Talking With Diana Edelman of Vegans, Baby

Today I talked with Diana Edelman. Diana is the founder of Vegans, Baby, a business she created to make vegan life easier and attainable and vegan dining more approachable. Not only does her site serve as the definitive guide to vegan-friendly dining in Las Vegas, she also has emerged as a plant-based leader and influential figure in the culinary scene.

This series features conversations I conducted with individuals who have dedicated their work and lives to Vegan research, businesses, art, and society. This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media.

 

facebook.com/vegansbaby

twitter.com/vegansbaby

instagram.com/vegansbaby

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIFBlS5uxZQQ7TjAV-1TKlA

 

TRANSCRIPTION

[00:00:10] Hi, I'm Patricia. And this is investigating Vegan life with Patricia Kathleen. This series features interviews and conversations I conduct with experts from food and fashion to tech and agriculture, from medicine and science to health and humanitarian arenas. Our inquiry is an effort to examine the variety of industries and lifestyle tenants in the world of Vegan life. To that end, we will cover topics that have revealed themselves as Kofman and integral when exploring veganism. The dialog captured here is part of our ongoing effort to host transparent and honest rhetoric. For those of you who, like myself, find great value in hearing the expertize and opinions of individuals who have dedicated their work and lives to their ideals. You can find information about myself and my podcast at Patricia Kathleen dot com. Welcome to Investigating Vegan Life. Now let's start the conversation. 

 

[00:01:13] Hi, everyone, welcome back. This is your host, Patricia. And today I am sitting down with Diana Edelman. 

 

[00:01:19] She's the founder of Vegans Baby. You can find her online at w w w dot vegans baby dot com. 

 

[00:01:26] Welcome, Diana. Thank you so much for having me. I am so happy to be on. I'm excited to talk to you as well. I have to say, I told you before we started. I love the name of your company. And Web site begins, baby. How do you. So how would you say that in your own personal voice? 

 

[00:01:43] Vegans, baby. 

 

[00:01:44] Yeah, I love it. It just said exactly how it came off in my voice, in my head when I read it, but. 

 

[00:01:51] So we are everyone listening and watching. I'll give you a quick roadmap of today's podcasts and then I'll read a bio on Diana before we start peppering her with questions. We're first going to look at Diana's academic background as well as her early professional life. Kind of give you a platform of where she was before, who we are here. And then we'll look at unpacking begins, baby, namely the website, the services, all the different things attached to it, the videos, YouTube, everything like that. We'll get into the nuts and bolts of it when it was launched. Founders, any funding and all of those particulars. And then we'll get into the ethos and in some of the philosophy behind it before turning our attention towards goals that Diana has for herself as well as her company for the next three years. And we'll wrap everything up with advice that she has. For those of you who may be looking to get involved with what she's doing now or even emulate some of her success that she's had along the way. A quick bio on Diana. Diana Edelman is the founder of Vegan's Baby, a business she created to make Vegan life easier and attainable and Vegan dining more approachable. Not only does her site serve as the definitive guide to Vegan friendly dining in Las Vegas, she also has emerged as a plant based leader and influential figure in the culinary scene since founding Vegans Baby four years ago. She's created a successful Vegan dining month, which recently expanded to other cities in the US. Launched at a Las Vegas Vegan food tour that received recognition as one of the top nine Vegan tours in the world by Travel and Leisure and recently started another arm to her business, International Vegan Tours. The first of which was a sold out tour to Thailand in October. 

 

[00:03:32] She's a partner with the James Beard Foundation and was the first to curate a chef driven Vegan dinner at the famous James Beard house, highlighting a city and its chefs and now curates dinners. They're regularly. Diana is also a partner with Life Is Beautiful. The major Music, Food and Art Festival in Las Vegas and curates their Vegan area. 

 

[00:03:56] She also recently launched the Good Falke, a podcast that highlights leaders in the plant based movement from culinary lifestyle, travel and entrepreneurial worlds. 

 

[00:04:06] So I'm so excited. 

 

[00:04:08] And Diana, you've had such a prolific history and it's cool because a lot of people kind of get into their niche in the Vegan scene. And I love that, too. And they stay there. But it feels like you've really married a lot of areas to each other and we need this annexation. I think out in the Vegan world, you know, and people like you who are, you know, reaching out into other communities and even your scope on traveling all over the world and tying your Vegan voice into that. 

 

[00:04:35] But before we get into some of those particular questions, which I have a million of you, I'm hoping you can set the stage for us, giving us a little bit of your academic background or early professional life that kind of brought you to where you are now. 

 

[00:04:46] Sure. So I have a bachelors and I graduated many years ago with a degree in mass communications, public relations. So I took that and started a career in PR. And then when I turned 30, I decided I didn't want to do PR anymore. I wanted to travel and I wanted to write. So I started a travel blog and it became one of the top 100 travel blogs in the world for a minute. This was before. They are what they are now. This was a decade ago. And so I did the travel blog and then I. Since then. Or for a bit. I balance between freelance writing, NPR and now I run my own business that marries all of the things I love, which is writing, traveling a little bit of PR, but not really. 

 

[00:05:33] And social media and making change and and you know, standing up for the animals in a in a in a non aggressive in your face way. 

 

[00:05:43] Yeah. OK. And how did you. Can you tell us a little bit about your Vegan story? Were you born Vegan? Did you come home on your own? 

 

[00:05:50] I did. So I, I never really liked meat, but I ate it actually when I did PR in Vegas. I was the director of PR for a Steak House. So I come a long way from there. I actually I stopped eating meat. I moved to Thailand in 2012 and took a job working with an elephant rescue organization and sanctuary. And I did their PR and I did their social media. And I was coming over the sanctuary like my first week of living in Thailand. And I saw a truck full of pigs with their little heads sticking out, being taken to slaughter. And I stopped eating meat then. And then three years later, after I lived in Thailand, I was planning to move back to Vegas. 

 

[00:06:31] And a dear friend of mine and I were talking and she was just like, I don't get it, Diana. You know, you you done all this work and you don't eat meat. Why aren't you Vegan? And I was like, you know what? Why? Why am I not vegan? You're absolutely right. You know, like I always thought I could never give up eggs. I can never give up cheese and pizza. It was a food group. So when I moved back to Vegas is actually when I started vegans, baby it was really to go Vegan and show people that if I can do it, you can, too. And that vegan isnt just baked potatoes and salads. 

 

[00:07:02] Right. And pasta. Oh yeah. Everyone talks about that. Yeah. Would you describe like, looking back now. Would you describe it as beginning with this compassion for animals that was like your nexus into becoming vegan and then. 

 

[00:07:17] Yes, like it's turned towards food. 

 

[00:07:20] Yeah. I mean the reason I do everything I do is for the animals. You know, I'm I'm an ethical began. So everything I do like it's my form of animal activism because I did the other form of it when I was doing rescue. And I saw it just it was it was very hard. It was very draining. It wasn't it wasn't a lifestyle I could keep up. 

 

[00:07:39] And so this is my form of activism now and making change by through food. 

 

[00:07:44] Absolutely. Yeah. And it's it's a powerful one. So how when was let's get into some of the nuts and bolts. When was Vegan baby launched with you? 

 

[00:07:53] Were you a singular founder? Do you have co-founders and did you take any funding. 

 

[00:07:57] OK. I launched vegans, baby if the website went live April 2016 and I had my official launch the middle of May 2016. It's just me. I have not received funding. I do have someone that helps me with that helps me with my website. 

 

[00:08:20] But that's that's it. 

 

[00:08:23] Yeah. So we'll I have people that want to fund, but I'm just I get nervous and I'm not. 

 

[00:08:32] I'm not ready to do it yet. 

 

[00:08:34] Sure, there's a lot of areas to consider when you're getting into bed, so to speak, with someone. Then what? What was the impetus for the launch? Did you have all of the information? 

 

[00:08:44] Do you have an idea for what the website was going to offer initially, or was it just a place to kind of collect all of your efforts? 

 

[00:08:52] So initially, when I first started vegan's, maybe it was basically. Before I went Vegan, when I was talking about going begin, I lived in Spain and this is where Bergonzi was kind of born and I was going through that, I couldn't go Vegan and then, OK, I will. And I pulled up my phone and Googled like Vegan options in Las Vegas. And I lived there before and there were like four restaurants and then a bunch of of like Indian and Thai places. And I knew because I go back there, I would visit every year it's my old home that there were so many more options than that. But there was no place to see those options. There was nothing that would tell me, oh, this is what you can get. This is the restaurant. And so I started Vegan maybe really for myself to go in and and just write down and share what Vegan options restaurants had and to show people that, you know, this restaurant and in this part of town doesn't market to Vegan menu. But these are these are the items that are already Vegan that you can get. 

 

[00:09:54] Yes, that's how it started. 

 

[00:09:55] I have and likewise, you know, I think I'm on record several times my research manager tells me saying, you know, why aren't there more indexes? 

 

[00:10:04] Why aren't their sites telling vegan's where to go? You have, you know, a happy cow. There's a couple of places, but they're ill managed or they're still kind of, you know, getting their their bearings. No insult intended upon them. But, yeah, just felt as though are so many unlikely vegans coming to the world now. Yeah. Coming at it for all different. A myriad of reasons, particularly with the pandemic upon us, people reexamining health. And I just felt like the opportunity to have index is just there hadn't been these globetrotting warriors like yourself that were, you know, kind of telling everybody where to go. And likewise, I have started collecting over the past decade my own indexes, you know, creating my own things. And so I had wondered why someone hadn't put it together. And I was elated to have you come on and do it. So when you began with the launch of it, was it just an accumulation of restaurants and where to go in each city? And how did you decide which areas to highlight? Was it just the areas you'd been to first with your own research? 

 

[00:11:01] So when I first launch begins, maybe it was Las Vegas specific and I built up I built up quite a few restaurants and dined there and wrote about them before we launched it because I didn't want to launch with nothing and I wanted to establish the brand. So I started building the brand back. So I launched the website, went live in April, and I started all of my social media and promotions and everything like four months earlier. So that way there was excitement. There was something building up to it. And then here you go. Here's this launch and here this guide. So that's how I started it. And then in terms of other cities, it kind of grew because because of my background, obviously, is travel and travel, blogging and writing. I still Vegas is my home base, but I love traveling. And so when I would go places I like, it's so funny the way my life is changed now that I'm Vegan, I literally travel for food like my whole trip is Vegan. And so I would go to places and just find their Vegan food and do guides based on that. And then it evolved to people in other cities saying, hey, can I contribute a guide to my city? So it became a group effort for all the different dining guides. But the Vegas section of my Web site is the most comprehensive because it's the places it's hundreds of restaurants, whereas other dining guides in other cities are smaller and just have like the top 10 or like, you know, five dishes to order or something like that. 

 

[00:12:21] Absolutely. Have you. That's interesting. Have you ever endeavored on looking to do it per city and getting more cities as comprehensively done as Vegas? 

 

[00:12:31] Oh, all the time. 

 

[00:12:32] That's part of what the funding would have would be for, is to be able to expand some talk. So, yes, and I and I have I have a writer in Tucson now that is doing what I'm doing. And she contributes to my two sons section and. Yeah. But because I me and and it's all self-funded and especially right now, the generation of income is just kind of been put on pause. 

 

[00:13:00] I can't hire people and I really want to be able if someone's gonna do the work I've done, I want to be able to compensate them for their time. 

 

[00:13:07] Absolutely. Well, for anyone listening who's, you know, wanting to collaborate maybe for free at the moment, chomp on vegans, baby, and reach out. Right. And see where you get going. 

 

[00:13:17] I love the fantastic I wondering with the so you've mentioned, you know, the website being launched and then the reason why it started for but for those listening who haven't hit the site yet. If you if you hit your site, can you explain what you're presented with some of the areas that specialty's that you have and some of the services you provide. 

 

[00:13:38] So if you go to vegans baby dot com, you'll see the first part is. Well, right now it's all focused on the pandemic and its focused on Las Vegas, because that is my home city and that is where the majority of my audience is. 

 

[00:13:51] I try to keep it as global as possible, though. So, like, the first the first thing you see is, is it safe to order food from restaurants? And that's research from the CDC and the FDA and things like that. And then there's a couple other stories you can slide through. And then below that, it's a couple of destinations that have guides. If you want Las Vegas, you click on Vegas and then you're presented with a whole other world of different like deals and dining and lifestyle and things like that. And then further down, you have news stories. So typically, because it is the bulk of the content is Vegas. It's Vegas, Vegan dining news and then its recipes from chefs for especially right now for the quarantine. So it's using pantry staples. And then it's going to be my podcast episodes. And then it's news popular articles that people are reading. So I try to keep the content as global as I can with with the focus. Obviously, there's always going to be a lot more Las Vegas than than anything else. But I really try to focus on Vegan. Food and Vegan dining news as it relates to a larger audience than just Las Vegas. And then the site also you have tours. You have my services I offer. You have deals. So some of the deals are nationals. Some of them are specific to Vegas. 

 

[00:15:16] And then, yeah, I think that's it. 

 

[00:15:20] That is a lot. And I wonder, do you ever run into contacts or resources that cross reference. Vegan nutrition with things that are incredibly pertinent right now with like immunization, health and things of that nature? 

 

[00:15:33] Like, do you ever get into those aspects of those articles or do you leave that kind of aside, especially because immunization is such a very hot button topic? I stay away from it. Like, I, you know, I, I don't want to I don't want to get involved in that conversation, basically, like, I have my my I have my beliefs and I don't and I. 

 

[00:15:56] People want to learn about that vegans, baby it wouldn't be the place where begins babies about food and travel. 

 

[00:16:01] Right. And I have to say, I meant the immune system rather than immunizations, which are kind of their own two separate. 

 

[00:16:07] I mean, I'm sorry. It was my misspeaking. The immune system and just the health and nutrition of the culture. I, I sometimes I do. 

 

[00:16:18] Right now I'm focusing I've had two people contribute articles on wellness because I think that's important to maintain your health and wellness during, especially this time. I am not an expert, so I don't write on it, but I'm always open to people. If they want to contribute articles like that. I am happy to share like food to boost your immune system and things like that. 

 

[00:16:36] One hundred percent is exciting. Do you have a ways for people to contact you on your Web site? There's a contact page. That's exciting. So the Vegan tours, can you kind of tie us into what? What does that mean on your Web site? How did you come at that topic? 

 

[00:16:51] So Vegan tours just kind of randomly started one day through the years. I built relationships with restaurants all over the city. And my friend was like, well, you should start few tours. You know, that's not a bad idea. So I did. And it was a monthly tour that I offered downtown Las Vegas. It was five restaurants, 13 dishes. 

 

[00:17:12] And it became a lot for me to handle with all of the other things I do. So now it's private. Two tours of downtown Las Vegas. I offer two different ones. There's one like that Fremont Street area, which is more typical of like downtown. And then there's an arts district, which is a very up and coming cool part of town with breweries and things like that. So I offer both of those. And the downtown tour that I offer was named one of the top nine tours speaking tours in the world by Travel and Leisure. And then from there, a friend of mine and I, we would go to Thailand at the same time. And she was like, we should start a tour. And so her and I partnered for this first tour we did in October, and it was a sold out Vegan tour of Thailand. And since then, I have well, I had four tours planned for this year, all of which have been postponed till 2021. 

 

[00:18:01] But they're all underrated Vegan tours of cities and their Vegan features. 

 

[00:18:06] So it's I'm assuming it's not based on having people come from here, but if you're going to be in Thailand during that time or. 

 

[00:18:12] No, it's a good tour. It's a it's a Vegan tour. It's a tour anywhere from five to 10 days and get hotel food and the travel within. It's all part of it. So basically, it's a it's a culinary tour that also highlights, like, the normal things you would do in a city and some other cool things that I find really interesting as a as a traveler that I would want to go do that. 

 

[00:18:37] So it's a massive undertaking. It's exciting. But it sounds me I mean, the only other undertaking I've heard other than major tour operations doing that are like yoga retreats. And even then, you know, half the day you're cut to do whatever. 

 

[00:18:49] It takes a lot of work. It's a lot of work. 

 

[00:18:52] But it's finally I was just in Madrid and Paris in January, February to go basically eat my way through the cities and figure out where I wanted to go, eat on this tour and meet with restaurant owners and then do a couple things just to kind of see what I wanted to put on the tour. So for me, like researching them, it is so incredibly fun. And then being able to show people, like all the amazing places and food and how how accessible Vegan food is around the world. If you just look, it's it's it's a it's a wonderful thing. 

 

[00:19:24] Absolutely. And within that, I think there's a lot of education. You're Slainte kind of points out as well. And you and I know speaking just earlier, a few minutes ago, this concept of. 

 

[00:19:37] Looking at the cuisine of the country, you know, and realizing what Vegan elements you can deduce things of that nature, I always find that when I travel internationally, I find because I cook so much at home because I don't have the confidence of Vegan food. I'll rent an air BMB and then I'll ask that, you know, my research techniques. What is the most common form of vegetable that they have and then create these meals that I would have created at home with like. So in Fiji, for instance, rather than potatoes, I'm using cassava, which is the potato sister and things of that nature. But you you kind of rediscover what they're doing. And then how can you implement that back in some of the recipes you have? And I imagine the same is true for restaurants when you have these conversations with chefs and restaurant owners. Do they become more aware of their own menu as you're having these talks with? Can we talk about the Vegan items that you have or what you have on your menu that you could be making? Vegan. Is it kind of a light bulb moment for them as well? 

 

[00:20:35] I think I think so. Especially like in Las Vegas. 

 

[00:20:37] I'll meet with with chefs and restaurants and say these are all the dishes you have that if you modify, you can make them Vegan. These are the ingredients you can swap out. So I think, yes, it probably is a light bulb moment. I mean, I assume that the majority of chefs that I that I know all understand plant based dining. But then it's taking it and saying, hey, look, you know, it's OK to be on begins. 

 

[00:21:00] Maybe you have to have three Vegan options and they can't be dishes that are modified. They have to be specific options on the menu that are already there. So, like, I'll work with them to say, hey, look, you know, look, if you pull this salad, if you pull this dish, if you do this in this, you can have a Vegan section on your menu or you can put you know, you can have these options and I can write about you. And so the typically the motivation for that is you get to reach my audience that listens. And so if they create these Vegan dishes, people will come in and eat them and then they become a Vegan from the restaurant and they're supported. So I think I think, yeah, that that they do have that moment where they realize what they can be doing. 

 

[00:21:37] Absolutely. I want to talk a little bit about the chef driven Vegan dinners at the James Beard house. So can you kind of enumerate one of what's going on or what was going on with that endeavor? 

 

[00:21:50] So the James Beard Foundation reached out to me. They saw that I was doing a Vegan dining month and the director of house events reached out to me and said, we really like what you're doing. Would you be interested in putting together a dinner at the James Beard house and bringing in chefs from Las Vegas to cook clay based meal? And I said, oh, my God. I mean, with a James Beard house, you. And they say, come to the house like you go. I've been in the restaurant industry long enough to know, like, if you like, working with the James Beard house, like winning an Oscar or being nominated for an Oscar. Like, it's a huge thing. So I partner with them for the first one. And then I always at that point, I was talking to the director and I said, you know, there's just so many chefs I'd love to work with and I'd love to be able to do this. And you said, well, why don't we do another one? And then it grew into a let's do them twice a year. So the next one was supposed to be May 18th. Obviously, that's that's not happening. And but so it's an ongoing relationship I have with them where I get to pick chefs. 

 

[00:22:46] And actually, none of the chefs I brought with me are Vegan chefs. They're all chefs that are just really, really incredibly talented that I want to see make plant based food and have plant based food at the restaurant. But I want to see them get really creative and really show off their skills and so that that is where they get to do that. 

 

[00:23:04] Does it go both ways? Is there a reverse effect there? So you bring the chef and do you think that that impacts them being brought into this Jane Behar's environment to go back and create more plant based things for themselves? 

 

[00:23:14] I hope so. I hope I. That's my goal. Yeah. 

 

[00:23:20] That's exciting. I want to get into it, since you just dropped the word. I kind of wait for people to drop that bomb before a jump into it. 

 

[00:23:27] But we had we were talking Vegan and then we switched over to this this plant based title. And this is one of the most heated debates in the community right now in nutrition, as well as just across Vegan and plant based empires. How do you. Let's start with asking you, how do you define plant based and how do you define Vegan and what is the difference between those two terms? 

 

[00:23:50] Sure. Vegan I define as a lifestyle. OK, plant based I define as the food you consume. 

 

[00:23:59] OK. And so any intersection between those two would be between the lifestyle and the consumable. OK. So would anything be able to be plant based and not be Vegan? Not in my world. No. OK. So there's been a lot of argument in the community that the advertising community, because plant based has been associated with health and nutrition and things like that, that they've started adapting that label and putting plant based things and then sliding some egg yolk in there. 

 

[00:24:27] And so people are like, it says, plant based. And then you turn it over and it's not Vegan. So. 

 

[00:24:31] Do you think that there will come a time when we need to be saying both plant based and Vegan or should plant based always denote that it is? There is no animal byproducts in it. 

 

[00:24:40] I think plant based is plants and it should denote there's no animal byproducts in it. I don't think an egg comes to a plant. So I you know, I think it's very misleading if or if there's a box and I'm going to purchase something and it's as plant based. And then you look at the back and there's egg or there is whey or there's something in it that isn't plant based. 

 

[00:24:59] Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. That's it's kind of being attached. Boy, I suppose it will be left up to the regulators to see whether or not that's done. But I do think that it's an interesting concept and people interchange it a lot. 

 

[00:25:12] You know, there's been a lot of argument that plant based is much more friendly on the years than Vegan Vegan hyped up to be a politicized movement, whereas plant basis based on nutrition. Yeah. And then there's also been people that feel like a Vegan actually is more safe. It's a safer label because it really is saying there's absolutely no animal byproducts. So I can see both points of view. But it'll be interesting to see how that plays out, particularly given that it's getting a lot more attention these days. Yeah. I want to turn our attention towards the goals that you have. And I know that this is as hard of a topic as veganism, if you will, but I know that with the pandemic and the uncertainty in the environment across our entire globe. However, I'm curious, a lot of vegans have had deeper conversations with themselves about their companies, given that the pandemic, you know, has a lot of return to everyone returning to the conversations about health and nutrition. And I'm wondering if that has affected your goals. I know that the current climate for things shutting down has changed people's goals. But can you speak to vegans baby's goals over the next one to three years? And if there has been any dialog that incorporated the covered nineteen pandemic? 

 

[00:26:25] I sense a really good question. I've had to pivot a lot with the pandemic because obviously if I'm going out to eat, I'm writing about the restaurant that's not happening anymore. So I pivoted march toward like the the recipe side of things. And so the behind the scenes work of consulting and working on other projects. But in terms of the future, my my goals haven't changed. You know, I hope we get through this quickly. 

 

[00:26:53] But aside from the restaurant consulting I'm still doing and I'm doing private coaching and other things like that. 

 

[00:26:59] I mean, I've I've I've launched the podcast. 

 

[00:27:03] I've been focusing more on video. But other than that, you know, I want to do my tours. I want to be able to expand cities. I want to consult more with restaurants. Now, none of those things have changed at all. The only thing I can think of that might have changed is just the way I do consulting, because obviously, if a restaurant isn't open for service, in its typical sense, we have to kind of pivot and look at other options like delivery and take out and how they can best market that to the Beacon community as well as just the normal community. Because as I mentioned, I worked in the restaurant industry for a long time. I started as a server. I was guest services. I done PR. So I understand the ins and outs of the restaurant industry and restaurants. So I'm really trying to do what I can there to help keep restaurants afloat. 

 

[00:27:45] But other than that, you know, it's hopefully just business full steam ahead once we're able to kind of get get through this. 

 

[00:27:52] Absolutely. Well, let's look at your podcast really briefly. Can you tell us when you launched it? How many episodes you have and who you've been kind of speaking with? Or are they just monologues from you? 

 

[00:28:04] No, I don't think I'm that interesting to have every episode I have. 

 

[00:28:09] So it actually there are a few up right now, but it will officially launch the next few days. But I'm building up obviously the backlog and I want people to go when they click on it to see that there's more than just one. 

 

[00:28:21] And it's it's basically it's conversations with people in the chef travel lifestyle, entrepreneurial community with a print based twist. So my first interview is with Chef Jessica Perlstein, who was one of the chefs that came to New York with me for the James Beard dinner I did in November. And she was one of the first chefs on the Las Vegas Strip at a steakhouse to launch a Vegan menu. So we talk about that and we talk about her career cooking at the James Beard house. My second interview was with Chef Leslie D'Urso, who is a very well-known clamp, a chef, and she started as an actress and was Bill NYes, the lab girl, and now she consults with Four Seasons hotels to create plant based dishes for them. She does culinary retreats in other countries. I spoke with Rachel Geiger, who is the founder of Snow Monkey and one of Forbes 30 under 30. I've got a dear friend of mine, Lindsay McCormick, who's the founder of Buy Toothpaste Bits. It was just a shark tank, Lee Asher from the Asher House. So I'm kind of tapping into all the amazing people I know and being like, hi, we please be on my podcast. Yeah. Fortunately, they've all said yes. So I've got about eight or nine that I've recorded. And then I have, I think two more I'm doing next week on the list of about 20 other people I want to reach out to. 

 

[00:29:40] Excellent. You're off to the races, though. Seasoned in no time. Is the name of the podcast. It's called The Good Fork. The Good Fork. 

 

[00:29:48] I like that. Yeah. He'll play on like forks over knives and things like that. I like the visualization. People start making cutlery. It's. Very married to the world of food. I want to wrap everything up with that. Looking at advice that you always ask for advice on. People said I don't have any, you know, nine times out of ten than the ones who who have a ton. It's not really fun to listen to. So I'd rather say advice that you have before the younger you know, if you had looked at what you were doing prior. Right prior to launching Beans Baby and what peas three piece top three pieces of advice. They can be words of warning or words of encouragement or what to look at and focus on more than you would have given the younger you as you were starting. 

 

[00:30:36] Oh, gosh, you know, it's tough because I kind of just wing things like I wake up one day and I'm like, I'm going to start a food tour. I'm going to write guidebook. 

 

[00:30:44] I would say maybe have a better plan of action than what I've done because, I mean, I have no plan. I just think of something and decide I'm going to do it and then I do it, which I think depending on the way you work. It's great. Like, I just kind of always trust that I'm gonna land on my feet and it's gonna work out. However it's supposed to. 

 

[00:31:03] I would say. Really think about the name your business, because I love Vegan, maybe, but I feel like it's very limiting. 

 

[00:31:13] And so for vegans, baby, obviously it's coming from a Las Vegas baby reference. And now that I'm expanding and I think that maybe that wasn't the best path for a name, but I didn't think about it. I didn't think where I would be in three years. All I thought I thought small. And it was I'm going to write an online guide to Vegan dining in Las Vegas and never took the time to think, where could this go? So maybe take some time and write down your big dreams. See what it is that like, if you were if you had your perfect business, what would it be that you want and kind of work backwards from that to get them figure out how you're going to get there? 

 

[00:31:52] Whereas I kind of was just. I never did. I never did. That's probably the biggest piece. And then I know that it's not easy. 

 

[00:32:03] I started Vegans baby. And, you know, it's it's taken me four years to come to a place where I can bring in income from it. 

 

[00:32:14] And now that income is. 

 

[00:32:17] Stopped. So especially in today's world, if you are building a business. I would definitely consider things like what we're going through right now where we've never had to think of that before. But is your business able to function with a shutdown? And if it isn't, what can you do to make it function? What are what are your what are your backup plans if it doesn't work? 

 

[00:32:42] I think those are the biggest things. 

 

[00:32:43] Nice. So I have got a plan of action. Pay close attention to naming the business. And remember, Leslie, that it's not easy. Make sure that you have multiple areas that it communicates to and restrictions under can't the pandemic that we're having now. 

 

[00:32:59] Those are all perfect pieces of advice. I'm wondering as we kind of wrap up for today as as Vegan and kind of living that lifestyle, do you have kind of a main area that it is affected most for you? 

 

[00:33:14] Would you say that it's affected your career or your health or what part of being Vegan has been most poignant for you? 

 

[00:33:25] All of it. 

 

[00:33:26] I think, like I, I never expected to be where I am today. I never expected or thought that I would work with the James Beard Foundation. So being begin, obviously, I mean, I have turned it into a part of my business because I was always taught to find your niche. My mom always said, find your niche, find your passion. And I found both of them. And so now it's like I literally wake up every day and I'm making change and I'm doing good and I'm helping other people. And I'm also getting it to do this full time. So it really is it's impacted every aspect of my life. There's not a day that goes by where the word Vegan doesn't come out of my mouth or it's not in my thought like it is very much it is my entire life. So knowing Vegan literally changed my my entire course or path I was on. 

 

[00:34:15] Absolutely. That's awesome. And I find that to be true with them for a lot of people that I'm interviewing for this. You know, it's it's different than even one's occupation. 

 

[00:34:25] It kind of being Vegan tends to be an identity that's attached to people's core identities, which I guess is fantastic. 

 

[00:34:33] Well, we're out of time today, Diana. But I want to say thank you so much for giving us your time. I know everybody is scrambling right now, and because of that, they are both at once available and busy. 

 

[00:34:43] And so thank you for sticking a weird. 

 

[00:34:46] You know, I'm working more than I've ever worked in my life and I'm not making any money from it. But cool, because I at least I'm, like, loving what I'm doing. But, you know, it's a weird it's a weird spot. But see, there's Phyto. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. 

 

[00:35:01] Yeah, absolutely. And I love that phyto came in right now at the very least. He was already in conversation, them ending a conversation, taking them out. He's going to go, Mom. Absolutely. 

 

[00:35:15] Well, for everyone listening, thank you for giving us your time. We've been talking with Diana Edelman. She's the founder of Vegans, baby you can find her online at vaegans baby dot com until we speak again next time. 

 

[00:35:26] Remember to eat well, eat clean, stay safe. Always bet on yourself.