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merits of ethical veganism.
The video has gained nearly
3 million views and the top
comment, with more than
5,000 likes, reads “The speech
that turned me vegan, thank
you Ed.” Winters used his
calm, compelling oratory style
in a number of moving ways
in 2019, including two TEDx
Talks, the newly launched
The Disclosure Podcast,
televised debates, and
countless powerful videos
challenging everyone from
hunters to Harvard students.
He’s taken his message of
humanity and veganism
to places like Google,
festivals around the world,
and esteemed academic
institutions like Yale and
Columbia. Plus, he’s launched
Surge, a non-profit vegan
diner in London, with all
profits going to his animal-
rights organization. No other vegan
in 2019 has used their voice for the
animals quite like Winters, and luckily,
people are finally beginning to listen.THE RACE CAR CHAMP
Lewis Hamilton
³When he’s not burning rubber on
the race track, Formula One champion
Lewis Hamilton is driving home the
message that compassion always
comes in first place. Since going plant-
based in 2017, Hamilton has racked up
nearly 20 wins, crediting his diet for his
improved performance. One of just
three men to achieve five world titles,
Hamilton is on track to become the
most decorated race car driver of all
time, and as his career revs up, more
fans are taking note and following the
34-year-old on social media, where
he spotlights everything from his
own health journey to the horrors of
factory farming. This year, he signed
on as a co-producer (alongside Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan)
for the James Cameron documentary
The Game Changers, which explores
elite athletes thriving on plant-baseddiets. He even opened the vegan
fast-food restaurant, Neat Burger, in
London—the first of a planned global
chain. As Hamilton continues to collect
championship trophies, this high-profile,
high-speed prodigy’s aspirations to take
veganism to new heights show no sign
of slowing down.Nora Coglitore is a former VegNews editor
and Silicon Valley native obsessed with
the future of unstoppable vegan food tech
companies popping up in her backyard.³The reason Beyond Meat CEO
Ethan Brown is one of the most
influential vegans of 2019? Three
letters: IPO. As the first major plant-
based company to go public, a lot
was riding on the success or failure
of Beyond Meat’s market debut; not
only would it set the tone for future
vegan companies eyeing IPOs like
JUST and Impossible Foods, but also
shape the direction of the plant-
based industry at large. The result
was astounding—BYND stocks soared
163 percent above its IPO price by
the end of day one, making Beyond
Meat’s public market debut the best-
performing first-day IPO in almost
20 years. But Brown isn’t stopping
there; his products can be found
around the world and in thousands
of US restaurants, hotels and resorts,
universities, amusement parks,
theaters, and event centers. Sitting
down at the table with the heads of
global restaurant chains has become
his trademark—and has proven to
be one of the most effective forms
of vegan activism imaginable. The
fact that people around the world
can choose convincing, affordable,
plant-based meat at eateries like
Dunkin’, Carl’s Jr., Del Taco, and KFC
is proof positive that the demand
for, profitability of, and belief in a
beefless future is sizzling hot.ETHAN
BROWN
THE MAINSTREAMER
LEWIS
HAMILTONED WINTERSLew
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