Sonoma County Vegfest
Speaker Schedule

The Hook, The Worm, and The Fish: What I Unlearned About Animals and What I Knew All Along

Jack Gescheidt, TreeSpirit Project

Nature lover and environmental activist Jack Gescheidt of The TreeSpirit Project unspools his six-decade-long journey from animal-loving child, to average adult, to something else entirely.

Jack Gescheidt created his TreeSpirit Project to use art, advocacy and activism to raise awareness of our interdependence with trees, forests, wild animals and the natural world. A lifelong nature and animal lover, Jack turned professional photographer four decades ago, environmental activist two decades ago, and vegan activist over one decade ago. 

More recently, he speaks as an animal rights activist who knows that the human tradition of treating non-human animals as inferiors, and using them for our own purposes, is not only exterminating wild animals, but all life on Earth — and ourselves.

Beyond the Plate: Rewriting the Story We Tell About Animals
Kathy Cullen, Jolene's Retreat 

Join Kathy Cullen, Founder & Executive Director of Jolene's Retreat animal sanctuary, for a powerful look at what it really takes to shift hearts and minds toward a more compassionate world. She will expose the powerful marketing and scare tactics used by the animal agriculture industry to shape public perception — and invite us to imagine a different world, one where animals are seen for who they are, not what they are, and the profound impact that shift could have.

When Kathy Cullen was 19 she decided to go vegetarian for health reasons, but morality quickly took a front seat after realizing that she no longer wanted to be a part of animal suffering. Thirty years later, she went vegan on January 1, 2013 and never looked back. Consuming animal products was no longer an option. Several years later she began reading about the horrors of animal agriculture and the unbelievable suffering animals go through for food, entertainment, clothing, science, etc. and decided to get involved. She joined animal rights organizations, attended animal rights conferences, networked with animal rights activists, visited animal sanctuaries, and finally decided to start her own sanctuary. She retired in June of 2021, bought 10 acres of land in Occidental, California in and in May 2023…Jolene’s Retreat became a reality with their first rescue of a family of five pigs.

Jolene’s Retreat

Next Level Love
Carlos Garcia

Carlos Garcia will explore the connections of animal exploitation with human persecution, linking social justice with animal rights. He will show how these systematic oppressions have a shared history of domination and abuse of all that are considered “other”.

Carlos Garcia is a musician/model/actor that has been traveling constantly between the East & West Coasts and Hawaii doing animal rights/vegan activism for 24 years. He produces, performs, promotes, speaks at vegan events, health festivals and animal sanctuaries. He publishes vegan magazines, produces music videos and films promoting veganism and has been interviewed on many podcasts, websites and publications on veganism. He’s a certified vegan health coach from Victoria Moran’s Main Street Vegan Academy.

Now, with 2 grandkids, his life’s purpose is to use his music, modeling, acting, publishing experience to make the world a better place for them. He works with Jamie Logan, Victoria Moran, Jane Velez-Mitchell and many others. A proficient drummer, he has worked with many musicians around the world including Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac.

Music Vdeo, It’s OK To Love Me

 Music Video , Namaste, Vegan, Love