Los Angeles, CA – The Vegan Women Summit (VWS) has announced the recipients of its 2024 annual awards, established to recognize global leaders, innovators, and organisations that accelerate women’s leadership by positively impacting the people, planet, and animals.
Heather Mills: A Voice for Veganism and Health
After presenting one of the main keynote speeches at The Vegan Women’s Summit 2024 Heather was awarded the prestigious title of Woman of The Year.
Heather has been a pioneering figure in the vegan movement worldwide with her company VBites having created one of the first vegan burgers over three decades ago.
Despite facing significant health challenges, including a period when she relied on liquid food due to Lyme Disease, Heather remains a vocal advocate for the benefits of a plant-based diet. She emphasises the importance of understanding nutrition and health and encourages scepticism toward misleading claims about processed foods by the meat and dairy industries.
Heather shares her thoughts on the importance of informed dietary choices and addressing misconceptions in the public perception of veganism.
"Spending time at VWS with so many like-minded people was inspiring. Though my team at VBites travelled thousands of miles to get there and set up for the exhibition, the response to our vegan food was immense, so it was worth it. On top of that, it gave us the opportunity to showcase our next stage of food, our new gut-healthy range 'No Bloat.'
There will always be a demand for stage one vegan fast food, to replace the unhealthy fast food, the next stage isback to vegetable burgers with real veg, and stage three is gut healthy.
You cannot take a fast-food addict to broccoli overnight, however having fed people vegan food for over 30 years and taking them from hormone and antibiotic-filled meat — the most processed food you can eat — we eventually got them to quinoa and kale by weaning them on vegan fast food and slowly taking them over the bridge to the other side becoming a healthy vegan.
No matter what anyone tells you, vegan fast food is less processed from start to finish than any meat or dairy you could ever eat.
Thank you, Vegan Women Summit, for bringing us all together to remind us we have to stand united in our voice and our messaging if we are going to make any difference."
Jennifer Stojkovic, founder of VWS, reflected on the summit's impact, stating,
"With nearly 1,000 attendees live in Hollywood, this year's event was our first-ever red carpet and live after-party performance -- and by far, our most ambitious event yet, spanning across 100+ speakers and brands, two stages, two events, one pitch slam, one top chef competition, and one totally wild after-party. Our attendees, speakers, and brands came from an incredible six continents and our audience was our most diverse yet, with a majority women of colour attendees and a significant increase in male attendees. It truly was the most incredible community of changemakers, leaders, and industry professionals that we have ever seen.”
2024 VWS Award Winners:
- Woman of the Year: VBites CEO Heather Mills
- Creator of the Year: Erin Ireland, Founder of To Live For bakery
- Ally of the Year: California Assemblymember Ash Kalra
- Nonprofit of the Year: Plant Futures
- Best Place to Work: Impossible Foods
- Company of the Year: MIKUNA
