speakers

Mohanji is a world-respected humanitarian and the founder of the Mohanji International Foundation, which has activities across 5 continents, registered charitable offices in 16 countries and its headquarters based in Switzerland - www.mohanji.org

Smt. Maneka Gandhi is a politician, animal rights activist and vocal advocate for the environment. She is a member of the Lok Sabha and has served as the Minister for Women and Child Development. She is also the founder of the animal welfare organisation, People For Animals and the author of several books on etymology, law and animal welfare.

Smt. Sowmya Reddy is a renowned politician in Karnataka as well as an animal rights and environmental activist and an entrepreneur. She also started one of the first vegan restaurants in India.

Dr. Susianto is a doctor in nutrition, Founder President of the World Vegan Organisation, and the author of several books including The Miracle of Tempe, Vegan Is Easy, Tempted By Tempeh, and more.

BIO

A connector at heart, Nivi Jaswal brings 15 years’ experience in Marketing and Corporate Strategy in CPG, Life Sciences and Media & Research Industry. After healing chronic illnesses on a plant based diet, She trained at the Mayo Clinic (Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach), is a Member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine co-leading their Health Equity via Lifestyle Medicine (HEAL) Initiative. At her nonprofit Virsa and the JIVINITI Program, Nivi brings together professionals with specialties such as Anthropology, Psychology, Animal Rights, Social Work, Lifestyle Medicine, Filmmaking, Creative Problem Solving to design Climate Conscious Plant Powered projects addressing Chronic Illness and encouraging Emotional Wellbeing.

Keegan Kuhn is the award-winning co-director of the highly acclaimed documentary films Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, executive produced for Netflix by Leonardo DiCaprio, What The Health, executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix, They're Trying To Kill Us, executive produced by Chris Paul and Billie Eilish and writer/producer of The End Of Medicine, with BAFTA-winning director Alex Lockwood, executive produced by Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix.

Asher is the founder of Pollution TV, one of the leading production agencies in the plant-based spaced.

Genesis Butler is a 11 year old animal rights activist and ethical vegan who went vegan on her own at the age of 6. She has earned numerous awards for her activism including Animal Hero Kids' Sir Paul McCartney Young Veg Advocate award, Vegan Kid of the Year award from Vegans Are Cool, PETA's Youth Activist of the Year, and the Lisa Shapiro Youth Activist award. She is featured in Vegan: Everyday Stories, a documentary about the lives of everyday vegans, Cesar Chavez: Respect for All about the life and activism of her great uncle Cesar Chavez, and The Invisible Vegan about the lives of vegan people of color.

A systems specialist with a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, Dr. Sailesh Rao worked on the internet communications infrastructure for twenty years after graduation. In 2006, he switched careers and founded the environmental non-profit, Climate Healers (https://www.climatehealers.org).

Anushka is an Indian vegan singer, musician and actress. She has been a vocal animal rights advocate in the past few years.

Ryan is the CEO of Wild Earth, a healthy and sustainable biotech-based vegan pet food company. He has also invested in over 140 future of food and future of biotech companies as an angel and venture investor over the last decade.

Manpreet is a plant-based nutritionist and the founder of Nutriapt.

Shireen is a Haematologist and Lifestyle Medicine Physician. She also runs the UK’s first University course on plant-based nutrition at Winchester University. Shireen provides education on plant-based diets and lifestyle medicine healthcare services through her non-profit organisations Plant-based health professionals UK and Plant Based Health Online. 

Georges is the owner of Hayek Hospital and has turned it into serving exclusively plant-based vegan food starting March 1st, 2021, after a year of transition. Their aim is to tackle the root cause of major chronic diseases and cancers, not just treating symptoms. He is also the founder of the Vegan Social Hub founded after the unfortunate Beirut explosion on August 4th, 2020.

Abhay Rangan is the founder of Goodmylk. Abhay made Forbes 30 under 30 Asia in 2019 and  Forbes 30 under 30 India in 2020. Prior to Goodmylk, Abhay founded SARV, a non-profit that did animal rights awareness campaigns.

Claire is the founder of humane investment platform Beyond Investing. She is a vegan and environmentalist with 34 years’ experience in finance and investment at top-tier banks and investment houses, including UBS and Albourne Partners.  Based in Switzerland, Claire is the founder of Beyond Cruelty Foundation, formed to campaign for zero animal exploitation and to fund safe havens for animals, which will also receive a portion of profits of companies under the Beyond Investing umbrella.

Dr Nandita Shah, the recipient of the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskaar in 2016, is the Founder, Director, and trustee of SHARAN. She founded SHARAN in 2005 with the aim of helping people to heal themselves, and the planet, by connecting to animals and nature.

Melanie is the CEO of Ananas Anam, which is the creator of Pinatex. The company creates a natural, plant-based leather with waste pineapple leaves, and are a Certified B Corporation.

Amit is the Founder and Managing Partner at Grover & Company Impact Ventures, a sector-focused Venture Capital Impact Fund. The fund focuses on investing and partnering with early-stage ventures in the; Alternative Protein and Alternative Dairy food ecosystem with a purpose to drive three specific Sustainable Development Goals; (A) Climate Change, (B) Food Security and (C) Equal Employment Opportunity.

Shankar is the founder of Faborg, an eco-business that manufactures fabric and natural insect repellent from the wild foraged plants called Calotropis. His aim is to implement sustainable and economically viable solutions for farmers and weavers in India work towards 100% sustainable self-reliant future. 

Arun Kalyanasundaram MD, MPH, FACC, FSCAI is an internationally renowned interventional cardiologist that has performed over 5000 complex angioplasties globally. He is presently the Chairman of Cardiology at Promed Hospital, and is an honorary director at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi where he is the head of the CTO PCI program. He is also an adjunct Assistant professor at the University of Washington. Previously, he was the Chief of the department of Cardiology at Highline Hospital, and head of the CTO program at Swedish Heart Institute, Seattle, WA, USA. An alumni of the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, he has been a vegan for over a decade and is an advocate of  healthy lifestyle choices for his patients.  He has previously been involved with vegetarians of Washington where he has contributed immensely both in terms of organization as well as a regular speaker in the annual event. 

Aviram Rozin is the Founder and Director of Sadhana Forest, a vegan volunteer-based organization focused on creating long-term plant-based food security. Sadhana Forest trains local people in India, Haiti and Kenya in the use of water-saving irrigation techniques and provides them with free seedlings to plant drought-resistant, indigenous, food-bearing trees around their homes. He has been vegan since 1999.

Prof. Ambika is a Fashion Design professor at the World University of Design. She has 18+ years of experience at the Pearl Academy.

Shardul is an Innovation Specialist at The Good Food Institute India.

Neha Ranglani is an integrative nutritionist, health coach and lifestyle educator, YouTuber, blogger, speaker and a plant based food coach. She believes that our body has a magical power of healing provided we supply it with the right fuel in terms of food and thoughts. She is a fat loss expert and has helped thousands of people reduce weight, reverse diabetes, thyroid, cholesterol, PCOS and any health issue they seek help for.

As the Co-Host of the popular live video podcast Pandemic Punditry, Lavindra de Silva has unfiltered conversations about Putting the Planet on a Pandemic Diet with Smart Protein newsmakers from across the globe. In addition, he is a Board Advisor to India’s largest plant-based gourmet food distribution company - Beyond Passé, the company that introduced Violife to the Indian market.

Chirag Jain is the CEO of Ashika Capital Ltd, part of the Ashika Group, a diversified financial services group in India, where he leads the firm’s efforts to help people, companies and institutions raise capital and grow and manage their wealth and assets.

Dr. Tripathi (Age- 46 years), is the founder of Freedom From Diabetes. Under his leadership Freedom from Diabetes program has helped many people to lose weight; get rid of diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol medications through natural changes in habits related to food, exercise, stress release and positivity. In less than 7 years since its inception Freedom From Diabetes has succeeded in getting over 5000 diabetics free of medicines and 1000 free of insulin completely.

Zac Lovas: Co-founder of Vegan Travel Asia by VegVoyages, Zac spends his time sharing his passion for animals, veganism and bringing people together by bridging cultural gaps throughout the 8 different countries their vegan cultural adventure tours go to every year. Starting with 3 trips in India 17 years ago, VegVoyages now organizes over 27 vegan cultural group tours every year. 

BIO

Siddharth is Chief Investment Strategist at the Om Kothari Group. The group was founded in 1971 and has interests in engineering construction, infrastructure, automotive dealerships, manufacturing and real estate. The group’s flagship company, Om Infra Ltd (listed on the NSE and BSE) is a global leader in hydro-mechanical equipment for dams.

Stephanie Downs is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Material Innovation Initiative, a non-profit focused on accelerating the availability of sustainable and cruelty-free alternatives to leather, wool, fur, down, silk, and exotic skins. In 2016, she co-founded and was the CEO of Good Dot, which quickly grew to be the largest plant-based meat company in India. She is also an investor in Mink Shoes and House of Fluff, an equity advisor for Evo Foods, and has served as a mentor for various business incubators including ProVeg and the HSI Human Entrepreneur Program.

Shubhankar is the founder of MyoWorks which makes edible scaffolds for the cultivated meat industry.

Kuntal Joisher combines the distinction of being both an accomplished mountaineer and a high-end, computer science professional. Joisher has climbed to the top of Mt. Everest from both Nepal side (2016), and China side (2019). Joisher has also been named one of India’s top 30 fitness influencers. In addition to his dedication to mountaineering and bodybuilding, Joisher is passionate about three causes: raising awareness about the disease of Dementia, spreading the message of Veganism, and education of the underprivileged in Nepal.

Dr. Rupa Shah (MBBS) is trained in western medicine in Mumbai and is also trained in ‘Lifestyle Medicine’ from the Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. She developed a keen interest in natural healing therapies about 35 years ago and is treating her patients with the help of flower energy remedies, plant-based diet & lifestyle and other complementary therapies. Today, she is lecturing all over the world on this subject. While researching and treating patients, she came across Flower Remedies.

Dolf is a scientist and entrepreneur who co-created the Somarka full-spectrum coherent water technology. After an illustrious career in data mining, artificial intelligence, telecom and fibre optics, Dolf turned to the study of light, water and its impact on biological systems and health. After over 13 years of intensive R&D, he launched full spectrum, coherent water - i.e. water that is in a liquid crystalline structure as originally found in nature. He passionately believes that restoring the health of water across the planet is crucial for enhancing health of all living beings on earth.

Devi is the official Global Ambassador of the Mohanji Foundation. She is also a spiritual diplomat and a proponent of traditional yoga.

BIO

BIO

Vaibhav is a clinical nutritionist with expertise in sports performance nutrition and reversal of metabolic disorders. After completing his MSc from The University of Sheffield, he has been working with professional athletes in the IPL, Super Fight League and with Gary Kirsten Cricket. He founded a 100% natural and vegan supplement brand called Purecise in 2019 that aims to provide the most authentic ingredients to help maintain optimum levels of health and performance while ensuring a higher quality of life.

Shivnayan works as the Lead for The Plant Factor, which is fostering India’s dynamic and cohesive entrepreneurial ecosystem for plant-based businesses, adopting a collaborative approach to transforming the industry. He has worked with organizations such as Grofers, Crofram, Shuttl, Dharmsala Tea Company, Splash, Tata Trusts and the Government of Arunachal Pradesh etc.

Dr. Manilal Valliyate is currently the Chief Executive officer (CEO) at PETA India. He is also a former co-opted member of the Animal Welfare Board of India, which operates under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and a former member of the Kerala State Animal Welfare Board. His expert testimony and reports have aided PETA India in winning numerous court cases that have helped prevent the suffering of animals nationwide.

Sandeep is the Co-Founder of the Indian plant-based meat company Blue Tribe Foods.

Shankar Narayan is the founder of India's oldest vegan society, the Satvik Vegan Society. In 2021, he is completing 20 years of being vegan.

Akshay is the Science and Technology Specialist in cultivated meat with the Good Food Institute India.

Vinita Contractor is a Holistic Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach. She is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist from American Fitness Professionals & Associates, US. and has completed the Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate from eCornell and T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, New York, US. as well as other courses in Wellness Culinary, Nature Cure and Ayurveda Diet. She offers nutrition and lifestyle coaching programs which focus on various aspects of health such as providing a sound health & nutritional foundation, on-going support to her clients, reversing lifestyle diseases such as Cholesterol, Hypertension, Diabetes, Obesity, PCOS and Thyroid.

Gaurav has volunteered as an animal rights activist with NGO’s like PETA, PFA, FIAPO, HSI etc. regularly since 2006 and became the Trustee of Sansthanam Abhay Daanam. Initially the trust was formed to help injured birds and animals but is now expanding with facilities of small and big ambulances to rescue bird and animals. The organisation is also working on various projects like Ayurveda & Naturopathy Centre, Free Gurukul Education, Upliftment of Farmers to promote organic farming and more.

Atul Doshi is a Chartered Accountant based in Mumbai who co-founded Ahimsa Festival with five other team members. He also organized a vegan wedding for both of his daughters. He is currently working as the Co-founder and Director at Letstute (online education company). 

Kanchan is a vegan chef, Youtuber and a foodie who loves cooking. She turned vegan in January 2020 and later started her Youtube Channel “Foodotomic”, to help fellow vegans in their journey by teaching easy and simple vegan recipes. Her aim is to see everyone come together and be passionate about all the living beings to create a cruelty free world. 

Sandhya Krishnan is an ICF certified coach focusing on personal mastery, wellness and mindfulness. She has over 20 years of experience across industries as diverse as law, the media, art, technology, retail, and wellness. She also has over 18  years of study of philosophy and mindfulness and uses these learnings to help young professionals find deep purpose, achieve habit change, contentment and balance in their lives.

Seth is the founder and CEO of Tofurky, and an expert on tempeh.