2025 SPEAKERS
Madeline Krasno
She/Her
Founder, Justify
Talk: TBD
Time: TBD
Madeline Krasno, a former primate lab worker turned passionate advocate, shares her powerful journey from the lab to leading a movement for transparency and compassion in science. Featured in The Washington Post for her groundbreaking free speech lawsuits against the University of Wisconsin-Madison (appeal pending) and the National Institutes of Health (appeal won), Madeline sheds light on the ethical challenges of animal research and how her advocacy triggered censorship. As the Executive Director of Justify, a pioneering nonprofit, she champions a vision of advancing science without human or animal suffering by creating a safe space for current and former lab workers to share their stories and drive meaningful change. Madeline holds a master’s degree in Humane Education from Valparaiso University and bachelor’s degrees in Zoology and Child Development from UW-Madison.
lauren Ornelas
She/Her
Founder, Food Empowerment Project
Talk: TBD
Time: TBD
lauren Ornelas is a long time animal rights activist since 1987 and is the founder and Senior Programs Director of Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.), a vegan food justice nonprofit that promotes veganism, champions for the rights of farm workers, highlights the lack of access to healthy foods in Black and Brown communities, and raise awareness about the worst forms of slavery, including child labor, in the chocolate industry. Watch lauren’s TEDx talk on The Power of Our Food Choices on YouTube.
Learn more about F.E.P.’s work at www.foodispower.org.
Sid Garza-Hillman
He/Him
Vegan Author
Talk: TBD
Time: TBD
Sid Garza-Hillman is the author of four books: Ultrarunning for Normal People: Life Lessons Learned On and Off the Trail, Approaching the Natural: A Health Manifesto, Raising Healthy Parents: Small Steps, Less Stress, and a Thriving Family and Six Truths: Live by these truths and be happy. Don’t and you won’t. He holds a BA in Philosophy from UCLA, is a public speaker, podcaster (What Sid Thinks Podcast), certified nutritionist & running coach, Oxygen Advantage breathing instructor, and founder of smallsteppers.com. He is the Stanford Inn & Resort’s Wellness Programs Director and Race Director of the Mendocino Coast 50K trail ultramarathon.
Yvette Baker
She/Her
Director of Activism, Apex Advocacy
Talk: TBD
Time: TBD
Yvette Baker is a Los Angeles-based writer, social critic, and total liberation activist. Her work and activism have been devoted to exposing and critically analyzing the intersections of human and beyond-human oppression through an Afro-Indigenous lens, aiming to empower the vegan movement as a movement for total liberation.
She has been a lifelong social justice advocate, with her efforts crossing into the animal rights movement at a young age. She has worked with various animal rights organizations as an educator and grassroots organizer, highlighting the need to understand systemic oppression and the principle of collective liberation as one of the most effective tools to build bridges between movements and work together toward common goals.
Javier Zamora
He/Him
Founder, JSM Organics
Talk: TBD
Time: TBD
Javier Zamora had a dream to own land, farm organically, support his family, and provide sustainable food for his community. With an incredible hard working team, Javier created JSM Organics and has been growing Real Organic food since 2012. Known for their incredible berries, they grow a variety of vegetables and flowers that have become farmers market favorites and sought after finds in many indepent grocers in and around the Bay Area.
Rachael Brown
She/Her
Plant Based Nutritionist
Talk: TBD
Time: TBD
Rachael Brown earned a plant-based nutrition certification and food and sustainability certification from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell. After being diagnosed with high cholesterol in her late 20s, she discovered The China Study and transitioned her family to the whole-food, plant-based, no-oil (WFPBNO) lifestyle, and her cholesterol immediately dropped 50 points. She has been an adjunct professor in nutrition and wellness, a certified yoga and Pilates instructor, and a licensed massage practitioner. Learn more at www.forforkssakebook.com.