Expert marketer Sandra Nomoto speaks with me about the animal agriculture industry’s marketing tactics. Specifically: four ways they’ve misled the public. These include discrediting research on plant-based diets that showed health benefits, specific marketing campaigns, fear-mongering about vegan diets, and online astroturfing.

Sandra Nomoto is an award-winning ethical marketer for cruelty-free businesses. She also offers a suite of services for authors with impact. She previously ran Conscious Public Relations Inc. for a decade, which was the fourth public relations agency in Canada to earn B Corporation® certification. Sandra is the author of two books, including Vegan Marketing Success Stories, the world's first vegan marketing book, honoured by Vegan Choice Awards in 2023. On the side of her desk, she co-hosts VEG Networking Canada, Canada's only vegan networking group, blogs at SandraNomoto.com, and writes for several outlets.

Katya Gorbacheva is one of the strongest vegans in the world. She is an elite powerlifter with a total of 1025 lbs at 165 lbs body weight and 453 DOTs (ratio of weight lifted to body weight). She shares her own vegan story, and how to get enough protein as a vegan strength athlete. We also discuss societal ideals of what women are “supposed” to look like or how they’re “supposed” to act, especially on social media.

Katya has been vegan almost 8 years and is a proud member of the Vegan Strong PlantBuilt Team. She goes to protests against foie-gras and marches against animal cruelty, and is a frequent speaker at vegan festivals around the world.

Why do the most effective forms of animal advocacy often involve letting go of our personal biases? How can we understand our strengths, and use them to help animals? What are the most impactful animal charity organizations and how can we best support them? Robert Cheeke joins me to discuss these topics, and more — all featured in his upcoming book.

Robert grew up on a farm in Corvallis, Oregon where he adopted a vegan lifestyle in 1995 at age 15. Today he is the author of 5 books, including his latest, The Impactful Vegan, to be released on June 25, 2024. He is often referred to as the “Godfather of Vegan Bodybuilding,” growing the industry from infancy in 2002, to where it is today. As a natural bodybuilding champion, Robert is considered one of VegNews magazine's Most Influential Vegan Athletes. He tours around the world sharing his story of transformation from a skinny farm kid to champion vegan bodybuilder.

Robert is the founder of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness and maintains the website VeganBodybuilding.com. He is a regular contributor to Forks Over Knives, The Center for Nutrition Studies, Vegan Strong, The Vegan Gym, and No Meat Athlete. He's a former multi-sport athlete, and has followed a plant-based diet for more than 28 years. Robert lives in Colorado with his wife and two rescued Chihuahuas.