Baddies with Business

Snooty Vegans

• BaddieswithBusiness • Season 5 • Episode 86

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Learn all about Mikel-Claire, Co-Owner of Snooty Vegans, about her journey to becoming an entrepreneur.


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Music By: Tukool Tiff

Connect with Baddies with Business:

Music By: TuKool Tiff


Be Bad. Be Bold. Be A Baddie!

Malliron:

Hello everyone. So excited for another episode of Baddies with Business. Today we are talking all things vegan. We have a lovely guest today Mikel- Claire. So, tell the people about yourself.

Mikel-Claire:

Well, thank you for the lovely introduction. I am not every day, but I get called lovely. So I will take that for today on this beautiful Tuesday. So, okay. So my name is Michael Claire. I became vegan transitioned to a vegan lifestyle about almost two years ago. I said if my significant other and I were having some health issues, we're older, we're a little bit older. I don't think, no, I'll tell my age. I'm about to turn 43. And that's your 43 in may. So he and I were kind of, you know, a little concerned about where our health was going, the direction and it was going right. So there's a lot of preventative. Things that we need to do in order to prevent some of these things from coming. So for me, it was in particular like high blood pressure. So my blood pressure was getting higher. The doctor was kind of saying, Hey, you may need to, you know, start looking at some medication or at least in lifestyle changes. Right. So me not necessarily wanting to be on medication my entire, the rest of my life. Right. I decided to look at different options. So I was very surprised when my significant other said, let's try. A vegan lifestyle because he is all about bacon and pork and meat.. So that was a little interesting for me. I was surprised. I said, okay, well, let's try like meatless Mondays. And he was like, no, let's try a whole month. I said, okay. So. I was very surprised, but you know, that's how it all began. That's how it began. So now we kind of wanted to document our journey so that other people that they were interested, or if they had questions, they could kind of see, you know, the road that we've taken, the path that we've taken. And then the funny thing is it's actually gotten to the point where both of our health has really made a change for the better. And so then that's become the real motivation as to why we started soon to be vegans, which is our vegan business.

Malliron:

Let me give you all a little background. So we connected on Instagram and I had been following, I was like, Ooh, look at these recipes or the tips and different things that you share. And also y'all should follow them because there's no shaming of people that are eating meat or not vegan. So that's what I appreciate. It is like Black people who are Vegan that are not shaming. Other people. Into becoming vegan and it's just like, Hey, you can transition. So for you sharing that. We were eating meat. It was a health thing. And then we turned like, I didn't even know that from following you. Because it makes it like more accessible. And, you know, being able to be someone that eats meat, that's like trying to transition away from red meat and like dabbling in the vegan world because my best friend is vegan. It just. It makes me feel really good. So thank you so, much for sharing that.

Mikel-Claire:

Oh, you're welcome. I just, it's so funny because like you said, we don't Carnivores shame. We don't do that. I mean most of our family. Excuse me, all of my family members, my mom's a vegetarian, but all of the rest of our family members on both sides. Our carnivores. So so there's no shaming, you know, I was raised on every type of meat. You can imagine my grandmother's from Mississippi. Although my mom is a vegetarian, she didn't raise us as vegetarian. So, you know, this was kind of new for all of us. Went to college in the south, my significant other one's college in the south. That's where we met. So we're used to some good, you know, some good cooking that includes meat. But the good thing is what we've discovered is that a lot of the dishes that we enjoyed as carnivores, we can make even better sometimes as a vegan dish. So that's been extremely rewarding.

Malliron:

Oh, I love that. So where'd you go to school in the south? Was it HBCU?

Mikel-Claire:

Oh, yes. I went to look, I didn't mean it like that. I didn't. Like that, but I'm just saying, oh yes, it was. I went to Clark Atlanta. My significant other, he went to Morehouse. So we, you know, we're that little, you know, HBCU. You CA you love type of situation. So, yeah.

Malliron:

I love it hBCU. I went to Winston-Salem state university. So you said the south, I was just going to put you in an HBCU, even if you said. I'm like, come on over, come to home, come and shoot.

Mikel-Claire:

Oh, yeah, no, I, oh, I'm going. I loved it. I loved it. I loved every minute of it, missed this out terribly. But yes, hats off to, I almost wore my support black colleges sweatshirt today, but I was like, we gotta look a little fancy today.

Malliron:

You should have done it. I was like, yes, this and that's where we would have started.

Mikel-Claire:

That's. Next time, next time.

Malliron:

time. Next time. Next time. So, how has this journey been for you all not only transitioning. You mentioned that your health has taken a turn for the better, and also you've been able to document this. So,what are some other things that like you discover or learned about yourself in starting this venture and also this lifestyle change as well?

Mikel-Claire:

Well, I've learned I'll be, honest with you since I turned 40 there's been a lot of stuff that I've learned about myself, you know, personal growth has been. An amazing journey since I turned that age and I don't know what it is about being older, that you just kind of realize that you might need to make some changes if you so choose. Right. So what I realized about myself is that consistency matters. And that's in a lot of walks of life, right? Entrepreneurship running a business. Being a parent, being a friend consistency is what matters. So that's the main thing that I've taken away from this whole journey. And the fact that sometimes you might have to look in another direction. Somewhere that you may not have thought to look for in order for something to come. Right. So I wasn't sure what this health and fitness journey was going to look like. I've tried different eating styles. I've tried different workouts. I've actually been an exercise instructor a time or two in my life. So I just wasn't sure what it was going to look like. So the fact that it looks like this is exciting, but it wasn't exactly what I had pictured. But I've learned to be flexible. I've learned that the journey is not always easy. I've learned that I am. Motivated by different things. Now, you know, back in the day I was motivated by, you know, fitting in a size, such and such. And now it's more, so I don't want to take that medication. Blood pressure. So, I mean, there's so many things I've learned. I've learned that a vegan myself can give you way more energy too, to focus on your fitness journey. So that's been exciting for me as well. In the end means there's, there's just a lot of things. A lot of things that I enjoy, like the fact that I'm doing this with my significant other, and he, and I can do this together. That's been an amazing part of this journey as well. So there's so many different things that I've learned about myself and just, you know, the lifestyle in general that I love. And I love to share. If people ask, if people ask, I'm not one of those people, that's going to be like, well, I do well. Let me rephrase this because I do have. But I don't, we don't force our lifestyle out anybody. We just, if people have questions if they see the rewards and the benefits that we have, and they want similar rewards and benefits, then we're more than, more than welcome to have a conversation. Right.

Malliron:

I know you shared a lot of the personal ones that I also want to know about business. So as you get to like some of those learnings with business, I do want you to talk about the name snooty vegan. So can you share a little bit more about the name and also the learnings that have come. On that journey.

Mikel-Claire:

Oh, my gosh, there's been so many. Obviously with the pandemic, I've had to pivot a lot. A lot of people have had to pivot in different ways. I had a nine to five for. Most of my career, most of my professional career. So once the pandemic hit, I have a, a son, a young son who of course, was starting to do online learning. So we had to make some decisions about what our professional careers were going to look like at that point. So we decided to do some, you know, we've done a lot of different digital content, content creation, things like that in the past. But it wasn't necessarily a full-time thing at the time. So this is really given us an opportunity to focus on the entrepreneurial aspect of digital content. Right. So, and to share our journey. So snooty vegans came about it's so funny. We were like, well, let's document our journey. So we could still, other people can see and we can share and all this. Especially, you know, family members from that are far away, that couldn't necessarily connect with us via, you know, In-person meetings because of the pandemic. All of that I say to say, snooty beacons came about. I was like, well, I didn't think, you know, I don't think I'm bougie. I don't think I'm bougie occasionally. Occasionally, but I'm definitely a little snooty, right? So. Snooty in terms of like, we eat what we want to eat. We don't, we don't have like strict regulations about certain things. We just listen to our bodies, listens to what feels good for us, what works for us. And then that's what we kind of go with. So that's where snooty kind of came from. We were like, well, we're snooty in our vegan journey, just because just like I said, we don't follow strict guidelines and we do what feels right for us. As far as the business came about, we were like, well, what can we do, you know, to expand this, to kind of grow our audience, to increase their awareness, increase the conversation. So we started doing, you know, various podcasts and things like that. And then that's when the shirt brand kind of came about. So I love, love or shirts snootyvegans.com. But it's so funny because I say, this is what I say. I say, you could say it with your chest, right? So you don't actually have to say, you're a vegan to start the conversation. You wear it on your shirt. If people have interest or if they want to know more than they can, they can start the conversation. So I think that that's a good, a good talking point and a good way to start the conversation with other people who may be interested in as well. Did I answer the question?

Malliron:

You did answer the question. So you've had some learnings. And that flexibility piece that you mentioned in your personal life, I think that also carries over into the business as well. Could you share a little bit more about, what you all offer? Do you offer like recipes? Is it like consulting for those individuals who are trying to transition? Like, what are the. Services or products and things that you all offer in addition to the t-shirt.

Mikel-Claire:

Of course. No. Cause so we do, we do do transition coach coaching. So as if you're looking to transition to a vegan lifestyle, the type of things that we offer we typically try to do group coaching because it's, it's more. It's easier to kind of, to transition when you have support. So there are a lot of people that want to transition to this lifestyle that may not have the support of their family, or it may be just them who wants to transition and maybe their significant other or their children are not quite interested in it yet. So they just want to kind of try it out beforehand to see if it's something that works for them and their family. So what we do is we do actually, we do provide meal plans. The first thing that we kind of talk about is mindset, right? Because if you don't have the right mindset, Then a matter what you do, you're going to revert back to whatever it is. That's your mindset was before. So that's the main thing that we try to initially start with is mindset work. We have to talk about, of course, like, what is your why? I know that's a big thing that a lot of people in fitness talk about, but it's, it's extremely important to keep you motivated and consistent. Consistency is key. We talk about being consistent, what that looks like, that looks different for everyone, right? And everybody is going to only eat vegan meals every single day, you know, starting off cold Turkey, that kind of thing. Some people need a little bit more of a actual transition, like baby steps, right? So we just kind of lay out the plan, look at what that looks like for everybody, even though each person has an individual, you know, having group support, like I said, does help. In, in encourage you along the way. And just kind of talking about like what your goals are. So that's the important thing to, what's your, why? What are your goals? What do you expect to get out of this lifestyle? Is it something that you want to be for a lifetime? Is it something that you're trying to fit into getting. Cousin's wedding dress next. August.

Malliron:

Cause you got to fit into cousin's dress.. By any means necessary. Cause cuz said you're going to be cut out the wedding and if you'll fit in this dress now,

Mikel-Claire:

Absolutely. That's the case, you know, we can meet that goal, but the good thing is what people have found. And what I've learned with my clients is that. Once they start the journey, even if it is for like a goal that maybe like two or three months down the road, because you feel so good because you have so many benefits because you have the energy to exercise because your skin is glowing. Radiantly it, it turns into something that people are interested in for a lifetime. So I think that that's extremely rewarding. So once people kind of get their foot in the door, They see the benefit and then it turns into like a long-term commitment. So we have that. I also, I do some other things as well, but that's that's as far as you know, with the vegan, the vegan lifestyle vegan in transition coaching. Is concerned. And we have fun. That's other thing. I'd like to find joy in the journey. That's my main, that's like my philosophy of life is finding joy in the journey. So I love to laugh. I love to make it kind of lighthearted. I like to, you know, just joke and have fun and then, you know, just really enjoy life and who I'm working with.

Malliron:

I love that. You shared not only some things that you all share with those who are transitioning within this group coaching. But also some things that are important for folks who are starting businesses or ventures or ideas. So the mindset shift, that's powerful. Like. It is a mindset shift. This is not just a hobby. This is a business. And it's also like you believe in that in order for other people to believe that. You also mentioned, what is your, why? So constantly going back to, what is your, why, what is the reason you're doing this? Who are the people that are connected to your, why? And consistency is key because this is the, is the key is the house it's the foundation it's the frames it's all that stuff that I watch on HGTV. Period.

Mikel-Claire:

It's the key to live the book alive, the wait, the fountain, the, youth.

Malliron:

In thinking about consistency and the challenge of it. How do you motivate people to remain consistent? Cause I think. The way that you are motivate them at as their transitioning is also a way that people can be motivated as they start businesses or are about this. So could you share a couple tips about things that you all share with your clients?

Mikel-Claire:

Yeah, of course. So there's, there's a couple things definitely believe in small victories and small rewards. Right. So anytime you have like a victory say you made it. Two straight days, you know, with delicious, wonderful tasty vegan meals. Right? So what can you do to reward yourself? So the good thing is like there's, there's vegan treats. There are vegan treats, there's Oreo cookies that are vegan. You know, there are certain things that I think that people don't realize or recognize that are vegan. And as long as everything in moderation, as long as you don't overdo it, there are things in ways to reward yourself. We don't like to really always reward ourselves with food, right. Because we don't always want to think of like, you know, I'm going to do this so I can get that donut or whatever it is. Speaking of that, we do have donuts every Sunday, they're vegan donuts, but anyway, I digress. But I mean, there are ways to reward yourself and another way to stay consistent. Right. Is to make sure. You know you, what your goals are, right. To have an accountability partner. A lot of times, accountability partners are very necessary and needed in order to make sure that you. On track and stay consistent. So that's, that's a really big one is finding someone that can support you in your why and can support you in your goals. And they, you know, can just be like, Hey, you know, let me share this recipe with you. Right. So, you know, so you don't have to think about what your dinner is going to be tomorrow night. Let me share this with you. The other important thing about remaining consistent that we share is that not every day is going to be a hundred percent. Success in what you determine as a success, right? So say you you maybe had something that had a little bit of dairy in it. Don't beat yourself up. Don't make it a slippery slope. You know what I mean? Just think about the next meal and what you can do after that. So that's the main thing, because a lot of people, what happens is if they make like the slightest mistake, it's a slippery slope all the way back to day one. Whereas you can say, Hey, you know what? I messed up a little bit today, but it's not going to mess up my entire journey. So that helps with consistency as well.

Malliron:

I hope y'all got your notepad out. It's not pause right now. Go get your note pad. rewind about 30 seconds and then hit play. So a refresher, as you have your note pad, small victories, celebrate the small victories. I did it today. I checked things off of my list that I had celebrate it and reward yourself. That reward doesn't have to be food. I love food. So my reward might be food, but if it's not it's okay. The next one is know your goals. So it's important to know your why, but also know your goals. Why are you doing this? And also have an accountability partner that can hold you accountable and also make it mutual. I think it being mutually beneficial, you both are holding one another accountable. And the last one, not every day is a success. I just want to like, write this in the sky with little plane, not every day is a success and it's okay. It's okay. It'll be fine. You'll bounce back because we'll celebrate that moment that you had a victory. And if you don't, you'll learn from that and continue going. So those are those three, any more you want to add?

Mikel-Claire:

Yeah. I was like, wait, one more thing. So it's so great because when we talk about not every day is a success and this is in business as well. Right. They say fail fast. And fail forward, right? So it lets you kids failure is a part of learning. Failure is a part of being able to look at what went wrong and correcting your course. Right? So I just feel like fail fast, fail forward. And just it's all about perspective. Failure is not the end of the road. Failure is not anything personal failure is a thing that happens to every single successful person in business. So, you know, the whole fall down seven times to get up eight in businesses completely, completely. Really necessary to remember because not every day is a success. So fail fast, fail forward, and then get back on track.

Malliron:

Dust yourself off and try again okay. Yeah, we have it a good time. I hope y'all have a good time over there. As you think about your journey, And just the venture this far. Are there some baddies that you want to shout out that have been there along the journey with you? They've been your accountability partners. They've been your cheerleaders. They've been like. You shouldn't do that. Like, who was the bad is that you want to shout out in this moment?

Mikel-Claire:

Well, let me tell you, I can't lie. Not a personal friend yet, but you know, Tabitha brown. to have the brown. She doing the thing in the vegan world.. Kale My Name just opened in California. If you haven't checked it out. And it's so funny. One of my old college roommates, her line sister is pinky. The one that has led him vegan in Atlanta. So shout out to her because she is doing the darn thing significantly. I'm trying to think there's been people that we've had encounters with along. We had a road trip not too long ago. We had, we stopped at black owned vegan restaurants and they were just, so Maddie's foods is in Kansas city, Missouri, and then we also stopped at in St. Louis. So that was amazing as well. So just, just anybody that opens their arms to us as we continue this journey we love to collaborate with other people of color just because we support. You know, our community. So just want to shout those people out. All my college roommates they've always supported me from the very beginning. So that's, they're like my, you know, My solid sport. Oh. And my significant other. The other part of snooty vegans.. I almost forgot him. I feel like it's award season. And I was like, Ooh, I must have forgot the most important person in the room.

Malliron:

Oh, yes. I was like, is he going to be on the list? Cause he was like, I'm not going to be a baddie, but I'm a friend and I would be right there every step of the way. I do have a question for you. So you did this road trip. Did you put together a list of these black owned vegan spots? Oh, where can we find that?

Mikel-Claire:

Well, let me tell you what I have learned. What I have learned, especially traveling. Is that there's not a lot of places to stop along the way as a vegan. Right. So we packed up all of our typical stacks, but there were some times we just wanted to get somewhere. And eat and then keep moving. So what I did, what I do typically when I go almost any restaurant or anywhere, any new city is I Google I say, what is vegan at blah, blah, blah, what is vegan at such and such? What are black owned vegan restaurants in this city or that city? And then we just try to make sure that wherever it, whatever direction we take, we make sure that we support. I have not compiled a list. That's actually a very good idea. We haven't done as much traveling as we would, like because of the pandemic and our son is in school as well. But that, that's a very good idea, but anytime you have any question, you just Google. I am very good with Google. What is vegan at such and such? And then, like I said, we always throw in the black owned as well, just because that's important to us too.

Malliron:

Oh, I love it. So as you think about your journey, you share some learnings. You've also shared a little bit more about what you all do in clients. If you think about. In the next two to three years. Where would you like snooty, vegans to be? And how can the community of baddies and friends help you get there? Starting from the day they hit play on this episode.

Mikel-Claire:

That's a very good question. I think the conversation is important because I think a lot of people aren't really aware of what all being a vegan entails or what it can entail or does it have to entail. I think that a lot of people are kind of afraid of like things like the cost of being a vegan and things like that, which is a misconception, because if you go to any grocery store, the produce is typically cheaper than most of the processed foods. Um, so just starting the conversation. So I think how people can be of support. If you have a podcast, if you have a show. And you want to start the conversation, have the conversation, half your listeners and your followers know about what the benefits are, especially like in the black community. And your health. Cause that's like the main thing, right? We want longevity of life, but we also want quality of life. So I think just having those conversations would be a great support. Because then, like I said, it gets the message out to more people, that it is a sustainable lifestyle and that has so many rewards for yourself, your family, your community, and just everyone in general. And you can say it with your chest. And get a t-shirt. For all of your vegan friends and that. And share, share that as well.

Malliron:

I love that. So it's interesting because. when you said, say it with your chest. I think of like how black people, like saying what your chest like, and y'all like, literally say it with your chest. Put it a tee shirt. And say it with your chest. So I love how black ally thank you for that.

Mikel-Claire:

so you're so welcome. I love it too. I wouldn't think about it.

Malliron:

Okay. So where can people go to follow you on social media and also get their t-shirt?

Mikel-Claire:

We're at snooty vegans. So S N O O T Y V E G a N S. So at snootyvegans on instagram. And then our, for our t-shirt literally www dot snooty, vegans.com. So there's all kinds of different t-shirts on there. Um, hello, I'm a vegan of just, you know, vegan life, all these kinds of things. So um, that's where we Currently.

Malliron:

And I will put that in the description of this episode. So yeah, it's, it's been a great conversation. Hopefully you all have learned something, not about living a vegan lifestyle and like transitioning. And also about some of those key concepts that you can take it to your bitcher a community where you could share with a friend. So in closing, I do a baddie benediction, so not necessarily a prayer, but it's just some closing words. Like we're about to open up the doors of the batty community. What is your As she went on, leave us with today.

Mikel-Claire:

Okay. Words I want to leave with. I think I said it a little earlier. Well, I know I did fail fast. Pick yourself up. And keep moving. know you're at worth. Know your value and don't let anybody tell you otherwise, because you know, your value and your worth and the people that want to support you in what you're doing will come. Baddie Benediction.