Biography
Jane Velez-Mitchell is the founder and managing editor of UnChainedTV, a free, streaming television network available for download as an app on iPhone, Android phone, and via Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV device and on LG and Samsung Smart TVs. It's also viewable at unchainedtv the network hub. UnChainedTV offers hundreds of free documentaries, cooking shows, news updates, talk shows and music videos, all with a focus on a compassionate plant-based lifestyle to combat the climate crisis, improve human health, reduce world hunger and animal suffering. She has won four Genesis Awards/commendations from the Humane Society of the United States for her reporting on animal issues. VegNews named Velez-Mitchell Media Maven of the Year in 2010. In 2013, Mercy for Animals awarded her their Compassionate Leadership Award. In 2014, she was honored for fighting animal abuse by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. In 2015, she received the Nanci Alexander Award at PETA's 35th anniversary.
For six years she hosted her own show on HLN/CNN Headline News. Previously, Velez-Mitchell reported for the nationally syndicated Warner Brothers/Telepictures show Celebrity Justice.
Previously, Velez-Mitchell was a news anchor/reporter at KCAL-TV in Los Angeles and WCBS-TV in New York. She is the winner of a Los Angeles Emmy and a New York Emmy for her reporting. Velez-Mitchell is a graduate of New York University and began her career with reporting stints in Ft Myers, Florida, Minneapolis and Philadelphia.
Velez-Mitchell is the author of four books. Her 2014 nonfiction New York Times bestseller, Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias offers a detailed psychological analysis of a salacious trial that gripped the American public. Her other New York Times bestseller is her memoir, iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life. Secrets Can Be Murder delves into the secrecy and deceit embedded in tragic scenarios. Addict Nation: An Intervention for America with co-author Sandra Mohr focuses on our culture's addictive nature and our obsession with overconsumption.
Velez-Mitchell directed and produced the documentary Anita Velez: Dancing Through Life which won a Gracie Award in 2001. In 2019, she produced the award-winning documentary Countdown to Year Zero, now streaming on Amazon Prime and UnChainedTV. Through her non-profit, in conjunction with Inspired, she is the co-executive producer of New Day New Chef. This vegan cooking series has won two Taste Awards, considered the Oscars of food and streams on Amazon Prime, UnChainedTV and public television stations across the U.S. She lives with her 3 companion animals in Los Angeles.
