Lisa Apfelberg is the Deputy Executive Director of Jewish Veg. A lifelong defender of animals, the environment, and disenfranchised groups, she became vegetarian at age six (and has been vegan for almost twenty years). Lisa was recently selected to be a part of the Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project and is currently a student in the Executive Masters program at the Spertus Institute. Prior to working professionally in the vegan world, she always made herself available to teach her friends how to cook delicious food without using animal ingredients and hosted vegan cooking classes for her birthday parties. Lisa lives in Austin with her family and is currently spending her free time watching videos about the Tiny House Movement and perfecting her cooking skills.

Jen Bravo is a life-long animal advocate who works to deepen collaboration and advance justice in the public interest. She is a seasoned convener, organizer, writer, and facilitator, applying a multi-disciplinary approach across the social, environmental, and technology sectors. She is currently working in the fields of philanthropy, environmental justice, and climate resilience. Jen volunteers for numerous animal advocacy and social justice groups, and promotes veganism and sustainability in her everyday life. She holds a BA in anthropology and earned her Master of Public Policy from the University of Southern California. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three cats.

Nicole has worked in non-profit administration for over 17 years in a variety of sectors, including the arts, education and animal welfare. She specializes in operations and strategic planning. Nicole currently serve on the boards of Ars Nova, Story Pirates Inc., One Tail at a Time Portland and Woodstock Farm Sanctuary. In addition to her role as a trustee of the Awesome Foundation Vegan chapter, she sits on the board of of their umbrella non-profit, the Institute of Higher Awesome Studies. She is a founding member of Women Funders in Animal Rights. In addition to her non-profit strategic planning consultation work and board service, she works at the intersection of food systems, environmentalism and labor rights through the Payne Brodeur Giving Fund and Ursa Minor Ventures. Her favorite animal is the moose.

Alex Bury was a professional chef when she went vegan in 1995. She still makes the same mac and cheez recipe from those days. She started a vegan restaurant in California with the hope of creating more vegans, but soon learned that well-funded nonprofits would create more change than she ever could with french toast and chocolate pie. Now she’s been a professional fundraiser for animal rights for 20 years. She’s worked for PETA, The Foundation to Support Animal Protection, HSUS, and as a consultant for several different vegan groups. Today she is the Vice President of Development at Vegan Outreach and on the board of The People & Pets Project. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her rescue dog and cat, various other fosters, and well-used cross-country skis. She claims moose and guinea pigs as her favorite animals in honor of her WFAR colleagues.

Jennifer Channin has served as the Executive Director of the Better Food Foundation since 2021. She previously served as Director of Development at Better Food Foundation, Farm Forward, Found in Translation, and has worked in philanthropy for nearly twenty years raising tens of millions of dollars for farmed animal protection and social justice organizations worldwide. She holds a Masters of Divinity from Harvard, is an ordained minister, and a dual citizen of the US and Brazil. She lives in San Diego with her partner, Aaron, and their dog, Buddy.

Monica Chen is the Executive Director of New Roots Institute (formerly Factory Farming Awareness Coalition). She's on the ChangeScale steering committee and advises Scarlet Spark, the AVA Summit, and Animal Defense Partnerships. Monica earned her BA at UC Berkeley and her Master’s in Education, with a focus on the environment, at the University of New Mexico. She’s a huge fan of guinea pigs.

Deanna Meyler cares strongly about social justice and has been vegan since 1998. Today she is the Director of Development at the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic. It is the only independent and approved craniofacial care clinic in the United States and accepts all patients, no matter their background or ability to pay. In the past, Deanna led a small nonprofit focused on animal rights, was part of the advocacy team at a large immigration rights nonprofit, worked in advertising/consulting for a decade, and was in academia for a decade. Deanna has a PhD in sociology, advanced certification in Community Leadership, is a Master Certified Vegan Lifestyle Coach & Educator, and has a certification in plant-based nutrition. She is the founder of An Everyday Vegan, a lifestyle website. Deanna’s personal mission is to make the world a better place one meal at a time.

Aneeha Patwardhan is a nonprofit operations consultant with over 15 years of experience in the animal protection space. Her consulting firm helps organisations set up, improve and run their back-offices so that they can focus on their core missions.

Aneeha has worked for several leading organizations of all sizes–from multinational NGOs and technology consulting companies to small startups–and has saved them thousands of hours and dollars by streamlining their operations departments. Apart from animal rights, some of the causes closest to her heart are gender & racial equity and global health.

Naijha Wright-Brown is the Baltimore Sun's 2023 Top Black Marylander to Watch and a 2021 Baltimore Business Journal Enterprising Women of Excellence Honoree. Naijha has an MBA in Business from the University of Phoenix and is a successful serial entrepreneur. Naijha is a partner and the Marketing Director for The Land of Kush, VeganSoul Bistro, and co-creator of Vegan Soulfest and Maryland Vegan Restaurant Month. She is the Executive Director of the Black Veg Society, a non-profit organization whose mission is mission is to educate predominantly Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, on the benefits of holistic living, the plant-based diet, and veganism. Naijha is Vice Chair of the Board of the Restaurant Association of Maryland. She, also, has a digital talk show, Naijha Speaks, that helps people on a mission to find their vegan soul!