Vegan Women Summit
Members of Veggie Mijas recently attended the Vegan Women Summit (VWS) in New York City. Whether in-person or online, it offered both fun and education. In addition to the workshops, we networked and made new friends, tried amazing vegan food, attended book signings, discovered new fashion and beauty products, and celebrated with a rooftop after-party. VWS was a weekend that showed that we can live a sustainable lifestyle.
As a BIPOC organization, it was awesome to see that 80% of the speakers and panelists were people of color. We were able to see and prove that vegan and plant-based lifestyles are part of our culture, and our voices will create the change. Below are some of the quotes that have resonated with us.
Kristy Drutman
@browngirl_green
"There is such an important role every single person can play. And I don’t think you should just rely on the 'environmentalists…' You need to be the leader in your community. You need to be the leader in your sector, in your workplace, in your classroom. We need YOU to be that leader...and if every single person on this planet did that today, we would see a completely different planet."
“I think sometimes people think that veganism or being plant-forward is a white people thing, but we know that in a lot of BIPOC communities being vegan or plant-forward is inherently in a lot of our cultures...we need to start telling stories."
Leah Garces
@leahgarces
“It’s not an on-and-off switch. You’re not gonna go from factory farming to not factory farming. It’s not how systems work. It’s not how systems change. So it’s about building pipelines. We have to build pipelines for workers, farmers, and our mindsets.”
"The system is wrong, but we can build what is right.”
It took 42 times and 42 years for women’s suffrage to pass. We have to keep pushing.
Dr. Janel Gordon
@janelgordonmd
“Western medicine is a disease management system. Lifestyle medicine works on prevention, reversal, and sometimes taking care of it.”
Michelle Ruiz
@hyfejefe
“The way that I think about it is often like how can I turn a potential competitor into a collaborator? Because there are gaps that I can fill for them and gaps that they can fill for me.”
Miyoko Schinner
@miyokoschinner
“People need to be aware that there is a problem first. The fact is, out in the real world most people do not realize that it’s a problem–that there are animals suffering and that the world is going to collapse. Most people don’t know that. So that education, that activism, is key.”
“We have to tell that story first and give people a reason to want to transition. We have to change hearts and minds. We have to change human perception towards animals.”
Jillian Semaan
@jilliansemaan
“Indigenous farmers have been farming regeneratively their entire lives…What we’re seeing is a lot more holistic practices being reintroduced to the farming system, and that to me is one of the greatest things...”
“We need food innovation. We cannot fully sustain a growing planet if we don’t have innovation.”
“Scientists have said that we have less than 52 harvests left. That should be alarming to everybody. This was mentioned probably about 5 years ago. What is actually going to happen to not just our planet, [but] our food system? How can we be sustainable as a people or as a planet? We won’t be able to. So we all have to make changes. The thing is, we can’t rely on government for everything…so we as individuals need to do our part. Corporations need to do their part.”
Sandhya Sriram
@scisandhya
“I think there’s no way this industry can work alone. There’s no way every company can work alone. There’s no one technology, one company that’s gonna do it all. We have to work together. There is no other way this is going to succeed.”
"I think entrepreneurs and companies in this space are so supportive of each other. I have not seen this in any other industry. We are always having each other’s back. We know we are all in the same trenches. We are like, ‘Let’s lift each other up and make this happen together.’”
Ebony Twilley Martin
@ebony_m0nique
“Everybody should have a right to sustainable food.”
70% of Americans are concerned about the climate crisis, which shows that we have the power and the majority is ready for change.
Consider what your community’s goals are and step into your agency to care for those with less access.
We have the power to hold our elected officials accountable and to demand change in our communities.
Persia White
@misspersiawhite
BIPOC communities are often targeted by food corporations who pretend to sell us our culture when in reality, they are selling us unhealthy foods for profit.
We should make it known that we want vegan products in our communities and encourage more access to healthy foods in the inner city.
