Ida Adkins
Ida grew up vegetarian and often thought she and her siblings were the only veg kids around. She now lives in California with her son and husband, Brian.

Joan Ahlers (right)
Joan is the Director of Sales at Fresh Baby. She has extensive pharmaceutical and business experience. When her first daughter, Madison, was born, she put her professional career on hold and embarked on the most challenging yet fulfilling job of her career, motherhood. Joan lives in New Mexico with Gary, her husband, and four Fresh Babies, Madison, Jordan, Gregory and Sienna.

Jessica Alleva
Jessica is a vegan and a frequent contributor to our sister site, Vegetarianteen.com Online Magazine. She and her family live in Canada along with their horse, five cats, and two golden retrievers. Jessica became vegetarian at the age of eight after watching the movie "Babe" and has been vegan since 2002.

Angelena Alston
Angelena Alston is a full-time mother, a freelance writer and a novelist living in Port Chester, NY, which is 45 minutes from Manhattan.

Dana Anderson-Villamagna
Dana is a freelance writer, La Leche League Leader and mom of two daughters. After earning a master's degree in journalism, she moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands and stayed for five years, working as a writer and starting a family with her husband, Drew. Currently, she lives in Virginia but hopes to return to the islands someday. She enjoys writing about children's issues, the environment, health, and community life.

Nava Atlas
Nava Atlas is the author and illustrator of many books on vegetarian cooking, most recently The Vegetarian Family Cookbook and The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet. Her home is in the Hudson Valley region of New York State, where she lives with her husband and two school-aged sons. Visit her website: In a Veg Kitchen.

Connie Bendickson
Connie Bendickson is a stay-at-home, part-time homeschooling mom, the founder of Healthy Moms, Healthy Families and the author of The Healthy Moms Healthy Families Handbook: A Guide to Healthy Eating for Families and God's World. She lives in Maple Grove, MN, with her husband Rich and their two children, Ashley and Jacob.

Györgyi Bezdan
Györgyi lives in Hungary, where she and her husband are raising their son vegetarian. She is an advocate of organic and natural foods.

Jill Black
Jill is a consultant, author, and a member of the New Zealand Freelance Writers Association (NZFWA). She writes the monthly Living Mindfully Syndicated Column read by thousands each week around the world. For more articles by this author visit her online at her Web site.

Robyn Boyd
Robyn is the author of RawSome Recipes, a raw food instructor, food coach, and mother to teenage daughter Molly. Visit her website.

Patricia Bridgman
Patricia Brigman is a journalist by training, retired in 2001 after 30 years in public relations for AT&T/Lucent Technologies. Her stories for young people appear in Highlights, Cricket, Spider, Story Friends, Jack and Jill, and a Girl's Life anthology.

Melanie Bucher
Melanie Bucher turned vegetarian at the age of four after being horrified to learn where meat comes from. She's originally from England but now lives in Switzerland, looking after her meat-loving husband and boisterous vegetarian daughter. As well as being a mother, she also works as a Business English lecturer and part-time writer.

Teresa Burgess
Teresa is a full-time mother. She is also the Public Works Director/City Engineer for the City of Chanhassen, MN. where she lives with her husband and two children.

Gina Cassidy
Gina is from Brooklyn, NY and currently resides in Illinois where she's a community college composition and developmental writing instructor. She's the homeschooling mother of three vegan children.

Amanda Powell Castillo
Amanda has been vegetarian for 25 years and vegan for six. She is the homeschooling mother of three veg kids and has been living in China for 15 years. She is currently studying natural medicine.

Demetria Clark
Demetria runs the Heart of Herbs School and her website, Demetria.com, while mothering her two beautiful boys. She is a member of the Northeast Herbal Association, NEHA, an organization dedicated to merging ancient traditions of herbalism and the needs of the modern herbalist. In addition to her regular column here, she writes an Herbal Column in Saponifier Magazine, Pandora's Box and many others.

Robert Cohen
Robert Cohen is the "NOTmilkman" and the author of Milk: A to Z and the Executive Director of the Dairy Education Board. Visit his site at www.notmilk.com.

Ginny Delaney
Ginny is a free-lance writer and full-time mama. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, Dan, and son, Phoenix. She and Dan have eaten a vegetarian diet for nine years, Phoenix from day one. They are expecting the arrival of their second veggie kid in April.

Julie Dorado
Julie lives in Hawaii and is the grandmother of two beautiful vegan children. She is an advocate of Young Living essential oils, which she uses for healing, prevention, and wellness.

Pascale Duguay
Pascale is a freelance writer and translator (French/English) and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

Kelly Dyer
Kelly Dyer is the happily married, vegan, full-time mother of Shae. She enjoys reading, yoga, art, photography, and writing. In her spare time she is hard at work at shedonteatmeat.com, the pro-veganism, pro-animal rights website that she hopes "makes people think". You can contact her at Kelly@shedonteatmeat.com.

Angela Elliot
Angela is a Medical and Master Herbalist, Chinese Reflexologist, Acupressure and Spinal Therapist, Classical Homeopath, Nutritionist, Paramedical Aesthetician, Jin Shin Juitsu Practitioner, Reiki and Marei Master, Polarity Practitioner, Teacher of Reflexology, Reiki, Marei, Polarity, Herbology and Jin Shin. Flower Essences Practitioner and Manufacturer, Certified Gourmet Chef, Living Foods Nutritionist and Coach, Holistic Health Practitioner, Holistic Animal Therapist, and Aroma therapist. Visit her Web site.

Patty Everett
Patricia Katez Everett, B.S.N., R.N. is a freelance writer, stay-at-home-mom and owner of Cocoa's Closet (www.cocoascloset.com). She has been married to Greg for many wonderful years. They have three children: Caleb, Noah, and Audrey.

Katy Farber
Katy is an elementary school teacher, freelance writer and mom. She lives with her talented husband, a photographer (www.kurtbudligerphotography.com), and daughter, Addy, in the mountains of Central Vermont.

Mary Eileen Finch
Mary Eileen Finch, CD (DONA) lives in rural Arkansas along with her inspiring husband, Jason, and their two adorable children, Rebecca & Jarod. She is a certified labor doula and a vegan since 1997.

Christina Francine
Christina is a Fantasy writer and book-reviewer. Look for reviews at http://www.yetanotherbookreview.com and at http://forewordreviews.com. Find her blurbs on the back and inside cover of published books. She can be reached at: http://www.CFrancine.bizland.com.

Dawn Friedman
Dawn is mom to Noah who is growing up in a mixed-veg, interfaith household. So far Noah doesn't seem too confused! She is currently working on a book about pregnancy.

Francesca Gasparini
Francesca lives in the medieval city of Bologna, Italy with her husband Lorenzo and her two children, Arturo and Giuliano. She is a writer and theatre scholar working at the local University. Her web site, "Il vero momón", offers information and support on vegetarianism and breastfeeding in Italian.

Monique Gilbert
Monique N. Gilbert, B.Sc., is a Personal Health, Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach, Certified Personal Trainer/Fitness Counselor, Health Advocate, Recipe Developer, Freelance Writer and Author of Virtues of Soy: A Practical Health Guide and Cookbook. For more information, visit her website.

Tara Gillet-Liloia
Tara works from home while raising her young son and going to school. She enjoys quilting and gardening and is the editor of The Vegetarian Woman at Suite101.com where she has published many articles on vegetarianism and cooking.

T.R. Gonzalez
T. R. Gonzalez lives in Santa Rosa where he writes, plays guitar, and dances when his daughter wants to rock and roll. He always eats his lima beans.

Lyndal Greenslade
Lyndal Greenslade is an Aussie mama committed to an ethical, compassionate, peaceful lifestyle. She enjoys writing, running, growing veggies, and playing the Brazlian martial art of capoeira.

Dr. Michael Greger
Michael Greger, M.D. is a general practitioner specializing in vegetarian nutrition, a prize-winning cook, and an internationally recognized speaker on a number of important public health and social justice issues. He is author of Heart Failure: Diary of a Third Year Medical Student and has contributed to a number of books on veganism and food safety issues.

Mona Harris
Mona lives in Miami with her two kids, Gabriel Ernesto and Daphne Astrid and her husband Harold. She is a childbirth educator and doula (www.birthnaturally.com). She is also a breastfeeding and homebirth advocate and the owner of DiaperFabric.com, an online store specializing in fabric and patterns for sewing cloth diapers.

Anna Hays
Anna was the winner of the www.rawveganteen.com "How I Went Raw" Essay Contest 2003. Read her essay.

Nadja Hazard
Nadja has been vegetarian for over twenty years, vegan for five. She is a feminist, a veterinarian, and animal-rights activist who lives in Toronto, Canada with her partner, her children, and their dog and two cats.

John Hershey
John Hershey is a dad, a writer, and a lawyer (in that order). He lives in Denver with his wife Lynn Marie Bell and their boys Henry and Daniel. John's humor writing has appeared in many magazines around North America, Australia, and New Zealand. To read more humorous essays about such mysterious topics as parenting, politics, and why it's illegal to sleep with cheese in Colorado, please visit his website: www.thehumors.com.

Amy O'Neill Houck
Amy is currently living in Washington with her husband James and daughter Selma. She's a vegan chef and a Web developer.

Heather Hudson
Heather Hudson is a freelance writer specializing in health, fitness and perinatal issues. You can reach her at heather.hudson@sympatico.ca.

Stacie Jacobs
Stacie is the founder of Baby Blossoms, a company that gives parents peace of mind by providing safe, gentle, 100% natural baby care products. She lives in San Francisco, CA with her husband, Ben and their two daughters. For more information, please visit: www.babyblossoms.com.

Mary Jastron
Mary was very interested in healthy living, but on the urging of her daughter and grandson, became vegetarian ten years ago. In her second career after retiring as a cosmetology school supervisor, she has been teaching reading to multicultural children in an inner-city elementary school (K 5). Her articles and poems have been published by and have won poetry awards from Alvernia College.

Anna-Stina Johansson
Anna-Stina Johansson is an animal keeper who lives in a small village called Örträsk, in the north of Sweden. She grew up on a very small old fashion farm with milkcows but became a vegetarian several years ago because of her love of animals. One of her biggest dreams is to save cattle from being killed as she thinks cows are very kind, curious and beautiful.

Dana Johnson, MSW
Dana Johnson is a former children's mental health therapist and is currently a work-at-home mom with twin girls. She owns Three Sisters Toys, specializing in natural and Waldorf-inspired toys for babies and young children.

Vicki Johnston
Vicki is the founder and director of the Robert Muller Center For Living Ethics in Fairview, Tx. It is her life's work to change the face of education and mentor children in the ways of cooperation, responsibility, and community and establish centers of learning where they can learn joyously and according to the childs nature. By fully nurturing the nature of the child we encourage the full stature of the adult. The Center utilizes the World Core Curriculum, which encourages graduates who revere their planetary home and have reverence for all life.

Heather Jose
Heather Jose is a homemaker who enjoys gardening, reading, and coaching volleyball. She is married to Larry. They have one daughter, Sydney, and are in the process of adopting a child from India. They live in Mecosta, Michigan with their boxer, Duke.

Supriya Kelkar
Supriya is a University of Michigan graduate currently working as a screenwriter on a film called "The Fifth Move" by Indian writer/director/producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It will go into production in 2006.

Linda Kligman
Linda Kligman works full-time as a fundraiser for a local non-profit and looks forward to leaving promptly at 5 p.m. to pick up the her twin girls. Her husband, Jon, is a professor at a local college. They have three cats - Baobob, Frotis and Guilty - who try to stay out of the way.

Rick Kump
Rick is a public speaker and humane educator, specializing in educating young people about youth and nutrition issues. He also gives raw lifestyle counseling and is a frequent contributor to rawveganteen.com. Contact him via e-mail.

Carol LaLiberte
Carol Laliberte is mother to six-year-old Andrew, a college instructor, newspaper columnist, freelance writer, and consultant. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her son and her husband, Phil. Together they are raising Lovee, the vegetarian Bichon Frise!

Michelle Larson-Sadler
Michelle is a stay-at-home Waldorf parent to her two year old daughter, Freya. She owns, manages and develops product for Conscious Cookery, a unique vegan grocery. She, her husband Craig, and daughter reside in San Diego, CA.

Loralee Leavitt
Loralee Leavitt lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her family loves fruit, and make jam and applesauce every summer.

Ann Lenssen
Ann is a native of Washington state and has published a concept book for children, A Rainbow Balloon, as well as a variety of children's stories included in Highlights for Children, Hopscotch, Children's Playmate, and My Friend magazines. She and her husband have raised four children and enjoy many nieces and nephews in their extended families.

Nell Liquorman
Nell is an artist and works part-time for a computer software company testing computer programs. She is origionally from North Carolina but has been living in Florida since 1984. For more than 20 years she has had rescued cats as pets: "I highly reccomend adopting an older pet."

Lia "I make milk...what's your super human power?" Mack
Lia is an at-home mom to Nathan and wife to Robert. She writes for and is the editor of NaturalBirthBaby, an online magazine dedicated to your birth and your baby...naturally! NaturalBirthBaby.com is home to an online community for naturally-minded moms interested in birth, breastfeeding, and attachment/natural parenting. The NaturalBirthBaby.com is part of the Natural Childbirth Network (NCbN), which has an extensive Link Database for all of your childbirth needs...Find a Doula, Midwife, Lactation Consultan...and more! You can reach Lia Mack at Lia@NaturalBirthBaby.com.

Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Reed is the former Chair of the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group, a Practice Group of The American Dietetic Association. She is also an advisor to The Vegetarian Resource Group. She is the co-author of Simply Vegan and Vegan & Vegetarian FAQ and the editor of The Vegan Handbook. She is raising her children vegan.

Sarah Martin
Sarah has been vegetarian for eight years, vegan for three. She is a stay-at-home mom and poet who lives in Louisville, KY with her husband and two children.

Caity McCardell
Caity and her husband went vegan three years ago and then made the second best decision of their lives - to have a baby. Gianna was born peacefully at home on Halloween 2002 using Hypnobirthing techinques, of which Caity is now a huge fan. Read more about her meditative, pain-free birth story at caityandstefan.com.

Tracy B. McGinnis
Tracy B. McGinnis is a freelance writer from North Carolina whose work focuses primarily on popular culture, writing, parenting, marriage, and women's issues. Her work has appeared in The Philosophical Mother webzine and with the National Association of Women Writers, among others. Presently she is seeking publication of her first novel. Tracy may be contacted at Ttmbaglady@aol.com.

Emily Neistadt
Emily is mom to Wade Forrest and Alyssa Rose, pictured here. She is married to Seth, and they reside happily in Southern California. In her spare time she enjoys reading, playing outdoors, and trying new tasty veggie recipes for her family.

Brenda Nixon
Brenda is the author of the book Parenting Power in The Early Years. For more information, parenting tips and resources go to http://www.parentpwr.com or email Brenda at speaker2parents@juno.com.

Rebecca Nyberg
Rebecca works as a writer and editor, and was the copy editor of Vegetarian Baby's print version. She lives in Shoreview, Minnesota with her sons Jon and Aaron, who are both high-functioning autistic teenagers with great appetites!

Sheila O'Niell
Sheila O'Niell has been published in Hightlights for Children, Child Life, Primary Treasure, Our Little Friend, Nature Friend Magazine, The Numismatist, Young & Alive, Sirs Discoverer and The Conqueror.

Rebecca Ortinau
Rebecca Ortinau is the mother of a 5-year-old vegetarian daughter and editor/columnist for an arts-and-crafts magazine publishing company outside Chicago.

Tammie Ortlieb
Tammie, an at-home mother of four and a vegan-wannabe, has her Masters in the field of Developmental Psychology. She enjoys living in her “mixed” family, part veg/part T-rex, and thanks very much her real life ovo-lacto niece for her I’m-gonna-change-the-world attitude. Her essays have appeared in Positively Woman and BusyParentsOnline..

Elizabeth Pantley
Elizabeth is a parent educator and author of five acclaimed books on parenting with compassion, consistency, and mutual respect. Visit her website.

Glenn Perrett
N. Glenn Perrett, his wife Lynn, and their children Gleannan and Liam live a vegan lifestyle northwest of Toronto, Ontario. Their extended family includes several canine, feline and equine family members, all of whom were in need of a good home. Glenn has a degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo. You can visit their website at: www.amorak.net.

Lisa Poisso
A passionate advocate of natural parenting, Lisa is editor of the all-new Natural Family Online magazine (formerly Natural Family at Busy Parents Online). She is the founder/publisher of APConnect!, Dallas/Fort Worth's online resource for attachment parenting and natural parenting.

Karen Ranzi
Karen Ranzi is a raw food support group leader for Accent on Wellness in New York City, a speaker and consultant. She has raised two children on the raw food diet, while maintaining a 100% raw vegan diet herself for over 8 years. She is currently writing a book about Raw Parenting, and also teaches a class on Raw Parenting. KHRANZI@aol.com.

Amy Rawson
Amy Rawson is the Herbal Editor at BellaOnline. She lives in Central New York and is a writer/mom to three amazing children. Along with writing, Amy grows and wildcrafts herbs for salves, oils and tinctures. Writing keeps her sane, and herbs are her art.

Sarah V. Richard
Sarah lived in New Orleans for 24 years before moving to Pennsylvania. After working in healthcare for eight years, she spends her free time writing and is pursuing a teaching career. Please visit her website at www.publishedauthors.net/sarahvrichard.

Anna Richardson
Anna became a vegetarian at 11 years old and is now is planning to rear her six-month old, Zander, vegetarian as well. Living in Indiana, Anna is pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Science at the University of Indianapolis.

Ocean Robbins
Ocean Robbins is founder and president of Youth for Environmental Sanity (YES!) in Santa Cruz, California, as well as author (with Sol Solomon) of Choices for Our Future. YES! sponsors assemblies, programs, and summer camps to educate, inspire, and empower youth worldwide.

Kristine Roberson
Kristine Roberson is the owner of MyMamaSaid.com. Her articles also appeared online at Suite101.com.

Melinda Rothstein
Melinda and her husband live in Massachusetts with their son Samuel. She is co-founder of the organization DiaperFreeBaby and founder of Amauti, Inc., a company that will be launching its first website, dedicated to joining mothers together, in the spring of 2004.

Debbie Rubin Fields
Deborah Rubin Fields is a writer based in Jerusalem. She has published both fiction and non-fiction for very young children on upward to adolescents. Currently, she is finishing an elementary school workbook dealing with Judaism and the environment.

Linda Runyon
Linda is mother, grandmother, artist, lecturer, environmentarian and author of reference publications that offer guidance to the backyard adventurer and the serious survivalist in identifying, gathering, preparing and storing wild foods. These titles include From Crabgrass Muffins to Pine Needle Tea, Survival Acre, Wild Foods and Animals Coloring Book, and Wild Cards. She is also the natural force behind the WildFood Company.

Deborah Salazar
Deborah was once a widely anthologized poet and essayist (*American Poets Say Goodbye to the 20th Century, Four Walls 1996), but now she's temporarily following a diaper-strewn path to enlightenment with two young children at home. Her husband Max is a philosophy teacher. The family, along with several imaginary friends, live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Say hi to any of them at shalombayit@juno.com.

Melody Sanislo
Melody Sanislo is a loving wife to her soul-mate Steve and happy stay-at-home mama to her two children. Her rare baby-free moments are spent practicing yoga and writing about her passions.

Kausalya Santhanam
Kausalya is a patent agent prosecuting biotech patents with a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences. She is also a part time medical writer.

Dr. Kerrie Saunders
Dr. Kerrie Saunders, MS, LLP, CAC, CPC, PhD is the Food & Fitness Consultant at an Integrated Medicine Center in MI. She and her daughter sell the vegan products of Arbonne for fun! You can find her physician-patient resource book, The Vegan Diet as Chronic Disease Prevention, see Arbonne, and access VeganSpeak MultiMedia presentations at www.DrFood.org.

Carinne Senske
Carinne R. Senske is vegan mom to Clementine and Isabel. She is the founder of the hugely successful Vegetarian Kids Group of San Diego, Ca.

Sarah V. Richard
Sarah lived in New Orleans for 24 years before moving to Pennsylvania. After working in healthcare for eight years, she spends her free time writing and is pursuing a teaching career. Please visit her website at www.publishedauthors.net/sarahvrichard. Illustrations and activity picture provided by Will Tanner.

Margaret Rizzuto Smith
Margaret Rizzuto Smith is happily married to Evan and is raising her second vegetarian. Her first son Eddie is 26 and continues a vegetarian lifestyle, which Margaret finds very validating. Her second son Elijah, 5 1/2 has been a "veg head" as he calls it, since birth.

Michelle Smith
Michelle is a freelance writer and Certified Massage Therapist from Chico, California.

Lisa Steele
Lisa is the devoted aunt to veggie niece, Whitney, and nephew, Ethan. She credits all of her awareness and compassion for the animals and the environment to her mother, the kindest and most sensitive person she has ever known. Lisa's email address is bardgirl@allvantage.com.

Danica Stefanko
Danica, a vegetarian since age 11, lives in central NY and is a proud work-at-home mother of her daughter Oriana. She works as an Idependant Marketing Executive for Melaleuca to keep the toxins out of her home. She is also an independandt manufacturer of Rockford Red Heel Sock Monkey toys and loves to sew. She is an advocate of attachment parenting and animal rescue. More info about both of her businesses can be found here and here.

Misty Strebeck
Misty has just finished cosmetology school and soon hopes to work as a stylist. She is a single mother to her vegan daughter Attica. They both live in Texas. Misty enjoys bike riding and finding new vegan sweets to eat. Attica enjoys talking loud and playing computer games.

Cheryl Tallman (left)
Cheryl is the CEO of Fresh Baby. She is an executive and entrepreneur with proven abilities in building and managing all aspects of business. In addition, she has seven years of sales experience at IBM and a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Cheryl lives in Michigan with Roger, her husband, and Fresh Baby, Spencer.

Sylvia Brich Thompson
Sylvia has been published in several children's magazines such as "The Friend" and "Happy Times." She and her husband enjoy sailing off the California coast to Catalina Island and snorkeling in the clear blue Caribbean waters. She has four grandchildren and looks at her environment in the same way as children do - with joy and enthusiasm for life.

Kumudha Venkatesan
Kumudha Venkatesan lives in Michigan. She has been a vegetarian for past seven years and is now planning to become a vegan. She writes about food and travel for online media.

Lucy Watkins
Lucy is Vegetarian Baby & Child Online Magazine's site manager and co-editor of the Vegetarianteen.com Online Magazine. She writes a column entitled "Vegbuzz" for VegNews. She lives in Texas with her two beautiful daughters, Joy Lynn and Shirlee.

Tiffany K. Wayne
Tiffany is a writer and part-time college instructor with a Ph.D. in History. She lives in Santa Cruz, California with her husband, David, and their homeschooled vegetarian kids, Miles and Lillian. Tiffany has written several articles and book reviews for both Vegetarian Baby & Child Magazine and VegNews.

Elizabeth Whitmore
Elizabeth Whitmore is a writer who grew up in Texas. She earned her Bachelor's degree in creative writing from Vermont College, and has held positions in publishing and the nonprofit sector in Washington DC, New York City, and London. She has been a vegetarian since she was thirteen years old. You can visit her website at elizabethwhitmore.com.

Melanie Wilson
Melanie is the editor of Vegetarian Baby & Child Online Magazine and co-editor of the Vegetarianteen.com Online Magazine. She is also a senior editor at VegNews. She lives in Mongolia with her husband Paul, below, and two daughters, Kalli and Mackenzie.

Paul Wilson
Paul is the Peace Corps Medical Officer in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He lives in Mongolia with his wife Melanie and two daughters, Kalli and Mackenzie.

Jennifer Young
Jennifer Young, aka Jen the Mick, lives in Ohio with her boyfriend, dogs (Shamus and Bella) and her more than rockin' kids, Gabrielle, Anya and Liam-Fayne. She is a poet and music journalist but pays the vast majority of her bills by working as custom vinyl production artist and a bouncer in a basement punk bar. Jennifer is studying to be a childbirth educator and a labor doula. She can be found at both www.mamaofinvention.blogspot.com.

Fehmida Zakeer
Fehmida is a freelance writer based in Chennai, India. She can be contacted at fehmidazakeer@gmail.com.