10 Questions for Vegan Women Summit

What speakers and attendees should be asking

Several loyal fans correctly identified yesterday’s thinly veiled post to be (mainly) about the founder of the Vegan Women Summit.

So here are 10 questions for speakers and attendees of the event to ask:

1. How exactly does the event support women?

2. Is VWS a non-profit or for-profit company? (appears to be for-profit)

3. Are speakers compensated for their travel and time? Various social media comments indicate the answer is no. Why not?

4. How much are each of the corporate sponsorships?

5. How does a for-profit event have “volunteers”?

6. Where did a $200,000 grant from 2023 from the Open Philanthropy Project go, which they say was meant to support VWS for “its work to grow the talent pipeline for alternatives to animal products by hosting an annual conference, running a pitch competition for women-led alternative protein startups, and doing outreach to connect women with alternative protein employers.”

7. Do winners of the competitions receive any money? According to this article, the winner of last year’s “Pathfinder pitch competition” is getting to speak at this year’s event. No cash award is mentioned despite it sounding a lot like that $200,000 from Open Philanthropy was meant for this purpose.

8. What do women get in the way of concrete business or career advice?

9. Where does the money from the event go?

10. Why has a group of vegans sent this open letter to event speakers asking them to reconsider?

What additional questions do you have?