism and Eating Disorder Recovery  (Routledge, 2022), a book that aims to improve the discourse about veganism in   eating disorder recovery. Jenn has presented on eating disorders at treatment centers, universities, and mental health conferences. She also writes, records, and performs music, wh...

The Vegan Posse welcomes its first mother-daughter duo! Zina Znayenko and her daughter Tatiana Znayenko-Miller are both long-time vegans and living examples of the power of plant-based eating. In this super special episode, they discuss their overlapping vegan journeys, whcih include their own respective real-life "medical miracles!" First-generation Ukrainian-American Zina was a fat veg...

In 1990, at the height of her corporate career, Nancy James was diagnosed with a life-threatening chronic and systemic auto-immune respiratory disease which was supposedly “incurable." The doctor who diagnosed her was so cold and dismissive as he issued the diagnosis sarcoidosis that she decided, “I don’t trust him. I don’t believe a word he says”. That decision saved her life. Nancy went to...

While earning her degree in English Literature, Sandra Nomoto published poetry in literary journals and posted online film reviews. At 25, she founded Conscious Public Relations Inc., an award-winning virtual agency certified as a B Corporation. After a decade in business, she authored and self-published  The Only Public Relations Guide You’ll Ever Need  in 2019. Living vegan since 2018, Nomoto is...

Shelley Watts, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is a retired high school home economics teacher. Arrogant about what and how much she could eat, Shelley started gaining weight in her late 20s by overeating sugar, salt, and fatty foods. Over the years, she gained 65 pounds and developed multiple health issues, including type 2 diabetes. She knew things were bad. Despite a lifelong aversion to needles,...

Some people think of us vegans as uptight, didactic, and humorless - and they can think again! Comic, filmmaker, podcaster, and longtime vegan Graham Elwood honed his comedic skills in comedy clubs and colleges to become a sarcastic hipster who can make light of anything and anyone including himself. In his new comedy special "Manifest It", Graham calls out Boomers for hating on Millenni...

Dr. Doug Lisle is an evolutionary psychologist and co-author of The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health and Happiness. His research and clinical interests include health and wellness, self-esteem, relationship satisfaction, the treatment of anxiety and depression, the genetics of individual differences, and optimizing achievement motivation. In addition to his work wit...

Judy McCoy Carman, M.A., earth, peace, and animal activist, is the author of  Peace to All Beings: Veggie Soup for the Chicken’s Soul  and the new book , Homo Ahimsa: Who We Really Are and How We're Going to Save the World.  She is also co-author of  The Missing Peace: The Hidden Power of our Kinship with Animals.  In addition to animal rescue work, Judy's current projects include the Anim...

Nerma Frieden came to the United States as a refugee from Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, having survived a years-long war where she was terrified not of being killed but of being tortured, being captured, being raped. In 2014, after watching an ethical eating presentation at her Unitarian Universalist Church and seeing what was happening to farmed animals, she realized that they were living her w...

Vangile Makwakwa is a full-time entrepreneur and the founder of wealthy-money.com, a company that helps women of color heal ancestral money trauma so they can fall in love with their bank accounts, increase their income, and live their best lives. Vangile hosts two podcasts: The Money Magic Podcast and The Property Magicians Podcast. She is also the author of three books: Heart, Mind & Money:...

After a life-changing health experience, Nathan Gershfeld changed careers, from being a numbers-focused electrical engineer to a person-centered chiropractor. Following an internship under Dr. Alan Goldhamer, he joined the staff doctors at the world-renowned True North Health Center from 2011 to 2014. Dr. Gershfeld then moved his practice to Orange County in Southern California, where he founded ...

In this special interview on Chef AJ Live, Vegan Posse host Chrissy Benson tells all! You'll hear all about my CRAZY food history, my decade-plus in the "medical mill," and my journey to health, veganism, personal autonomy, and - of course - self-love, as epitomized in my vegan anti-romance romance novel Marrying Myself.

What would God, Scripture, and/or Divine Wisdom want for us humans when it comes to our diet and health? Author and nutrition educator Cyd Notter argues that it's nothing less than freedom from addiction, healing, and optimal health and wellbeing. In her acclaimed, award-winning book The "Plan A" Diet , she seamlessly intertwines the fundamentals of whole-food plant-based eating with...

How many times have you had to recover from your vacation? Cruises tend to be a time of decadence and over-indulgence in booze and junky food, with a whole lot of lounging in between. But Mike Young is flipping that paradigm on its head with the upcoming Health Optimization Cruise, which features ALL vegan, SOS-free food plus one totally raw meal a day - and exercise classes, health workshops, and...

Why do vegans hurt so much? And why do so many vegans cease their questioning after they reject our horrific animal-based food system? Freedom-loving vegan existential psychologist Dr. Clare Mann ponders these and other big questions in this, an episode for the ages! Dr. Mann has termed the mental and emotional burden that we vegans carry "Vystopia." She discusses how we can use our Vyst...

After a near heart attack at age 21 followed by literally dropping dead on an airplane, recording engineer Ady Parzentny finally heeded the wakeup call to take care of himself rather than just everyone else. Given his more than near-death experience, it's perhaps little surprise the value Ady now places on consciousness, in every sense of the word. In this intimate interview, Ady talks about h...

Just when you think Self-Helpless podcast co-host Delanie Fischer has done it all, she adds something new to the list - and lately it's vegan activism! Delanie is a professional podcaster, serial entrepreneur, environmentalist, and former stand-up comedian recently known for permanently deleting all of her social media despite her influencer status. Co-creator and co-host of the hit comedic, p...

Diagnosed with cancer at the age of only 19, Hanna Rakowska questioned the treatment path down which her traditional doctors were trying to send her and ultimately decided to take her healing into her own hands. What ensued was a never-ending journey of discovery into the healing power of food, lifestyle, and holistic remedies. Hanna went on to become a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Certifi...

From working as an exotic dancer to support herself during college to empowering women to become their best selves, inside and out, Ella Magers, a.k.a. Sexy Fit Vegan, has experienced great darkness, great healing, and, at last, great light. In this intimate interview, Ella shares about going vegan at an early age, her journey toward spiritual transformation and self-love, and, most of all, her be...

Prevention may not be sexy, but the folks practicing it often are! That category most certainly includes PETA-designated "Sexiest Vegan Over 50" Dr. Joel Kahn, one of the few cardiologists helping people head off heart issues before they blindside them years down the road. Dr. Kahn talks about his leap into plant-based eating during his first year of college, his incorporation of nutriti...

Mariquita Solis is a Vegan Empowerment Coach and visionary behind the Empowered Vegans Livestream Show. As a transformational coach, Mariquita specializes in empowering individuals through personalized one-on-one and group coaching programs. Her expertise lies in guiding people from anger, depression, and frustration toward inner peace, personal power, and effective activism. Her leadership, mento...

In today's saturated (and saturated FAT) market, how does any business venture get noticed, let alone one that's cruelty-free? Like the shadowy world of animal ag, plant-based businesses can go unseen by the mainstream - and that's where marketing expert and entrepreneur Kathleen Gage comes in. A business consultant, author, and speaker for over three decades, and a vegan for over five...