Meet the Vegan Food & Living Team

About us

The Vegan Food & Living brand includes a multi-award-winning magazine, an award-winning website, vibrant social platforms, our thriving Simply Vegan Podcast, and fun yet informative weekly email newsletters.

Here’s your chance to meet the Vegan Food & Living team to find out who’s behind your favourite vegan magazine, website and social media channels, plus you’ll get to meet some of our regular experts who are here to keep you up to date about all things vegan.

Holly Johnson, Editor of Vegan Food & Living magazine and host of the Simply Vegan Podcast 

Holly has worked in magazine publishing for over 20 years and went vegan around five years ago after learning about the incredible health benefits of a plant-based diet. She is now editor of Vegan Food & Living magazine and hosts the Simply Vegan podcast, which she’s grown to become one of the top 10 vegan podcasts in the UK.

Previously not much of a food lover, Holly now loves cooking for family and friends to show how delicious and diverse vegan food can be. When she’s not chatting to leading experts, celebrities and influencers on the podcast, Holly enjoys keeping fit with paddle boarding, sea swimming and very slow runs with her dog Charlie (also a vegan!).

Rachel Smith – Digital Editor

Having launched the brand’s digital presence in 2015, Rachel shares her love for animals and the planet through her work as Vegan Food & Living’s Digital Editor.

As a passionate vegan for over ten years, Rachel loves creating delicious vegan dessert recipes for her award-winning blog. Rachel’s recipes and photography have been featured in numerous international print and digital publications including the Daily Mail, Thrive, The Huffington Post, and Buzzfeed.

Sally FitzGerald – Deputy Managing Director

Sally has been championing the Vegan Food & Living brand since day one, launching the Vegan Food & Living print magazine – the UK’s best-selling vegan magazine and PPA Consumer Magazine of the Year 2017 – and was the creator of Britain’s biggest annual vegan attitudes and behaviour survey, The Big Vegan Survey, working with the Vegan Society, Viva and Veganuary to capture an exclusive insight into the growing vegan scene in the UK.

She loves getting to work with vegan brands, restaurants and writers to share the latest information and advice to help make your vegan lifestyle even more enjoyable. Nothing makes her happier than getting an email from one of our audience telling her that we’ve helped to make a difference to their life.

Helen Greaves – Digital Assistant

Helen has been vegan since 2018 and has a background in vegan food marketing. She is mother to a mischief of rats, and loves to spend her spare time making vegan cakes and bakes.

Cara Northcott, Head of Marketing

Cara looks after the marketing for Vegan Food & Living and runs our membership programme.

A passionate advocate for saving our environment and supporting sustainable practices, she has worked towards her vegan lifestyle for years, enjoying experimenting with new recipes and finding eco-friendly products and initiatives.

Megan Gibbings – Head of Advertising Sales

Megan’s role involves advising brands on the best way to access our responsive audience.

She has a true passion for veganism and loves how many tasty and nutritious options are now available – not like the old days when a bowl of chips would be the only green V she’d hunt for on the menu.

When she isn’t indulging in the latest vegan restaurant, she’s devoted to her fitness.

Jake Horwood – Senior Advertising Executive

Jake is our Senior Advertising Executive, with almost 10 years of experience in media sales.

When he’s not helping clients achieve their marketing goals through the various platforms at Vegan Food & Living, he gets his kicks from anything football related, including coaching a local youth team.

Our experts

Working alongside our in-house editorial team, our team of experts are dedicated to sharing advice on plant-based diets, delicious vegan recipes, the latest vegan news and more to help make going vegan simple.

News writers

Maria Chiorando

Maria is an NCTJ-trained editor and journalist who has written for a range of national and regional outlets as well as Vegan Food & Living. These include Plant Based News, MailOnline, Surge, the Kent on Sunday, Huffington Post, and the Guardian among others.

Maria has been vegan for more than a decade, and has been covering vegan-interest topics throughout most of that time.

She hopes that by keeping people informed about the benefits of veganism – whether for animals, the environment, or human health – she can help encourage them to try plant-based living, or help support those who’ve already chosen to give up animal products.

Vegan recipe contributors

Anthea Cheng – Rainbow Nourishments

Anthea is a food blogger, creator of the popular Instagram account @rainbownourishments, freelance recipe developer, food photographer and chef. She loves sharing wholesome vegan recipes with a twist and is particularly fond of baking. She released her first vegan cookbook, Incredible Plant-Based Desserts, in 2019.

You can often spot Anthea’s recipes on the cover of Vegan Food & Living magazine, such as her recipes for a Vegan Christmas Pie, Vegan Easter Bunny Trifle, Vegan Piñata Cake, Vegan Sticky Toffee Biscoff Pudding, and Vegan Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes.

Stu Henshall

A former contestant on The Great British Bake Off,  Stu Henshall is now the Executive Chef for leading meat-free brands Quorn and Cauldron.

You may have spotted his delicious vegan recipes on the cover of the magazine, including a Vegan Gingerbread Cheesecake, Vegan Seitan Wellington, Vegan Christmas Wreath, and a Chocolate Fudge Easter Cake.

Niki Webster’s online platform, Rebel Recipes, has expanded into a loyal community of plant-based fans across the globe; its recipes have spilt over into two best-selling books: Rebel Recipes and Be More Vegan, and a Podcast entitled ‘What the Focaccia’.

Niki creates a wide range of delicious and healthy vegan recipes, such as Vegan Cheese on Toast, Vegan Tomato and Chickpea Curry, Vegan Mince Pie Brownies, and even a Vegan Christmas Pudding.

Health & nutrition contributors

To ensure you can really trust everything you’re reading, we only ever share health advice from qualified doctors and dieticians, and all articles are written by experts in their fields.

Heather Russell

Heather Russell is a registered dietician with the British Dietetic Association. She worked in the NHS from 2010-16 and is now using her dietetic skills to support the work of The Vegan Society.

Heather combines her love of science with a desire to help people, covering topics such as vegan nutrition, supplementation, hospital catering for vegans, and healthy living.

Heather uses her expertise to cover a range of vegan diet topics including vegan diets and coeliac disease, vegan diets and osteoporosis, and managing type 2 diabetes with a vegan diet.

Rosie is a plant-based registered dietitian working in the NHS as Employee Health & Wellness Dietitian for NHS staff. As a former zoologist working in animal welfare, Rosie turned to a vegan diet in 2014.

Having studied and experienced the physical and psychological benefits of a diet based on whole plant food, Rosie now works to support others embrace a plant-based diet for human, planetary and animal health through her business, Rosemary Nutrition & Dietetics. Rosie is also a board member of Plant Based Health Professionals UK.

Rosie helps people to lead healthier lives by sharing advice on the benefits of flaxseed, vegan sources of iron, high-fibre foods, vegan diet for weight loss, and are vegan diets healthy.

Veronika Charvátová

Veronika Charvátová MSc is a biologist and Viva! Health researcher. She studied MSc Biology and Teaching of Biology at the University of South Bohemia and is a Human Biology lecturer at the University of New York in Prague.

Veronika has spent years uncovering the links between nutrition and good health and is an expert on plant-based diets.

She promotes veganism via a wide range of articles including plant-based diets and strokes, heart-healthy foods, and the health benefits of turmeric.

Vegan fashion & lifestyle contributors

Sascha Camilli

Sascha is a writer and the founder of the world’s first digital vegan fashion magazine, VILDA. She’s also a professional animal rights activist and podcast host.

Sascha is also the author of the award-winning book Vegan Style: Your Plant-Based Guide to Fashion + Beauty + Home + Travel and was selected as one of GLAMOUR UK’s 50 Most Empowering Nu-Gen Activists in 2019.

Sascha has covered a range of topics surrounding vegan fashion, including vegan fashion dilemmas, second-hand shopping tips, and vegan shoes.

Katy Beskow

Katy Beskow is a cook, food writer and cookery tutor with a passion for good food and has been vegan for 15 years. Katy is the author of no less than seven best-selling vegan cookbooks, including 15 Minute Vegan, Easy Vegan Bible, Vegan Roasting Pan, and Five Ingredient Vegan.

Food is her number one love and she hopes to change the general perception of vegan food, by showcasing what is possible with seasonal and fresh foods.

Katy covers a range of vegan lifestyle topics, including plant-based diet tips for kids, body positivity tips, and self-care ideas.