For years, Thaisa dreamed of creating a cookbook that celebrated her decade as a vegan while showcasing the diversity of Brazilian cuisine beyond what’s typically known outside Brazil. But like many creative projects, it kept getting postponed – until her friend Izabelle Alvares suggested they collaborate on a zine together. That idea turned into something bigger: a full memoir cookbook with high-quality printing, professional photography, and personal stories tied to every recipe. 

Two months into the project, Izabelle discovered she was pregnant. As Thaisa puts it, “She was creating both a book and a human baby at the same time. If that’s not an accomplishment, I don’t know what is!”

In this episode, Thaisa shares how she balances her tech career with creative projects, the process of self-publishing a cookbook, and why having a “badass friend” to make things happen with you might be all you need. 

You’ll learn about:

• How Thaisa balanced a 12+ year tech career as a program manager with launching a memoir cookbook
• How an idea to create a zine evolved into a full hardcover book
• Why collaboration matters: how working with a friend made the project possible 
• How to veganize traditional Brazilian recipes (including the holy grail: pão de queijo) after years of experimentation

Guest Links

http://www.thaisafernandes.com

Social media:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thaifernandes/

Memorable Quote:

“I think sometimes we are looking for perfection. But I think just starting is a great thing. And then you can build over time, and you can perfect over time, and what is perfection for you might be different from what is perfection for other people. So keep that in mind.”

Show Notes:

💻 [02:31] Thaisa’s day-to-day as a tech program manager 

🇧🇷 [05:54] The importance of bringing Brazilian culture and cuisine to veganism

📖 [08:30] The explanation of the cookbook’s full title and meaning

🔄 [10:44] The origin story: From an idea to a zine to a full cookbook

🎨 [14:23] Making a unique, story-driven cookbook with authentic photography

📚 [16:23] Why she chose the self-publishing route and prioritized quality & affordability

🎤 [18:27] How side projects complement and improve her main career

🚀 [23:04] Thaisa’s advice: Start small, bring a friend, and set manageable goals

💡 [25:33] The power of building things step-by-step and letting go of perfection

The story with NOSHY began a few years ago when Lindsay broke her elbow, and it completely changed her routine. She went from being constantly active – working out, meal-prepping, coaching – to being forced to slow down. So she focused on what she could control: how she nourished herself. That period inspired her to reimagine what healthy eating could look like – comforting, satisfying, and full of flavor.

What started as a fun experiment in her kitchen soon turned into a mission: to share plant-based, protein-packed bites that bring joy, energy, and balance to everyday life. More than clean ingredients and bold flavors, NOSHY tells the story about joy, self-compassion, and second chances. In less than one year, Lindsay has scaled NOSHY from a kitchen experiment to a product sold in grocery stores across Florida, and through her own e-commerce platform. 

You’ll learn about:

• How a serious injury forced Lindsay to slow down and reimagine her relationship with food
• How to market vegan products to non-vegan audiences and educate consumers 
• Lindsay’s approach to work-life balance: dedicating 30 minutes a day to self-care
• The reality of building a food business from scratch –product development, marketing, logistics, and wholesale operations

Memorable Quote

"Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can. And just start, start where you are and focus on you. And if you know that you have something good... and others are saying the same thing, just try, what do you have to lose? Just go for it."

Show Notes

🍳 [02:11] Lindsay’s background in health, fitness, and nutrition.

💡 [04:10] She explains the origin of the name "Noshi" and its meaning.

🤕 [06:23] The pivotal story: How an elbow injury and "night eating syndrome" inspired the brand.

✈️ [09:50] The product's versatility for travel, lunchboxes, and on-the-go snacking.

🌱 [14:49] Navigating vegan and non-vegan markets and ingredient education.

⚖️ [18:55] Lindsay's tips for balancing entrepreneurship with self-care.

🔮 [21:22] Future plans for the brand and learning to delegate.

📣 [23:41] Marketing strategies: logo design, social media mix, and staying approachable.

🔗 [25:54] How to find, follow, and buy from NOSHY.

Guest Links

https://eatnoshy.com

Social Media:

instagram.com/eatnoshy

facebook.com/eatnoshy

She draws inspiration from her extensive travels, bringing vibrant flavors and cultural traditions to every dish. Her work has been featured on EatThisTV in the pilot series Global Vegan Kitchen with Chef Adina, where she shares accessible, delicious recipes from around the globe.  Her upcoming Vegan Flavors of the World Volume 2 deepens the journey, highlighting authentic recipes and stories from kitchens across five continents.

In this episode of Pivot podcast, Chef Adina shares her journey from aspiring author to award-winning cookbook creator – and the exhausting, but deeply rewarding process of self-publishing. Because when every publisher told her that her cookbook concept was "too niche," she made a decision she'd do it herself. 

From writing five recipes a day for four months to learning design, photography, and marketing on the fly, Chef Adina built something bigger than a cookbook – she built a business that celebrates plant-based food from around the globe.

You’ll learn about:

• How Chef Adina completed her first cookbook in four months by creating five recipes a day (and what that process actually looked like)
• The real technical and financial challenges of self-publishing cookbooks, and how to market beyond your initial network
• How she travels the world to develop authentic plant-based recipes using her unique ability to mentally taste flavors
• How her cookbook integrates with her cooking classes and private chef services – plus her QR code innovation for Volume 2

Guest Links

https://www.adinasdelicacies.com/

Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/adinasdelicacies/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091552262717

www.YouTube.com/@adinasdelicacies

Memorable Quote

“I think a lot of people consider healthy eating differently because some people are like – sugar is unhealthy, and I'm like – maybe, but it’s okay in moderation. Because if that were the case, all the desserts would be unhealthy. But my approach is – everything is healthy or unhealthy in moderation. Spinach is very healthy, but if you only eat spinach every day, all day, and nothing else, that's not going to be healthy. So, I think if you do a whole food-based program, and you get all the nutrients and all the vitamins and all the proteins you need, and kind of mix up your food, then I think personally it's okay.”

Show Notes

❤️ [2:55] Her path from burnout to breakthrough and building a global plant-based brand

👨‍🍳 [4:41] How she decided to write a cookbook on plant-based food from around the world

📗 [6:15] She shares the quirks of book publishing.

🍽️ [10:42] About her second book that comes with videos of making recipes. 

✈︎ [13:26] How her love for traveling led to learning about different cuisines

🥗 [20:21] Authentic dish versus a healthy dish.

📈 [25:30] How her book fits into her business as a whole.

🍝 [30:01] What it means to diversify the food you eat.

🥦 [33:51] Announcing Vegan Flavors the World, Volume 2.

…

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. If you are feeling inspired but not quite sure where to start, we’ve got you covered! Check out our online courses and free resources at veganmainstream.com.

Loved this conversation? Explore more inspiring stories from vegan entrepreneurs on the Pivot Podcast at https://veganmainstream.com/podcast/pivot-a-vegan-business-interview-podcast/. You never know which story will spark your next breakthrough.

Ready to turn inspiration into action? If you're serious about growing your vegan business and want to talk through how we might work together, book a discovery call at https://veganmainstream.com/support/discovery-call/. These aren't free advice sessions – they're real conversations for people ready to invest in their growth.

Want to learn more first? Join our next live webinar at https://veganmainstream.com/resources/webinars/ and get practical tools you can use right away. 

In this episode of Pivot Podcast, Brett is sharing how All Y'alls Foods went from a Texas-based vegan jerky brand to conquering the European market. Brett talks about what it actually takes to expand internationally. Spoiler: it's not about vanity metrics or viral moments (though he has a great story about a post that went viral). It's about business fundamentals, strategic partnerships, and staying mission-driven even when growth gets complicated.

You’ll learn about:

• How Brett expanded All Y'alls Foods into Europe
• How a viral social media post translated into actual sales
• Brett's approach to email marketing: nurturing relationships and providing value
• How being vegan-owned influences their business decisions and marketing strategy

Guest Links:

http://www.allyallsfoods.com

Memorable Quote:

“It's on us to find a new path to have it different. But it's always a conversation in our heads that either supports us or beats us down. And what you have to do is learn to become friends with it, understand what it is, and it's not, because if you think about it, that voice in your head, that's not you. You're the one who hears it. It's the egoic mind, and it thinks it has to have a job. Think of all the times it's told you –  oh, this is going to happen, or that could happen. And 90 percent of the time, it never happens. It's not being in the moment. We're the only place we've ever lived.”

Show Notes:

👣 [2:28] Brett explains his journey to veganism.

♻️ [5:05] How he’s creating meat replacement products.

🎥 [9:33] What does different social media mean for his business: repurposing content.

📧 [15:23] Brett's approach to email marketing: nurturing relationships and providing value.

🏷️ [18:29] What supporting true vegan brands means to him

🗜 [23:34] Managing the pressure of keeping the business going.

🤜🤛 [26:31] How conversation in our heads supports us or beats us down. 

📲 [28:44] Get in touch with Brett through social media

…

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. If you are feeling inspired but not quite sure where to start, we’ve got you covered! Check out our online courses and free resources at veganmainstream.com.

Loved this conversation? Explore more inspiring stories from vegan entrepreneurs on the Pivot Podcast at https://veganmainstream.com/podcast/pivot-a-vegan-business-interview-podcast/. You never know which story will spark your next breakthrough.

Ready to turn inspiration into action? If you're serious about growing your vegan business and want to talk through how we might work together, book a discovery call at https://veganmainstream.com/support/discovery-call/. These aren't free advice sessions – they're real conversations for people ready to invest in their growth.

Want to learn more first? Join our next live webinar at https://veganmainstream.com/resources/webinars/ and get practical tools you can use right away. 

As a private nutritionist, Terri wanted to help people improve their health. She was passionate. She was knowledgeable. But she was unprepared for something that caught many health professionals off guard – clients who weren’t willing to put in the work. So she found herself emotionally invested in outcomes she couldn’t control. The work she loves started affecting her mental well-being. She realized something had to change. So she pivoted. Terri wrote a book. She shifted her focus from one-on-one clients to reaching many people at once. And now, she’s stepping onto stages as a professional speaker.

You’ll learn about:

• How Terri navigated client fatigue as a private nutritionist and realized one-on-one work wasn’t sustainable for her
• How she’s pivoting to professional speaking and why she loves the stage
• Why self-belief and practice are both essential for building confidence as a speaker
• Practical advice for vegans on how to eat healthy without feeling overwhelmed 

Guest Links

https://fabuloushealth.net

Memorable Quote:

"I'm 58, and so I've lived some life, and it's taking me until now to realize that I have a calling, and that calling I've been put on this earth to help people not die of heart disease, diabetes, Crohn's disease, cancer, all those things by supporting a vegan lifestyle. That's my calling. It's like I have no choice, and I don't want a choice anyway, right? Because that's what I'm here to do."

Show Notes:

🤹🏼‍♂️ [02:51] Terri explains how most of her work as a solopreneur comes down to marketing.

📘 [05:48] How writing a book helped her reach more people and change their health.

🏃‍♀️ [08:32] Why running a business is like running a marathon.

💪 [11:45] What she means when she says she’s “intrinsically motivated.”

📣 [17:47] Why her next big step is to be a speaker.

🗣️ [22:38] The importance of self-belief and the importance of practice.

🎙️ [25:42] How her podcast helps people overcome challenges.

🥗 [29:40] Her advice for vegans on how to eat healthy.

…

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. If you are feeling inspired but not quite sure where to start, we’ve got you covered! Check out our online courses and free resources at veganmainstream.com.

Loved this conversation? Explore more inspiring stories from vegan entrepreneurs on the Pivot Podcast at https://veganmainstream.com/podcast/pivot-a-vegan-business-interview-podcast/. You never know which story will spark your next breakthrough.

Ready to turn inspiration into action? If you're serious about growing your vegan business and want to talk through how we might work together, book a discovery call at https://veganmainstream.com/support/discovery-call/. These aren't free advice sessions – they're real conversations for people ready to invest in their growth.

Want to learn more first? Join our next live webinar at https://veganmainstream.com/resources/webinars/ and get practical tools you can use right away. 

Amy’s journey into co-homeownership began with an unexpected request: a talk for a polyamorous community group about real estate. As she prepared, she realized the concept applied far beyond that community. Young people wanting to build equity before (or without) marriage. Parents sharing childcare. Seniors aging in place with friends or family. The possibilities were endless, but the process felt daunting to most people. 

Today, Amy educates people on co-homeownership through free public talks, one-on-one strategy sessions, and resources for navigating the logistics. Her work has made real estate invigorating again, much like how cooking became more exciting when she embraced veganism. 

You’ll learn about:

• How Amy shifted from traditional real estate to educating people on co-homeownership and co-living arrangements
• Why co-ownership isn’t just for romantic partners, but also for friends, family, and seniors aging in place
• Creative ways to have separate but attached living spaces that give privacy while fostering connection
• How Amy’s vegan journey mirrored her work

 Quote:

"You don't necessarily have to be best friends to do this together. In fact, I'm not sure that that's the best pairing. And I was like, I think you're right. I think you come in with, you know, obviously simpatico, but it's as much that you have the right priorities and the right philosophy around how you live might actually be a better partner, possibly."

Show Notes 

🏠 [2:53] Amy explains her work as a real estate agent in Seattle with first-time home buyers.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 [5:43] Choosing how you want to live: co-living and co-owning.

🤝 [9:16] The importance of proximity and accidental interactions in your local community.

👥 [13:02] Why you don't necessarily have to be best friends for co-housing.

🔗 [15;46] Ways you can have very separate but attached discrete areas. 

👨‍👩‍👧 [20:25] Co-owning without co-living: parents investing in their child's first home.

💼 [24:50] Why everyone over 18 should have a power of attorney and a health directive.

📑 [27:16] How Amy serves clients throughout the entire state.

🌱 [31: 02] Sharing communal spaces: A great way to build your vegan community.

🏆 [34:31] What “becoming” vegan means for Amy

…

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our online course and free resources at veganmainstream.com.

Growing up on a small farm, cowgirl boots were always part of Kristen's life—comfort, style, and identity all in one. But she wanted more. She wanted boots that made a difference. So she dove into the unfamiliar world of fashion, experimenting with premium plant-based leathers made from corn and wheat.

Today, DESERT BLOOM™ is more than boots; it's a movement for style and compassion. Kristen is focused on building brand awareness through events, pop-ups, and partnerships, all while staying true to her roots.

Quote:

“I've always believed that surrounding yourself with people who actually know more than you do is the best way to create a team. Because I'm definitely going to pretend that I do not have all the answers. But if I bring my team together, and we all discuss and put our heads together, then we're going to come up with something amazing.”

- Kristen Decker

Show Notes:

💇🏽‍♀️ [00:45] Why vegans want environmentally safe clothing that doesn’t sacrifice quality.

✨ [02:55] How Kristen decided to create boots made from corn and wheat leather.

✌️ [05:42] Can experience of building a business bring you confidence in a completely new territory?

👩‍💼 [07:40] The importance of researching, being out there, learning, and connecting.

😇 [09:51] Kristen’s approach to building a team; learning about the industry from the best. 

😍 [14:14] Why childlike positivity and curiosity are essential for resilience.

👢 [19:28] How Kristen collects feedback through the customers’ club to design her next products.

…

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our online course and free resources at veganmainstream.com.

What began with $500 and a dream has grown into a million-dollar business that serves women across the globe. Jane’s journey is rooted in resilience: from balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship to learning the ins and outs of e-commerce, fulfillment, and personal branding. 

Her transformation from a shy, people-pleasing introvert to a confident, high-energy entrepreneur reshaped her business and personal life, and that’s why she says mindset is the foundation of every pivot.

Today, she not only runs her successful wig company but also coaches aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women of color, on how to launch and scale their own businesses. With a mission to uplift, educate, and build financial independence for others, Jane’s work is about more than wigs; it’s about transformation from the inside out.

Website: thevirginhairfantasy.com

Quote:

“Don't think you're going to switch on your own. You need help. We are programmed to just kind of roll with the flow. I've been studying mindset, and I still fall short every day because everything else kind of caters to the idea that “everyone will be rich.”

Everyone will be a millionaire. Everyone will walk around happy. Everyone will have everything they want. It's only the few that I would say go that extra mile, which I'm sure when you hear this, you will get up, read a book, exercise, and read more books. 

That's what changed me. I did not have money for expensive coaches at the time, but even now, as I'm in coaching programs, I needed my mindset to change first.”

Show Notes:

💇🏽‍♀️ [04:08] How Jane’s journey started after creating a wig for herself.

💫 [07:10] How her side hustle started to inspire and change lives.

📢 [10:42] The right way for Jane to share her vegan journey.

🎓 [16:54] Jane’s decision to teach as a way to heal from losing her mom.

🤸 [19:23] Jane’s transformation to being an outgoing person in her 40’s.

🧠 [22:29] Why you need to make changes in your mindset to get better

😞 [26:28] Why believing in yourself is the most important 

…

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our online course and free resources at veganmainstream.com.

Guided by his Jain values of non-violence, Sandip closed all contracts with silk weavers in 2018 and launched a store offering plant-based and artificial silk alternatives, later expanding into natural dyes and sustainable techniques.

Despite criticism and early challenges, his business now serves customers worldwide, earning PETA and Beauty Without Cruelty certifications. Sandip shares his mission to educate consumers, challenge industry myths like “peace silk,” and inspire entrepreneurs to prioritize ethics, sustainability, and transparency over short-term profit.

This is a powerful, must-hear story for every vegan entrepreneur who has faced significant challenges.

Quote:

So my message to all the entrepreneurs is that yes, we need profits to run our business, you know, for our livelihood.  But we should make sure that we take care of the ecosystem, both the environment and other living beings, as well as the fellow human beings who deserve a better life. 

-- M. Sandip Kumar

Show Notes:

🧵 [3:22] M. Sandip Kumar’s family background, why he wanted to start a more ethical practice of production.

💡 [6:06] Why new generations are more conscious and why they started looking for his brand.

🧶 [10:07] The difference between plant-based and man-made fabrics.

🎨 [17:44] Why people are interested in natural dyes.

🚚 [22:58] The obstacles he had to overcome when opting for plant-based silk.

👩🏻‍🏫 [26:16] How his store was built like a school.

💎 [31:59] The importance of creating a business that gives value and emotions, not just a product.

👨‍🔧 [33: 21] Why we should support all artisans whose craft comes from generations before.

-----
Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Drawing from surveys and interviews detailed in her book The Vegan Transformation, Dr. Crawford shares key themes like values alignment, compassion, and empowerment, while highlighting that advocacy can take many forms depending on personality.

She offers advice for entrepreneurs and new vegans: connect with your “why,” seek supportive communities, and trust your unique approach. 

Whether you're just starting on your vegan journey or you're ready to advocate more for a vegan lifestyle, this episode is for you.

Quote:
Connecting with your core values and your why is one foundational piece of that, because whenever we're feeling stuck, because we're having to learn a new skill or navigate a challenge that we haven't before, if we're connected with our why and our values and the reasons we're doing this, it gives us a little more willingness to say, okay, it's worth it to be a little uncomfortable and learn new skills and break through whatever is blocking me here.

--Angela Crawford

Show notes:
⚕️ [03:19] How food choices are deeply psychological and social

📕 [08:07] Angela’s seven themes that can deepen your life.

👨‍👨‍👦‍👦 [12:27] How Angela brings plant-based and vegan living into her local community.

💫 [16:37] Purpose and gifts: Where we fit in the world to offer our gifts.

⚖️ [20:41] Learning the balance between following guidance and not always seeing the next step.

🥇 [23:41] How connection with your values helps us break through whatever is blocking us.

🤝 [26:28] Different kinds of support we need on our journey.

👁 [28:21] The importance of valuing what you have to bring and to trust your inner guidance as you take the next steps.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

We dive into the whole origin story –from Desiree's frustration with the lack of vegan footwear options to the realization of her dream of Voes & Co. 

Discover how she navigated the challenges of the pandemic with resilience and determination, forging ahead to create a brand synonymous with integrity and innovation.

Plus, learn about Voes & Co's commitment to ethically sourced materials and sustainable practices, and their mission to lead the way toward a plastic-free future. 

Desiree's entrepreneurial mindset, her dedication to her values, and the profound impact of her work on the global fashion landscape offer valuable insights that you can take back to your business. 

Get to know Desiree and Voes & Co better here: https://voesandcompany.com

Quote:

What I like to tell people and inspire people is that “We may not have the perfect solution right now, and we are not 100% plastic-free, but when you invest in brands and products that are as far along on the path as possible, you are part of helping us pioneer the way.” We can continue to push the foreground of what we can do.

—-Desiree Dupuis

Show notes timestamps:
🌵 [00:46] “At least it is vegan” vs. having something nice to wear: changes in the vegan fashion industry.
📈 [03:30] Desiree’s journey from corporate to entrepreneur: solving the need for luxury designer footwear made from plant-based materials.
🚀 [07:04] How Desiree came up with the name VOES: the international brand name with a nice flow on the tongue.
♻️ [09:32] Choosing partners and materials that will not harm animals: reducing plastic, waste, and petroleum products in the fashion industry.
🛍️ [15:06] After the pandemic, the retail game shifted: issues with supply, waste, and smaller batch productions as part of the solution. 
🤩 [17:09] The power of customer choices: consumers want to support sustainable brands. 
🤓 [19:01] Positioning brand around plant leather: issues with quality, vendors, and letting go of expectations and stress in running a business.
👩‍💼 [24:22] Living in Bali and running a business: worldwide suppliers and manufacturers, a 3PL and an e-commerce website is all she needs.

-----

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

In this episode, Aimee shares how her dissatisfaction with traditional creative agency work led her to co-found Good Stuff Partners whose mission is to work with clients that align with her values. She discusses how staying authentic to her principles drives the work she does and helps her deliver the most meaningful results for her clients.

Beyond her professional achievements, Aimee talks about her commitment to the vegan lifestyle, her volunteer work with the Marin Humane Society, and the importance of standing up for animal rights in her community. 

Tune in to hear her inspiring journey and how she embodies the values she promotes through her agency.

Get to know Aimee and Good Stuff Partners better here: https://www.goodstuffpartners.com/

Quote:

Just listen to your gut. If you have a bad feeling about something, run for the hills. Find a different client, because it never really works out. And I think that's just something as women we need to do – trust our gut more. It’s something I wish I'd done early on. And it also goes the other way; when you have a great feeling about someone, you can really start to build great relationships. 

– Aimee Kilmer

Show notes timestamps:
▶️ [01:12] Seeing your long-term impact: creating "Good Stuff Partners" and helping both non-profit and profit organizations.
🌺 [02:46] Supporting vegan brands that need help with their communications: working only with purpose-driven companies.
💼 [05:38] Learning about business in a small agency: find a great mentor and decide what you want to stand for.
3️⃣ [10:25] How Aimee chooses clients: three filters they use when deciding which companies to work with.
🤓 [13:26] Branding means combining verbal positioning with strong visuals: capturing the core essence of the company.
📊 [16:23] Key aspects of branding: brand positioning, voice, naming, taglines, identity, and the digital application of graphic design.
🎯 [18:00] Transitioning to a four-day work week: increasing productivity, creativity, and helping employees recharge.
🆓 [23:05] Free advice for businesses, designers, and purpose-driven companies: email Aimee.
😇 [25:03] Connecting with like-minded people is crucial: trust your gut – it will save you time, money, and health.
⚠️ [27:22] Continuing under pressure is rarely effective: experiences teach us, but they aren’t always ideal for making big changes.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Founded in 2017, MARPHYL has quickly established itself as a leader in the vegan and sustainable farming space. With a focus on environmental responsibility and ethical sourcing, the company has garnered a loyal following of environmentally-conscious consumers.

Join us as we discuss the secrets to MARPHYL's success, from their innovative product offerings to their strategic approach to business growth. Learn how MARPHYL navigated the challenges of launching a vegan business and discover valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs in the plant-based industry.

Get to know Benjamin and MARPHYL Marine Phytoplankton's mission better here: MARPHYL

Quote:

When you have a bad day, week, month of sales, or problem with production – just come back to your product and why you're there in the first place. Get that energy back. You're going to have bad days, you might even fail, but there is no problem in failing. It's all about trying again. If you have that drive of entrepreneurship, you will rise again and continue. 

So believe in yourself, believe in yourself, believe in your product. At the end of the day, it will work if you have a great product and you're driven. You'll have great days ahead, so don't lose hope.

–Benjamin Achache

Show notes:
🌊 [01:45] Taking all the goodness from the ocean, but sustainably – supporting the oceans is key.
💊 [03:16] Products Marphyl is making: seaweed fertilizer, the flower of sea salt, liquid salt, and plankton supplements.
🪸 [05:07] The difference between spirulina, other microalgae, and Marphyl’s supplement.
3️ [06:45] The three aspects of sustainability: producing more energy than spending in production, everything is organic and cruelty-free.
🌸 [11:36] The soil enhancer has 80 different algae in it and is compatible with all plants.
🧂 [14:04] Producing supplements and flower of the sea – a type of white salt with phytoplanktons.
👫 [18:12] Benjamin started this business with his wife because they were impressed with the power of phytoplanktons. 
🌎 [20:25] Shipping products worldwide: e-commerce covers only 20% of the market and the key is to be more present in retail. 
⚠️ [23:44]  Chemical fertilizers: extremely damaging to water streams, lakes, and soil. 
💎 [26:37] Don’t stop believing in yourself and your product: don’t give up, remember why you are here.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

We dive into Kim's journey from the corporate world to entrepreneurship, and how her background in the travel industry paved the way for her success. Plus, you'll hear how Kim transformed adversity into opportunity during difficult times, building a thriving business that offers unique vegan travel experiences worldwide.

This conversation is a raw look at the challenges and triumphs of growing a business during uncertain times. It's full of Kim's valuable tips and strategies for sustainable growth and innovation.

Tune in to learn from the inspiring journey of Veg Jaunts and Journeys.

https://www.vegjauntsandjourneys.com

Join us as we delve into the story of Veg Jaunts and Journeys with Kim Giovacco, the driving force behind this innovative vegan travel company. With a background in the travel industry and a passion for veganism, Kim has transformed her vision into a thriving business that offers unique travel experiences for the vegan community.

In this episode, Kim shares how Veg Jaunts and Journeys has evolved from a small startup to a global leader in vegan travel, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. She shares her journey of resilience and adaptation and what it's like navigating the complexities of running a travel company in a rapidly changing world.

We explore the company's expansion into new geographic regions, including Africa and Asia, the innovative tours the company offers, from European adventures to whole food plant-based experiences near national parks, and how Veg Jaunts and Journeys is shaping the future of vegan tourism worldwide.

If you're looking for valuable insights into Kim's strategies for business growth and sustainability, don't miss this episode.  

Get to know Kim Giovacco and Veg Jaunts and Journeys better here: https://www.vegjauntsandjourneys.com

Show notes:
🧳 [00:43] More intimate travel experience: getting back on track after Covid.  
👩‍💼 [04:05] Kim took people on tours instead of traveling by herself: creating a business with quality as the priority. 
🇺🇸 [08:18] Entering the Covid without debt: oil-free tours in national parks and having tours in the States. 
🤝 [12:45] Having a partner sometimes can help you expand your business: sharing ideas, helping each other and creating subsidiary offers. 
🗼 [21:24] Booking for 2025 is open. 
🗺️ [22:45] What trips to Europe, Safari in Africa are like: supporting the vegan scene while having your own room. 
🌍 [27:10] Having vegan relationships internationally and expanding your community.
🌆 [28:24] Short tours in vegan-friendly towns.
🤩 [29:43] Don't be afraid to give up some control: growing means delegating and being sustainable.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

https://oliviermankondo.com

In this episode of Pivot! Olivier Mankondo, the driving force behind Mankondo Global Ltd, joins us to offer a beacon of hope for those seeking holistic wellness solutions. Olivier's journey from battling chronic health issues to reclaiming his vitality through a plant-based lifestyle is nothing short of extraordinary.

Olivier's dedication to optimal health led him to shed an impressive 77 pounds in a mere 9 months, while also reversing high blood pressure and a myriad of other health ailments. As a certified weight loss and wellness coach, Olivier is on a mission to empower individuals to take charge of their health and transform their lives.

Throughout our conversation, Olivier shares intimate details of his personal health struggles and the pivotal moment that sparked his journey towards plant-based living. His journey serves as a powerful testament to the transformative power of lifestyle choices and the profound impact they can have on our well-being.

Show Notes:
🙃 [00:43] Turning your major transformation into business is possible.
🤯 [03:00] Olivier’s transition: reversing his chronic diseases in 4 months with a vegan diet.
🤢 [04:22] Detox symptoms in the first week: his symptoms were worsening but he kept going.
 💊[06:39] Suffering from malaria when he was younger: bad health and immunity reversed.
 ⚠️ [09:03] Olivier lost 11 pounds in the first week, and a total of 77 pounds in nine weeks with no medications.
 🤒[11:30] You don't have to be sick when you grow up and get older: Olivier decided to share his health experience and became a public speaker.
⚡ [14:49] Helping people is very transformational: hearing feedback from the people gives Olivier more power to continue.
🎤 [16:25] Being just a speaker was not enough: Olivier created a three-step course and discovered the power of coaching one-on-one.
📙 [18:24] Olivier wrote a book and covered 4 main topics in it.
👉🏽 [21:20] Support from your environment matters when making big life changes: Olivier was lucky and had great support around him.
👣 [23:03] Take baby steps first: introduce plant-based food slowly to decrease detox symptoms and make your transitions sustainable.
😇 [25:58] Learning all the things needed to run a coaching business.
🤩 [30:52] Looking at things from a positive standpoint: Olivier built three streams of income during the pandemic. 
🍏 [34:18] It is possible to live a disease-free life. 

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

In this episode of Pivot! we delve into Carolyn Scott's multifaceted career as The Healthy Voyager. From her pioneering vegan travel show to her latest cookbook, Carolyn has been at the forefront of the global vegan movement. Discover how she's transforming mainstream dining, consulting with major hotel chains, and inspiring millions to embrace a plant-based lifestyle.

https://www.healthyvoyager.com/

Full Description / Episode Show Notes:

Join us for an incredibly interesting conversation with Carolyn Scott, aka The Healthy Voyager, as we explore her remarkable journey in promoting veganism globally. As a chef, nutritionist, and media personality, Carolyn has led initiatives that have reshaped the culinary landscape.

From her groundbreaking vegan travel show to her bestselling cookbooks, Carolyn's influence transcends borders. Tune in to discover how she's partnering with major brands and institutions to revolutionize plant-based cuisine.

We also explore Carolyn's latest projects, including her consultancy work with theme parks, air force bases, and even entire towns.Plus, Carolyn shares how she's leveraging her expertise to create sustainable, delicious vegan options for diverse audiences.

Check out this episode to learn the secrets to Carolyn's success and walk away with valuable insights into entrepreneurship, flexibility, and the power of positivity.

Get to know Carolyn Scott and the Healthy Voyager better here: https://www.healthyvoyager.com/

Show Notes:
🌎 [00:43] Being vegan not just in your backyard, but on a global scale.
✈️ [03:29] Healthy Vegan Show: becoming vegan and traveling was challenging, so Carolyn produced a healthy eating show that became her full-time business. 
🥑 [09:30] Carolyn wanted to learn all about veganism and cooking: a personal choice that turned into a whole new world.
🥅 [12:19] Staying consistent. But don’t wait for the perfect time for anything.
🌍 [15:02] Travelling in faraway countries as a vegan: pre-planning and trust are crucial, and people will always help if you are patient.
🧳 [18:57] How to choose your destination: many resources are on Carolyn’s website.
🌱 [20:55] Carolyn is keeping herself very busy: cookbooks, TV presentations, veganizing different restaurants, nutritional coaching, and many more.
🎯 [23:37] Don’t turn away from your dream: becoming an early adopter of social media marketing. 
🥚 [24:40] Flowing through issues: don’t throw all your eggs in one basket. 
⚠️ [27:24] Learning all aspects of business is crucial: delegating and understanding roles people are doing.
🙃 [30:54] Being an entrepreneur means being ready for changes, and being flexible – you don’t know what is around the corner. 

Links:

Website: https://healthyvoyager.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RdsmodaKovin
https://facebook.com/healthyvoyager 

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Prepare to be inspired by the incredible journey of Nancy Leeds Gribble, the driving force behind NourishLiftGrow. Her story embodies the power of resilience and transformation. Nancy's life took an unexpected turn when she faced the profound loss of her husband to terminal cancer, leaving her a widowed single parent while navigating a turbulent real estate market. Later, she experienced the pain of losing a new love to cancer, prompting her to redefine her path and refuse to let adversity define her.

As someone who had been a vegetarian since her early twenties and a vegan for the past 17 years, Nancy's dietary choices were based on ethics rather than health. However, witnessing the devastating effects of disease and becoming the sole parent to her young son propelled her to seek the healthiest lifestyle possible. This awakening sparked a profound transformation journey encompassing health, fitness, self-development, and career.

Nancy Leeds Gribble is now the founder of NourishLiftGrow and a Plant-based Vegan Culinary Nutrition Expert specializing in empowering women in midlife. She helps them achieve weight loss, body confidence, optimal health, and vitality, making their second season of life their best season.

This episode offers a deeply moving and inspirational story of turning tragedy into triumph, embracing a vegan lifestyle, and empowering others to thrive. 

Get to know Nancy Leeds Gribble and NourishLiftGrow better here: https://www.nancyleedsgribble.com

Quote:

I think when you start your business if you don't take the time to really figure out why you're starting it. If it was ‘This sounds like it will be fun” and then you find out it's not so fun all the time, you won't sustain it. So you really want to sit down and figure out why are you starting this business? Like, what is your driving force, aside from, we need to make money, we have to make money. But what are the other deeper reasons that this is so important to you? And that's going to help you when you hit that wall, and you will hit a wall and think it's very few people that they just start a business and off they go, and they're coasting and everything is great. You're going to hit the wall, whether it's because something didn't work, whether it's life, like God the world like COVID when it hit everybody, and you're going to have to either say, at that moment, I'm out, or no, this was important. And I'm going to figure this out, and I'm going to pivot And I'm going to adjust and, and you keep doing that you keep doing that until you hit the spot. 

–Nancy Leeds Gribble 

Show notes timestamps:

🏆 [00:42] Turning tragedy into triumph and successful business.

🤸‍♀️ [02:40] Growing up with the premise she needs to be skinny: going vegan due to ethical reasons.

🖤 [04:10] Family tragedy and bankruptcy: one more tragedy and Nancy’s realization about getting more healthy is the key.

🍏 [10:32] Nancy started focusing her business on healthy weight loss: most women are undernourished. 

👉🏾 [14:49] Getting first clients: face-plant forward is failing in front of people. 

🦄 [18:55] How to differentiate yourself on the market: worrying about clients you don’t have.

🙇‍♂️ [23:05] Realizing that in a new, starting business, entrepreneurs need to be humble.

🌞 [28:34] Figuring out the deeper reasons for starting a business.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Mind Blown founders, mother-and-daughter team Shelly Van Cleve and daughter Monica Talbert, originally found success making gourmet seafood delicacies along the Chesapeake Bay. They started with a crab shack, Capt. Jack’s, which was wildly popular, leading them to create The Van Cleve Seafood Co.

The two began to see deep-seated issues with the global fishing industry right outside their front door, particularly with illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices from non-domestic mega-ships. As the plant-based industry began to boom, they founded Mind Blown. Rather than alienating the seafood industry with unsustainable market solutions, Mind Blown works alongside the industry.

Together, they create solutions that help to take pressure off of edge-of-extinction fish stocks, and regenerate abundant oceans, such as their future partnership with Atlantic Sea Farms, using their kelp. Today, their lineup includes Mind Blown Coconut Shrimp, Dusted Scallops, Crab Cakes and more. The company is backed by notable investors including eight-time James Beard recipient and host of Bravo TV’s Top Chef Tom Colicchio, as well as D.C. restaurateur, founder of PLNT Burger and Top Chef contestant Spike Mendelsohn.

Get to know Monica and Mind Blown and The Plant Based Seafood Co. better here: https://plantbasedseafoodco.com/

Quote:

If you're going through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, make sure that you let the downs go every day. Let that shit go at the end of every day and start every day new and fresh. Sounds simple, but it's very, very, very important.

–Monica Talbert

Show notes:
🌊 [00:46] Vegan seafood: brands who innovate and disrupt landscapes of industries.
🦀 [03:06] Creating a sustainable seafood brand: unacceptable practices in seafood industries and innovative new products.
▶️ [06:34] Wanting to see change in the industry and food system: the journey of creating a brand.
👉🏾 [08:42] Direct-to-consumer is a great step to test your product.
🤯 [09:32] Naming your brand can be a struggle: “My mind is blown!”
🦞 [11:49] Plant-based seafood industry has the potential to address ocean sustainability issues: making vegan seafood is not easy.
🍥 [15:25] Benefits of vegan seafood: savings, consistency, and extended shelf life.
🌞 [16:43] Most changes happen from consumer demand: balance in the market and consumer demand will take 3–5 years.
🤔 [19:34] Challenges of mass adoption of new products: inflation, a problem with repeat purchases, and education of consumers.
🔑 [24:38] The Importance of gratefulness and focusing on the positive can help in running your business.
🧘‍♀️ [28:09] Handling stress differently is crucial for business owners: lean towards your mentors for help.
🎙️ [30:07] Learning from podcasts: there are so many lessons to learn from other entrepreneurs. 

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Get ready to dive into the inspiring story of Kate Galli, the unstoppable force behind a mission to create a healthier, happier, and more compassionate vegan world. Kate's journey began in the fitness world, where she sought to transform not only her body but also her confidence. Over the years, she has helped thousands of individuals sculpt their bodies and lives in a way they love. For the past seven years, she has been dedicated to Vegan Health Coaching, using it as a powerful tool to advocate for animal welfare while promoting fitness, strength, and overall well-being.

During the episode, Kate opens up about the tensions and challenges faced by ethical vegans in their relationships. She candidly discusses the feelings of anger, frustration, and sadness that can arise when trying to navigate a compassionate lifestyle in a non-vegan world. However, Kate shares her personal story of how the toughest year of her life helped her transcend the negative emotions, while maintaining her passion for creating a compassionate vegan world.

As a Vegan Health Coach, author of "The Plant Positive Journal," and host of The Healthification Podcast, Kate is full of practical advice. She shares valuable tools, such as her 8 Step S.E.L.F. C.A.R.E. Acronym, the "Stop, Start, Continue" time magic'ing technique, and strategies to regain your exercising mojo. Additionally, she provides 10 Tips to Make Adopting a Plant-Based Lifestyle Easy, drawing from her own experiences and mistakes when she first transitioned to vegetarianism 30 years ago.

Don't miss this episode if you're looking for empowering insights, actionable tips, and a powerful story of love prevailing over hate on the journey to a compassionate vegan lifestyle.

Get to know Kate Galli and her mission better here: http://www.strongbodygreenplanet.com

Quote:

I bought into the ‘business from hell’, as I like to call it, and I learned so many lessons during that journey. The number one of which has really been so valuable is to back yourself 100%. You can't rely on circumstances or what's turning up today, tomorrow, or next year, but you can rely on yourself. And you can rely on yourself to turn up and to continually get better and to back yourself to come up with the goods. 

– Kate Galli

Show Notes:
🤔 [00:45] Dynamic changes on your business journey can be a big struggle.  
😇 [03:05] Mindset about eating and exercise choices: Kate has a lot of clients who have been with her for two decades.
✌️ [06:03] Laying foundations to success: do the do.
▶️ [09:19] Referrals are the best way to grow and maintain your business: creating a strategy that provides results.
🌞 [14:19] Journey from being a personal trainer, purchasing a franchise, and recreating all online: long-term entrepreneurs get bored and reinvent their business.
📗 [16:18] Plant Journal: vegan Trojan horse that helps to adopt a healthy plant-based lifestyle one step at a time.
⚡ [19:59] Getting professionals to help you in projects provides amazing products: creating content for Plant Journal.
😍 [22:54] Helping her mom to become vegan on Christmas: why she stopped being an angry vegan.
💚 [27:37] Focusing on love: it is hard being in a non-vegan world, but leading with love can help.
🎙️ [28:15] Healthification podcast: education in health, fitness and food.
🤓 [31:35] Importance of self-care and supporting yourself, and your body: implementing self-care steps daily for getting joy. 

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Rey's journey began with health issues that left him feeling unwell and desperate for answers. After identifying an egg allergy, he transitioned to a vegetarian diet, which significantly improved his health and led to a remarkable 95-pound weight loss. Inspired by dairy-free, eggless cookies at the Sacramento Natural Foods Coop, Rey decided to start his own vegan baking venture, the Alternative Baking Company.

Despite initial challenges and setbacks, Rey's business flourished, reaching nearly $1 million in sales. 

However, a difficult partnership forced him to start over. With a loan from a trusted friend, he founded Sun Flour Baking Company and continued to expand his presence in the vegan food market.

Rey's expertise spans all aspects of the business, offering invaluable insights for aspiring vegan entrepreneurs. Join us to learn from Rey's experiences, avoid common pitfalls, and embark on your own journey to a profitable and successful venture in the world of plant-based living.

Get to know Rey Ortega and Sun Flour Baking Company better here: https://www.sunflourbaking.com

Quote: 

When I first started an alternative baking company, I got so much slack for people not wanting me to put the word ‘vegan’ on my package. I had so many people say, “That's going to kill your sales”. I didn't care! I was an angry vegan at the time. In fact, when I became vegan, I became vegan for health reasons.

– Rey Ortega

Show notes with timestamps: 
🍪 [00:43] Cookies and entrepreneurship: health challenges and tasty pivots: dominating market with vegan cookies.
😎 [02:30] In cookie business for almost 30 years: How he became an angry vegan.
😇 [06:53] Learning how to make cookies without eggs: starting first company with just $5000 and huge passion.
😋 [08:54] Taking slack for creating a vegan baking business in 1994: giving away cookies for convincing people of its great taste.
👉 [12:30] Vegan cookies these days don't have issues with taste but with competition: saturated market.
👀 [15:20] Plant-based but not vegan: vegan products are getting to the mainstream, but we still need to look at labels.
🤕 [17:48] From illness to entrepreneurship: struggles with chronic illness made him learn about food digestion, and his sicknesses catapulted Rey into veganism.
💚 [23:25] Rey’s passion comes from veganism. 
👨‍🍳 [26:16] Vegan cannabis producer of edibles: becoming a serial entrepreneur is a natural way of entrepreneurship life. 
 
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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

In 2020, when the COVID pandemic rocked the world, Karen Ramzi had a thriving live raw vegan coaching and classes business called Feel Fabulous With Food that she had built over decades. Karen was no longer able to host live classes for students and couldn't offer her in-person coaching appointments. Instead of panicking, Karen quickly started exploring ways she could continue to share her passion for teaching the vegan and raw lifestyle. 

By leveraging her newsletter and social media platforms in a whole new way, Karen was able to bring in more new students and clients for online classes and sessions than ever before. In this episode, Karen shares how she did it. From creating interesting content and leveraging various tools for communication to restructuring her offers to appeal to new students and clients with varied interests, Karen shows us what a truly successful pivot can look like. 

Karen Ranzi, M.A. is an Award-Winning Author, Vegan Health Coach, Autism Expert, Internationally Acclaimed Speaker, Director of the Vegan Coach Certification Course, Raw Food Health Retreat Leader of retreats in Costa Rica and the Women’s Health Retreat, and Speech/Language/Feeding Therapist. Karen has been a featured speaker worldwide for over twenty years, presenting at events such as the London VegFest and the annual Woodstock Fruit Festival. 

Get to know Karen and Feel Fabulous With Food better here: https://feelfabulouswithfood.com/

Quote

Go with your passion, get strong, realize that your mindset is going to establish your business going forward. If you're fearful of getting on camera, just look at your underlying cause. Why are you passionate about spreading the information of a vegan business? Why do you want to get your message out there? I hope today’s show will give you that solid grounding that you need to spread your own message. 

–Karen Ranzi

Show notes:

👩‍💼 [00:43] Longevity in establishing a business: Karen’s expertise and experience.
📣 [03:31] Helping people understand the vegan message through coaching and courses from  1988.
👵 [10:57] Karen’s inspirational story from her grandmother: issues with skin pushed her into the vegan way of life. 
🎯 [15:29] When medications are not working: be in control of your health and the health of the world.
😷 [18:56] Entrepreneurship during the pandemic was in panic mode: in-person events and meetings moved to Zoom.
🌞 [22:43] Transitions in business: doing things Karen never did before - using the power of social media.
💎 [27:06] Courage to do new things in business: learning new things and being willing to be visible.
📚 [30:17] Karen’s books and websites: focus on children, coaching and coaching certificates.
🔥 [35:27] Your beliefs and passion are the pillars of your business.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Having honed her culinary skills at Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy and Pure Joy Academy, Crystal's deep knowledge of raw foods led her to establish Crystal Dawn Culinary. Here, she shares her insights with students eager to discover the health benefits of plant-based living.

Beyond creating delectable plant-based menus for new restaurants and catering health retreats across Canada and Europe, Crystal is passionate about using her culinary skills as a form of activism to influence change. She shares her experiences of how she effortlessly showcases the ease and deliciousness of raw desserts, proving that choosing plant-based options doesn't mean compromising on taste or satisfaction.

Moreover, we delve into Crystal's inspiring journey as an entrepreneur. Armed with determination and a vision for a more compassionate world, she ventured into the world of business, founding Crystal Dawn Culinary almost four years ago. Throughout her entrepreneurial voyage, she has encountered failures and mistakes, but she embraces them as invaluable lessons that have contributed to her growth and success.

Join us as Crystal shares her insights on transforming failures into stepping stones and the resilience required to navigate the world of entrepreneurship. Her passion for culinary activism and unwavering dedication to her mission will leave you inspired to make positive changes in your own life and the world around you.

Don't miss this empowering episode, where we celebrate the fusion of culinary artistry, activism, and entrepreneurship with the incredible Crystal Bonnet.

Get to know Crystal Bonnet and Crystal Dawn Culinary more here: https://crystaldawnculinary.com/ 

Quote:

If you are feeling you're feeling stuck, and you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed – it will pass. Just know that this means that you're on the right path, you're growing, you are doing something important. And just keep going – they say that only 4% of business owners don't quit and keep going. So be that 4%. Be that 4% because those 4% are the ones that succeed. So just keep going and don't quit, and it will all work out.

–Crystal Bonnet

Notes:
👩🏻‍🍳 [02:03] Activism intertwined with entrepreneurship: Crystal embraced culinary activism.
🌞 [03:45] From raw food classes to creation of an online academy and raw dessert culinary course. 
👂🏻 [06:15] How Crystal serviced her community: polls, surveys, market searches and finding gaps in the market. 
😇 [08:01] Fun dehydrating series: what is a successful online course?
😎 [10:19] Crystal’s priority is her students: being present and super engaged is her secret sauce.
🤓 [13:59] The biggest risk Crystal takes: when you create a product that is not suitable for business growth.
🙃 [16:23] Managing your emotions and difficult decisions: growing and learning as a person together with your business. 
📸 [19:19] Tech challenges, photography, filming and food preparation Crystal does all by herself.
📕 [21:31] Cookbook The Art of Raw Desserts: it took two years to create this project.
🤹🏻‍♀️ [23:41] Managing multiple projects at the same time: keeping your business sustainable and having multiple revenue streams.
⚡ [26:26]  Only 50% of her students are vegans: other people just enjoy the food.
⚖️ [28:24] Taking breaks and taking time off is hard for Crystal: balancing work and her time.
🎯 [33:23] If you don’t feel like you want to quit - you are not doing it right: be the 4% of the ones who never give up!

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Driven by the desire to highlight the stories of vegan entrepreneurs and their contributions to society, Benjamin entered grad school and embarked on a research project exploring the operationalization of the vegan philosophy in businesses. His findings, published in the academic blog series, "Ben’s Vegan Vancouver," offer unique perspectives on business, inclusivity and other topics not typically found in mainstream literature.

During the episode, Benjamin discusses the challenges faced by vegan entrepreneurs in Vancouver. Despite the city's reputation for being vegan-friendly, he reveals how businesses often encounter discrimination, leading some to hide their certifications, even after going through rigorous processes like PETA certification. These insights expose the struggle that vegan communities face to gain acceptance in mainstream culture, despite the growing popularity of veganism.

Join us as we explore the intriguing intersection between veganism, entrepreneurship, and societal norms, and how certifications become vital indicators of safety and inclusivity for consumers.

Don't miss this enlightening conversation that will broaden your perspective on vegan entrepreneurship and the transformative power of the vegan philosophy in the business world.

Get to know Benjamin Hagerty and his valuable research at It’s Bree and Ben here: https://itsbreeandben.com/

Quote:

The best lesson I've learned is, if you encounter any difficulty, don't hate yourself, take a breath, and then see, ‘What is it that I really need to learn? What is it that I'm expecting of myself? Is it practical?’. If it is, and if it fits with your mission, look for resources and people who can help you get there. And if you are just honest and kind to yourself, then awesome. The kindness will gravitate to others who want to help you in your mission.

– Benjamin Hagerty 

Show Notes:
▶️ [02:01]  How ‘It’s Bree and Ben’ was created: from becoming vegans, through the transcontinental journey to a website for shopping, traveling and learning kindly.
🧳 [07:16] First eight months of traveling: establishing routine and working full time on the road.
😍 [10:06] Working and traveling: be kind to yourself, be honest and check with your body and travel partners.
😇 [11:35] Difference in planning your traveling vs. day-to-day itineraries on the road: find your strengths.
🍀 [13:03] Diversity within veganism geographically and culturally. 
🎓 [14:07] The research project on veganism: how vegan entrepreneurs in Vancouver, BC, experienced and operationalized the vegan philosophy.
4️⃣ [19:58] The four main themes for vegan entrepreneurs: health, environment for greater inclusivity and business spaces, mistrust for veganism, and costs of vegan entrepreneurship.
⚠️ [23:06] Many cities have sustainable actionable projects and goals in mind, but they should think about getting entrepreneurs to reach those goals.
🌟 [26:48]  We define success in a very limited way that prizes exploitation: how to define success as a cultural policy that safeguards what is precious to us.
🦸🏾 [29:26] Examples of businesses with empathy as the first idea in mind: combining compassion and bottom line to impact your community with your business.
📈 [35:52] Success doesn't begin with being mean to yourself and others.
✌🏾 [37:29] Stephanie believes that people sometimes set expectations that don’t serve us: being on the grind is not helpful.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Jay is currently on an entrepreneurial journey, establishing a business and brand that creates opportunities for others. As the visionary behind Culture Canopy, a human resources consultancy, he focuses on collaborating with purpose-driven clients who aspire to make a positive impact on the world, particularly within the realms of social impact, veganism, sustainability, and animal advocacy.

Culture Canopy is at the forefront of developing people-centric, sustainable, and holistic human resources initiatives and services. Their approach is tailored to each organization's unique ambitions and goals, ensuring a perfect fit. Jay and his accomplished team design compassionate and effective people strategies, providing transformational human resources solutions to enhance employee performance and elevate their overall experience.

In this episode, we delve into the fascinating concept of fractional HR and how it empowers organizations with invaluable access to expert guidance and services. Jay also shares profound insights on strategic planning for future growth, encouraging organizations to embrace scalability and evolution over time. Don't miss this opportunity to gain unparalleled wisdom and learn how to shape a brighter future for your organization. Tune in and be inspired by Jay's extraordinary journey, brimming with passion, purpose, and meaningful impact.

 Get to know Jay and Culture Canopy better here: https://www.culturecanopy.com/ 

Quote

When you're leading people, your role is to determine what your team needs, because everyone is different. Some people need more structure, some are good with ambiguity and the freedom to go and figure it out. And some people want to know, ‘This is exactly what I need to do. These are the kinds of boundaries that I work with.’ It's finding that happy medium that works with everyone. 

– Jay Barrett

Show Notes

🙋🏾‍♀️ [00:43]Today's topic is HR: how to create a culture within an organization that supports people and our ethical standards.

👨‍💼 [03:09] Functional HR: James is passionate about working with organizations that are growing.

🍀 [07:23] HR is helping you bring your vision to life: internal systems, team dynamics and contexts for navigating, so everyone in your team is set up for success.

✌🏾 [10:12] Two most important HR aha moments for Stephanie. 

⚠️ [12:44] The one-year annual performance process is not enough to build a good team: talent nurture, workforce planning, communication channels, regular feedback and talent management that speaks with the culture.

2️⃣ [16:28] Two reviews per year: when business is changing, multiple reviews are needed. 

⚡ [19:05] Keeping communication and collaboration boundaries clear: importance of having specific time and space for one-on-one meetings to discuss what the team needs.

🥅 [21:57] How consistency and process helped Stephanie’s team to get the same type of support for everyone in her team.

🌟 [23:33] Leading a team means determining what your team needs.

🛣️ [25:28] Remaining agile and be prepared for changes: don’t be rigid - you are on a journey.

😎 [27:23] HR consultancy and James’ pro bono support for organizations in animal and vegan advocacy space.

🏆 [30:46] You need to be prepared for pivoting: don’t forget to refine and look back on your achievements. 

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It. 

In 2016 Maria and her co-founder Hava Horowitz wanted to simplify and complete vegans’ nutritional needs with sustainable and ethical supplements that have no impact on the planet. 

In this episode of Pivot, we speak to Maria, the co-founder and CEO of Terraseed, about her entrepreneurship journey and how the business became what it is today.

Terraseed has partnered with the non-profit Animal Save Movement to make a petition to the FDA to implement more transparent regulations for supplement companies, which would mandate companies to disclose if their supplements contain animal byproducts. Terraseed has secured almost 5,000 signatures and is on a mission to gather 25,000 signatures to pass them along to the FDA.

Maria shares what it takes to revolutionize an entire industry by transforming the way things are done to truly make an impact on the world.

Get to know Maria and Terraseed better here: https://terraseed.com/

Quote 

I truly believe that a company or a startup is an extension of who we are…we are absolutely connected. I'm very spiritual in that way. My recommendation is that you build something that is 100% aligned with who you are, as a human being. Because if there's no alignment, when you start bumping into all these challenges and all issues, it’s really hard. This is brutal, especially when you have a physical product. So if your business is not 100% aligned with you, and without a very clear mission that you can hold on to, is going to be very difficult.

—Maria Cebrian

Show notes timestamps

💊 [00:43] How vegan businesses can disrupt industries: what it takes to lead a revolution in the supplements industry. 

🤦‍♀️ [02:24] So many ingredients in supplements come from animals: building something that is totally different from what you can find in the market. 

😲 [05:30] A lot of supplements have animal ingredients: the supplement industry kills 24 billion animals a year, mostly fish. 

🧪 [08:56] Lack of transparency and scientific approach in the supplement industry. 

😇 [12:42] Maria’s biodegradable package for supplements: journey and tests to create compostable tubes for their products.

🎯 [16:03] Building a mission-driven business is inspiring you to take the extra mile. 

✌️ [17:56] The two keys to a resilient and positive mindset. 

✍️ [20:46] Online petition to include info on animals in supplement facts labels. 

💎 [24:47] Build a business that is 100% aligned with who you are.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

As a native Texan, Brett takes pride in his state. When he learned that one of Texas' most substantial contributions to the world is beef, he decided to support changing that by launching All Y'alls' first product: It’s Jerky Y’all, in May of 2018.

In this episode of Pivot, Brett describes his journey from avid carnivore to becoming vegan and founding his plant-based snack company in Texas, USA.

Brett shares his story of vegan entrepreneurship and what it was like launching a plant-based food brand in Texas, a state whose second-largest export is beef. 

Get to know Brett and All Y'alls Foods better here: http://www.allyallsfoods.com 
 

Quote 

Things have changed and people are seeing it. 90% of all plant-based foods are eaten by people who still eat meat - so it's happening, people are trying it, people are sampling things. Whether it's from a health perspective, Planet perspective, or compassion for the animal perspective, more and more people just keep coming to it. And what's great is no matter why they come to it, at least it impacts all three areas every time.

—Brett Christoffe

Shownotes timestamps

⭐ [01:45] All Y'alls Foods is a mission-driven plant-based proteins company that is based in Texas. 

⏪ [04:24] Two books that changed Brett’s life: meatless Monday was fun for him until he realized that diet and diseases are related.

☎️ [09:05] It all started at Grapevine Main Street Festival: calling vegan grocery stores to move forward and scale.

💲 [11:01] Selling ⅔ retail and ⅓ online: the ways consumer packaged goods are usually distributed. 

🐮 [14:12] Getting out of animal agriculture to different field with great success.

📈 [17:35] Vegan business perspective and margins: why Brett uses only organic soybeans.

🫘 [21:36] All certificates All Y’alls Food is working on: no GMO.

🤓 [24:14] Vegan business challenges: world is changing and 90% of all plant-based foods are eaten by people who still eat meat.

🎶 [26:24] What he is most proud of: “Damn, it feels good to be a vegan.”

🎯 [28:15] Getting things right: working hard and being happier than ever.

Links:

Song ‘Damn, It Feels Good to be a Vegan”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F55n7DGRCXE 

Supporting Rowdy Girl Sanctuary: https://rowdygirlsanctuary.org/ 

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It. 

Not long after becoming vegan for health reasons, Keith Lesser became just as passionate about the ethics of veganism–preventing animal cruelty, promoting sustainability and acting against climate change. 

Keith decided to combine his career in accountancy and veganism to serve the vegan business community with quality accounting services. He acquired the Vegan Accountants brand, built a vegan team and re-vamped, re-launched and later re-branded the business with significant growth of 500% in the first 24 months.

In this episode of Pivot, the Managing Director of Vegan Accountants, Keith Lesser, joins us to share how his business helps vegan and ethical businesses with their accounts and tax compliance.  

Keith's story is a fantastic account of how you don't necessarily need to change professions to become a vegan entrepreneur. 

Get to know Keith and Vegan Accountants better here: https://veganaccountants.co.uk/

Quote:

If you have anxiety about taxes, it is a good thing to delegate and just focus on what you're good at. It all comes back to having an abundance and growth mindset, don’t try and do everything yourself and think, “Oh, I save, save a little bit on this.”

—Keith Lesser

Show notes timestamps:
🙋🏾‍♀️ [00:50] Vegan businesses are not only food-based: a vegan accountant is a must. 
🤩 [05:52] Keith merged his vegan lifestyle and the family accounting business. 
➡️ [08:52]  The good balance: put quality at the forefront of everything and add ethics to it. 
🤯 [12:15] Team of vegan accountants and connection with clients: you can't hide from the accountant.
⚡ [15:39] It’s easier to go to the mass market, but then you leave your mission a little bit at the door: yes, there are plenty of vegan businesses out there.
🎯 [17:25] Having an accountant on your side is important: shifting businesses with a good understanding of finances.
⏰ [21:01] When is the best time to get an accountant?
🆚 [21:45] Having accounting software vs. having an accountant.
✅ [23:00] Thinking about prices, value and scalability from day one. 
🔢 [24:10] Emotional barrier and the value of the offering: understanding numbers.
💸 [27:00] Taxes in the USA and UK: people don’t count taxes in and break down the invoices incorrectly.
🧭 [32:02] Tax planning phase: business and personal tax planning throughout the year.
🗝️ [34:11] Relationship, connection and expertise are the key points for every business.
⚖️ [37:10] Reducing client base, tweaking process and improving balance in the business.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

In this episode of Pivot, Stephanie Co-Founder and CEO of Uncaged joins us to share her story of founding a sustainability brand during the pandemic. Uncaged is a biomaterials company combining the power of nature and technology to reimagine leather.

Stephanie Stephanie and co-founder and CTO Dr. Xiaokun Wang spent two years in the lab working to find a way to replicate the characteristics of leather. After testing thousands of combinations, they developed Uncaged's proprietary bio-leather materials and launched a business in the midst of a pandemic.

Tune in to hear Stephanie and Dr. Wang's journey into vegan entrepreneurship and what it takes to get a sustainable brand off the ground.

Get to know Stephanie and Uncaged better here: https://www.uncagedinnovations.com/

Quote 

There's never any harm in planning out the big picture and then breaking it down into chunks. I personally do it to make the big goal less overwhelming. So we take a big, one-year goal, and then break it down into quarters, and then break it up down into months.

— Stephanie Downs

Shownotes timestamps

🦊 [00:20]Taking animals out of products and still having cool things. 
🤯 [03:36] Stephanie’s business history: from working with PETA, starting her plant meat business and going into leather-alternative space.
🍍 [06:23] Most vegan leathers are made of plastic: innovation in next-gen vegan leathers.
👗 [09:00] The demand for leather alternatives is vast and mostly comes from fashion brands.
🚘 [11:10] Collaborative relationship with smaller and huge brands: electric vehicle industry and creative processes.
👀 [13:28] Market penetration is different within automotive and fashion industries: startup needs to strategize where to focus the energy. 
🎩 [16:08] Staying sharp in strategic mindset: breaking KPIs into monthly plans and additional tricks.
🎯 [18:40] Helping companies hear your voice and choice, plus voting with your dollars, are great approaches to getting more vegan products made. 
✨ [20:22] Vegans are loyal customers: vegans love luxury too.
🐮 [22:58] The importance of educating consumers: leather is embalmed skin - how the products are made.
🥗 [25:54] Switching to vegan food is the hardest because food is an emotional thing, but people will start using other vegan products very easily.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Clarissa founded Vegan Fit For Life as a result of her expansive experience in the fitness industry and after observing just how broken it is. After making the decision to incorporate a vegan lifestyle to help some health and digestive issues, Clarissa realized how desperate the vegan community was with needing real information and real nutritional strategies. 

As a result, Vegan Fit For Life has become a main source of nutritional information for the general population and the vegan competitive athlete. Clarissa holds several specialist certifications and implements full integration of health in all nutritional protocols.

Clarissa launched her company 8 years ago and has since grown it to 6 figures. She joins us for this episode to share her entrepreneurship journey. Clarissa opens up about what it's like being a mom to 4 children while running a busy business and competing as a vegan bodybuilder. She also shares what it took to get to where she is today–running a successful six-figure business and offering the only truly complete vegan coaching service.

Get to know Clarissa and Vegan Fit For Life better here: https://www.veganfitforlife.com/

Quote 

If you own a business, there's always tons of doubt. If your intent is pure, that you're helping people, then I think that, as long as you don't give up on yourself that at some point, you will reach that goal. The instant overnight success stories can get in the way and give you a lot of that impostor syndrome, but I really believe if you narrow down on that on the niche where you want to work, really identify who your ICA is, and then listen to them, they'll give you the feedback on what they want, and what they need.

—Clarissa Gannon

Shownotes timestamps:
💼 [00:43] Identifying our business niche and figuring out where you can really help can be challenging.
🏋️‍♀️ [02:10] Clarissa started in the bodybuilding world: moving away from animal proteins in her life and business was aligned with her views.
🎯 [04:27] Why aligning your business to your views is a road to success. 
🍏 [05:29] What is Complete Coaching: fixing underlying issues and helping women lose weight based on data and specialists’ input. 
✨ [08:20] Coaching business means reassuring your clients and being there for them.
💡 [11:46] Self-doubt is a normal process when having a business: know your niche and ask your customers for feedback.
⏰ [15:20] Coaching process is not just a prescription: people need time to apply coaching advice. 
🦸‍♀️ [16:20] Helping clients deal with stressful expectations. 
🤩 [19:31] How to find clients: making connections through social media content.
⚡ [24:16] Marketing is an extended process: Stephanie’s thoughts on the power of following up with people.
🆕 [26:51] Clarissa’s new program is about gut health.
🥅 [29:39] Hiring a coach helped Clarissa’s business so much and offloaded a lot of the confusion.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

After spending more than a decade laser-focused on making data-driven decisions to maximize the impact of work done by vegan businesses, VEG3 founder, Sam Tucker, realized there was a technological revolution happening that could scale the vegan movement and its economic impact to a previously unprecedented level. 

https://veg3.ai/

Quote 

Scalability of your impact, especially as a vegan business, is driven by more than just the desire for profit - we have this deeper purpose of trying to change the world. And to change the world, it requires a lot more work than any one human can do on their own. So you have to be able to let go and to delegate in order to grow.

—Sam Tucker

⚙️ [00:40] How AI can be a tool in your toolkit and help you grow business. 

▶️ [02:23] Animal activist since his teenage years: the idea of working in digital space was born out of limited scalability issues for nonprofits. 

🤖 [05:45] Generic AI doesn't understand brand messaging for vegan businesses: VEG3 tool and the need to train AI on your own data.

👨‍🏫 [07:44] AI tool that analyses marketing data and knows how marketing content will perform before you publish it. 

📈 [09:45] Two biggest benefits of AI for businesses.

🦾 [11:58] Implementing AI in your business: find AI substitute for all the repetitive work and how to get answers you need.

🔐 [16:07] Copywriters are the target market for AI: data privacy policy in VEG3 and personal securities with AI.

🏆 [19:23] Investment in AI for business owners: reducing costs and increasing quality and quantity simultaneously.

[22:02] Testing ads with AI: packages and free options VEG3 provides.

🎯 [25:15] To scale, you need to learn to delegate.

🦋 [27:19] Everything in your business will change with time: you as well.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It. 

Jane Velez-Mitchell started her non-profit network, UnchainedTV, with a single Go Pro camera, videotaping the stories she felt needed to be on network television, but weren't. UnchainedTV quickly evolved into a global social media network with dozens of citizen journalists going LIVE on Facebook and Instagram around the world, garnering millions of views.

On a mission to share the truth about the horrific problems created by industrialized animal agriculture, UnchainedTV offers viewers delicious alternatives that are better for people, the environment and the animals.

In this episode, Jane shares how she went from award-winning TV journalist, New York Times bestselling author and documentary filmmaker to running a free, vegan, CNN/Netflix-style streaming TV network.

Get to know Jane Velez-Mitchell and UnchainedTV better here: https://unchainedtv.com

Quote 

You have to always get through that period where it seems like, “Oh, no, this isn't working. Oh, my God, what did I do?” I've had those moments…there are those moments in every business. I just try to put those thoughts aside and do the next indicated thing and stay out of the results. Just prod forward – prod forward to get through a difficult point where it looks impossible.”

— Jane Velez-Mitchell

Shownotes timestamps

⚠️ [02:46] The mission is to wake the world up to veganism: eating animals is causing most of our problems. 

📺 [04:29] Jane was in mainstream media for 40 years and then decided it was time to break the vegan bubble and founded UnchainedTV.

⚡ [08:34] The importance of having information to drive a change. 

💡 [10:05]  Bringing activism to your business: if you're good at something, do that–it doesn't matter what it is, you can use it to help animals. 

🤩 [15:45] How UnchainedTV can help your vegan business pivot. 

🧐 [18:57] Why the mainstream media isn’t talking about animal agriculture. 

👩‍💼 [20:55] UnchainedTV pivoted so many times and adapted to challenges faced. 

⚖️ [23:42] Coverage of the open rescue trial of former Baywatch actress Alexandra Paul and her co-defendant, Alicia Santurio. 

😤 [26:36] California overturns the proposition forbidding meat from pig gestation. 

🗝️ [29:52] Driving change: do things in front of you and be patient. 

💎 [33:07] How to get through hard times and the power of streaming to get the message out there.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Quote 

[Our community runs] definitely set us apart from other e-commerce platforms out there that are just sending your goods to your door. With us, whenever you place your next order, we want that conversation to continue and we want to engage you throughout that period of time, before your next order.

—Lorne Rapkin

Shownotes timestamps
🌸 [02:50] When your community’s collaboration helps your business growth.
🏪 [04:55] Online and retail stores: it started with online but physical stores can be marketing tools to use for product discovery.
🎓 [08:10] Using storefronts to educate customers.
😲 [10:38] Plantx started just three years ago: e-commerce bloomed during pandemic and new pivot came with variety.
📈 [14:11] When to expand vs. when to dilute: Plantx acquisitions and synergy with other companies during pandemic. 
🤓 [18:19] How Plantx engages their customers after purchases and shaped a community around them.
⚠️ [20:28] Customer support and events are glue between purchases.
🥳 [22:16] Combination of art, music, food and all kind of inclusive community events.
😉 [24:18] Allowing customers to request new products.
✨ [27:19] Short recipe for business owners: explore your passion, ask for help, ask questions and treat everyone as best as possible.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Combining her passion for travel and veganism values, Brighde founded World Vegan Travel together with her Seb. World Vegan Travel offers luxury experiences that align with the values of vegans to destinations around the world.

In this episode, we talk to Brighde about growing a hospitality business during a pandemic, selling in the luxury space–how to differentiate a business based on highest quality experience, not price and how you can incorporate activism into travel.

https://www.worldvegantravel.com/

Quote 

“We felt that if we were able to focus on a luxury product, we knew there wasn't anybody in that space and also realized that people who are, generally speaking, a little bit older, have a little bit more of disposable income, they're often more sort of in a professional arena, And they're at the point of their lives, where they really just want somebody else to do the work and do the efforts.”

—Brighde Reed

Shownotes timestamps

🧳 [02:49] Travelling the world from a vegan point of view: what is World Vegan Travel.

🍸 [04:22] Luxury vegan group tours for vegans and vegan-curious. 

🧑‍🍳 [07:35] How Brighde decided to work with hotels directly and bring local cuisine experience to vegans.

🏖️ [10:17] When your food on vacation isn’t a half-time job but a joyful experience. 

💎 [12:27] Brighde’s unique business offer: why they decided to go luxury five-star with their business.

😇 [15:43] How to incorporate activism into business: bringing learning and education to chefs and hotels.

✨ [23:24] Stephanie helped Brighde with her business: NY Times mentioned them and they got PETA award for Animal-Friendly Safaris.

🎯 [27:01] Working on marketing and creating content: Stephanie nudged Brighde towards podcasting.

🤓 [34:28] How to launch new offers: collect info, provide updates, discount first offers, and connect with your customers. 

🥇 [37:46] The dream of every entrepreneur is to be able to deliver what people want in high demand.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

In this episode, learn how Danny O'Malley built the successful and profitable plant-based meat brand, Before the Butcher, by creating business relationships overlooked by his competitors. Danny shares how thinking creatively and outside of the box helped his brand compete with industry giants and come out on top.

Tune in for unique ways to break through the noise of a busy industry and find success for your vegan brand. You'll definitely be inspired by Danny's story and feel motivated to take action!

Get to know Danny O'Malley and Before the Butcher better here: https://www.btbfoods.com/ 

Quote 

Be realistic about what you're doing, be conservative about what you're projecting, and how you think you're going to get there. Because it's always great to exceed your projections. But it's hard, very hard, very difficult and sometimes very damaging, to not to get to where you expected to go. So be conservative, be excited, but be passionate and show how important it is to [the people] who may be interested in consuming your product, how important it is to you —and it should be to them— that they try whatever it is that you have.

—Danny O'Malley

Shownotes timestamps

📈 [00:55]  Inner workings of the business: how to stand out and run your business.

💡 [03:15] Ingredient or industrial style of business: working around big businesses and shipping direct. 

🍀 [06:43] What inspired Danny to start his business: from food service industry to working with Beyond Meat and battles of plant-based meat analogues.

✅ [11:41] Education and consumer demand created in retailers’ minds: we need a plant-based protein.

🤩 [13:38] Give yourself a chance to get out there without the danger of exposing yourself too much: retail vs. food service.

🌟 [16:26] Building a product based on feedback: think about the best thing you can do for customers at a price that they can afford.

🤓 [18:11] How to get the products to the ultimate user: focusing on millennials and selling to tech companies.

🤔 [20:01] Danny thinks that the market is oversaturated now.

✨ [22:10] The importance of having the right partner: you need others to help you get out there.

🎯 [25:19] Danny wants to make a big change: targeting meat eaters as huge number of population to make bigger change.

🥘 [28:23] Lots of traditions revolve around the food: having an alternative can make that tradition stay alive.

✌️ [29:28] It's important to be passionate and excited about what you're doing, but also be conservative and realistic.

😋 [33:42] Before the the Butcher’s stick: Danny’s favorite vegan product.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

In this episode, Andrew shares how he pivoted his restaurant delivery business after his stroke to begin building Broth Bomb. The idea for Broth Bomb came while Andrew was looking for a fun way to share his favorite easy wholesome one-pot recipes with friends and family. Including the seasonings led to the idea. Using advanced sales directly through Broth Bomb's website, Andrew generated the cash flow required to manufacture their products and launch the business without financing. The business has already sold over 150,000 units!

Listen to this episode to hear all about how Andrew used the changes he was making in his personal life to overcome a physical disability as a catalyst for this new vegan venture.

Get to know Andrew Laurent and Broth Bomb better here: https://brothbomb.store

Quote 

If you're going to go do a crowdfunding, I would say put in the marketing ahead of time, raise a little money ahead of time to invest in rather than just put it up there and hope. That would be my advice…Or even just do the crowdfunding yourself - set up your own website and do your own crowdfunding.

—Andrew Laurent

Shownotes timestamps

▶️ [00:44] Sometimes our businesses can be an answer to the big change we've experienced.

🧂 [02:54]  Fizzy seasonings that tender beans and make them super yummy. 

🤒 [04:31] Health issues and cooking plant-based became the inspiration for Andrew to create his business.

💪 [06:36] Regaining strength and focusing on himself: finding work-life balance and starting a new business.

⚠️ [09:20] Protecting your body from stress and anxiety is crucial: when culture teaches us not to take care of ourselves.

💣 [14:28] Creating seasonings and making home cooking more fun: a bomb that tenders veggies.

👨‍🍳 [18:38] Meal helper: merging great flavors and easy preparation of healthy foods.

💰 [23:36] Trying to go too big too quick: lesson Andrew learned about crowdfunding.

⚡ [25:54] Perfectionism in entrepreneurship: high expectations and high pressure.

⚖️ [28:54] A business that forces our life decisions vs. a business that inspires the life we want.

🍲 [30:55] Super Bowl and New Year resolutions about food.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

In this episode, we'll learn about Tal's journey to starting her business and some of the challenges she faced along the way. Tal opens up about how she's needed to approach certain business challenges differently because she is a female founder. We'll also learn all about FUN Sesame's motto (and where its name comes from): "Have fun, it is simple!"

Get to know Tal Garden and FUN Sesames Tahini better here: www.funsesames.com

Quote 

“If you have an idea, and you don't know how to start, just start…Don't be afraid of sharing your idea because someone might steal it. It takes a lot from taking an idea to the next level and really doing something about it. So just start. If you see yourself putting a lot of time towards your idea during the night, because it really drives you and it really gives you joy, even though you slept for two hours–that's your calling.”

—Tal Garden

Shownotes timestamps

▶️ [00:44] What inspires people to create businesses: FUN Sesame.

🧆 [03:04] Growing up in Israel and having lots of lentils and legumes: how FUN Sesames was born.

⚠️ [06:58] Tal’s learning curve: understanding how people perceive your product.

😋 [09:43] What is tahini: sesame seeds are a phenomenal source of calcium, protein and healthy fats.

🤩 [12:34] How many variations of tahini FUN Sesame produces and how to use it in vegan diet.

🥙 [15:44] Tahini as a way to add flavor to leftovers: having fun with tahini and flavors. 

😇 [17:33] ‘Tahini is life’ is the usual emotional response from her customers.

✅ [19:19] Where to find FUN Sesame tahini. 

✌️ [23:07] Having great opportunities doesn’t mean you will succeed: it takes time to build a brand.

🏬 [27:28] Getting her products into big stores and all the things Tal learned from her mistakes.

🎯 [29:00] Tal’s goal is to provide tahini as the cleanest condiment: three layers she is focused on.

👩‍💼 [31:50] Breaking biases of male-female businesses: Tal is teaching her kids by example.

💡 [36:08] How to know what your ‘thing’ and passion is: what to do when you have a business idea.

🙃 [37:27] How to keep the fun in the business?

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Jun joins us to share the story of how he burned out as an activist, took a whole year to recenter himself and eventually discovered how to create impact through his own style of vegan advocacy. Tune in to be inspired by Jun's incredible story.

Get to know Jun Fuchs and his work better here: https://junfuchs.podia.com/

Quote 

When we're not maintaining our mental health, we can't sustainably function as a changemaker in the world.

My way of advocating and being an activist is to amplify other people's impact. And it doesn't matter if they're activists yet or if they don't consider themselves activists. If you're vegan, you're an activist at heart, I know that somewhere your heart beats for that change. 

—Jun Fuchs

Shownotes 

🌟 [00:50] Understanding vegan activism: finding your power but also having a balance. 

⚠️ [03:03] Jun is a coach for a global vegan family: depression and burnouts are common among vegan activists.

✌️ [06:38] Tools and routines Jun has for self-care: mindfulness, stabilisation and subconscious mind work. 

🤩 [09:33] Stephanie’s big aha moment for this year. 

🔀 [11:01] We are running on programs that are implemented in us in first eight years of our life.

🤯 [14:01] What happens when you practice breathwork every day: get more done in less time.

🗣️ [18:38] Veganizing people and creating leaders: make vegan community irresistible by finding the right leadership voice. 

✅ [21:30] Beyond Depression program: focusing on deeper levels and causes of mental health issues.

💜 [25:53] The power of lasting momentum within the right group of people: resolutions and work that are not related to outer world.

😇 [28:06] We all have a lot of voices in our minds: choose your surroundings and don’t let too many things in your healing experience. 

👉 [30:41] Stored anger due to activism caused pain to James Apseyi: don’t avoid the healing process, it is not selfish to take care of yourself. 

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Get to know Ella Magers and Sexy Fit Vegan better here: https://www.ellamagers.com/

Quote 

“We get addicted to the doing and the doing and the productivity, and thinking that's the only way we're worthy of walking this planet. So coming back to that space of taking a breath–we don't have to be doing something every moment of every day. What can we do to start to make some time for ourselves to find that peace in just simply being.” 

– Ella Magers

Shownotes timestamps

👙 [01:18] We can build businesses to be sexy fit vegan.

🗝️ [02:34] Bringing veganism into the mainstream since 2013: holistic health is the key.

☯️ [04:12] What holistic health is to Ella and how to achieve it. 

👁️ [05:17] Be an observer: detach from what you think you are and approach yourself with curiosity and compassion.

🧘‍♀️ [08:59] Ella experienced complete burnout: then, finding peace in just being.

🔁 [13:46] Build consistent habits: programming our minds through repetition.  

3️ [15:24] Elle’s morning routine in three steps: a foundation of self-care makes self-discipline different.

🎙️ [16:51] Here and There podcast changed Elle’s approach and addiction to productivity. 

🌟 [18:35] Practicing a present-moment awareness: anxiety doesn’t lives in the present.

😇 [21:37] Allowing yourself to feel all emotions: getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

✌️ [23:32] A 22-day transformation system: disrupting the patterns that aren't serving us.

🥰 [27:12] Being connected to people is so important: don’t isolate yourself.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Sam is a graduate of both the Bauman College Nutrition Consultant program and the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate program and uses this expertise to bring a unique perspective to content marketing.

In this episode, Sam shares how a realization about what most brands are missing in their content marketing processes led her to pivot her business, becoming better at what she does in the process. Sam will share these insights to help you connect with more people and better serve the customers you already have.

Sam will explain why you should stop chasing SEO terms for the sake of traffic and start creating content that will genuinely interest and serve your customers. You can stop trying to ride the wave of short-lived trends and create content that will benefit your business in the long term!

Theresa “Sam” Houghton is helping plant-based, functional and better-for-you CPG and DTC brands understand their customers and create better content. Her writing appears regularly on NutritionStudies.org and the Upside by VitaCost and has been featured on Green Queen Media. She has been a guest on several podcasts and YouTube shows, including Vegan Visibility with Kathleen Gage, Behind Their Business, Chef AJ Live and Let’s Eat with Mark Samuel.

Get to know Sam Houghton and Modern Health Nerd better here: http://modernhealthnerd.com

Quote 

"Do a review of your own values and your own purpose and your own goals–what you really want to accomplish with your business. And then if you have already looked at your audience and done the research, go back and review it. If you need to, update it and refresh it, because your audience might have changed. The audience you thought you were going to serve might not be the audience that you're serving."
 

— Theresa “Sam” Houghton

Show notes timestamps:

🙃 [00:40] Content marketing can sound like ‘everything marketing’ at times.

🛣️ [03:15] Sam’s journey started with a food blog, to health coaching, to content writing: she is doubling down on the long-form written content because it can do a lot for brands.

🙏 [05:53] The business meetings with God on a daily basis helped Theresa a lot.

☝️ [08:00] Knowing your goals, your customers, and their goals: video, written content, short and long content marketing.

▶️ [11:46] Where to start: know yourself and your brand then do a customer research audience discovery.

🏃‍♀️ [15:21] Content marketing is a long game, do not let anyone tell you otherwise: don’t do what everyone is doing.

🦺 [19:30]  Authenticity as a marketing tool, you cannot fake it. 

🤔 [24:13] To do SEO videos or not?

🤖 [26:14]  Some of the SEO topics will resonate with your audience, but write for people, not for search engines.

🦄 [29:54]  Don’t turn your brand blog into a personal blog but going slightly in that direction will connect you with your authenticity.

🎯 [34:29] Don’t push down what your heart is telling you.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

On a mission to help the world get lean, thrive and bulletproof their health, Fit Vegan Coaching (FVC) is fighting misconceptions about building muscle, improving body composition, and increasing performance as a vegan.

Maxime truly believes in reaching out to people to help them achieve a healthier and better life and avoid suffering from diseases that could have been prevented. He is also an incredibly successful entrepreneur - FVC has grossed over 7 figures in its 2.5 years on the market.

Maxime joins us to share his journey from looking for a way to support his fiancée to running a successful vegan business. He'll discuss the challenges and rewards and share why it has to be about more than the money.

Get to know Maxime and Fit Vegan Coaching better here: http://www.fitvegancoaching.com/

Quote 

“What is the thing that just burns inside of you–that if you don't do, you don't feel like it's worth living? That's how I feel about it. If I'm not doing this thing, why am I on Earth? There's no need for me to be here if I'm not pursuing this thing actively.”

— Maxime Sigouin

Show notes timestamps

🤩 [01:02]  Maxime helped over 500+ vegans completely transform their health and bodies. 

🤯 [02:04] Being laid off from work due to Covid and having a partner with cancer: the birth of Fit Vegan Coaching.

💪 [03:33] Helping people in transition as well as vegans to achieve good body composition. 

✌️ [04:26] Program is the combination of education, performance, and result: tailored workout and meal plans.

🧠 [07:19] Following the plan and working on mindset issues is 90% of the work FVC works on. 

📈 [09:56] Investing all money into a mentor and implementing feedback from members into the program.

🎯 [12:08] Implementing only scalable feedback: trials and errors in learning from clients.

⚖️ [14:03] Finding balance in a coach-client relationship: setting the expectations from the start.

🎙️ [17:02] Consistent posting on SM and cold outreach: podcasting and being a podcast guest retained a lot of leads. 

🏁 [21:52] Three tips for people who are at the beginning of their business journey. 

🚦 [22:56] Advice for the people at the crossroad: money doesn’t solve every problem.

✨[25:32] If I’m not pursuing my passion, why am I on this Earth? 

—-----

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

In this episode, Adrian shares his journey to veganism and the challenges of bringing an innovative new vegan product to market. Adrian also shares some of the key lessons he’s learned along the way like always staying open to the views of others and remembering that there is no straight line in one’s life. 

Get to know Adrian and Innutri better here: https://www.innutri.ch

🗣️ Quote 

I would rather have 100 customers, who really value my product and pay a lot of money, than have 1000 customers who don't really value it, and I have to push them to buy it. So I would always go for the niche - find the right niche where you can actually create a community where they really love the product, and they do the marketing for you.

  --Adrian Krahn

Timestamps

😇 [00:43] Every business has bumpy times – that is the measure of our growth. 

🛣️ [03:37] Adrian’s journey from getting familiar with vegan food, to consulting for pharmaceuticals, to developing vegan gummies. 

😎 [07:14] Different approaches to building a business; starting from scratch–developing the technology, building the machine, finding a producer, and bringing it to market.

🎯 [08:43] Technology, solving problems for your customers, and getting out there with a specific story. 

👀 [10:26] Why it is better to focus and find your niche.

🤔 [11:46] Doing private labels vs building your own brand. 

✨ [13:00] Many business owners miss the opportunity to leverage LinkedIn. 

💶 [15:09] Doing business in Europe is much more complicated due to regulations and multiple languages. 

🤩 [17:06] The power of diversity in a business team: different views can bring things to the next level. 

🥗 [22:15] Veganism has been trendy in Switzerland for years: the vegan market is strong and climbing.

🖥️ [24:11] Tools nowadays offer testing the market even before having a physical product. 

🤝 [26:22] Benefits of working with startups and small businesses: learning from feedback. 

⚠️ [30:51] Adrian’s tips on how to make short-term and long-term decisions.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

In this episode, Laura shares with us the “a-ha” moment in a small town bookstore that inspired her to start on a vegan dog food journey. We’ll discuss how Laura and her team stood strong and pushed forward with their vision even when the pre-pandemic world didn't seem ready for plant-based dog meals and treats and how awareness and demand are now growing through consumers who want to live better.  

Get to know Laura and her business, Virchew: https://www.virchew.com/

🗣️ “Keeping up a very strong vision for me has always been at the heart of my experience. And then definitely follow the good advice of people that say, “Get the strategy in place.” Or find the person that can do that with you. That is powerful - if we can accept that kind of assistance, because entrepreneurs, sometimes we do our own thing. WE are gonna do it. No, we can't. We don't know everything. It's impossible. Get the right people around you that support what you see.”

— Laura Simonson

Show Notes: 

👠 [01:01] Vegan female entrepreneur journeys can be slightly different. 

🐕 [02:30] Laura is an animal lover who grew up with dogs: The book, “Vegetarian Dogs and Cats” stuck with her. 

🤩 [04:11] Creating a brand name that rocks took her a few years: when virtue became Virchew. 

💚 [06:07] Food for dogs that is changing the world: what we put on the plate, we put in our minds - why would it be different for dogs? 

👩‍💼 [10:44] Business model Laura chose: it is important not to lose the product quality because it is a prevention for health issues. 

🎯 [14:51] Keep strong vision strong, get your strategies in place, and get the right support system around you. 

✅ [19:27] Power in being flexible and leaving ego at the door in building the business. 

🏪 [23:01] Opening a sample shop and production in the same place: providing a retail feeling to customers. 

👁️ [24: 30] Big eye opener for Laura about the vegan community and her business. 

🦮 [28:00] Silver lining: who are the core customers and what is the bond between businesses and customers.

🐶 [30:00] Amazing customer relationship, veterinary programs, and food development. 

🌸 [32:25] 90% of Virchew’s capital has come from women. 

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Read The ingredients offers the cleanest full-meal (breakfast/lunch), baked and packaged products on the market. Bobbi is also the author of "Freedom From A Toxic Relationship With Food" which shares her struggles with food issues and offers support to others who struggle with their relationship with food.

Get to know Bobbi Giudicelli and Read The Ingredients: www.rtifoods.com

“I can't stress that enough: if you're gonna go into different industries—it is all about the inner workings of the industry—It's all about who you know, it's all about aligning yourself with vendors and partners and employees. Who are the right people? Building relationships is the key to a successful business. I don't care what product you have, I don't care what you're doing. If you can't build successful relationships with vendors, with customers, with employees—don't even bother.”

—Bobbi Giudicelli

👩‍💼 [03:38] Boobi has been in service and product industries for the last 50 years: building multiple businesses driven by passion. 

🍽️ [06:24] Fixing the relationship with food and eating disorders and creating a new business because there was no clean, gluten-free packaged on-the-go food!

🤝 [09:30] Going into a business in different industries: learn everything and build relationships with vendors, customers and employees.  

🦄 [11:49] Having a unique product: How to get the attention of our target market?

🔑 [15:04] Why customer service is key: transparency and integrity in building relationships with clients.

🌸 [19:23] Relationships are at the foundation of everything in life: Freedom From a Toxic Relationship with Food is a book about our relationship with ourselves, food, events and others. 

🤔 [21:55] Being more yourself in business and private life: questioning relationships and being conscious.  

📈 [23:12]  Conversion to subscription rate is high within the company: struggles to find the target market but highly attractive to the habitual eaters.

🛒 [25:53] Creating customers: as a tool to convert them into subscriptions. 

😇 [27:04] Marketing agencies and learning curves: clean eating and clean products are adding health to your life. 

⚡ [29:20 Kickstarter campaign: getting RIT foods into retail will mean a lot to the whole vegan community. 

🤓 [31:14] Helping people address the health issues related to food: relationships with food sometimes aren't even our own choice. 

💡 [32:57] Tips on how to build a business around a niche.

😎 [36:45] Marketing needs alternative solutions and needs to be very dynamic.
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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Get to know Anthony and Motion Manor better: ​​https://www.motion-manor.com

“I just always have it ingrained that we can do more. It is possible, it should be possible to run a successful business that actually builds ethical values into it from the ground up. Not only who you work with, but how you generate the work, how you treat your clients, how you treat people, how you communicate, how you act as a business. That should be a value throughout everything that you do. So that's really what started the initial journey of saying, “No one wants to do this, but we're going to prove it can't be done.”

— Anthony Green

SHOW NOTES:
🎬[00:39] Anthony pivots his business to ethical outlet for animation and creative motion picture designs.

🧠 [02:51] Average day: thinking and a lot of decision making in terms of the creative strategy before actual creating.

😤 [04:36] Anger as the starting energy for solution: greenwashing vs. real real ethical company.

🌈 [07:07] It all started from a 100 hours workweek and feeling hollow: finding his values and implementing them in his new business.

🎯 [14:55] Brand clarity emerged when the hidden vision and value were found and followed: video has a power to change the world. 

🎞️ [17:57] What Anthony is working on: all types of animations and engaging videos.

💸 [20:21] Mistakes people make when investing in animation: investing too soon is like scaling a broken message.

👉 [22:09] Video is not going to fix a problem that you actually have: strategy first, campaign and leveraging video content wisely.  

🎥 [23:42]  Usage of videos for service-based businesses: choosing short versus long video content.

⚠️ [28:07] Building a business that is out of alignment with your values will be a terrible experience: communicate your message with a focus on transformation. 

—-----

🤗 Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Dominique is also a music artist, recording studio owner, vegan fashion showroom founder and creator of Houston’s first vegan grocery store.

Get to know Dominique and The Luxury Vegan: www.theluxuryvegan.com

“The thing that separates the ones you admire from everyone else is THAT thing. And everyone asks, “What is that?” You listen to all the talks, you go to all the seminars, you take all the classes, you follow all the inspirational people, you read their books, you're like, “What is The Thing, the key, what is that secret?” And it's not a secret. They're just consistent. And they keep showing up and doing the thing - the uncomfortable thing over and over and over again. That's what makes them different.”

—Dominique Side

SHOW NOTES:
🎬 [00:39] The balance between running multiple vegan businesses and raising a family.

😲 [02:37] Dominique wears so many business hats: from escrow company, founding school, online grocery store, to Vgn Bae music production, renting cars, and investing in properties.

🎙️ [04:45] “Let’s build a studio!” –Pivoting during the pandemic all the way to a 17,000 square foot studio.

💽 [07:50] Vgn Bea Music Group produces urban pop, gospel, and latin pop artists.

😇 [09:20] The compassion mindset within her business: ideals behind a vegan lifestyle are infused into every business decision.

🤩 [12:42] Balance is a fine line: Dominique’s children, family and business partner are her support system.

🎥 [14:40] Having her children present while she is working provides them with understanding about her passions, work and expenses. 

⚠️ [17:32] Ask and accept help from others: building a team within your infrastructure is important just as a team amongst your inner circle or community.

🎯 [20:49] Dominique had to learn about being agile and flexible because production is unpredictable and the pivot brought new challenges. 

👀 [24:58] Examine if your hesitation is rooted in logic or in a fear of failure, putting yourself out there, or success.

🤗 [30:42] Luxury Vegan is Dominique’s concierge style consultancy helping people transition to a compassionate mindset. 

🎶 [32:20] Dominique is a producer, singer, and composer working on many projects within Vgn Bea Music Group.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

—Todd Sinclair

▶️ [00:39] From growing up on a dairy farm to being a trilogy author. Uncertainty turned into an opportunity. 

🤓 [03:02] Personal reinvention: echochamber of thoughts during lockdown inspired him to write books. 

👨‍💻 [08:22] Becoming an author and publisher: learning all about books, business and building a team. 

👔 [10:03] Building a team for the first time: motivating and learning from the mutual relationships.  

🤩 [14:51] Rebel Vegan concept and finding his tribe: rethinking the world’s ways to make it a better place. 

🥣 [18:58] Rebel Travel guide: inspirational book about the history and future of veganism and travel. 

📚 [22:50] Todd loves feedback from readers and plans to republish and update his books. 

⚠️ [25:16] Perfectionism have you stuck? Find the support and just try—it will make you learn and grow.  

🎙️ [30:32] Todd is preparing a podcast about vegan coming out stories.  

—-----

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

"I focus more on really finding the right Certified Professionals to join “Whole Life Goals”. I want to build a good family, good people that are ready to serve and want to serve and that's their passion. I want to help create a healthy workforce, because that's what we really need. We need healthy people, teaching other people to be healthy."

🤩 Building a business around helping people fulfill their lives. 00:43

👦 Anthony was raised to be vegetarian but then faces struggles and hard times. 02:51

🧘‍♂️ His diet changed his path: yoga, meditation, veganism, and money merged. 04:54

⭐ Practice of being mindful is like being vegan - it becomes your natural state.  06:39

4️⃣ The four M’s: movement, meals, mind, and money. Getting help from certified professionals for shopping, meal plans or anything. 08:57

✨ Whole Life Goals: Creating a community of people focused on holistic health and wellness. 11:49

👔 Job opportunities and marketing tool: matching professionals with clients. 14:38

🤝 Business model: Anthony is building both sides of the market - certified professionals and visitors. 17:30

📈 Changing and improving our products, sites, and offers makes us better in business. 20:58

⚡ We need healthy people, teaching other people to be healthy. 22:57

🌞 Look at those four aspects of life. Whatever you focus on is going to grow. 24:45

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Show Notes

🌺 Vegan businesses that are environmentally conscious. 00:43

🧼 Skin issues made Angie create her own soap and home detergents. 02:49

👩‍💼 Journey of creating an established business while solving personal issues and bad packaging.  04:27

🧴  Impactful moment for Angie: Replacing plastic bottles with nature-friendly packages. 06:37

😇 Stand in your own voice: moments of questioning your strength. 09:13

🌞 Feedback from customers: appreciation and value customers can see. 13:00

🌎 How do I add to the life of the planet: Angie’s views on sustainability and pollution. 16:21

📋 Angie loves to narrow down her day into three main things and those are not only business-related.  20:51

📦 Tangie’s distribution center: new learning curves and control of low waste packages. 25:16

📈 Faith moment in future steps of your business. 29:19

👉 Learn easy ways to reduce your own waste room by room at www.wastefreepledge.com. 31:11

✅ Analyzing all the professional services every quarter. 33:51

😎 Angie would love to find a mentor who is about three years ahead of her on the path. 36:27

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⭐Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

Our goal is to educate people to be solutionary. That is people who can address unjust and unsustainable and inhumane systems and devise and implement solutions that are good for everybody, meaning all people, animals, and the environment. 

💡  We need the tools and identified solutions so we can drive change in the world. 00:43

🌞  The course that changed Zoe’s life: she discovered a way to change the world through humane education. 02:28

🤩  Reasons behind Zoe’s founding of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE). 06:40

😇  Bringing vegan issues into the mainstream: the first graduate programs about animal rights, social justice, and environmental protection. 08:17

🎓  In addition to graduate programs, IHE offers free resources, short courses, and solutionary guidebooks. 13:08

🌟  The education system is the root system underlying all other societal systems: transforming systems as the Solutionaries. 16:17

😎  What is the main principle behind becoming the Solutionary. 20:15

🏫  San Mateo County, California embraced the Solutionary approach for all their schools. 21:24

🌎  Sometimes we don’t know how our future can look: connect with Zoe. 24:22

🌺  Do things differently, become a Humane Educator or a Solutionary: free webinars on structural racism. 25:26

🤗  Keeping motivation going: comprehensive humane education brought Zoe many amazing people who are working on improving the world for everybody. 27:53

👉🏾  Structural Racism Webinar Series: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/structural-racism-free-3-part-webinar-series-registration-251346633547?

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

🎙️ When is the right time to become an entrepreneur: podcasting as a business model. 00:43

🎧 Two years in podcasting: The Bloody Vegan Podcast shows that veganism is part of every walk of life. 02:59

😅 Why Jim used the word Bloody for his vegan podcast and how he became a podcast entrepreneur? 05:48

🤩 Podcasting is a great medium that brings us together. 07:48

✨ Jim worked in retail leadership for big companies but a love for podcasting made him start his company. 08:44

🍏 Leaving Apple without burning bridges: pursuing his passion. 14:31

👨‍💻 Excitement followed by denial, frustration and questioning: being comfortable with the flow. 16:01

🎯 Customers are shaping your journey: partnership between entrepreneur and customers. 21:39

🚧 Roadblocks are gifts: find a network in your field - it is so helpful and can be inspirational.  24:32

⚡ In collaborative business relationships we can leverage each other's audiences and grow together.  28:29

➡️ Entrepreneurs, you really don't need a full-time employee in the beginning. 30:08

🌞 “Your business plan doesn't have to be set in stone” - be prepared to change it according to your customers. 31:46

😎 Jim offers list of services for building podcasts. 32:37

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

📖 Using fiction as a form of vegan activism. 00:44

😟 Illness in the family raised Ray’s awareness for veganism.  02:51

🙃 Ray’s activism through books: Earthlings trilogy and reverse speciesism. 04:20

🙃 Ray didn’t market her book as a vegan book: reaction from omnivore readers is instant. 07:22

🎯 Earthlings is a climate fiction trilogy: a child friendly, humorous book that is raising awareness and not traumatizing. 09:54

📚 Dominion is a bit darker and the third part Land of Hope and Glory will have two alternate endings. 12:39

😇 Books educate different generations. 14:16

🌞 Youth of today are really open to change the world. 15:57

💬 Books can create dialogue and discussion.18:03

😉 The perfect way to make the most non-vegan, vegan. 19:02

📣 Awareness is the first step towards a solution: make your voice heard. 20:40

🌳 A carbon neutral author: Ray’s books are printed on recycled paper and she plants a tree for every copy sold. 22:12

🤔 Ebook is the only option of the trilogy available on Amazon. Book signing and events. 25:40

💡 Young girl named Peridot with magick powers sees the world as it is: a lightbulb moment for readers.  29:06

🆙 Climate fiction is a popular category but vegan fiction is still a niche genre. 32:53

🔜 We really have to change the way we act toward animals and people. 34:09

❗ Bad things we’ve done are not in the past, they are still happening all over the world: make our voices heard. 35:39

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

I think we're at a time now, where it's so important to look inward, think about and then act upon what is truly of greatest value to us.

I invite everybody to learn as much as you can, and be inspired to go vegan or to speak up and advocate for veganism in your own unique way.

SHOW NOTES

🤩 Joanne is one of the most compelling vegan advocates. 00:47

🆙 Raising awareness about where our food comes from and being empowered by your choices. 02:53

🤷‍♀️ There's a place in the movement for everyone: how to be a vegan advocate. 05:32

🤗 Compassion Arts Festival: using the power of the arts to get the message across. 08:55

📚 Vegan Voices book excerpts from Curtis Vollmar, Thomas Jackson, and Lynn Sylvan about vegan activism. 11:35

😒 Changes and challenges in the past few years: activism fatigue. 15:44

🔋 Activism is important but it is just one aspect: doing things we love, finding balance, and energizing. 17:25

🎯 People's awareness is starting to shift: we are impacting our planet with our choices and behavior. 21:33

☀️ Shifts in dialog, changes of habits, networking, and the vegan movement: we have the power.  25:30

⚡ The power of the consumer: it's so critical and it is making a difference very quickly. 27:20

💎 Be connected with as many people as possible, learn and act upon what is truly important to you. 29:23

 🥑Learn about the path that people have taken with Vegan Make a Difference. 31:26 

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.

🤩 For Annick the food side of transitioning was so simple, but the transition to vegan fashion was not. 02:15

👝 Getting people interested in veganism through cool fashion items. 04:10

🌵 Great innovation is happening in vegan fashion: Nepal cactus leather, apple leather, pineapple, banana leather, etc. 05:48

🍎 Big fashion brands and small ones are using new vegan leather commercially.  08:19

🧠 Don’t you want a really progressive approach? 09:45

🔗 Opening up many lanes of communication and different ideas. 11:10

👏 A multi-pronged messaging approach to create a support network. 12:04

💻 Building the business of immaculatevegan.com 13:53

💥 How Immaculate Vegan was born from a few events. 15:30

😇 “There are so many things you can do that you may not think you can do.” 18:45

😎 Risky and not-that-risky approaches to business: find a way to try. 19:03

👠 Premium vegan fashion focusing on the USA and UK marketplaces. 19:46

🎁 Gift guides for the festive season: surprise people with how great vegan stuff is. 21:35

👛 A positive change discussion about veganism can start with an apple leather wallet. 22:30

🙌 Be willing to try your ideas out and be focused about it. 23:45

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired, but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo or Fix It.

Notes:

🙋🏾‍♀️ Sam is a resource for all vegan entrepreneurs out there. 00:44

🛣️ Sam’s journey to entrepreneurship: from becoming vegan overnight to activism. 03:34

🦓 How Sam founded Zebra Admin for helping entrepreneurs and small business owners. 06:51

🤓 What the business model of virtual assistant services as a full business support and partnership looks like. 08:51

👉 How Sam shifted her role from solopreneur to team leader. 10:46

🎯 Entrepreneurs need a phased approach to grow their businesses. 12:39

🔝 Vegan businesses are held to a much higher standard and customer experience. 14:06

🔎 Small businesses don’t pay enough attention to efficiency. 16:30

📝 Marketing is important, but having documented processes is crucial. 17:58

☮️ Turning chaos into calm tagline. 19:24

🌺 If you own a vegan business, people need to know it is a vegan business. 21:35

🤩 Tips on how to organize your tasks: don't be afraid to delegate. 23:06

😎 Vegan business networking:: “If you want a vegan to do something for you, there'll be one somewhere.” 26:30

🌞 Seeing the vegan world coming alive is so inspiring. 29:48

👌 Sam and Stephanie have the same passion and vision. 31:33

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired, but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo or Fix It.

People around the world, any conscious consumer...regardless of where they are [can be involved]. When they are part of this ecosystem, when they're participating, when they are actively helping to build this economy, and using all aspects of the ecosystem, from the directory to the marketplace to the wallet incentivized by the Greencoin, that is really the true building of a borderless vegan nation.”

🤓 As the vegan movement goes forward, we need systems, institutions and ways to collaborate with each other. 00:43

🍀 We are bringing vegan businesses and communities into one ecosystem, and helping to drive this ecosystem forward as a true global economy. 02:38

🚵‍♂️ The first pivoting moment in the journey of VeganNation and the rising of the vegan ecosystem. 03:58

🍀 Having a global community to help each other in all spheres of life. 08:27

⚡ Standing together in global vegan economic power. 10:10

💰 Every currency in the world is used to drive consumer behavior and VeganNation is using it to preserve Amazon forests, help animals and so much more. 12:25

📱 VeganNation 2.0 app and business directory. 14:25

🌳 Plant-based values, sustainability and thrivability: the tree example. 16:03

🍄 The underground network of trees of mushrooms and how that connects to blockchain technology. 18:03

🤩 The first uses of the app will really be the directory, finding businesses, payment and loyalty. 19:04

🏞️ Being like a river is the key for startups. 22:32

😷 The major pivot VeganNation had during COVID. 24:33

😇 Isaac has two methods to deal with huge challenges. 27:44

📣 A major part in driving veganism forward is on TikTok but also on other social media. 29:44

😃 Power of music, power of smile and positive spiral. 32:08

💚 VeganNation app 2.0 is going to be reissued on November 15th. 33:51

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired, but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo or Fix It.

At the same time, I was on my personal spiritual journey of becoming fully vegan, of starting to meditate, reading spiritual books and really feeling that, actually, my work is not aligned with what I truly care about on the inside, and [thinking about] how I could find a way to bring those two things together?”

🆙 Elevating the entrepreneurial profession. 00:46

👠 Nikki worked in the fashion industry for more than a decade but her values were not met. 03:00

🙃 Success and different visions of success: what does success mean to you? 06:40

👀 Things are not so obvious: Nikki found a holistic approach to the internal and external parts of consulting. 07:38

🕴️ It all starts within: “Our businesses are an expression of us.” 09:03

🎯 Entrepreneurs have to accept imperfections and listen openly. 12:19

😩 Fear of being judged: “I realized that no one has time to judge. No one cares.” 13:06

⚡ “Making a leap and taking the first few steps can really inspire a ton of people in so many different ways.” 14:47

✍️ A 5-minute journaling routine in the morning with three simple questions. 16:51

🗓️ Seasonal reviews: create space for things you want to do and let things evolve. 18:17

❌Nikki scrapped the long-term plans: having flexibility and vision instead is more important. 21:45

💡 Creating ideas and simplifying the execution of those ideas to really make a difference. 24:05

📄 One-page Business Canvas. 26:35

🤩 You are not alone: align yourself with people who are transforming themselves, who are making a change or have already done so. 29:51

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired, but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo or Fix It.

“I hope [I can help] people look at the companies in their portfolio and go, “It never really occurred to me to think about cell phone towers as a vegan business opportunity”—[but they are!] Here are these companies doing amazing work, bringing connectivity to people, creating economic opportunity in rural spaces, all sorts of great stuff—[and they also happen to be vegan!]”

💰 Sloane comes from a family of professional investors. 02:53

😞 Crisis in 2008 showed a deep bankruptcy of trust in the investment industry.  04:47

😎 Defining new values for the investing world and creating a new investment landscape. 06:41

🤩 Setting up a list of good companies and getting deep into projects they are supporting. 10:27

💸 If people don't trust in the investment solutions that they have access to they don’t invest. 13:25

🤔 Companies we support today might not be aligned with vegan ethics in years ahead. 14:47

🌟 What you have to give up to find the real deal. 16:10

🤓 Learning to look at businesses through a different lens and finding ones that delight us to invest in. 19:22

🤯 Example: seeing cell phone towers as a vegan investment opportunity. 20:51

⚠️ Vegan traps: food is not our only opportunity. 22:16

🎙️ Free money with Sloane and Ashby podcast. 23:44

👂 Helping people build savings capability and listening to clients better.  24:08

🍄 Toxic relationships with money: start getting comfortable with discussions about money. 27:07

💵 There is too much shame wrapped up in money. 28:45

🎯 “Believe in yourself and create your own place in an industry that you would like to be a part of.” 30:40

🙋🏾‍♀️ There's opportunity out there for us as vegans in every industry. 33:03

There's a saying that if you find one recipe in a cookbook that you use and love, then it has been worth the purchase. Because that can be something you return to weekly. Or [maybe it’s because] you found one thing that inspired you to cook something in a new way.”

👋🏽 Welcome, Dreena! 02:00

😎 Being vegan before it was cool--it wasn't a welcoming place to be. 03:15

🍽️ Her first cookbook was released in 2001, and a second one in 2004. 04:29  

🧄 "Eat, Drink and Be Vegan" cookbook: all the different cuisines and flavor variations in veganism. 06:31

🥑 Dreena almost stopped writing but then she released "Let Them Eat Vegan" and "Plant-Powered Families"  07:12

🤔 The challenges of using a business approach when you are a creative person. 09:29

✌️ Finding the balance between a vegan life track and a vegan professional track, and what that means for building a vegan economy. 12:01

😇 Dreena has helped many families by introducing veganism and children's dishes. 13:27

👩‍🍳 Dreena’s Kind Kitchen cookbook is released in August: practical easily accessible recipes, FAQ section, nut-free recipes.16:31

💃 Eating healthfully can become part of our lives: batching, prepping, and Dreena's tips to help with everyday life are great.19:22

🍲 It’s important to shape solutions that are manageable for the everyday vegan lifestyle: not all people enjoy cooking. 21:03

🙃 The period of going from the old to new creates challenges for most people transitioning to veganism. 22:32

💎 "The only constant in life is change. We're always changing." 23:46

🤗 Cookbooks help us reconnect and look at food differently. 26:32

🥗 Food is a habit: Our family members remind us of the food traditions we have created. 27:27

❄️ Tips: freezing hummus, pasta sauce, or soups and remaking them with new flavors. 29:27

🥣 The best, most delicious meals in a bowl. 30:58

🖥️ Contact Dreena through her site. 32:25

💚 A lot of women struggle with worthiness: you really do have worthwhile gifts to share! 33:43

🤩 Seeing ourselves outside of ourselves is a great perspective for growth. 34:53

🥒Cucumbers for a snack will go great with hummus! 36:16

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired, but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo or Fix It.

😇 Stephen has pivoted many times, always disrupting the giving space in a positive way--he is currently working to help solve child hunger in North America. 03:00

😎 Learn about the sustainable model Steven has created around giving: the donor gets full transparency and wins more than they put in. 04:36

💚 The Vegan Experience offers donors a discount app and buys children’s meals that go directly into charities’ hands. 07:07

🤗 Building a homeless shelter and a feeding-people-model transformed into The Vegan Experience thanks to the vegan community. 08:18

🤯 One out of five children go to school hungry in Canada and the USA. 11:35

🌞 This is a collaborative model plus charity: the idea is to feed hungry kids in North America and then use the profits to help others. 13:58

💲 How The Vegan Experience shares its profits and reinvests in the vegan community. 15:40

✨ Use The Vegan Experience app to buy a meal for kids in North America and save 15% on purchases with more than 300,000 vendors. 19:11

🥗 An eye-opening experience: vegan food is providing so much energy! 21:18

🆚 Key idea: everybody must win more than they put in.  25:21

www.theveganexperience.ca

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired, but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo or Fix It.

🤩 Vegan interior design is Risha’s passion. 02:17

🤯 The interior design industry commonly uses animal products, but as a vegan interior designer Risha has managed to align her personal ethics with her business. 03:03

💪 “Every single decision I make is empowering me because I get to decide how I spend my money.” 07:03

🤔 Being a vegan designer means asking questions about furniture not many people have asked before. 09:52

❓ The power of questions: change will not come by wagging a finger at people. 12:13

🌱 Why is it important to ask so many questions? “I’m planting a seed.” 13:38

🤷‍♀️ People warn, “You're going to alienate your clients.” But believing in my own work is more important than that risk. 16:34

😇 Risha talks about raising awareness about food to byproducts of all other animal industries. 19:52

🙌 Vegan Interior Design Week is a free panel event in November. 21:16

👍 Meeting so many people and communities online has been instrumental for Risha and her work. 25:28

👑 Risha’s advice: Don't be afraid to use the word “vegan” in your business and messaging. 27:36

💎 We can change the world and we can create the world we want through our choices. 28:57

Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired, but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo or Fix It.

🥑 Every Vegan Recipe is a user-friendly platform and network for publishing and sharing plant-based-only recipes. 02:42

👌 The importance of making sure that the customer experience in your business is exceptional. 4:42

🗓️ How the launching of “weekly recipes” helps to bring the Every Vegan Recipe community together, and tips from Louisa on planning ahead. 6:15

🎀 The details on how a longer launch timeline gives Louisa enough time for fine-tuning. 07:24

🎯 How this feature-rich platform allows people to find out everything they need to know about the transition to vegan eating, plus how it helps recipe creators to gain needed visibility.11:01

😇 The advantage for recipe creators: no need to build and market a standalone site -- they can now submit recipes to Every Vegan Recipe! 14:17

🆚 Info on building a subscription-based business: the Bandcamp vs Spotify model. 17:06

🔎 ‘Testing the waters’: “There's nothing like actually launching and seeing what happens.” 21:33

✨ Buying the experience: why it’s important to realize that people are looking for more than just content or an item. Discussion on the fact that expectations for quality customer experience are growing. 22:22

🛣️ Why It’s important to spend your time with customers and create a two-way street in your business right from the beginning. 24:52

🤔 Figuring out the difference between what you think your customers would like and what they actually want. 26:08

🧱 Discussion on an iterative approach to building a business. 27:40

🧘‍♀️ What a day looks like for Louisa. 29:11

🤩 A caution: Resist reacting to anything instantly, especially assumptions about the news and success stories. 31:57

👉 Reframing how you think about creating your business: “Don’t wait. It will not be perfect but do it.”

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live streaming session so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired, but wondering how to take some actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo or Fix It.

Originally from Catalonia, but resident in the UK for several decades, Jordi is a vegan Zoologist specialising in animal behaviour, who has been involved in different aspects of animal protection for many years. In addition to scientific research he has worked mostly as an undercover investigator, animal welfare consultant, and animal protection campaigner. 

His most notable work achievements have been his involvement with the first successful prosecutions under the Hunting Act 2004, the exposé of trail hunting as a false alibi for illegal hunters and his participation in the campaign that led to the ban of bullfighting in Catalonia. 

Under the pen name J.C. Costa, he has published a novel titled “The Demon’s Trial”, in which he explores many of the dilemmas animal protectionists face. 

He has been an ethical vegan for over 18 years and in 2020 he achieved notoriety for securing the legal protection of all ethical vegans in Great Britain from discrimination, in a landmark employment tribunal case that was discussed all over the world. 

He is also the author of the book "Ethical Vegan: a personal and political journey to change the world" to be published at the end of 2020. 

Learn more about Jordi's book (or Buy The Book): https://septemberpublishing.org/product/ethical-vegan/ 

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordi-casamitjana-36586a15 

FB: https://www.facebook.com/veganjordi 

TW: https://twitter.com/Jayseecosta 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/jayseecosta/?hl=en 

YB: https://www.youtube.com/user/Jordiwasp 

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Gabriel Zhanay is a vegan leadership and fitness coach. An expert on mindset and leadership, his story of transformation from depressed, self-loathing man to inspired and compassionate vegan leader has touched 1000’s of lives with his daily posts. He runs his online coaching company, Vegan Fitness Redefined, with his wife Anna Zhanay - and they mold vegans into fit vegan heroes who empower and inspire others as positive examples of health, fitness, and leadership.

They both are DEEPLY committed to helping the planet and making the biggest positive impact with their lives. 

Gabriel truly believes that Veganmainstream's listeners WILL be inspired by his authentic and laid-back approach to fitness and leadership. Especially in a year when most people disconnected to their positive energy and HOPE, Gabriel's gift is being able to EMPOWER others and help them reconnect with their true potential, not only in their fitness... but in their lives! :)

Gabriel and Anna love helping their audience REALIZE that by becoming stronger, healthier, and more powerful in their mind and bodies, they’ll create the biggest IMPACT possible with their vegan businesses as leaders and positive examples as well!

FB - https://www.facebook.com/gabriel.zhanay 

IG - https://www.instagram.com/gabrielzhanay_/ 

FB group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/veganfitnessredefinedcommunity/ 

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An award winning business and aspiring BCorp, BReD is a 100% plant-based bakery situated in the world-class ski and bike resort of Whistler, BC, Canada. The concept is farm-to-table and seasonal, sourcing the finest ingredients as locally as possible. The only bakery you can ski to, located in the original village – Creekside.

They specialize in organic naturally-leavened sourdough loaves with an emphasis on ancient grains, and sourdough cinnamon buns, as well as a range of other sweet and savory baked treats. 

They also serve locally roasted direct trade espresso coffees and specialty beverages. They plant a tree for every coffee we sell through our partner charity, Trees for the Future.

The customers include local families buying their weekly bread but also visitors who want a grab-‘n’-go snack and coffee to fuel them on their mountain adventure.

https://edsbred.com/ 

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Vox Vegana was founded by Aaron Abolition in January of 2020 and was initially an effort to form an all-vegan choir for live performances to raise money for animal rights. 

As a result of the lock down, Vox Vegana took the opportunity to branch out and connect with vegan musicians everywhere for the purpose of collaborating on vegan-message-specific projects. 

Over the course of the first year, collaborations have taken place between vegan musicians in Canada, India, Belgium, and the US. You can sample some of that work on their Soundcloud page.

Website: https://linktr.ee/AaronAbolition 

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After over twenty years as a ballroom dancer Robert Schwartz took his experience of making difficult things easy and created a clean and easy to use home sprouting system, Organic Sprout Box. Sprouting is taking seeds and introducing the process of germination by adding moisture. Rehydration then takes over and the metabolic processes resume making the seed a powerhouse of nutrition. 

He personally used sprouts to lower his triglycerides from 295 to 130, the LDL from 176 to 119 and the A1C from 6.2 to 5.1 in a three month period. The environmental benefits are just as stunning. No top soil, fertilizer, or pesticides used. Greatly reduced pollution from packaging, refrigeration and transportation. Almost no food waste as the entire plant is eaten. His biggest hope is that organic sprout box kits will be in urban nutritional wastelands so the populations there can have fresh healthy organic food every day.

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As a vegan SEO Specialist, Hartej understands what your website and business need in order to rank on the higher pages of search engines. His success with vegan businesses is just one example of how our strategies can grow your traffic month after month. His network of over 200 vegan websites, will ensure that your dominance in the market niche will be respected by Google. 

Alongside SEO, he offers Google Ads management using an algorithm which is set to learn your industry and the actions of competitors and customers. This will work to drive down your costs and increase the presence you have on the web.

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hartej-kahai/ 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yourveganmarketer/ 

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Ecco Bella was originally founded as one of the first cruelty-free companies. Now, the company has created the ultimate vegan science base skin care products with a vegan collagen booster dietary supplement to challenge the animal collagen market. 

WB: aveganbeauty.com  

Support Business Growth:

wefunder.com/new.earth.beauty.inc 

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In 2019 she had a severe allergy attack, she thought she was dying, terrified. The doctor at the hospital told her to avoid milk, or she could have a worse reaction next time. She was already vegan, a food safety auditor and travelled a lot for work. She was terrified to eat. It showed her how it must be for those with severe allergies, excluded or anxious about eating out. 

She started noticing good and bad businesses, and how they can do better, be more successful and how much good will is available from these unique individuals. 

She wrote a book on the subject in lockdown and interviewed 50 experts, including financial and marketing experts, all saying the same thing. It's really important in todays trends (vegan, plant-based revolution, allergy, environmental and health crises, and of course Covid), food service businesses need to move with the times. Especially in the UK the law is tightening later this year and allergies are in the press.

A big win or sign was going to #1 bestseller in the restaurant category on Amazon Kindle. The launch party was also brilliant with guest speakers and the lovely Jim Moore MCing (Bloody Vegans Podcast). 

Heather is now at the pivotal point, does she just do this from now on or stick with a bit of standard auditing to keep her foot in the standard way of doing things.

https://heatherlandex.com/ 

Vegans can get my book at cost book.heatherlandex.com coupon code at check out VEGANSPECIAL It reduces it to 12USD or less.

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Description: Join panellists Brenda Morris of Humane Investing, LLC, Stephan Kerby of KMF Advisors and WildHeart Nutrition, and Justin Manning, Vegan Financial Advisor for a discussion all about vegan investing. Whether you’re brand new to investing or looking to make changes to your portfolio that will be good for your future, the animals, and the planet, you won’t want to miss this session. Each panelist will bring their unique perspective and discuss the challenges, potential strategies, and timeline for the vegan investor.

Brenda Morris

https://humaneinvesting.com/ 

https://veganfinancialprofessionals.godaddysites.com/ 

Social:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenda-a-morris 

https://www.facebook.com/HumaneInvesting  

Bio:

As more and more vegans look for better ways to invest for the future, the momentum to invest humanely continues to grow. We have a tremendous opportunity to make a difference by demanding accountability from the companies in which we invest. Since most of us need to invest to make sure our own finances are sound, we encourage you to do so while making a difference---for animals, people, and the planet---at the same time.

I have been doing animal activism and advocacy for two decades. I encourage everyone to consider going vegan and have been doing outreach with the Vegetarian Society of Richmond since the 1990s. I founded my financial planning practice to encourage fellow vegans to use their investments to influence companies in a positive manner with respect to animals and have been determined to raise the bar for funds that are purportedly “sustainable” and “ethical,” as I strongly believe that they should consider animal rights and animal welfare in their investment process.  

Stephan Kerby

KMF Advisors and WildHeart Nutrition

www.youarethechange.net   

Social: 

www.facebook.com/WildHeartPlants/

www.facebook.com/youarethechangenow/  

www.instagram.com/wildheart_nutrition/ 

www.wildheartplants.com

Bio:

Stephan Kerby entered the profession of financial advising in 2000 after a wide range of life experiences created a desire to learn more about personal finance. As he worked and traveled, Stephan contemplated how to manage his family’s finances and ensure that his investments were aligned with his ethical principles and love of animals. This process uncovered a passion for educating himself and others on the topics of standard investments, socially responsible investing (SRI), and financial planning. Because of this passion he authored a book titled : “You are the Change. A beginners guide to social responsible investing.” He has spoken in many parts of the country, including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Ohio. Stephan became the first advisor in the United States to earn the new Chartered SRI Counselor (CSRIC) designation through the College for Financial Planning.

Stephan is also the Co-Owner of Wildheart Nutrition that is a vegan supplement company with the goal to end single use plastics. All the packaging and material is made with 100% compostable plant material. This cutting edge technology will reshape the supplement industry while substantially reducing the use of plastics.

He and his wife Amber enjoy hiking with their children and dogs, foraging, and plant-based cooking. 

Justin Manning

Vegan Financial Advisor

www.justinmanning.com  

Social:

www.linkedin.com/in/justin-manning/ 

www.facebook.com/justinmanningcom/ 

www.instagram.com/justinmanningv/ 

www.twitter.com/justinmanningv   

www.youtube.com/ 

Bio:

Justin has been an entrepreneur his entire life, specializing in helping clients live healthy lifestyles. As a virtual financial advisor, Justin’s home office is located in Langley, British Columbia Canada. Through video conferencing, Justin helps businesses, families, and individuals with their financial planning insurance needs throughout Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. He helps Canadians all across Canada with their financial planning investments, through his investment partner JustWealth. Justin represents many of Canada’s largest insurance companies, providing his clients with access to multiple options in the marketplace. He helps his clients save time and money, giving them peace of mind in the process.

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Focus of panel: Sandra and Ana have both niched down their services and prioritize working with vegan and sustainable companies, it might be interesting to focus on that—the pros and cons to this approach and how other vegan professionals can transition to a vegan client roster while still paying the bills.

Description: Join us for our upcoming panel discussion, Vegans in Copywriting with panelists Sandra Nomoto, The Content Doctor, and Ana Mexia of Copy That Co, both professional copywriters and content creators who focus on working with clients who align with their ethics. The discussion will cover topics such as marketing, how niching down your services can work to your advantage, and being a part of a community.

Sandra Bio: “The Content Doctor” Sandra Nomoto is a content writer and editor for cruelty-free businesses, and copyeditor, ghostwriter, and book formatter for authors. After earning her university degree, she worked in the public relations industry for 13 years. During that time, she launched Conscious Public Relations Inc. at the age of 25. Over the 10 years in business, Nomoto was awarded the 2009 Volunteer of the Year by Women In Film & Television Vancouver, earned B Corporation® certification, and contributed to eWomenNetwork Vancouver earning the Best Social Media and Community Engagement Award. She has served on the boards of the Vancouver Short Film Festival and Vancouver Mural Festival. Nomoto authored The Only Public Relations Guide You’ll Ever Need in 2019, and writes on vegan lifestyle at SandraNomoto.com and for Cold Tea Collective.

Ana Bio: She is a professional copywriter and content creator. Her niche is sustainability—she works with sustainable businesses to help them reach wider audiences and spread the word about their products and mission. She strives to grow awareness about the climate crisis by working with businesses who are aligned with her values. And using her writing skills to help them grow. On her site, she has a blog where she writes about sustainable living, climate change, environmental injustice, plant-based eating, etc. hoping to create an impact and be a source of quality information on these issues. 

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Pleese is a plant based cheese developed by New Yorkers specifically to melt on pizza. Pleese is all natural, made from bean and potato proteins and crafted using traditional methods. Pleese is so good that people can't tell the difference and is approved by the world's harshest food critics - kids from NYC.

They were supposed to run a test launch with their products in cafeterias last April, and needless to say the pandemic / lockdown completely changed those plans. They had just produced the first commercial batch and when these venues closed they didn't know what to do. So, they turned to Facebook and asked people if they knew any restaurants that wanted to try vegan cheese for pizza. The response was overwhelming and they went from zero prospects to 45 in two weeks. They finally launched in September to an overwhelming response. So much so, that they have been having trouble keeping up with the demand ever since.

WB: https://www.pleesecheese.com 

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The purpose of VeganHealthPack.com is to help people pay more attention to their health. Our subscription boxes contain nutrient-rich foods with new themes every month, helping people consume foods that provide them more essential vitamins and minerals and shift away from junk food diets.

The business actually started off as an all-natural hangover solution. Shortly after departing my marketing role with another company, I had my first 625 units of artichoke leaf extract powder shipped to my house in North Carolina. While traveling through South America, legend has it that this cured hangovers. I tried it and it worked so I decided to start a business out of it!

The day it got approved to sell on Amazon, the FDA ruled that hangover cures are illegal unless they are registered as drugs. My business idea stopped in it's tracks.

Shortly after, I founded Vegan Health Pack as a monthly subscription box that help people get all-natural sources of B12, Calcium, Vitamin D, Iron, Zinc, Protein, and Omega-3 Fatty Acids. I brought together many companies products and sold it as a subscription box. Through covid, many of them couldn't supply the product anymore.

So I came across and article where artichoke leaf extract was clinically proven to lower cholesterol vs. a placebo. After speaking with marketing and branding experts, I've pivoted the company to turn the business into natural plant-based foods that help with cholesterol, heart health, and I have ambitious plans to build out a line of natural WFPB products that people can eat and enjoy.

I'm sure there are many pivots ahead, but it's a lesson that the original plan you have in business is always changing and, in my opinion, for the better. To help people give up junk foods and pay attention to their health through plant-based foods is a great direction to now be headed in.

WB: VeganHealthPack.com 

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Vegan Launch combines investment crowdfunding and eLearning so vegan-friendly retail investors can “vote with their investment dollars” to grow ethical vegan, environmental, and health businesses.

Millions of investors are searching for companies that match their vegan ethics, yet only 1 in 200 vegan founders succeeds in raising capital. Investors and founders lack education in early stage finance. 99% of investors are left out, and 99% of vegan founders will fail. 

Vegan Launch provides free mentoring for vegan founders and online public access to vegan deal flow for investors to create turbocharged growth for the vegan sector. Marketing of public investments helps expand cultural adoption of vegan values while growing market demand for vegan enterprises.

Since 2001, founder Mark Winstein has focused on public investing for environmental and social progress. Previously, he co-founded a national environmental group and built a for-profit conservation business. Mark went vegan 2016 and never looked back!

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/veganlaunch/ 

FB: https://www.facebook.com/veganlaunch 

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6KooJak9hw4KeYdKaaHteQ 

TT: https://twitter.com/veganlaunch 

WB: https://veganlaunch.com/podcast/

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Jess McKay Puppets makes professional hand puppets for film/tv/web and stage projects. All puppets are made using 100% vegan materials. Jess McKay is also a SAG-AFTRA puppeteer, and the creator of Probably Witch, the internet’s most musical witch.

In his industry, there is a huge blind spot: feathers in puppets. Ostrich feathers are a very common building material. It takes at least 40 turkeys to make one big bird costume. 

Jess sees a direct parallel between the use of fur in fashion and the use of feathers in puppets. He has been speaking up for animal rights in the puppet industry and working to make using feathers taboo. 

He has been developing feather alternatives and sharing his finding with the industry. He has already made some waves, and lots of people agree with him. He has received so many messages of “I just didn’t know” and “I never thought about the birds”.

Another big issue for Jess as a puppeteer is that he will not participate in any shows that promote animal abuse. This means pretty much no cooking shows or commercials that promote non-vegan goods or services. This sets him apart from most other puppeteers in the industry. He also speaks out against this abuse, which angers other puppeteers in the industry. He has been told multiple times that his vocal activism costs him work, and he considers that a form of anti-vegan bias and discrimination.

WB: www.jessmckaycompany.com 

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