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Vegans in Surprising Industries – Part 3

Anastasia Strokova Dec 25, 2018 Featured Leaders

We continue with our “Vegans in Surprising Industries” series by focusing on the airline industry this time. Not normally known for vegan-friendly meal options on their flights, most airlines in the US offer mostly vegetarian meals that have to be arranged in advance as special meal requests. However, the change continues to happen and vegans do continue influencing airlines to think outside the box.

Natalie Mindrum who grew up in rural Minnesota comes from a long line of dairy farmers. Having been around farming since childhood, Natalie will tell us about her journey to veganism, how she keeps her enthusiasm and inspiration and what it’s like being a vegan working for an airline.

What led you to embrace the vegan lifestyle?

I grew up in rural Minnesota around animal farming. My father owned a small feedlot and both sets of my grandparents were dairy farmers. I vividly remember spending time as a child petting baby cows in huts, who I now realize had been separated from their mothers as a part of the dairy industry. I always felt a strong sense of empathy and kindness towards animals yet continued to eat them because that was the way things were, and I didn’t question it.

A few things set me down the path to veganism. The first was that in college as a part of a class, I helped teach English to slaughterhouse workers at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa. I toured Agriprocessors and was horrified by both the animal and human abuse occurring there. I stopped eating animals for a while but then started again. Then, years later, an acquaintance recommended I watch a film called “Earthlings.” After watching Earthlings, that was it for me. I was done with eating animals. I’ve been vegan for over 10 years, and I can’t see myself living any other way.

What is it like to be vegan in your profession?

Working for an airline has enabled me to travel in search of amazing vegan food. My husband and two sons, who are 5 and 7 years old, are also vegan – we have visited cities with the exclusive purpose of finding great vegan food. We visited Tel Aviv last summer and loved the food and vegan vibes there. We plan to visit Australia later in December 2018 and have the Happy Cow app ready to direct our trip.

For the most part, my co-workers and colleagues have responded with positive curiosity to me being vegan. Whenever I’ve faced challenges at work related to being vegan, I’ve reminded myself that I was once a meat eater who didn’t understand why someone would consider veganism. Remembering that helps me remain a positive example of a happy, healthy person who also happens to be vegan. The more all of us live that way, the more of us there will be and the easier it will be for all of us.

Do you have a favorite way to “recharge your vegan batteries”, i.e. spark back your enthusiasm to continue spreading the message?

Meeting other vegans has really sparked my enthusiasm. For years, I was the only vegan I knew in real life other than my husband. At times that felt very isolating and frustrating given that it felt as though the kind, compassionate people I knew should, of course, be vegan! Now, I’m lucky to have met other vegans both inside and outside of work and seeing their involvement in activism has inspired me to become more active and vocal myself. My “activism” has moved from donating money to vegan causes and posting on social media about veganism to getting involved with Anonymous for the Voiceless and the Animal Rights March in Chicago this past year. I want to get more involved in the future.

Are you seeing any shifts in the direction of your industry or company (more focus on the development of plant-based products, a more favorable perception of vegans in the workplace etc.)?

I do think we’re seeing a shift in the airline industry – there are more vegan options being offered for sale on airplanes than ever before, but there’s still a long way to go. I think an under-rated form of activism is telling companies what you, as a consumer, want from them. I’m always excited when vegan customers reach out to say there’s unmet demand for vegan food. We should all be letting the companies we engage with know what we need. Make it happen, vegans!

What advice would you give to vegans working in a traditionally vegan-unfriendly industry or living in a location with a few vegan options or no vegan community?

I would tell you to stay strong and remain grounded in your principles. Society hasn’t quite caught up with your perspective on the world but change is occurring quickly. You should be proud to be a voice for the innocent.

What is your favorite plant-based recipe or a meal? What will you be making for Christmas this year?

One of the earliest vegan recipes I learned to make was this red lentil dahl recipe which is reportedly renowned philosopher Peter Singer’s family recipe: https://whyveg.com/recipes/make_this.php?recipe=53 It’s easy to make and very tasty.

We are thinking about a trip to Australia during the winter holidays this year and will be checking out all the vegan food Sydney offers!

Vegans in Surprising Industries – Part 2

Anastasia Strokova Dec 9, 2018 Featured Leaders

In this video interview, we are continuing our “Vegans in Surprising Industries” series. Craig Sidell works for The New York Times as a VP of Compensation and Benefits. What’s it like being a vegan in a publishing industry, especially when you have an opportunity to directly influence wellness initiatives in your own workplace?

Craig was a vegetarian for over 20 years before becoming vegan after reading a book called “Veganist” by Kathy Freston. In fact, his entire family is largely plant-based and he has been supporting and actively promoting plant-based initiatives in the office. Watch the video below to learn more.

Expert Tips on Creating Plant-Based Movement in Your Workplace

Anastasia Strokova Nov 23, 2018 Advice and Guides

Lessons from Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones Project

What does it take to make an entire city healthier and more open to a plant-based lifestyle?

Dan Buettner, an award-winning journalist, researcher, and a National Geographic fellow, knows exactly how to get it done. Thanks to his Blue Zones Project, communities across the United States from rural Minnesota to beach cities in California to a corporate hub in Texas are being transformed. Cities who commit to Blue Zones Project report savings in health care costs, longer lifespan, drop in obesity and smoking rates and many other improvements.

With our Corporate Initiatives Program kicking off in its first year, we got an opportunity to interview Dan about his perspective on being a change maker and making an impact on corporate and community levels.

Tell us about the work of Blue Zones Project with businesses and corporations?

Dan: Blue Zones Project works with entire communities. Our approach is comprehensive and community-wide and we believe if that if you want to make employees healthier, you have to make their city healthier.

One of the success stories of Blue Zones Project is the community of Albert Lea, MN that has seen a 38% increase in walking and biking and have lost a total of 8,000 pounds.

Blue Zones Project offers workplace certification project for companies, schools, grocery stores where businesses are coached in about 50 ways that an employer can optimize their environment. We encourage business to change policies and implement designs where people would be more likely to move more, eat more plant-based options, connect more, and know their sense of purpose. We coach employers in implementing these changes and if at least 70% of the recommendations get implemented, they get certified by us.

At companies’ cafeteria, we ask them to charge a bit more for hamburgers or meat entrees and use the extra funds to subsidize appealing and delicious plant-based offerings with fresh ingredients and a real chef preparing them so that they are really tasty.

We also convinced employers to offer green trays at the salad bar and red trays at the hamburger line. Bottom line: we don’t take people’s choice away, we try to make healthy choice easier, more salient, and easier to find.

What are some of the essential partnerships that make Blue Zones Project a success?

Dan: Our initiative is publicly supported and privately funded. We work with city governments and leaders and usually develop a partnership with an insurance company or a hospital system to fund the program in a particular community. For example, Albert Lea project received funds from Minnesota Department of Transportation, Minnesota State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic Health System, Walmart, and many other community organizations. We partner with organizations that clearly see the link between the purpose of our program and being able to bring down obesity, smoking and improve health and quality of life indicators in the entire community.

But this project only works if people actually commit to change. Through our program, we encourage people to take a pledge where they agree to do plant-based potlucks with other people, take purpose workshops and volunteer, implement a checklist we give them in order to optimize their home for a healthier lifestyle. We work with a city council to influence such things as restaurant menus with ample vegetable and fruit offerings, favor pedestrian over automobile method of transportation or favor a non-smoker over a smoker.

The change happens gradually, usually, after about 5 years you get enough ubiquity and penetration. Our main premise on which we operate our entire program is we don’t try to change people’s lives, we change their environment. We create an environment where it’s cheaper and more accessible and even cooler to eat plant-based entrees, to eat fewer calories, move more, socialize more, and know your sense of purpose.

What advice would you give to a vegan in a workplace who wants to make a difference in his or her organization?

We don’t take people’s choice away, we try to make healthy choice easier, more salient, and easier to find.”

Dan: Chief Financial Officer and HR department would be the best contact to start with. Financial leaders in companies care about the bottom line. It is quite logical to tie diabetes, cancer, and other conditions with how much it is costing a company in medical expenses and lost productivity. Steer the conversation towards the fact that policies encouraging plant-based eating are ultimately going to lower healthcare costs for any company. In this situation, it will be more productive to take a health approach rather than an animal rights approach.

Advocate for changes that can be easily and inexpensively implemented, at least at first. Fruits, water, healthy snacks…all these items are readily available and would not break a company budget. Work with a cafeteria to have a couple of plant-based entrees as part of a regular menu. Encourage a company to sponsor plant-based lunches to get people trying and realizing how delicious this food can be.

Earlier this year we launched our Vegan Leaders Corporate Initiatives Support Program, which is a 60month coaching program to promote plant-based choices in the corporations. What advice would you give to the participants of this program to make their mission most successful?

Dan: It is fantastic to hear about such an initiative. One advice I can give to the participants is to remember that discipline is hard. It can only take you so far. Don’t strive to change the behavior of people around you. Instead, work on changing their environment and you will see a big difference.

Another important aspect to remember is to strive to create friendships rather than just organizing a certain group. There is a concept of “moai”, which means “meeting for a common purpose” in Japanese. People belonging to a moai develop lifelong friendships fueled by a common purpose and a sense of connection and belonging.

See if you can make meaningful connections through this initiative and think beyond organizing a certain group. Can you give people an opportunity to get to know each other, to bond, to make memories over plant-based potlucks, holding each other accountable and working on a common purpose together?

Then, when the program is done, you will still have 2-3 friends with whom you shared fun getting together and going out to eat vegan Thai food and you can’t wait to do it again.

Have you gotten any pushback through this project or find it difficult for people to commit to the change?

We create an environment where it’s cheaper and more accessible and even cooler to eat plant-based entrees, to eat fewer calories, move more, socialize more, and know your sense of purpose.”

Dan: Blue Zones Project is only done in cities who want this program implemented. We don’t certify employers, schools, grocery stores, and other businesses unless they want it and are ready to commit. The key is to formulate benefits for an organization and get it to opt in.

What’s next for Dan Buettner, what’s the next project?

Dan: I am researching healthiest diets in the world and food that will sustain the world population in the next 50 years where we can live without chronic disease. Both internal and external impacts of our food choices are of great interest to me.

Best of luck with your program!

Vegans in Surprising Industries – Part 1

Darina Bockman Jul 21, 2018 Featured Leaders

Anastasia Strokova (left) and Rupa Vadodaria (right)

Would it amaze you to find vegans working at companies whose business seems at odds with vegan ethics?

Indeed, as more and more people embrace the plant-based lifestyle while keeping a successful professional career, you may well find vegans employed by Monsanto, Walmart or McDonald’s. Our Vegan Leaders network has dozens of members working across pharmaceutical and biotech companies, food and consumer product giants, chemical and energy conglomerates, military and defense contractors and more.

What is it like for these vegans? In this first part of the series, we interview Anastasia Strokova who works as a Strategic Programs Staff Analyst for a major food company. We also interview Rupa Vadodaria who is an Associate Director in the supply chain organization at a leading pharmaceutical company.

What led you to embrace the vegan lifestyle?

Anastasia: For me, it was initially about health. I’d already experimented with eliminating foods such as dairy from my diet to improve my health. That led me to several health documentaries, through which I further learned how irresponsible food production degrades the environment and human health and how badly it treats animals.

When my Mom passed away, I wanted to do something profound in her name. I realized that it was time to go completely vegan – to stand up for my values and educate others by example. It was one of the best decisions of my life. I haven’t looked back since.

Rupa: I come from a Jain family in India. Jainism is a religion which teaches non-violence. I grew up as a vegetarian and was taught to make choices that considered all living beings. We were already avoiding leather and other animal products. In addition, I was already opting for products that were not tested on animals.

This background helped me find my niche as I was launching my own wellness coaching business in 2015. From interviewing numerous vegan speakers I learned of additional issues I was not previously aware of (e.g. wool and down industry). In early 2016, I became vegan and will be vegan for the rest of my life.

You work in an industry one might not expect of a vegan. What is it like, and how well does your workplace accommodate vegans?

Anastasia: I know you’d hardly expect a vegan working for a protein company! I was not yet a vegan when I started there, and I’ll admit, at first the new vegan ideology posed some ethical struggles. But then I thought: “There is a reason I am here. Can I be the change I want to see? If this road was easy, anybody would do it.”

My plant-based choices have never compromised my career growth. To me, that is the most important accommodation there should be. A progressive enterprise should welcome a variety of views, backgrounds and values because that’s how it evolves and retains its competitive edge.

We have some vegan options in our corporate cafeteria however I prefer to prepare my own lunch and snacks. At functions or team events, I also bring my food and enjoy being social.

Rupa: My workplace accommodates vegans well. My co-workers embrace my choice to be vegan. Some even join me to have vegan lunches. Also during certain lunch meetings, they order vegan food for me specially. We have some vegan options in the cafeteria as well.

How do your corporate colleagues typically react when they learn you are vegan?

Rupa’s takeaway: “Be a proud VEGAN! You are doing your share to save the world and you are showing the way to others.”

Anastasia: I have been open about my food choices in the workplace, and found varying degrees of acceptance from my colleagues. I may have been the first openly vegan person at the company. However, over the years I met several others. What’s more, several people have approached me for advice on weight loss, plant-based
nutrition and recipes! That clearly tells me that people are hungry for wholesome and healing foods. While I still get some teasing and joking, it is now mostly around my green smoothies that I bring to work every day.

Rupa: Most people feel it must be extremely difficult to be a vegan! That is a very common reaction everywhere I go. They wonder how I can survive on fruits and vegetables, and without eating cheese and milk etc. I view these reactions as opportunities to educate others and dispel the many myths about veganism.

When describing your lifestyle, do you describe it as vegan, plant-based or something else?

Anastasia: I mostly say “vegan” because that’s a traditional term and people understand it. However, I do like the term “plant-based” a lot. I think it emphasizes the point that plants are meant to be our optimal nutrition. The plant-based concept also makes me more conscious about my choices not only in the grocery aisle but in all the other products that I buy- issues such as trash and waste, our reliance on plastic or disposable items and industries that still do animal testing. I am not buying leather goods anymore, I got a compost bin and I’m trying my hand at growing a small garden in my back yard. I try to emphasize the message that small but consistent changes make the biggest difference, and it all starts with each of us.

Rupa: I use different words and narrative based on the audience. Some people resist the idea of veganism but find plant-based concepts easy to understand. Some people understand the ethical and moral side of it (for example they can relate to the feelings of an animal) while others are more concerned about health. Others are very sensitive about the environment. My response varies depending on what types of question are posed to me.

Is your company showing any interest in vegan or plant-based initiatives (e.g. a shift to plant-based products, a more favorable perception of vegan ideas)?

Anastasia: I think so. Any company that wants to stay competitive must be innovative and look for opportunities in many directions. Our company invests in alternative protein sources, and recognizes that the demand for other forms of protein is growing rapidly.

I am also getting involved in some of our workplace health and wellness initiatives and hoping to drive some progress on that front.

Rupa: I have also overall seen more awareness and tangible signs such as more vegan options in the cafeteria. However, we don’t yet have any vegan based club or group at our company today. I am hoping to take the initiative to start such a group at my workplace.

What advice would you give to vegans working in a traditionally vegan-unfriendly industry or living in a location with few vegan options?

Anastasia’s takeaway: “I am open about my food choices at work. Several people have now approached me for advice on weight loss, plant-based nutrition and recipes!”

Anastasia: Be glad that you have an opportunity to blaze some trails! But don’t burn the bridges in process. In other words, don’t hide your food choices but also don’t be boastful or in people’s faces about your choices. Be prepared and educated to answer questions and teasing statements with stats, case studies, and, most importantly, with personal examples of how plant-based lifestyle has increased your well-being. Remember that changes in behavior and mindsets always take time. I actually wrote an article on this topic – highlighting the top three plant-based tips for busy professionals.

Rupa: It’s ok to be different and to stand out. I had to deal with it my whole life even when I was “only” vegetarian. Being different is attractive.

Plus, there is a clear shift towards vegan and plant-based living in our society. There is no need to shy away anymore. In fact, it’s more important than ever to be who we are and be proud of it.

So be a proud VEGAN! You are doing your share to save the world and you are showing the way to others.

Outside of work, are you involved with any vegan groups or activism?

Anastasia: I support several animal welfare and environmental organizations. I am involved with several online plant-based lifestyle groups. As a health coach, I am also actively posting plant-based content online on Instagram at healthmatters.today and on Facebook at Health Matters Coaching. I spread the message of health and wellness, and show people how attainable AND enjoyable it is to be plant-based.

Rupa:I am a wellness coach myself and have a Facebook page where I promote veganism. I constantly stay on top of the vegan news and share as much as I can. My vegan work is mainly focused on impacting people in my community and my temple. I try to influence others by way of example. I do my part through my website and my Facebook page Wellness Coach Rupa.

Our Main 2018 Initiatives

Darina Bockman Jul 16, 2018 Announcements

What is next for Vegan Leaders in Corporate Management after the Playbook? We are already working on several big things.

First, we are launching a formal Corporate Initiatives Support Program. It will offer free structured support (for 6 months, with enrollments twice per year) to people who’d like to act on ideas from the Playbook, and would benefit from a mentor, peer group and assigned goals, tasks and checkpoints. We start accepting participants in August 2018, for our first 6-month cycle starting on September 1st, 2018.

Second, we have kicked off a Plant Based UN project/campaign to convince United Nations (UN) to promote a plant-based message predominantly (if not exclusively) under their global corporate sustainability program.

Our other project is to conduct a research study and compile metrics proving the vegan trend in the corporate world. We feel this could really boost the acceptance of vegan initiatives in more resistant companies.

Lastly, we have begun the process of formally incorporating as a 501c3 organization. During its first few years, VLCM was just an online community with some volunteer manpower behind it. Now we are very excited to take our work to the next level by becoming a formal tax-exempt non-profit entity, based on California. This process should be completed in early 2019.

If you are interested to join any of these projects and offer your skills (volunteer opportunities only – minimum commitment of 6 months with at least 1 hour contributed per week), please message me on LinkedIn.