Meet the awesome speakers
Meet our fantastic speakers, from veterinary marketing and social media experts to influencers, community alchemists, and content creators. Many of our speakers are staying for the entire day, so come along and have your chance to network, connect, ask questions and make friends!
Katie Ford
BVSc CerAVP(SAM) PGCert MCMA MRCVS
Conference Organiser
Vet, Speaker, Coach
Director: Katie Ford Ltd, Vet Empowered Ltd, VetYou Ltd
@katiefordvet
Katie is an experienced small animal vet with a medicine certificate turned entrepreneur. Following her own experiences and interest in personal development, she trained as a certified coach. Katie grew a following of over 18,000 across social media, and is now an international and keynote speaker. She co-founded Vet Empowered in 2020.
As her businesses grew, she saw the importance of money mindset and financial independence. She joined VetYou in 2021, helping to break down barriers around finances within the profession and to enable access to timely, expert financial advice. She is currently studying for a Masters Degree in Emotional Wellbeing.
Katie also has a Level 7 in Events Management, and is regularly involved with operations (of the non-veterinary kind) at Introducing Events.
Simon Howard
Event Host & Event Extraordinaire
Director: Introducing Events Ltd
Simon is back! Host of VETstagram 2020, highly experienced in events and experiences, we guarantee that his guy will make your day even more fun. Known for his ability to engage and entertain audiences of all sizes, Simon brings his 17 years of event experience and team building to ensure that your time at VETstagram will be next level.
Claire Grigson
Vet Empowered Co-Founder
Vet, Coach, Meditation Teacher
Co-Founder: Vet Empowered
@vetempowered
@claire_grigson_coaching
Claire is an experienced small animal veterinary surgeon, having graduated from Edinburgh in 2007. She is also a certified and accredited transformational life coach, as well as a certified meditation and breathwork instructor. Together with Katie Ford, she co-founded VetEmpowered, where they provide coaching and personal development for the veterinary space, namely new and recent graduates.
Claire is well known for her energy and natural presence, and has built a following of almost 30,000 followers over the various social media platforms, namely TikTok. Outside of her veterinary coaching she specialises in dating and relationship coaching, with a keen interest in attachment theory and somatic practices.
Hercule Van Wolfwinkle
.....artist?
Hercule has been called lots of different things in life, an artist certainly isn’t one of them. And yet over 80,000 want him to draw their pets after a picture he’d drawn of his dog went viral. Hercule’s drawing style is akin to that of a small child who has never seen an animal before and is only just learning how to hold a pencil properly, but people like it. A large social media following and worldwide media coverage has catapulted Hercule into the limelight and he is using this exposure to raise money for his chosen charities, Turning Tides Ending Local Homelessness and StreetVet. To date he has raised over £250,000 and counting and this fundraising has seen Hercule receive a Points of Light Award from the Prime Minister, recognised by The Big Issue as one of their 100 Change Makers for 2021, and named as the ‘Creative Fundraiser of The Year’ at the 2022 Just Giving Awards .
Danielle Lambert
Founder & CEO: The Snout Group
Flying in all the way from the USA!
Danielle is a marketing and brand strategist, but she goes far beyond helping you create a pretty facade for social media. With a background in practice management, her work builds on her belief that it's unethical to market BS you can't back up in real life. As founder of SnoutSchool.com, Danielle teaches veterinary professionals to build brands for themselves or their businesses. Through her Veterinary Brand Formula™ system, students learn to create an intentional brand rooted in core values and authenticity. (No self-serving influencer types welcome here!) Her agency, TheSnoutGroup.com, creates high-level brand strategy & design for change agents who want to disrupt vet med with new ideas. Most days, you can find her cozied up with her Brussels Griffon and Ragdoll while she calls out the deep-rooted issues vet med must resolve on her Instagram, @danielle.k.lambert.
Lewis Ellis
Founder - Hussel Marketing
Final 5 of The Apprentice in 2019
Lewis Ellis is a digital marketing consultant born and bred in the heart of Manchester. In 2019 Lewis featured on BBC's 'The Apprentice' making it to the Final Five in a bid to win Lord Sugar's £250,000 investment.
Since the show, Lewis has returned to marketing and has decided to take the plunge and setup his own digital agency with a difference! Fed-up of the uninspired, tedious and quite simply, boring marketing modus operandi, Lewis aims to 'shake things up' and harness his naturally disruptive personality to inject brands with a more effective strategy that invites consumers into the business.
Lewis is also working on his side-project travel startup and has co-founded 'Hiddn Travel' with Luke, a friend that also used to work overseas prior to studying at university. This brand-new and stylish travel company targets the ever-evolving and complicated millennial/Gen-Z market now demanding more from their vacations.
Scott Kilpatrick
Internal Medicine Specialist
Director: The Veterinary Thought Exchange
@vtx_cpd
@scottthevet
Scott graduated from Edinburgh Vet School in 2007. Initially, he worked for the PDSA, before taking a Senior Veterinary Surgeon position with Vets Now in Edinburgh in 2010. Scott started his residency in internal medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 2012 after completing a year as a Teaching Fellow in Anatomy and Physiology. He completed his residency in 2016 after finishing his Masters in the pathogenesis of canine liver disease and has since been working in referral practice. Scott is currently an Internal Medicine Specialist working with Idexx.
Scott founded The Veterinary Thought Exchange (vtx) in 2019. vtx provides online CPD in a variety of friendly formats. Our online content includes webinars and discussion forums and our CPD days bring us together in person in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. What makes us special? We are providing CPD that is clinically relevant, but we are also providing CPD that will help you look after yourself and those working in your practice.
Dr. Kirsten Ronngren
Consulting Veterinarian & Brand Ambassador for ManyPets
@vet_redefined
Dr. Kirsten Ronngren graduated from Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2015, and is an avid WSU fan. Dr. Ronngren has expanded her skills in many settings, including small animal general practice, formal education of veterinary technicians and veterinary students, consulting for veterinary businesses, and mentorship/speaking opportunities. Most recently Dr. Ronngren has moved across to England with her husband (an equine surgeon).
She is currently working as the lead consulting veterinarian and brand ambassador for ManyPets Pet Insurance, as well as keeping her hands in the clinic as a small animal locum. Kirsten also continues to foster bonds with the veterinary community through her platform Vet Redefined. Outside of veterinary medicine, Dr. Ronngren loves giving all her attention to her golden retriever and ragdoll cat, in addition to spending time with family, hiking, cooking, and appreciating an excellent glass of wine.
Janika Patel
Veterinary Surgeon & Content Creator
@janikathevet
About Janika:
"I’m a small animal veterinary surgeon that qualified from University of Nottingham in 2017. I have worked in various practices across London and Surrey and am now currently a locum around Leicestershire. I have a keen interest in internal medicine as well as a passion about raising awareness of issues such as racism, diversity and equality within the profession. My instagram page @janikathevet is a project I started to act as a diary of my experiences as a vet as well as a space to inspire other people of colour to join the veterinary profession."
Dr. Rosie Allister
BSc (Hons) BVSc MSc PhD MRCVS
Dr Rosie Allister has received the British Veterinary Association Chiron Award and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Impact Award for work on veterinary mental health. Rosie manages Vetlife Helpline, a 24 hour support service for everyone in the UK veterinary community. Her research, based at the University of Edinburgh, looks at veterinary mental health, wellbeing at work, and veterinary suicide prevention. She has written and spoken extensively about veterinary mental health in the UK and internationally. She has volunteered with Samaritans for 19 years and advises a number of national organisations on suicide prevention and self harm.
Lacey Pitcher
RVN, Council Member, Creative Writer (VSGD)
Founder: Veterinary Pay It Forward
@rvnspeaks
Lacey is a registered Veterinary nurse who has had a varied and squiggly career so far. Fully embracing the portfolio career Lacey champions "finding what works for you" while meeting people and ideas with curiosity and consideration. Lacey is passionate about neurodiversity and encouraging equity from big actions to small wins.
Dr. Ebony Escalona
Equine Vet, Entrepreneur, Educator, Creator of Communities
Ebony works to craft communities that count and is an equine vet, community strategist, squiggly career advocate and host. She focuses on unlocking people’s potential, shining spotlights on their stories and building confidence in others through her advisory positions with a number of organisations in events, education and not-for-profit sectors such as VDS Training, StreetVet, Surrey University, CatNipComms and CloserStillMedia. She is the founder of the online support platform Vets: Stay, Go or Diversify- bringing peer-to-peer inspiration for career pathways and she is also co-founder of VetYou - helping to support the financial future of her community members. Ebony is a published author in the field of gut health and the recipient of the inaugural RCVS Inspiration Award and Liverpool University Alumni awards.
Robyn Lowe
FdSc, Dip AVN (Small Animal), Dip HE CVN
Robyn is a small animal Registered Advanced Veterinary Nurse (RVN) who regularly writes articles for academic journals and publications for animal owners. Robyn has a passion for evidence-based medicine, has volunteered for Canine Arthritis Management to write owner literature, is Director of Veterinary Voices UK, runs the Veterinary Voices Public Page which reaches millions of the pet owning population and aims to spread owner friendly evidence based information, and also campaigns on mental health and animal welfare issues. To this end she also sits on the Board of Trustees of Vetlife, the first RVN to do so in the charity's history.
Justin Phillips
Veterinary Marketing & Business Consultant
Director & Founder: Practice Made Purrfect
With 20 years of experience and award-winning roles at White Cross Vets and VetPartners under his belt, Justin founded Practice Made Purrfect in 2020, a marketing consultancy dedicated to helping veterinary practices to deliver the best service possible to their clients and patients. His friends, family and closest colleagues dedicate their lives to making this fantastic industry the best it can be, and that’s why he's passionate about coaching and inspiring others, working together to build a brighter future for veterinary professionals, patients and clients. The mission is simple, whilst the corporates are trying to build their empires, Practice Made Purrfect are arming the rebels.
Naomi Oikonomou
Blogger, Skater & Content Creator
PetsApp
@getpetsapp
Blogger, skater and content creator. Working across both the vet and pet sectors for brands including PetMedix, Purina, Yarrah, Vital, Cathkidston Pet, VetzPetz and now PetsApp on end to end projects from consumer research led product development and trade sell in, to community led radio days and film production for consumer advertising. Naomi began her career in digital marketing, after cracking the code to monetising her personal blog through growing it's online community following and consistently generating 1/2 a million monthly views across Pinterest and multiple viral videos on TikTok and Instagram; reaching as much as 1.5 million views in a single post without spending a penny.
Cat Henstridge
Cat The Vet
Cat is an absolute social media powerhouse with a following of over 324,000 followers on Tiktok, nearly 30,000 on Instagram, 8,000 on Twitter and 34,000 on Facebook. Cat talks about all things vet and pet related, educating literally million!
Cat graduated from Bristol Vet School in 2003 & works as a small animal veterinary surgeon in the West Midlands. She has worked in a wide variety of practices from busy city hospitals to small rural clinics & regularly deals with all kinds of animals and their problems!
Remi Onabolu
RVN, Vet Student, Founder of Scrub Mentors
Remi is an RVN and now a 4th year vet student at the Royal Veterinary College. When she's not studying, she works as part of the Vets: Stay, Go, Diversify team helping to out with the online community, running the CRM and organising events. Remi hopes to work with small animals after university but loves the chance to express her creative side either through event planning. In 2020, Remi started Scrub Mentors, a free mentorship programme for any student thinking about going into veterinary nursing or veterinary medicine.
Emily Holmes
RVN, Founder of Empowering Media Services
Content Creator
@thecontentrvn
"I qualified as an RVN in 2017 after completing my BSc(Hons) Veterinary Nursing at Coventry University. I’ve worked in small animal primary care practice and as a referral surgical nurse.
In 2018 I started my personal brand The EmPowering RVN. I began to explore my creativity through crafting a community of amazing vet professionals who, like me, wanted to learn more about what self-care really meant and most of all to stop feeling guilty for taking time for ourselves!
In November 2021 I decided to combine my love of content creation and the skills I had developed as an RVN to help veterinary businesses to have more freedom over their time without overlooking consistent content creation. I help both clinical and non-clinical businesses create consistent content online allowing them to focus on the growth and development of their business.
Lou Northway
Lou The Vet Nurse, RVN, Content Creator
Lou qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2009 and has worked in both primary care practices and a referral hospital. Since qualifying, she has gained additional certificates in emergency & critical care nursing and anaesthesia & analgesia. Over the years Lou has developed a love for anaesthesia, analgesia & quality improvement which are now her key areas of focus. After having her baby boy back in September 2020 Lou is back working in a very busy primary care practice in Buckinghamshire as clinical lead RVN where she oversees clinical governance, quality improvement, team training and clinical nursing standards. In both 2019 & 2020 Lou was named an RCVS Knowledge Champion for the clinical audit & QI work she undertakes in practice. In 2019 Lou was also awarded the RCVS Inspiration award for her ability to inspire and enthuse others. In 2021 the opportunity arose to join RCVS Knowledge as Quality Improvement Lead RVN helping to promote QI in the profession, she now undertakes this alongside her clinical practice role. Lou is very passionate about teamwork and delivering brilliant patient care. Her aim is to help VNs to nurture their niche and value themselves. Lou loves being out and about speaking to the vet nursing community and sharing her pearls of wisdom & experiences, as well as chatting with VNs online via her social media platform ‘Lou The Vet Nurse’.
Claire Simper
Director of Services: VetsDigital
Claire entered the wonderful world of veterinary by accident in 2009 as Evening Receptionist at a small local practice and quickly progressed her career to Practice Manager. Through nearly every role in the practice (apart from the Vet!), she gained experience in patient and client care, staff management, marketing and business operations. Now running Europe's largest digital marketing agency, she uses her experience to help veterinary practices and businesses connect with pet owners using digital marketing, specifically social media and content strategy.
Meet the Speak Easy Team
Calvin and Oba from Speak Easy. These two power houses have given workshops on confidence and public speaking to over 100,000 youths via their company LoudSpeaker, and now work with corporate businesses, universities and organisations to give unforgettable workshops via Speak Easy. They have worked with the Aston Villa Foundation, UCLAN, The Growth Company, Bradford Football Club and so many more. We can't wait for their 90minute session at the end of the day, we just know you'll leave feeling inspired!
"As you probably guessed from our name, at Speak Easy, we make difficult speaking situations easy. When you are able to speak and own a room, life is good - everything tastes like Ribena."
.jpeg)
