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 team of 45 staff. Mike's vegan journey began when he attended a horse riding accident. While caring for the patient, he noticed her horse was bleeding, suffering and in severe distress. The patient's mo ..read more

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 book absolutely changed how Louise felt about animals, because it brought their suffering to the forefront and as a result, she went vegetarian. Soon after the birth of Sebastian, Louise saw a television story on bobby calves ..read more

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, it was hugely rewarding. Phoebe put her hand up to be their first foster station in NSW and during that time, she was involved in the rescue of over 100 calves and thousands of battery hens. P ..read more

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 Mission billboard on the highway, featuring a picture of a pig and the statement "My name is Penelope Sue, not dinner". This image hit Marisa's heart, feeling a lot of sadness and guilt, so she told her husban ..read more

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 an impressive list of speakers (also previous podcast guests) such as Georgie Purcell, Emma Hurst, Matt Stellino, Paul Bevan and Emma Hakansson. Be sure to tune in to the episode for all of the essential details s ..read more

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 learned the truth about bobby calves, which at the time, seemed almost unbelievable. Jan always loved horses and had begun her working career in the industry after leaving school.  Once she went vegan a ..read more

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 assigned a teaching role and Tully became more curious about different foods and cultures. Tully realised Indian recipes were the easiest to remove the meat and dairy and still retain amazing flavou ..read more

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's page and was shocked at what she learnt. Alicia has 3 children, all of whom are vegan, including one from birth. Over the years Alicia has been heavily involved in activism including attending rallie ..read more

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 watching Babe. Seeing a video of Milly the cow enjoying cuddles at Happily Heifer After helped Jess to make the decision to go vegan. It wasn't long before she started researching the dairy industry ..read more

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 ended up also going vegetarian. In a chance encounter with activists in Brisbane, the couple were prompted to question if being vegetarian was enough. After going away and doing research, Chloe went veg ..read more