By Lori Stultz, VO Rocky Mountain Outreach Coordinator

For anyone who doesn’t consume dairy, we’re all too familiar with the line “hold the whip” when ordering a tasty beverage from our favorite large chain coffee shop.

Good news! Those days are slowly, but surely, coming to a close. Peet’s Coffee and Tea in the U.S. announced earlier this year that they’d be offering a housemade vegan coconut whipped cream as a permanent addition to their menu that will leave your sweet tooth satisfied!

And if you act quickly, you can add this delicious vegan whipped cream to one of four coconut-themed coffee beverages, which can be made vegan upon request. These are part of Peet’s “Coffee Meets Coconut” campaign, but they’re only available through Tuesday, August 30, 2016.

Peet’s coconut whipped cream can be substituted across all beverages offered, and will cost an additional 35 cents.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my coffee date…

By Josie Moody, VO Office Manager

The Compassionate Chick’s Guide to DIY Beauty by Sunny Subramanian and Chrystle Fiedler is so much more than a guide! It’s an awesome, easy-to-read encyclopedia on hair, skin care and beauty products, and, despite the title, it’s not geared only towards women. It’s accessible and full of so much information about why you should be vegan, what ingredients and cruelty go into many traditional beauty products, and of course tons of recipes. Now you’ll know EXACTLY what’s going into your body care products and on to your body! Bonus—it’s chock full of beautiful photography by Vegan Outreach’s own Michelle Cehn!

There was so much that I wanted to share with you, that I’ve decided to divide this blog post into two parts. Stay tuned for Part II!

Peppermint Toothpaste

I’m a practical person, and I just happened to get this book the same day that I wrote “toothpaste” on my shopping list, so that was the first concoction I decided to create.

This recipe was so easy—I thought maybe I’d missed a step! I’d never used essential oils before, and I fell in love with the peppermint scent…it wasn’t overwhelming the way that synthetic fragrances can be, it was just a bright, appealing smell.

There’s an option to add stevia for taste, and I enjoyed it both with and without the added sweetness. I’m a salt-aholic, so I didn’t mind that this was very salty tasting, but for those who aren’t, I’d suggest halving the amount of salt this recipe calls for and then adding more, bit by bit, until you get the taste just right.

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 packet stevia (optional)
• 15 drops peppermint essential oil
• Coconut oil

Directions

1. In a small bowl, stir together baking soda, sea salt, stevia (if using), and peppermint essential oil until well combined.
2. Mash in coconut oil, a little at a time, until a paste forms and the mixture is the desired consistency. Spoon into jar.
3. Dip a clean toothbrush into toothpaste. Moisten with water and brush teeth. Rinse mouth with water.
4. Store at room temperature for up to 6 months.

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Hair Spray-bilizer

This DIY hair spray is no joke! My hair is very fine, so I liked this because it added both texture and control. I’d compare this to an ultra-hold hair spray, so you may want to add less sugar if you’re looking for less hold. My biggest concern was that hummingbirds were going to swarm my head, but as of this writing, it hasn’t happened yet. A final note—the spray bottle I used shot more of a stream than a spray, so make sure that you’re using a bottle that will actually spritz your head to hold that style!

Ingredients

• 1 cup filtered water
• 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 4 to 6 drops essential oil of your choice (optional)

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring water just to a simmer. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat. Let cool completely.
2. Stir in essential oil (if using). Using funnel, pour into bottle.
3. Spray mixture over styled hair to set in place.
4. Store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

There’s more of Sunny and Chrystle’s DIY goodness to come, so be sure to look for more recipes in an upcoming blog post! In the meanwhile, be sure to check out Sunny’s blog, Vegan Beauty Review.

By Katia Rodríguez, Mexico Campaigns and Spanish Media Coordinator

About a month ago, Emmanuel Márquez—VO’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator—and I were invited to a small vegfest called “Bazar la Veganería” held in a public park in Mexico City, Mexico.

Originally, our Mexico City volunteers were going to be in charge of setting up the VO table, but luckily Emmanuel and I were nearby—in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí—finishing a week of leafleting. So we decided to drive to Mexico City to join them for the weekend before heading to another Mexican state to leaflet.

While Emmanuel drove us to Mexico City, I took that time to send out some emails to our vegan mentors in Mexico City. We told them that we’d soon be visiting the area and would love to meet with them. Emmanuel and I wanted to get to know them, hear about their experiences of being mentors, and see if they had any suggestions for how we can improve the mentor program.

Four Spanish vegan mentors in Mexico City—Carla Ríos, Claudia Zamora, Jessica Hernández, and Martha Castillo—came to see us while we were there in town. We could hardly contain our excitement after talking with them and hearing all of their positive feedback. They told us how excited and happy they are to be helping other people achieve their goal of consuming less animal food products. We can’t wait to return to Mexico City someday to meet up with these star mentors again!

Then, at the Bazar la Veganería vegfest, we set up a table with leaflets, stickers, pins, and VO shirts. We were so happy with the response—our table was constantly busy. The leaflet take rate was great, and some people even asked if they could take leaflets to share with their family and friends. You could see our leaflets everywhere you looked around. We also had a lot of people stopping by to ask about our Spanish Vegan Mentor Program, and the Spanish section of the VO website.

I should mention that this was my first time visiting Mexico City, so I was really excited to do outreach and try all of the amazing vegan food the city has to offer.

During the vegfest event, there was a lot of delicious vegan food being sold—including ice cream, chocolates, traditional Mexican food, desserts, and other handmade products.

This is what being vegan in Mexico City looks like!

Can you tell I loved my first time in Mexico City!

I can’t wait to share more with you about what it’s like being vegan in Mexico!

By Josie Moody, VO Office Manager

The Compassionate Chick’s Guide to DIY Beauty was so full of wonderful recipes, and I just had to share more with you here (see Part I as well). For those who aren’t familiar with how the beauty industry contributes to animal cruelty, authors Sunny Subramanian and Chrystle Fiedler gently walk you through the issues involved, outlining why “animal testing is cruel, unnecessary, and inaccurate.”

I love all the tidbits explaining the various uses of common household ingredients—I’m talking about you, coconut oil!—as well as the appendices that include a list of favorite natural, organic ingredients and what they do, and a list of vegan-friendly beauty brands.

Enjoy another sampling of these compassionate recipes below!

Lavender Mint No-Poo

I hate washing my hair, but my hair can look oily if I go more than two days without. Enter this fabulous (dry) shampoo! Hair powders such as this (aka dry shampoo) absorb the excess oil from your scalp between washings. If your hair is dark, some powders can be visible on the hair, so the authors offer helpful variations for folks with dark or red hair that will blend better. Kaolin clay was not available at the natural foods co-op where I bought my supplies, but the helpful woman in the Wellness Department suggested I use French green clay instead. As the name states, it is indeed green clay, but the color was not noticeable in my highlighted hair.

Ingredients

• 5 teaspoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons kaolin clay (I used French green clay)
• 5 drops lavender essential oil (or essential oil of your choice)
• 5 drops peppermint essential oil (or essential oil of your choice)

Directions

1. In blender, combine arrowroot powder, kaolin clay, lavender essential oil, and peppermint essential oil. Blend until well combined. Pour into jar.
2. Shake mixture or apply with a clean makeup brush onto roots of dry, unwashed hair. Let stand on hair for a few minutes.
3. Brush hair until all powder is removed.
4. Store at room temperature for up to 6 months.

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Flax Seed Body Scrub

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sweet almond, coconut, olive, or jojoba oil
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions

1. In a blender, puree together sweet almond oil, flax seeds, and sugar until smooth. (Or, in a small bowl, whisk ingredients together.)
2. Using hands, massage a small amount of scrub all over skin in the shower, using circular motions.
3. Rinse skin with warm water and pat dry with a towel. Follow with your favorite body moisturizer.

Pro-tip

• Be sure to use a hair trap in the bathtub when you use this, and be prepared to wipe down the tub afterwards. I ground my own flax seed in a coffee grinder, so I think that next time I’ll make sure to grind it finer. I modified the recipe by adding orange essential oil, now that, thanks to this book, I’ve discovered how great essential oils are! They mention that you can follow this scrub with a favorite body moisturizer, but I found that I didn’t need to, since this scrub exfoliates and moisturizes.

Do you have a favorite body care recipe or site you’d like to share with us? Mention it in the comments below!

By Jamila Alfred, VO Maryland/DC Events and Outreach Coordinator

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with Baltimore, Maryland power couple Naijha Wright-Brown and Gregory Brown, owners of the scrumptious vegan soul food restaurant The Land of Kush.

Located conveniently near the highway, this restaurant attracts more than hungry vegans looking for a yummy fix—it also brings in curious foodies and those who appreciate the taste of Southern cooking done right. Needless to say, this place has something for everybody!

When I lived in Baltimore last year, I’d always stop by The Land of Kush before class to grab a juice and then again afterwards for dinner. I can confidently say that the food, along with the laid-back, Afro-futuristic atmosphere, kept me coming back for more.

I was also very impressed with their choice of staffing, which consists mostly of Black, inner-city youth. This creates wonderful community support and helps keep Black businesses alive and thriving.

Naijha and Gregory are an absolute delight! Who’d have known that such busy people could be so down-to-earth? Their stories aren’t only entertaining, but also inspirational. Let’s get to know them!

Jamila Alfred: Where did you grow up?

Naijha Wright-Brown: South Bronx, New York.

Gregory Brown: Baltimore, Maryland.

Jamila: What are your professional backgrounds?

Naijha: Well, I’ve been working since I was 14, with several years of customer-facing, administrative and technical work, management, entrepreneurship, and putting together shows—whether it be comedy or talent shows. I also did some acting in my late 20s!

Gregory: I went to Morgan State University in Baltimore and graduated with an accounting degree. I used to work for MCI and Verizon Wireless, and now I own a restaurant.

Jamila: What do you do for fun?

Naijha: We love swimming, bike riding, going to comedy shows. I’ve loved comedy ever since I saw Chris Rock. I love to travel! Before we opened up, I was traveling a lot—about four times a year. About a week away wherever I went.

Gregory: Yeah, those are common interests for me, too.

Jamila: When and why did you go vegan?

Naijha: I went vegan in 2006, but I was fully into the game in 2008 because I was doing the fish thing before 2008. My journey started through health. I had high cholesterol and I didn’t know anything about veganism or vegetarianism.

Before I met Greg, I researched ways to lower cholesterol. Then when I met him where we both worked he would bring in these exotic dishes. That’s how I started getting educated on the vegan lifestyle. The whole movement with the animal rights and stuff, I didn’t get into that or learn about that until we opened The Land of Kush in 2011 or 2012.

Gregory: So I’ve been vegan since ’98, and got into it for the health reasons. I used to listen to the rapper KRS-One and he always talked about a vegetarian diet. That’s the route I took.

Jamila: What organizations are you involved in?

Naijha: I’m actually a reading partner for Reading Partners, so I help elementary school children with their reading. During the school year, I’m assigned a student and I help them read. I am also involved in the Black Vegetarian Society of Maryland (BVSMD)!

Gregory: I sit on the board of Farm Alliance of Baltimore—it helps urban farmers kind of put stuff together and sell their produce collectively at farmers markets.

I also sit on the board of the Visit Baltimore Education & Training Foundation—that’s basically an organization that gives scholarships to Baltimore city youth in the hospitality industry, so whether it’s culinary or working with hotels or the convention center. It gives them scholarships to get degrees and work experience. I am also involved with the BVSMD.

Jamila: Do you organize events in Baltimore?

Naijha: I co-founded Vegan SoulFest and we are now in our third year! It’s a vegan soul food festival. We say that because we have a lot of Black vegans and ethnic vegans in the area, so we wanted to reach out to that market and create a festival for them.

We’ve also helped with the Hip Hop Is Green Dinners. We’ve thought about venturing out on our own and doing some meatless meal dinners—anything that is going to reach and bring the community in to try plant-based food and teach them about the benefits of veganism.

Jamila: How was The Land of Kush born?

Gregory: I was working for MCI and I didn’t like working there because I wasn’t using my degree. Someone asked me to write down all of my questions to God, listen for answers, and then write the answers down. I wrote down that I wanted to own a restaurant. I was going vegan at the time, so I was like, “Why not a vegan restaurant?”

Then I began the journey of trying to get the restaurant open when, lo and behold, a friend asked me to find a vegetarian vendor for her company’s free jazz festival called Jazzy Summer Nights.

When I asked a couple of people that owned restaurants they were like, “Naww—there’s too many Black people out there at the festival. They don’t like vegetarian food. You’re not going to make any money.”

But I went back to my friend and told her I’d do it. I sold out of food at the festival, but I didn’t really make a profit because I didn’t know what I was doing.

I went to work for Verizon Wireless so I could recoup my money. I met my lovely wife there and we served food at a couple of events together. We served food at the African American Festival in Baltimore in 2008, Artscape in 2009, and then we opened up the restaurant. I left Verizon Wireless in 2010 and we opened up the The Land of Kush in 2011.

Naijha: I was interested in the The Land of Kush once Gregory introduced the idea to me. I had come to Baltimore from New York and I was always involved with something in New York, like talent shows or anything dealing with producing and promoting things.

I didn’t know anybody in Baltimore outside of the folks that transitioned with me through work. When Gregory proposed the idea of what he was trying to do, I wanted to help him because it seemed like something new and different. It was really exciting because I was just getting into the vegan lifestyle. I contributed to the website and the menu.

People were loving the food. The numbers started going up month after month. Then I was thinking, “What’s next?” I’m always in that producing mode!

Jamila: Tell me about your experiences as Black business owners.

Naijha: It’s an experience! Being in customer service for Verizon Wireless and actually the quality assurance aspect of it—I’m talking about consumers, corporate, and government—I understand the importance as a Black business with customer service.

The stigma perceived by some customers who patronize Black businesses is that you’re going to a Black business and the service isn’t going to be up to par, so that’s a constant focus. When we’re bringing in employees, we ingrain that into them—that is, the importance of service to our customers. A lot of them are from the community and it might be their first job. They’re not used to customer-facing. We have to teach them all of that and the importance of being a Black business and delivering that.

It’s also relationship-building. It’s not like you’re waiting for people to come in. We actually spend a lot of time going out, whether it’s to corporations, or companies, or tastings. We find out what to do out there and how we could assist. We’re so little, so we can’t help everybody, but we try to collaborate with people to see what they need from us.

Gregory: It’s not just a business—it’s social outreach as well. Obviously we conduct a business for profits and to further our lives and create wealth and an opportunity for ourselves, but it’s also an opportunity to go out into the community and educate Black youth about veganism. That is something, a lot of times, that’s somewhat foreign to them. Going out teaching, doing cooking demos, teaching them about produce and fruits and vegetables, and things like that. It’s just a part of the cause for us.

Jamila: What advice do you have for young people of color who want to start a business or get more into vegan advocacy?

Naijha: Disregard the naysayers and what they think. People are going to laugh about a lot of things. Gregory’s family even laughed about him wanting to open up the restaurant. But do it anyways—disregard the naysayers and take the risk—because there’s nothing better than the experience. In order to succeed you have to fail, but failing is learning so you can move on to the next level.

Gregory: Set a goal for yourself, you know? Have a vision for yourself and work towards it. Don’t be afraid of the obstacles. A lot of people stop because they’re afraid of what might happen and it’s okay to run into obstacles. Go run into them so that you can learn about them and overcome them.

Jamila: What future projects do you have?

Naijha: BVSMD is in its infancy. The first thing we did was the Hip Hop Is Green Dinner at Northwestern High School in Baltimore where we served over 200 individuals at that dinner. We used entertainment and lectures and we want to do more of that coming into 2017.

We also want to bring veganic wine and beer, entertainment, semi-fine dining, and carry-out to our business. [Veganic being a word combination of vegan and organic meaning organic plants farmed without the use of animal products or by-products.]

Gregory: The other thing we wanted to do is look for a second location for the The Land of Kush—so we want to franchise and look into those options. We want to expand the The Land of Kush because we’ve done well and want to spread that hopefully across the country.

Jamila: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, Naijha and Gregory! And readers, if you ever find yourself in or near Baltimore, make sure you stop in and say hello to the folks at The Land of Kush. VO wishes the best of luck to the dynamic duo in the future!

By Brenda Sanders, VO Community Engagement Coordinator

It’s been more than a week since this year’s 3rd annual Vegan SoulFest and I’m finally starting to feel like myself again.

Organizing an event of this magnitude—even with the help of the amazing volunteers who worked with us this year—definitely takes a toll. After all the post-festival wrap-up, I’ve had a few days to recharge and reflect on the whirlwind that was Vegan SoulFest and I’ve come to a few realizations.

First, Vegan SoulFest is a pretty big deal, and not just because it takes a half of a year to plan and thousands of dollars to execute.

As the Vegan SoulFest co-founders and co-organizers, Naijha Wright-Brown and I have been able to bring together healthcare professionals, chefs, speakers, performers, businesses, and non-profits from all over Baltimore, Maryland and the surrounding areas to provide life-saving information, resources, and inspiration to motivate people to explore the vegan lifestyle.

As if that weren’t awesome enough, we bring all this to a community that’s been systematically ignored by the mainstream vegan movement.

By making information about better health, compassionate choices, and environmental awareness available to marginalized people in Baltimore, we’re creating an opportunity for a seismic shift in the way that an entire group of people see, experience, and engage with the rest of the planet.

Being from this community and having a vested interest in creating positive change for people in Baltimore, I realize how important this work is! I’m extremely excited about Vegan SoulFest’s potential to re-shape the current landscape of these communities.

In addition to reflecting on Vegan SoulFest, I’ve also had a chance to think about the recent decisions I’ve made regarding my activism.

Since I started doing food justice and animal advocacy work, I’ve gone from conducting a one-woman vegan cooking demo in any and every community center and church that would have me to organizing large programs and events with the support of individuals, businesses, and organizations who believe in and support our mission.

One particular organization—Vegan Outreach—has been on my mind a lot these last few days.

I was introduced to Vegan Outreach a few years ago when I first started doing animal rights work. All I really knew about them was that they did a lot of leafleting and seemed to focus much of their advocacy on college campuses. Since I work with a completely different demographic, I rarely crossed paths with VO folks.

That all changed in April of this year when I met Vegan Outreach’s Alex Bury and Lauren Sprang at the Intersectional Justice Conference in Washington State and I learned something remarkable—VO was planning a diversity initiative that sounded suspiciously like an actual diversity initiative.

They were talking about hiring people from diverse backgrounds, paying them salaries with benefits, offering people of color leadership positions in the organization, listening to the opinions and perspectives of people from diverse backgrounds, and, oh yeah, redirecting resources to those of us who are struggling to fund vegan advocacy in marginalized communities.

As I talked to Alex and Lauren, I became more and more convinced that this was real—that an overwhelmingly white animal rights organization was going to take a crack at a genuine diversity initiative.

After I’d spent years scraping by organizing programs and events on little or no budget and being pretty much ignored by the bigger animal rights groups, it seemed unreal that one of the more popular animal rights organizations was moving in this direction.

When I was offered a position with Vegan Outreach, I was happy to accept it and be a part of this wonderful thing that was happening. The VO employees, board members, and volunteers are such warm, thoughtful, and sincere people who are eager to take this organization into unfamiliar territory. They’re open to considering points of view they’d never thought about before, and willing to acknowledge missteps and make changes as they grow through this process.

I’m proud to be able to say that I’m involved in this exciting journey Vegan Outreach has set out on!

As I’ve contemplated the future of vegan advocacy, I can’t help but see an awesome opportunity to give a platform to diverse perspectives, experiences, and voices.

People from diverse backgrounds have such a wealth of lived experiences and accumulated knowledge to contribute to this movement. As the focus begins to shift away from the traditionally dominant perspectives and more room is made for the rest of our voices, the result will inevitably be a blossoming of new thoughts and ideas that will expand veganism forward for everyone.

I’m honored to be one of those voices and I’m thankful for the support from Vegan Outreach in helping me to bring information about the vegan lifestyle to my community!

By Lisa Rimmert, VO Director of Development

Last month, over 300 VO supporters ordered this limited-edition “Eat plants, love animals” shirt design, raising $2,801 dollars for our work to end violence towards animals. Thank you!

Since then I’ve heard from dozens of people who wanted to buy a shirt but didn’t make the deadline. So, we’ve decided to offer these shirts again—through Tuesday, September 13.

If you missed out last month, buy your shirt today!

Every purchase supports VO’s work! Thank you!