[Speaker 1]

Wouldn’t you like to be fierce and vegan? I certainly would. And there she is, nobody more fierce and vegan than this extraordinary actress, activist, and now entrepreneur.

 

All I can say is I’ll have what she’s having, right? I would like to be this ripped. And I think everybody would like to be ripped, really, when you get down to it.

 

And what’s so amazing is that now Nina Bergman, the actress, activist, biting her high heels and launching a brand new company. And her bestie, Rebecca Mink, has three different companies. So there’s a lot going on right now.

 

I wanna start with Nina Bergman. Tell us what you’re doing and why. Well, I’m Nina Bergman and I’m a vegan and been most of my life.

 

And I just wanted to do more. And by doing undercover work and showing what happened behind slaughterhouses, I didn’t really get anywhere. I didn’t get where I wanted to be.

 

So I started thinking of other ways. And then people kept asking me, how do you stay so fit? How do you look so healthy?

 

Your muscles, your skin, your energy, what do you do? So for a decade, I wrote it all down and I started logging everything. And then I created a 12-step program for anyone.

 

If you’re vegan, you can become a healthy vegan. If you are living in the Midwest and you don’t even know what a vegan is, it’s for you. It’s a broad program for 12 weeks.

 

And it’s all about taking it from where you are and improving, even if it’s just Meatless Monday. And that’s all you get out of my program. In my opinion, you’re a winner.

 

There’s no judgment in my program. It’s not overwhelming, it’s very simple. So that’s what it is.

 

And I have an app that I created too, a GPT app that I fetched so you can ask me questions. It’s like having me in your back pocket so you can ask me questions throughout the process for recipes, workout programs, what’s healthy, how to get more protein, anything that you want. If you’re depressed and you need to up your mood or whatever it is, you can ask the GPT chat called Nina so you can have me in my back pocket.

 

So yeah, I created it to give. I just want to help people. This is your website.

 

It is absolutely fantastic. And what I love about it is that there’s a program. So many people wanna get in shape.

 

I mean, look, I struggle with it all the time. I wear ankle, wrist, and a heavy jacket. I walk a mile and a half with my dogs every day.

 

But you know, it’s a struggle. It’s a work in progress. It would be great to have the kind of support and guidance that you offer.

 

So tell us about this masterclass and how it plays out for, what is this, 50? Basically 16 bucks a month for a whole new body, mind, and spirit. That’s a good deal.

 

Yes, I mean, I made it so it’s affordable for everyone or you can purchase the whole program for 149 and then you have it for life. And it’s just because I was not a healthy vegan. I thought I was healthy, but I retained water in my body.

 

My hormones were all over the place. You know, I did a TED talk about it, my story, actually. I just did a TED talk called Vegan Machine that you can check out.

 

And it’s like the whole story about how I came about it. But I wasn’t doing well. And I realized that I had candida in my body.

 

I had heavy metals in my body. I had all this stuff. So even though I was vegan, I wasn’t healthy and I was sluggish and tired, depressed.

 

And I talk about that in my program. I have a whole chapter dedicated to the stomach because that’s our second brain. You know, our gut is our second brain.

 

So it’s all about cleaning out your body, cleaning out your gut and what to clean out your fridge, what to have in your fridge. And it’s all designed for people who have no money and someone like me who can’t cook. I can prepare food, but I can’t cook and I have no time to work out.

 

So what do you do if you have no time and no money? So that’s what the program is for. So there’s no excuse.

 

Well, let me say this. And I wanna come back to you and get to Rebecca, but you are an actress. For those who’ve been living under a rock, you’ve been in some of these top films, Doom, Annihilation, Hell Hath No Fury, Chief of Station, The Car, Road to Revenge, Assassin X, Catacombs.

 

And that obviously helped you when it was time to do a TEDx talk because you’re used to public speaking. So let’s listen to a little bit of your TEDx talk and then we’re gonna come back to you and really hone in on why you did this TEDx talk and why you’ve decided with this incredible acting career to also take on this whole new role as essentially a vegan health and fitness guru. All right, I’m Nina Bergman and I’m vegan.

 

And I’m here to debunk the myth that vegans are weak and to tell you that anyone who is listening right now can be vegan if they choose to. But before we get into this, can we just leave all preconceived notions at the door just for the duration of my speech? I promise I will refund all of your opinions and your judgments for free.

 

All right, what if I told you that vegans stand for vital, enlightened, global advocates, non-violent soldiers? Now, while that sinks in, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I was a ballerina at age four and I trained harder than anyone else.

 

And my dad told me. All right, what did your dad tell you? That meat equals power.

 

My Russian dad growing up in Denmark. Yeah, cause that’s what he was taught. So that’s what I believed in as a little girl.

 

You know, we would break the chicken bones and suck out the marrow to become strong. I didn’t know that being strong meant eating what the strongest animals on the planet eat, which is greens, veggies. So I have to ask you, when did you split from your dad’s philosophy and come into your own and how did you discover that, like a lot of dads, he was wrong?

 

Well, you know, I talk about it in my TED Talk. He took me fishing and he asked me, we caught a fish and he asked me to kill the fish, you know, to beat it to death. That’s how we killed them.

 

And it was completely unnatural to me. And all I could do was pick it up and put it back in the water. You know, it’s not natural to want to kill.

 

It’s something that we are taught. And I put that together at like age six or seven. I was like, oh wow, I don’t want to kill animals.

 

I want to save them. Well, let me say the proof is in the pudding and darling, you look marvelous. That’s all I can say.

 

And like I said, I want what she’s having. Now let’s move on to the extraordinary Rebecca Mink. Again, this was one of the toughest podcasts because I’m like, they’re doing so much.

 

What do I talk about now? So Rebecca, you are a famed entrepreneur who really broke new ground when you debuted your vegan shoes. And let’s revisit history to see what you’re doing now to take those vegan shoes and combine it with another extraordinary new company.

 

I’m Rebecca Mink and I am the founder, designer of Mink Shoes.

 

[Speaker 2]

Every pair of Mink Shoes has a personality of its own. And since 2004, they have adorned the feet of the most famous women in the world.

 

[Speaker 1]

So what does it mean to have a vegan shoe? It doesn’t mean that they’re just not made of leather. It means that every step in the process is completely cruelty-free and it’s completely free of any animal product.

 

And it’s all made from rubber plant materials. Non-animal glues actually outlast animal glues. They crack less, they work better with water.

 

And it turns out we’ve created something very special. All Mink Shoes are named after animals. The reason that I name every shoe after an animal is because of my love for them.

 

Rebecca fills a void for something that is very unique, very stylish, very pretty, and very well-made. One picks up the shoe, doesn’t even know that it’s not leather.

 

[Speaker 2]

It’s so spectacular. Rebecca Mink succeeded in creating the first collection of Mink Shoes, which premiered in 2004. A lot of people didn’t understand the concept of vegan shoes or cruelty-free shoes.

 

Why would it matter if a shoe was made out of leather or not? But now, the idea of a cruelty-free shoe, a gorgeous shoe that is not made of animal byproducts is pretty mainstream. And Rebecca was at the forefront of that.

 

[Speaker 1]

You were a pioneer, Rebecca. I remember meeting you when you first launched Mink Shoes and it was a sensation. Tell us, how’s Mink Shoes doing?

 

Incredible. It’s been such a journey. I mean, I started my journey at four years old when I was at a birthday party and the little boy told me hot dogs were made from dogs.

 

And then I just wanted to figure out what everything was that I was eating. And then I became a stylist at Celebrities and then I started this Mink Shoes, which is the first luxury vegan shoes created 26 years ago, a really long time ago when people did not know what I was doing. So now I’ve developed a new invention, which is Plyd, the plant leather company.

 

And we are creating plant leather that’s made from upcycled fruit and vegetable waste. It’s regenerative, it’s circular, and it’s actually using the actual, looking at the polymers in each fruit and vegetable waste so we can use all plants and we can create a leather that is scalable in existing plastic leather factories. So we are excited to be launching Plyd, the plant leather company in 2026 with my co-founder, Ahmed Rahim.

 

And we are so thrilled to be moving into a direction of doing something so big. People don’t realize how large the leather industry is. And then another thing people don’t realize is how difficult it is to make something that is actually able to go through industrial production.

 

So we are finishing our R&D, closing up some funding and getting some incredible investors on board, if anyone’s interested. And we are excited to move to the next level and revolutionize the leather industry, which is, shoes have been incredible mission for me to really shift the paradigm of the way people think. So they don’t think that gorgeous shoes have to be leather, but now Plyd, the plant leather company is really moving the needle because we also will be putting this within automotive.

 

We’ll be putting this within all different fashion industries, leather goods, bags, belts, wallets, and also furniture and the list goes on, sport. So we’re excited to really regenerate what’s happening in that leather industry. So lots going on there in the tanneries and the carbon footprint of the emissions from the cows and so much more that’s unnecessary.

 

I’ve always wondered why people haven’t evolved beyond equating leather with luxury. It seems so 19th century to me. Now we know that fur is dead in the sense of being a fashion accessory.

 

All the big labels have abandoned fur. Rodeo Drive, which used to be just a giant fur bazaar is now pretty much almost eliminated fur with maybe one or two exceptions. But the big shift would be if we completely abandoned leather for what’s called vegan leather.

 

It is now popping up in cars and it is being equated with sort of a modern chic ethic. Can you tell us a little bit about that evolution, how you’re interacting with designers and manufacturers and brands to convince them that the really hip, cool, new luxury is compassionate vegan leather? I think that the, first I have to say that the replacement for leather has been plastic.

 

So that has been the biggest issue. And that was an issue for me making a luxury shoe. I wasn’t, you know, I wanted the whole shoe to be sustainable.

 

So, you know, really using plastic and all that’s come out has a lot of plastic in it. So it might be, you know, not strong enough if it’s not plastic without lining it with plastic to make shoes because there’s a heavy amount of pressure and torque and heat that has to be, it has to be able to sustain. So number one is that they’ve been plastic.

 

So that’s where Plied is changing the game, making something that feels natural, feels like leather, doesn’t feel like plastic. Something scalable, something that uses all different plants. So never gonna run out of our inputs for the production of it.

 

So it’s exciting to think about actually creating something that’s adoptable by these brands. And I can tell you as a luxury brand creating Ming shoes, I would look at what was out there and I shredded my competition. So there really hasn’t been anything that a high-end brand would really, you know, design a collection around.

 

And for example, I have an idea to create a collection that’s a yellow crocodile with lemons from Sicily, you know, for example. Making a story, making something very unique, just like what they’ve been doing with leather for so many years. They really want something more than just another, you know, plastic leather.

 

Wow, this is extraordinary. It’s beautiful, so many colors. And I think the idea that fruit can become leather is such a breakthrough concept.

 

Are there any particular fruits? I mean, I would think that, for example, like a cantaloupe would be a little tougher than a strawberry, but what do I know? Well, it’s interesting because we find a, when we look at the polymers, all of the different fruits have a skin.

 

So it’s almost like as if a human skin or a cow skin. So it protects, it’s durable. And some of them are actually extremely waterproof.

 

Some are more durable and some, even if they don’t have the durability coming through, they add thickness or, so we’ve tested a multitude of different things. We’ve even tested bay leaves and roses and left the smell in. But of course, when we do cabbage, we take the smell out.

 

So it’s fun to think about leaving in lavender or doing some fun things like that in the future because the plants coming through is a whole nother layer of what we’re doing that we’re just starting to explore. So it’s an exciting time. And, you know, the bottom line is we do not need animals to create products that are leather-like.

 

We just needed somebody to work as hard as I am to get through the R and D and get to the other side of this where we’re creating something very new and it’s never been done before. And if you’re just joining us, we are talking to two incredible powerhouse women, actress activist Nina Bergman with her new fierce and vegan cutting edge GPT enabled fitness program and Rebecca Mink of Mink Shoes now launching into vegan leathers using fruit. Nina, you are in the Hollywood crowd because you’re an actress, you go to these events, the red carpet events.

 

Where is Hollywood when it comes to switching to compassionate fashion? I personally have attended protests. There’ve been years where some so-called star wears fur at a big event that’s televised and we’ve protested that.

 

But it really seems that fur is an embarrassment to be caught in at this point, culturally. Where are we with leather? We’re not there yet with leather.

 

The connection I feel like haven’t been made. I too was with the early fur campaigns, lash ends for animals and every Friday when they were doing them, but leather is, we are not there yet. And I think my philosophy on it is someone like me that wants to wear something cool, hip, edgy, funky, whatever high end at these kinds of events, it’s hard to find.

 

Where now it is so much easier and that’s why I’m so excited for Rebecca to start creating again, because she was one of the first vegan designers that I worked for as a model, like fully vegan designers that I worked for. You know, I did her, that’s how we met. I was a model for her shoes.

 

And I was just blown away by her style and the cool edgy stuff that she was doing. And the quality, a lot of vegan quality doesn’t last very long. You know, you buy it and then it falls apart.

 

But with someone like Rebecca, I just wanted to show you something after. I have something right here. One of Rebecca’s things that I got many years ago that I still have.

 

There’s Rebecca’s shoes. I would wear those to the red carpet. I’ve worn them many times, but I wanted to show you.

 

Many, many years ago, I got this. This is a vegan wallet. Look, mate, I have had this thing for God knows how long.

 

It’s cool, it’s classy, it’s edgy, it’s high end. You know, it’s a little worn because I’ve had it for, I don’t even wanna know how long I’ve had it for. You know, so I think that’s the biggest problem is that there hasn’t been cool vegan options, but it’s slowly happening.

 

You know, they’re saying that veganism is the fastest growing movement and it’s spreading, and especially in Hollywood. You know, working, they always have options and it’s not that big of a deal anymore when I say, hey, I don’t wanna wear leather coat. Hey, I definitely can’t wear fur.

 

So it’s changing rapidly in Hollywood, so from my experience. And here is the Meek Shoe homepage. Look at these incredible collections.

 

Oh my gosh. Like I more lean away from high heels to maybe the boots on the left or the loafers in the middle. They look fabulous.

 

But if you’re into high heels, boy, do they have them. And these are worn by some of the most famous women in Hollywood. I mean, this is gourmet.

 

And now Rebecca is also launching FLYDE. FLYDE, is that how you pronounce it? FLYDE, the plant leather company.

 

FLYDE, the vegan leather, the plant leather. So are your shoes going to have FLYDE leather in them? Yeah, FLYDE is going to be the leather of choice for Mink, of course, but we are also talking to high-end brands and we’re in discussions with Honda.

 

We’re talking with brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Bottega Veneta. So I would just like to add on to your question to Nina that I know that they say a certain amount of brands are looking for vegan alternatives and I would say all of them are. So I part own a shoe factory in Italy and in this shoe factory we make Christian Louboutin, Chanel, Jimmy Choo, Dolce & Gabbana.

 

And they’ve always been looking for an alternative and now I can offer them this. So it’s an exciting new world. So gorgeous.

 

I absolutely- Nina is my muse. She is absolutely the best. And just, it’s been so incredible to have her a part of different photos we’ve done with the shoes because she doesn’t just bring the beauty and the energy and the passion, but she’s a true vegan and it’s so exciting to have someone that really is who they say they are.

 

I first met Nina at the National Animal Rights Day event where she spoke and spoke so beautifully. And you know what I said to myself? I said, I wish more Hollywood stars would have the guts to take a stand on this issue.

 

Somebody is commenting right now, we need to make Hollywood less afraid of the beef lobby. Yes, there are so many people who really, their voice is very powerful, but they’re not using it to speak up, for example, for animals. What would you say about that, Nina?

 

Well, I think, number one, I believe we have to pay rent while we’re here on earth. We all have to do something. And I feel like when someone is suffering and you’re witnessing someone in pain being tortured and you know it’s going on, I mean, it’s a sin not to speak up.

 

And for someone who has, I mean, I have been to the dairy farms, I have been to the slaughterhouses, I have watched what happens behind closed doors. So every night, I have a hard time sleeping because of the screams and the smells and I don’t have a choice. But I think even for other people, even just, I keep saying, just start with Meatless Monday, just start slow, just baby steps, just start, if you have an option, a vegan options, buying leather and buying non-leather, just go that extra mile, just take that little extra step to try to make a difference.

 

I mean, it’s not that hard. I think food and fashion and a vegan lifestyle, it’s just habit. Like for me, it’s easy because I’m so used to it.

 

And I have put all of that in my program too, to try to just make it as easy as possible for people, because it’s not that hard once you build in those habits, it’s just, we’re not used to it. And the stigma, I have a whole thing about stigma, the last chapter in my program about how dealing with being the crazy one, the weird one, the one when I sit quietly in the corner and eat my veggies, and I just get reprimanded for being better than anyone else. And all I’m doing is just sitting there and eating my greens.

 

People get triggered by us because we speak the truth and we’re holding up a mirror. So I feel that there is a community and it’s important that we stick to our community just to have one friend that is also a vegan or someone who is on the same path. So we don’t get led astray because we have to, I think it’s our duty.

 

I think we don’t have a choice, we have to. I couldn’t agree with you more. And conformity is never really admirable in retrospect.

 

It only maybe feels safe while you’re doing it. But then when you look back, you go, history will show. Look at the things that used to be normal.

 

And we look back, whether it’s about race, about gender, about any number of things, we look back in horror, horror. But at the time, the people who were horrified at that time were often castigated. So I think it’s a badge of honor personally.

 

And I think you’re absolutely right. Vegan isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle, it’s a philosophy. And that’s what we really try to show people on Unchained TV.

 

Now, guess what? If you’re into luxury, if you’re into fashion and compassion, there is an incredible tour that you can take with the one and only Rebecca Mink. Tell us all about it.

 

And while you do, I’m gonna put up the link. If people are interested in this tour, and it is so fabulous, that’s where you go. Well, it’s exciting.

 

I’ve been going to Italy for 26 years and I’ve been vegan since I was four. So you can imagine all of those years, I’ve been vegan roaming around Italy, trying to figure out what the best things to do and see and eat are. So I have taken two different tours with incredible women to Italy before and I’m doing it again.

 

I’ve got two this year coming up and the link is in Instagram as well if you need it. But it’s so exciting because I take you to the restaurants that not necessarily all vegan. Ones that have been cooking vegan local dishes for me for 20 years.

 

So some unique and very special places, some hidden gems. I also have a cooking class where you’re able to make vegan pasta and then we have chefs cook it for us and we get to sit in Tuscan Hills and eat it. And I also take everyone to my shoe factory, which is incredible to see shoes made from start to finish.

 

And we’ll teach you how to make shoes and show you a lot more about the leather. But shoes are made in about 30 different factories and they’re put together in one. And I part own a mounting factory where the magic happens where the whole shoe comes together.

 

And I’ve taken some women in there that started crying when they see all of these designer shoes being made. But I make all of my brands and white labels vegan and I hope to turn the entire factory vegan soon with fly plant leather. But it’s exciting to see where I can take you that you wouldn’t go on a normal tour on your own.

 

And you’re in a safe zone with an incredible driver and tour guide that’s been doing for over 30 years by our side. So it’s an experience of a lifetime and every single woman that’s gone on it they’ve become friends for life. And it really is a life changing.

 

So vegan food and the incredible women in Italy, I mean, nothing can go wrong. Who could ask for more? How many people per tour?

 

Well, I keep it really, really small. I would go to the maximum of 16, but we’re looking at 12. And even the first tour to even do a very small curated tour of even lower number than that.

 

So it’s just about really showing something in a way that we need to, you know, it’s curated by design to be small so that we can take you to these unique locations and places that no one can access. It sounds absolutely fabulous. I wanna thank both of you.

 

You are my heroes. My gosh, just a recap and review. So many things happening.

 

We’ve got obviously mink shoes. We’ve got the vegan leather, plied, plied leather. And there she is with, what are the, what is all that behind you?

 

I have to ask you. That’s, you know, I’ve, you know, I know Jane Goodall has a saying that girls just wanna do science. And I’m one of those.

 

So I dove in to the university. I’m a product based CEO. So I love to get my hands on the product and really be a part of that.

 

Wow. I’m a lab rat. Well, hopefully there’ll be no actual lab rats very soon.

 

And then we have the Fierce and Vegan launch that we’re so excited to be a part of today by letting everybody know. And this is really transformational, but it’s modern using chat GPT. This founder, Nina Bergman, actress, activist, athlete can guide you if you want to change.

 

You don’t have to bite a high heel shoe, but you can have a lot of fun with Fierce and Vegan. I wanna thank both of you. You are extraordinary.

 

Everybody check out these companies. Check out the tour. This is so much fun.

 

And we’re gonna have them back as they take over the world. Thank you. See you next time on Truth Files on Unchained TV.

 

So it’s a vegan Netflix. Okay, that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I love Unchained TV.

 

[Speaker 3]

Unchained, Unchained TV. Your life will change. It’s just that easy.

 

[Speaker 1]

Unchained TV has all sorts of content for everybody. Unchained TV changed my life. Unchained TV is crushing it.

 

I love Unchained TV. Unchained TV is my go-to. Unchained TV.

 

Who knew?

 

[Speaker 3]

Unchained, baby, yeah.