Stephanie Dreyer is a plant-based meal planning expert. Her recipes and meal planning advice have been featured in several publications and online media outlets, including VegNews magazine and VegNews.com, Chickpea magazine, MensHealth.com, Parade and Thrive Global.

Stephanie is the founder of Batch Cooking Club. Batch Cooking Club is a weekly vegan meal prep membership that takes the thinking out of what to cook. With their done-for-you prep plans and recipes, families can enjoy daily, homemade plant-based meals without time consuming prep.

Hey there! My name is Chenoa, pronounced  Shuh-no-uh ;) and I live in sunny Austin, Texas with my husband Alex and our baby boy Knox. We are deeply passionate about living a PLANT-BASED LIFESTYLE, traveling, sustainability and ethical veganism. I love to blog about all of these topics and share them on the ‘gram as well.

 

I’ve been plant-based for 7 years and since that time, had a wonderfully healthy pregnancy and have been raising our little one on this wholesome diet. I am committed to encouraging and inspiring others to eat more plants and create more life long memories through travel. We only have one life, so it’s important to make the most of it and invest in our health and break free of our comfort zones! There is no judgement here and I hope you find this space encouraging.

 

We believe in family above all else and that love and kindness is EVERYTHING. We try our best to bring a little ray of sunshine everywhere we go. This blog is special space where I hope to encourage you on your journey through life and to take care of your body, mind and family. Thank you so much for stopping by! xo

 

“Veganism is a way of living that seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing and any other purpose.”
— The Vegan Society

Have I always been vegan?…NO.

 

Have I always been sober?.. NO.

 

Have I always been trying to change the world and create peace?… NO.

 

For 12 years of my life I went down the wrong track. I was once involved with gangs and substance use until it landed me in prison. A blessing in disguise as it forced me to see life with new eyes. Many profound moments have happened in my life which have brought me to where I am now.  After leaving the gang life and going vegan for ethical reasons, I wanted to give back. I wanted to help the less fortunate. I wanted to help human beings which is still one of my passions. But I had a realisation. There were a group of innocent beings who needed my help the most. A group of beings who weren’t even recognised by society as victims. A group of beings so persecuted, so exploited and so abused that it dwarfed any human genocide in comparison.

 

The animals were screaming out for help and very few were listening. So I decided to answer their calls and began speaking for them with all my heart. Please listen to my message with an open mind. Please help me, help them. As a vegan all I want is peace.

 

Peace for humans, peace for animals and peace for the world.

Ed Winters is a vegan educator, public speaker and content creator based in London, England. Winters is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Surge, an animal rights organisation determined to create a world where compassion towards all non-human animals is the norm. In 2016 Surge founded The Official Animal Rights March which succeeded in a growth from 2,500 participants in London in 2016 to 41,000 participants across the world in 2019.

 

Winters has spoken at over 1/3 of UK universities and at 6 Ivy league colleges, including as a guest lecturer at Harvard University in April 2019. He has given speeches across the world, including at the University of Cambridge, EPFL, Google NYC and Google Zürich. In early 2019 he gave two TEDx talks, reaching a total of 1.3 million views online. His speech “You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again” has almost 35 million accumulative views online and has been given to thousands of students across UK universities. 

 

In October 2018 Winters opened Unity Diner, a non-profit vegan restaurant in London where all of the profits go directly back into helping animals. He also hosts The Disclosure Podcast.

 

In 2019 Earthling Ed gave 107 talks to a total of 27,600 people & in a 12 month period 33,248 people signed up to go vegan through Ed’s online content.

We're Jess and Dan, the people behind Vegan Punks. 

 

We’re a husband and wife team. And we love creating new vegan recipes. Jess is responsible for photography, styling and editing and Dan looks after all of the technical aspects of running the website. We both contribute to the writing of the blog equally.

 

We’re passionate about proving that vegan food is delicious, easy to make and accessible to all. That’s why we started this blog back in 2017 (in Instagram form). We followed that with a ‘starter’ website and we’re now building it into something bigger. ‘Vegan Punks 2.0’ – if you will.

 

Two things that we instantly bonded over was the love of good food and punk music. So, naturally it seemed logical to combine the two! Our third passion is travel, but we’ll get to that in due course.

I'm Gabrielle Reyes and I'm an actress, singer, veggie-lover, and colorful food creator!

 

I've been vegan for about 10 years and in my time I've fallen in love with all things vegan, vegetarian, plant-based, organic, and all-natural! Before I went vegan I was weighed down by pressure to count calories, restrict myself from food for multiple days, and constantly judge and belittle myself for not being as skinny or petite as my peers. Eventually this led to a self-hating mindset and a two year long eating disorder. Veganism and living a plant-based lifestyle SAVED me from my own personal darkness and now I’m the healthiest and the happiest I could ever shine!

 

These days, I am the proud host of the Musical Cooking Show, The Colorful Home Cooking Show where I share vegan and gluten-free recipes through song. Being a performer I always knew that sick days were not an option and I had to have camera ready skin in a moments notice. So, when it came to my diet and what ways I was nourishing myself I knew that if I kept my insides squeaky clean, and the number of ingredients I consumed minimal, that I was bound to be in tip-top condition on the daily and also have my outsides reflect my insides!

 

I created One Great Vegan so that others seeking health and wellness would have a source for recipes, guidance, coaching, and cooking classes. One Great Vegan is based in Dallas, TX and offers private cooking classes, group cooking classes, plant-based and gluten-free catering, and Chef Gabrielle Reyes is the host of the Musical Cooking Show, The Colorful Home Cooking Show helping you take the right steps towards a healthy, vegan lifestyle! After 10 years of being a tried and true vegan, I’ve gathered the best tips and recipes to make the most out of what Mother Nature has to offer.

 

For some, eating a plant-based diet can be a challenge when transitioning for the first week or so. The good news is you’ve already made the choice to give veganism a try so the hardest part is over, and I’ll be here with you as you embark on the colorful path of veganism. Take the journey of growth and green-goodies and see how you can get your glow on!

A vegan chef and wellness expert, Leslie is the glowing face of a fresher plant-based movement that refuses to compromise style for sustainability. Walking the plant-based talk since age eight, this Southern California native has always been well ahead of the times with her meatless mindset. She works as a consulting chef for hotels, resorts, and restaurants around the world and is currently the vegan chef at the Four Seasons Resort, Punta Mita, Mexico and the Four Seasons Resort, The Biltmore, Santa Barbara.

 

“One of the most talented chefs I have ever known, Leslie Durso takes plant-based cuisine to new heights. There is nothing this powerhouse woman can’t do.”

 

-Colleen Holland, Publisher VegNews Magazine

Hey lovely, I’m Rae.

Rooted in the great Pacific Northwest, I’m the flannel-wearing, dog-loving, foodie behind Raepublic. When I’m not changing the color of my walls or reorganizing my living room, I am researching, creating, and sharing delightful plant-based recipes for a healthier, happier you!

 

There are several reasons why I decided to flirt with a vegan lifestyle. Honestly, I'm pretty young and felt like I needed to be healthier. I felt like even though (thank God) I have a freaking amazing metabolism, the crap I was eating could be slowly causing internal damage in the long run, slowly becoming what people call "skinny fat". 

 

I decided to fully embrace a vegan lifestyle to also contribute to my emotional and spiritual well-being. I had an epiphany after starting this venture, I can't stomach the thought of causing any creature pain or suffering that is even remotely close to what I have been through in life. The factory farming industry in the United States is absolutely horrific – for meat production and dairy alike. I believe that if I am not willing to kill an animal myself, I shouldn't be eating them. 

 

Life is a process full of joy, pain, healing, growth and throughout all of it I choose to operate in a mode of learning. As I continue to learn and grow I focus on empowerment, wellness, holistic health, and giving my body the utrition it needs to thrive. 

 

 

Shaka Smith is an actor and host from Miami. A Princeton graduate, upon arriving in Los Angeles he landed several roles as a fitness model and began competing in fitness competitions. He won several awards and as a vegan became a leading fitness model in the industry, sponsored by Garden of Life.

As an actor, he booked small roles in Disney's Pair of Kings, short films and several commercials. In 2015, Shaka, also an attorney began hosting a legal news show, Justice Is Served on the Black Hollywood Live Channel on the AfterbuzzTV Network. He continued to pursue his love for fitness by also hosting Fit Club, a weekly show aimed at full inclusion of health and fitness amongst minority communities.

Shaka also has a passion for worthy causes and supports many charities. He sits on the board for charity, Project Save Our Surf, devoted to cleaning our oceans and providing clean drinking water to communities around the world in need.

Lulu has over 250,000 followers and runs a business as a vegan food stylist that is completely funded by sponsorships.

 

Luisa Gassga from Lulus Dream Town shares her life with the world and loves to inspire others. 

 

✨ Luisa Gaffga ✨ SELFLOVE

🦋 Travel - Selflove - Vegan 🦋
🌙 Book Author and Creator 🌙

My journey started about four years ago now. Four years ago I was in a Nando’s and it hit me. My whole reason was the ethics. I think compassion is deep-rooted in all of us, but what’s happened over time is that we’ve been blinded to the fact that animals suffer for that plate of food. We all know deep down that the animals are absolutely suffering and going through hell but sadly a lot of us choose to turn a blind eye. I couldn’t do that anymore. 

 

Everything changed when I went vegan. Veganism was just the tip of the iceberg. I went down the rabbit hole and one thing led to the next. So much opened up for me. 

 

I always say that I would go vegan even if it meant being unhealthy, but it’s actually the complete opposite. When you go vegan it actually improves your health as well as the life of another being. Win-win, as they call it.

A lot of people into sports think that going vegan is going to restrict them. I always tell people that when I was eighteen I used to have ankle problems and knee problems. I’m 32 now and I feel better than I did when I was 18. I really want to put that point across to people – if you go down the plant-based route, you can actually up your performance and you can up how you feel every morning when you get out of bed to tackle the day.

In 2015, news broke from the World Health Organization that red and processed meat were now considered Group 1 and Group 2 Carcinogens. Like so many others, Carleigh had grown up on a standard meat and potatoes diet, with steak and pork-chops on weekly rotation in her family kitchen. The news was particularly shocking as her father was a stage 2 colon cancer survivor.

 

Armed with a bachelor’s degree in media theory and journalism, Carleigh began to do her own research, reading landmark and life changing books including The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, finally enrolling in a one year holistic health coach course to become more versed in nutrition. The science was clear. The healthiest, cancer protecting and longevity promoting approach to eating was a whole-foods, plant-based, oil-free lifestyle.

 

Having grown up on a hobby farm surrounded by chickens, horses and many family pets, suddenly everything started to click.

 

The decision to go plant-based was an easy one. Figuring out what the heck to eat was not. With little-to-no cooking skills, and a tiny bachelor apartment kitchen, Carleigh starting experimenting with plants. She noticed that most recipes online were complex and required a lot of speciality grocery items.

 

Determined to stay the course, Carleigh began cooking vegan meals by simply replacing the meat in her favorite childhood recipes with plants. The first recipe she ever veganized was pasta with bolognese sauce.

 

And that’s how Plant You was born.

 

It was obvious to Carleigh that there was a need for truly simple and approachable recipes in the vegan space. Her simple, fuss-free recipe infographics went viral on Instagram, garnering the attention of more than 250,000 ‘followers’ between social media pages. In 2019, she launched her own whole-food, plant-based digital meal plan program, Plant Ahead, which was an instant success, allowing her to leave her corporate job five months later.

 

Carleigh is from a small town in Ontario, Canada where she lives with her fiance and designated taste tester, Jesse, and beloved persian cat, King Tut.

I'm a Los Angeles based vegan ballerina, actress, photographer and celebrity blogger. Known as @artsyagnes with over 500,000 Instagram fans, I have been the face of numerous brands including Amazon, NFL, Starbucks, Macy’s, True Religion, Reebok, Banana Republic, Lionsgate Studio, Google Photos, and many others.

 

Additionally, my interest in advocating for a plant-based and socially responsible lifestyle has become the essence of my platform. In addition to my social media work, I am a classically trained dancer at Julia Bourlina Classical Ballet in Studio City, California.

 

In the beginning, I became vegan primarily due to health reasons. I was trying to heal my problem with breast fibroadenomas (non-cancerous lumps) naturally, and my naturopath recommended that I adopt a plant-based lifestyle. It worked. My fibroadenomas began to shrink about three months after I become vegan.

 

Around that same time, I started meeting so many inspiring people in the vegan community. I educated myself on veganism as a lifestyle more than a mere diet. It’s important to me that I stress the vegan aspect of my life to my followers. Veganism brings about positive changes in all areas of your life and I am just excited to share that with my followers.

 

I tell everyone that the vegan life-style has greatly benefited me as an athlete. I’ve always said that I felt like I was given a new body after I became vegan. My stamina, endurance and energy levels have really improved. I also happily lost some weight after I transitioned to veganism.

 

Veganism is definitely more of a life-style than a mere diet for me. I make sure that everything that I surround myself with, including the clothes that I wear, the products (beauty and otherwise) that I buy, down to the interior of my car, are all made of vegan materials. Additionally, I also only shop brands that follow fair trade and sustainable practices. I think both the animals and the environment are equally important. I promote the principle of non-harm—for our planet, animals and people.

Ricardo Baldin is a vegan Brazilian model and yoga instructor. His strong background as an international model led him to walk for prestigious brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Armani, and be the face for worldwide campaigns. Ricardo is the perfect example of finding self-awareness and living with a meaningful purpose, he now focuses on vegan health, photography and teaching yoga while traveling the world and sharing those moments on Instagram with his 460k followers.

 

Throughout his solid run in the business, Baldin experienced a unique journey that has led to him reconnecting with nature, adopting a plant-based diet, and utilizing his social media influence to speak about matters of the heart and overall health. This month, TALENTMAN founder MICHAEL SEIFERT catches up with Ricardo Baldin in our final exclusive for 2018: “Man of Nature: Reconnecting Roots” as Baldin shares his life-changing transformation.

I was raised in a really healthy way. My parents taught me everything about healthy and wholesome living. I just kind of went right into a whole food and veggie kitchen using whole grains, organic products and eating complex carbs. In warm seasons, I found dandelion, weed (today I know it was goat weed) on my plates. I would have loved to eat a chocolate pudding but instead, dad made me eat our garden. Thank you. No honestly, today I’m really grateful for it. Things like McDonald’s was a NoGO so I first met it with 13 on a Birthday Party.

 

After moving to my own apartment, I started to begin my own diet. I took the contraceptive pill and that made things go bad. I gained weight and did get digestion and concentration problems. This was a turning point. I tried various diets as low-carb, Dukan, paleo without meat, thinking it was healthy. Then, I started an internship at a  Competence center of nutrition where I learned a lot about healthy food, about recipe creation, and the MOODFOOD Theory. In 2013 I wrote my bachelor thesis in psychology about “emotions and eating behavior focused on mood food and chocolate”. This also leads to my passion for HAPPYFOOD and to focus on the Mood Food Theory. At the end of 2016, I completed my Master degree in “Event – Sport – Health / Marketing Management”.

2017, I released my first cookbook called “Buddha Bowls” which is available only in German yet. In May 2017, I moved to Berlin to work as a Social Media Marketing Manager. January 2018 I become a full-time Blogger. It feels like all my dreams come true without even knowing about them.
Oh and I finally did my Yoga Teacher training <3.

Stephanie Dreyer is a plant-based meal planning expert. Her recipes and meal planning advice have been featured in several publications and online media outlets, including VegNews magazine and VegNews.com, Chickpea magazine, MensHealth.com, Parade and Thrive Global.

Stephanie is the founder of Batch Cooking Club. Batch Cooking Club is a weekly vegan meal prep membership that takes the thinking out of what to cook. With their done-for-you prep plans and recipes, families can enjoy daily, homemade plant-based meals without time consuming prep.

Hey there! My name is Chenoa, pronounced  Shuh-no-uh ;) and I live in sunny Austin, Texas with my husband Alex and our baby boy Knox. We are deeply passionate about living a PLANT-BASED LIFESTYLE, traveling, sustainability and ethical veganism. I love to blog about all of these topics and share them on the ‘gram as well.

 

I’ve been plant-based for 7 years and since that time, had a wonderfully healthy pregnancy and have been raising our little one on this wholesome diet. I am committed to encouraging and inspiring others to eat more plants and create more life long memories through travel. We only have one life, so it’s important to make the most of it and invest in our health and break free of our comfort zones! There is no judgement here and I hope you find this space encouraging.

 

We believe in family above all else and that love and kindness is EVERYTHING. We try our best to bring a little ray of sunshine everywhere we go. This blog is special space where I hope to encourage you on your journey through life and to take care of your body, mind and family. Thank you so much for stopping by! xo

 

“Veganism is a way of living that seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing and any other purpose.”
— The Vegan Society

Have I always been vegan?…NO.

 

Have I always been sober?.. NO.

 

Have I always been trying to change the world and create peace?… NO.

 

For 12 years of my life I went down the wrong track. I was once involved with gangs and substance use until it landed me in prison. A blessing in disguise as it forced me to see life with new eyes. Many profound moments have happened in my life which have brought me to where I am now.  After leaving the gang life and going vegan for ethical reasons, I wanted to give back. I wanted to help the less fortunate. I wanted to help human beings which is still one of my passions. But I had a realisation. There were a group of innocent beings who needed my help the most. A group of beings who weren’t even recognised by society as victims. A group of beings so persecuted, so exploited and so abused that it dwarfed any human genocide in comparison.

 

The animals were screaming out for help and very few were listening. So I decided to answer their calls and began speaking for them with all my heart. Please listen to my message with an open mind. Please help me, help them. As a vegan all I want is peace.

 

Peace for humans, peace for animals and peace for the world.

Ed Winters is a vegan educator, public speaker and content creator based in London, England. Winters is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Surge, an animal rights organisation determined to create a world where compassion towards all non-human animals is the norm. In 2016 Surge founded The Official Animal Rights March which succeeded in a growth from 2,500 participants in London in 2016 to 41,000 participants across the world in 2019.

 

Winters has spoken at over 1/3 of UK universities and at 6 Ivy league colleges, including as a guest lecturer at Harvard University in April 2019. He has given speeches across the world, including at the University of Cambridge, EPFL, Google NYC and Google Zürich. In early 2019 he gave two TEDx talks, reaching a total of 1.3 million views online. His speech “You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again” has almost 35 million accumulative views online and has been given to thousands of students across UK universities. 

 

In October 2018 Winters opened Unity Diner, a non-profit vegan restaurant in London where all of the profits go directly back into helping animals. He also hosts The Disclosure Podcast.

 

In 2019 Earthling Ed gave 107 talks to a total of 27,600 people & in a 12 month period 33,248 people signed up to go vegan through Ed’s online content.

We're Jess and Dan, the people behind Vegan Punks. 

 

We’re a husband and wife team. And we love creating new vegan recipes. Jess is responsible for photography, styling and editing and Dan looks after all of the technical aspects of running the website. We both contribute to the writing of the blog equally.

 

We’re passionate about proving that vegan food is delicious, easy to make and accessible to all. That’s why we started this blog back in 2017 (in Instagram form). We followed that with a ‘starter’ website and we’re now building it into something bigger. ‘Vegan Punks 2.0’ – if you will.

 

Two things that we instantly bonded over was the love of good food and punk music. So, naturally it seemed logical to combine the two! Our third passion is travel, but we’ll get to that in due course.

I'm Gabrielle Reyes and I'm an actress, singer, veggie-lover, and colorful food creator!

 

I've been vegan for about 10 years and in my time I've fallen in love with all things vegan, vegetarian, plant-based, organic, and all-natural! Before I went vegan I was weighed down by pressure to count calories, restrict myself from food for multiple days, and constantly judge and belittle myself for not being as skinny or petite as my peers. Eventually this led to a self-hating mindset and a two year long eating disorder. Veganism and living a plant-based lifestyle SAVED me from my own personal darkness and now I’m the healthiest and the happiest I could ever shine!

 

These days, I am the proud host of the Musical Cooking Show, The Colorful Home Cooking Show where I share vegan and gluten-free recipes through song. Being a performer I always knew that sick days were not an option and I had to have camera ready skin in a moments notice. So, when it came to my diet and what ways I was nourishing myself I knew that if I kept my insides squeaky clean, and the number of ingredients I consumed minimal, that I was bound to be in tip-top condition on the daily and also have my outsides reflect my insides!

 

I created One Great Vegan so that others seeking health and wellness would have a source for recipes, guidance, coaching, and cooking classes. One Great Vegan is based in Dallas, TX and offers private cooking classes, group cooking classes, plant-based and gluten-free catering, and Chef Gabrielle Reyes is the host of the Musical Cooking Show, The Colorful Home Cooking Show helping you take the right steps towards a healthy, vegan lifestyle! After 10 years of being a tried and true vegan, I’ve gathered the best tips and recipes to make the most out of what Mother Nature has to offer.

 

For some, eating a plant-based diet can be a challenge when transitioning for the first week or so. The good news is you’ve already made the choice to give veganism a try so the hardest part is over, and I’ll be here with you as you embark on the colorful path of veganism. Take the journey of growth and green-goodies and see how you can get your glow on!

A vegan chef and wellness expert, Leslie is the glowing face of a fresher plant-based movement that refuses to compromise style for sustainability. Walking the plant-based talk since age eight, this Southern California native has always been well ahead of the times with her meatless mindset. She works as a consulting chef for hotels, resorts, and restaurants around the world and is currently the vegan chef at the Four Seasons Resort, Punta Mita, Mexico and the Four Seasons Resort, The Biltmore, Santa Barbara.

 

“One of the most talented chefs I have ever known, Leslie Durso takes plant-based cuisine to new heights. There is nothing this powerhouse woman can’t do.”

 

-Colleen Holland, Publisher VegNews Magazine

Hey lovely, I’m Rae.

Rooted in the great Pacific Northwest, I’m the flannel-wearing, dog-loving, foodie behind Raepublic. When I’m not changing the color of my walls or reorganizing my living room, I am researching, creating, and sharing delightful plant-based recipes for a healthier, happier you!

 

There are several reasons why I decided to flirt with a vegan lifestyle. Honestly, I'm pretty young and felt like I needed to be healthier. I felt like even though (thank God) I have a freaking amazing metabolism, the crap I was eating could be slowly causing internal damage in the long run, slowly becoming what people call "skinny fat". 

 

I decided to fully embrace a vegan lifestyle to also contribute to my emotional and spiritual well-being. I had an epiphany after starting this venture, I can't stomach the thought of causing any creature pain or suffering that is even remotely close to what I have been through in life. The factory farming industry in the United States is absolutely horrific – for meat production and dairy alike. I believe that if I am not willing to kill an animal myself, I shouldn't be eating them. 

 

Life is a process full of joy, pain, healing, growth and throughout all of it I choose to operate in a mode of learning. As I continue to learn and grow I focus on empowerment, wellness, holistic health, and giving my body the utrition it needs to thrive. 

 

 

Shaka Smith is an actor and host from Miami. A Princeton graduate, upon arriving in Los Angeles he landed several roles as a fitness model and began competing in fitness competitions. He won several awards and as a vegan became a leading fitness model in the industry, sponsored by Garden of Life.

As an actor, he booked small roles in Disney's Pair of Kings, short films and several commercials. In 2015, Shaka, also an attorney began hosting a legal news show, Justice Is Served on the Black Hollywood Live Channel on the AfterbuzzTV Network. He continued to pursue his love for fitness by also hosting Fit Club, a weekly show aimed at full inclusion of health and fitness amongst minority communities.

Shaka also has a passion for worthy causes and supports many charities. He sits on the board for charity, Project Save Our Surf, devoted to cleaning our oceans and providing clean drinking water to communities around the world in need.

Lulu has over 250,000 followers and runs a business as a vegan food stylist that is completely funded by sponsorships.

 

Luisa Gassga from Lulus Dream Town shares her life with the world and loves to inspire others. 

 

✨ Luisa Gaffga ✨ SELFLOVE

🦋 Travel - Selflove - Vegan 🦋
🌙 Book Author and Creator 🌙

My journey started about four years ago now. Four years ago I was in a Nando’s and it hit me. My whole reason was the ethics. I think compassion is deep-rooted in all of us, but what’s happened over time is that we’ve been blinded to the fact that animals suffer for that plate of food. We all know deep down that the animals are absolutely suffering and going through hell but sadly a lot of us choose to turn a blind eye. I couldn’t do that anymore. 

 

Everything changed when I went vegan. Veganism was just the tip of the iceberg. I went down the rabbit hole and one thing led to the next. So much opened up for me. 

 

I always say that I would go vegan even if it meant being unhealthy, but it’s actually the complete opposite. When you go vegan it actually improves your health as well as the life of another being. Win-win, as they call it.

A lot of people into sports think that going vegan is going to restrict them. I always tell people that when I was eighteen I used to have ankle problems and knee problems. I’m 32 now and I feel better than I did when I was 18. I really want to put that point across to people – if you go down the plant-based route, you can actually up your performance and you can up how you feel every morning when you get out of bed to tackle the day.

In 2015, news broke from the World Health Organization that red and processed meat were now considered Group 1 and Group 2 Carcinogens. Like so many others, Carleigh had grown up on a standard meat and potatoes diet, with steak and pork-chops on weekly rotation in her family kitchen. The news was particularly shocking as her father was a stage 2 colon cancer survivor.

 

Armed with a bachelor’s degree in media theory and journalism, Carleigh began to do her own research, reading landmark and life changing books including The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, finally enrolling in a one year holistic health coach course to become more versed in nutrition. The science was clear. The healthiest, cancer protecting and longevity promoting approach to eating was a whole-foods, plant-based, oil-free lifestyle.

 

Having grown up on a hobby farm surrounded by chickens, horses and many family pets, suddenly everything started to click.

 

The decision to go plant-based was an easy one. Figuring out what the heck to eat was not. With little-to-no cooking skills, and a tiny bachelor apartment kitchen, Carleigh starting experimenting with plants. She noticed that most recipes online were complex and required a lot of speciality grocery items.

 

Determined to stay the course, Carleigh began cooking vegan meals by simply replacing the meat in her favorite childhood recipes with plants. The first recipe she ever veganized was pasta with bolognese sauce.

 

And that’s how Plant You was born.

 

It was obvious to Carleigh that there was a need for truly simple and approachable recipes in the vegan space. Her simple, fuss-free recipe infographics went viral on Instagram, garnering the attention of more than 250,000 ‘followers’ between social media pages. In 2019, she launched her own whole-food, plant-based digital meal plan program, Plant Ahead, which was an instant success, allowing her to leave her corporate job five months later.

 

Carleigh is from a small town in Ontario, Canada where she lives with her fiance and designated taste tester, Jesse, and beloved persian cat, King Tut.

I'm a Los Angeles based vegan ballerina, actress, photographer and celebrity blogger. Known as @artsyagnes with over 500,000 Instagram fans, I have been the face of numerous brands including Amazon, NFL, Starbucks, Macy’s, True Religion, Reebok, Banana Republic, Lionsgate Studio, Google Photos, and many others.

 

Additionally, my interest in advocating for a plant-based and socially responsible lifestyle has become the essence of my platform. In addition to my social media work, I am a classically trained dancer at Julia Bourlina Classical Ballet in Studio City, California.

 

In the beginning, I became vegan primarily due to health reasons. I was trying to heal my problem with breast fibroadenomas (non-cancerous lumps) naturally, and my naturopath recommended that I adopt a plant-based lifestyle. It worked. My fibroadenomas began to shrink about three months after I become vegan.

 

Around that same time, I started meeting so many inspiring people in the vegan community. I educated myself on veganism as a lifestyle more than a mere diet. It’s important to me that I stress the vegan aspect of my life to my followers. Veganism brings about positive changes in all areas of your life and I am just excited to share that with my followers.

 

I tell everyone that the vegan life-style has greatly benefited me as an athlete. I’ve always said that I felt like I was given a new body after I became vegan. My stamina, endurance and energy levels have really improved. I also happily lost some weight after I transitioned to veganism.

 

Veganism is definitely more of a life-style than a mere diet for me. I make sure that everything that I surround myself with, including the clothes that I wear, the products (beauty and otherwise) that I buy, down to the interior of my car, are all made of vegan materials. Additionally, I also only shop brands that follow fair trade and sustainable practices. I think both the animals and the environment are equally important. I promote the principle of non-harm—for our planet, animals and people.

Ricardo Baldin is a vegan Brazilian model and yoga instructor. His strong background as an international model led him to walk for prestigious brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Armani, and be the face for worldwide campaigns. Ricardo is the perfect example of finding self-awareness and living with a meaningful purpose, he now focuses on vegan health, photography and teaching yoga while traveling the world and sharing those moments on Instagram with his 460k followers.

 

Throughout his solid run in the business, Baldin experienced a unique journey that has led to him reconnecting with nature, adopting a plant-based diet, and utilizing his social media influence to speak about matters of the heart and overall health. This month, TALENTMAN founder MICHAEL SEIFERT catches up with Ricardo Baldin in our final exclusive for 2018: “Man of Nature: Reconnecting Roots” as Baldin shares his life-changing transformation.

I was raised in a really healthy way. My parents taught me everything about healthy and wholesome living. I just kind of went right into a whole food and veggie kitchen using whole grains, organic products and eating complex carbs. In warm seasons, I found dandelion, weed (today I know it was goat weed) on my plates. I would have loved to eat a chocolate pudding but instead, dad made me eat our garden. Thank you. No honestly, today I’m really grateful for it. Things like McDonald’s was a NoGO so I first met it with 13 on a Birthday Party.

 

After moving to my own apartment, I started to begin my own diet. I took the contraceptive pill and that made things go bad. I gained weight and did get digestion and concentration problems. This was a turning point. I tried various diets as low-carb, Dukan, paleo without meat, thinking it was healthy. Then, I started an internship at a  Competence center of nutrition where I learned a lot about healthy food, about recipe creation, and the MOODFOOD Theory. In 2013 I wrote my bachelor thesis in psychology about “emotions and eating behavior focused on mood food and chocolate”. This also leads to my passion for HAPPYFOOD and to focus on the Mood Food Theory. At the end of 2016, I completed my Master degree in “Event – Sport – Health / Marketing Management”.

2017, I released my first cookbook called “Buddha Bowls” which is available only in German yet. In May 2017, I moved to Berlin to work as a Social Media Marketing Manager. January 2018 I become a full-time Blogger. It feels like all my dreams come true without even knowing about them.
Oh and I finally did my Yoga Teacher training <3.