The Vegan Journey of Sana Suhail | VBI #008

A cruelty-free makeup enthusiast, Sana Suhail has conducted workshops on how to do your makeup using beauty products that aren't tested on animals. A volunteer at Cupa LARRC. Certified Pranic Healer, currently healing animals at Cupa. In love with Mother Earth, She spends time gardening and learning about eco-conscious ways to survive. 

How did you become vegan?

I remember watching videos and pictures posted by PETA on Instagram; they were an eye-opener. If I was aware of the dairy industry's ugly truth, I wouldn't have even tasted milk to go vegan in the first place.

I have always loved animals. But being born in a non-vegetarian family, we're conditioned to eat non-vegetarian food and it's a core part of our diet. I think many other non-vegetarians also love animals but we're conditioned in a way that it becomes a part of life. Being an animal lover, I started following PETA and CUPA on Instagram and each of their posts made an impact on me. Once, PETA posted about how animals are used and how they are treated during product testing. All those things made me think and I started using cruelty-free cosmetic products. However, that was just the beginning. Each time they posted about other ugly facts about the meat and dairy industry, it raised my awareness. I realised that we don't need this. By drinking milk and consuming dairy products, we are contributing to that cruelty. So, if I could eliminate dairy products from my life, I could save a lot of cows and calves that are affected in this industry. A lot of calves are killed because of this. Once I got to know of all this cruelty, I didn't want to be a part of it and turning vegan was the right thing to do.

Being born in a non-vegetarian family, how were your initial days after becoming vegan? Were they supportive enough?

It was a mixed response. In the beginning, it was a little difficult for them to accept it. However, they were supportive enough. They started preparing food for me separately. It started with me being vegetarian. When I turned vegan, they were a little sceptical because they were concerned regarding my nutrition. I made them understand and my immediate family was quite supportive after that. But we have a big family and a lot of gatherings keep happening. It's a little complicated when I get out there and sometimes I get mocked. In those situations, we have to be mentally very strong and be okay with it as long as you believe in yourself and your choices.

How easy was the transition from non-veg to veg?

In my case, the transition from non-veg to vegetarian happened quite easily. It didn't take much time. I did it in a very systematic way so that my body gets used to change. First I eliminated eating non-veg at home and then outside. After that, I totally cut it off. The reason behind going vegetarian was very strong, so it helped me switch very easily and quickly.

The faster I eliminated meat from my lifestyle, the faster I found happiness. It's been more than 8 years now being vegetarian and a year being vegan, and I'm really happy about it.

Non-vegetarian people say “It tastes so good, I can't quit". What’s your take on that?

It depends on what is more important and your priorities: the ethics or the taste buds. In a day, we prioritise what tasks to do. Likewise, we need to prioritise whether we want to satisfy our taste buds and ignore the fact that we are contributing to such cruelty or we want to make the change. At the same time, vegetarian food is also tasty and there is a lot to explore in that. Also, we are helping ourselves too by consuming healthier food.

How is your volunteer experience at CUPA (Compassion Unlimited Plus Action)?

When I started volunteering at CUPA Large Animal Shelter (LAARC), I loved it. My heart just wanted to stay there. The people at CUPA genuinely love animals. It's very healing and therapeutic because the love that animals give you is just amazing and can't be described in words. Every Sunday I spend my time over there and I look forward to it.

As volunteers, we can help in various ways. It can be in the form of giving them baths, cleaning them up, giving them some dressing or helping other staff or the doctors. There is no hard and fast rule. We can ourselves come up with ideas and also passively adopt the animals over there. I was interested in healing animals. Most of the time people can be sceptical about the energy healing process but CUPA really supported me with this. All of us at CUPA do twin hearts meditation on Sundays and bless the animals all around the world.

Every time I go there it has been a different experience. I've spent days with various animals, be it a donkey, horse or a dog.

You conduct workshops on cruelty-free makeup. Can you tell more about how cruelty happens in the cosmetics industry?

Not just makeup, but a lot of beauty products and day-to-day products like detergents, shampoos, soaps etc are tested on animals. The animals that are tested upon in the labs are usually rabbits and sometimes cats and dogs too. The chemicals that are used in these products are tested on the animals if they are safe to be used on humans. In this process, their eyes and ears are burnt. The animal is kept caged and the chemicals are put on the sensitive part of their body. These chemicals can cause adverse effects and make them blind or deaf. Some companies don't encourage these tests and are known as cruelty-free companies. So, I decided to spread awareness on how to identify these companies to not be a part of this cruelty.

How do you promote such products?

I conduct workshops on and off, where I teach makeup and also give a list of cruelty-free brands and instructions on how to identify them. Besides, I call out companies that are cruel to animals. Also, usually, women are loyal to particular brands and prefer using only them. If they are using a brand that tests on animals, I request them to leave a message to the company to stop animal testing because it is not necessary.

Although I don't know the specifics, there are various other ways to test cosmetic products. Animal testing is a very old method of doing it. It's not even needed and there are a lot of scientific tests that can be done that don't involve humans or animals.

The main problem is that people are unaware of such things. Unless people are interested in these topics, it's very hard to find information about such topics. There's a lot of secrecy kept by such companies. That's why I believe in raising awareness among people. The same applies to other industries as well, be it the dairy or the meat industry. As long as people don't see themselves, they are okay consuming such products. I think living in denial is also not good and awareness is very important.

How can people identify if a cosmetic product is cruelty-free? Can you list some brands?

You can identify if a brand is cruelty-free by looking for a bunny logo on it that states Not tested on animals or says cruelty-free. However, some of them might not be vegan if they use any animal-derived products.

Some of the brands that do not test on animals (NOTE: They might contain animal-derived ingredients, so all of them aren't vegan. Please check while purchasing) easily available in India are :

Himalaya, Colorbar, Iba Halal Care, Nyx Professional Makeup, Nykaa Cosmetics, Miniso, Wet N Wild, Lotus Herbals, The Body Shop, Huda Beauty and Too Faced.

How is it in your family now after 8 years of being vegetarian and more than a year being vegan? How did your social life change?

My brother became a vegetarian after I did. I haven't propagated being vegetarian because I believe the best way is when people believe in their choice and let others get inspired by actions rather than force. I have seen that a lot of my cousins and relatives have cut down meat in their lifestyle. Just today, a cousin of mine messaged me telling me that she wants to go vegan. Also, I don’t think we need to choose our company based on whether they are non-vegetarian or vegan. You can be around any kind of person. Also, I think the energy is contagious and it inspires others also to become more compassionate.

How is it during festivals? In your family, there must be a lot of non-veg dishes on such occasions?

It becomes a little tricky. There might be instances when you feel a little displaced because you also want to be a part of the festival. In my case, I eat my vegan Biryani and they eat their non-vegetarian Biryani. We still sit together and enjoy the festival. I think they should respect your decision and you should respect theirs.

I don't support the notion of hating non-vegetarians just because you are a vegetarian or vegan and labelling them as cruel. I would like people to stop doing that because they are also humans and humans make mistakes. Such people should know that they were also a non-vegan at one point and everyone has a different time of realisation. We should just accept everyone, be it non-vegetarian or vegetarian and love will heal the situation. Love will transform everybody. I'm sure many of us turn vegan because of love: the love for animals. So I think it's very important to keep that love for our fellow beings too. It's very important to accept each other and not brutally force your beliefs, such as non-vegetarians forcing vegetarians to taste meat, or vegetarians forcing their beliefs onto non-vegetarians.

Would you like to mention anything else?

I believe what helped me in this journey is understanding myself better, my morals. I'm sure a lot of people have the love for animals in their heart but don't dare to make the switch. So I say, they should believe in themselves and just go for it. Whatever comes in their way, they will be able to face it.

Message for a non-vegetarian trying to go vegan…

If you're going vegan from non-veg, make a gradual shift, but not too slow. Research what veganism is and then make the switch. I got to know a lot about it when I did. And trust me, there are so many amazing things which we can eat apart from non-vegetarian food, a lot of which are healthy. You'll also get to know a lot of myths about vegan food which are not true. Listen to your heart and believe things based on your experience and not on what others say.

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The Vegan Journey of Harshil Vora | VBI #007

With an intense passion for learning, at 24, Harshil Vora is an innovator, social entrepreneur, educator, environmentalist, consultant, designer, chef, mentor, writer, dancer and artist! He believes in creating mindfully and founded Proinnovate in 2016, to realise his vision for a world empowered by sustainable innovation. His journey began with a vision to redesign the education system, and now has brands across healthcare, sustainable fashion, waste management and consultancy too.Share your journey towards veganism and how you turned vegan.

Share your journey towards veganism and how you turned vegan.

Around 7 years back, while I was in my 11th standard, my health used to be very bad and I used to fall sick every week. I had very bad immunity. At that time, my father went for a seminar where they talked about just eating raw plant based food and it being the healthiest choice. He started doing that and he lost a lot of weight, became a lot healthier and positive in general. I tried the same thing and it really changed my health too. Ever since then, I always put my health as priority. At that time, I didn't know that it was a raw vegan diet. I wasn't aware of no dairy, no animal products and other things back then. Unknowingly, 90-95% of my diet was a raw vegan diet for a few years.

While researching climate change, I came across a documentary called Cowspiracy and I watched it. It instantly hit me that there is so much that I'm not aware of regarding animal agriculture and its impact, how and where milk is coming from. I come from a Gujarati family, so I used to be vegetarian, but sometimes I consumed eggs too. When I watched that documentary, my instant reaction was to quit dairy and egg soon. It took me around a year to completely switch, and since 2018 I've been vegan. Mainly, I follow a raw vegan diet but  sometimes I do eat cooked food too.

Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey.

I just turned 24 years old. My background is in Engineering but I am not pursuing it anymore. In my first year of engineering, I realised that instead of a job, I want to start something of my own. I had always really wanted to change the education system in our country. So, I started my own firm called Proinnovate to develop & conduct training programs in various real world life skills like innovation, creativity, complex problem solving, metalearning, emotional intelligence and others. That started going really well - but I realised that I want to do a lot more things along with education.

During college, I started another non-profit called 'Kabaad ka Jugaad' aiming to create a Global Upcycling Industry.  We organised an all India competition where anyone can participate and create products out of waste materials. We held 'Kabaad Mela', which was India's first upcycling festival in Mumbai in 2016 and 17. It was an incredible experience. I learnt a lot of things in this process about myself, who I am and what kind of value I want to create. That's how my firm called Proinnovate evolved, from being just about Education to being a Sustainable Innovation Consultancy. Everything I do is under this firm, be it training programs, upcycled products, even the causewear brand ‘Hoomanwear’, which I launched last year.

How did Hoomanwear start?

By the end of 2018, I realised that I want to contribute to the Vegan Movement in a much bigger way than just being vegan. I already had a non profit but I realised that it's difficult to manage it without funds. So, I decided to start my causewear brand, Hoomanwear. There are multiple reasons behind it. First, I wanted to raise funds for non-profits. Second, I know how much the fashion industry is polluting the environment. There are several things which are not vegan and nor sustainable. Third, I wanted to learn how to set up a global business with minimum resources, and sustainably. I also wanted to make it easy for people to spread the message about veganism and other social causes.

Thus, the idea of a fashion brand started which is sustainable, uses vegan products, especially vegan inks, is eco friendly, uses biodegradable packaging and at the same time creates awareness and raises funds for various causes, not just veganism. I have set up almost all of the aspects of this brand on my own including design, website, packaging, logistics, customer support and also accounting. I want to show people that even one person can create a sustainable brand. Of course, it takes time and effort. But good planning helps a lot. I launched this in 2019, and it's been a little more than a year. Now, I'm planning to recruit and make a good team in order to scale up!

How do you manage all the things you've been doing?

My family and friends have been an incredible support in everything. Initially, it used to be difficult and I used to rely on them for help in a lot of different ways. For example, for the Kabaad Ka Jugaad festival, we had a volunteer team of 450 people. A lot of volunteers used to come home and my mom used to ensure their hospitality. My dad funded that risky project of mine. My sister also helped a lot. All this was 3 years back and ever since then the help was always there. I'm really grateful to have such a supportive family. My dad has been a mentor to me in a lot of ways.

I follow the methodology: “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. It has helped me keep everything organised and structured. I also keep myself really healthy. I haven't fallen sick in five years, touch wood! I spend a lot of time at work doing all of these things and I still don’t get tired or exhausted.

Tell us about raw vegan diet. Is everyone in your family following a raw vegan diet?

My dad's major diet is raw plant-based but he isn't vegan yet. He hadn't switched out regular tea till recently. Now he has switched to a vegan diet. During the day, most of it is a raw vegan diet. My mom is transitioning slowly and steadily. Same for my sister, she is also transitioning. She is studying in the USA.

In the morning I'll have some smoothie and some fruits. Then in the afternoon, I'll have green juice like spinach, and a heavy salad. Then late in the afternoon, I'll probably have some fruits again and nuts or dates. At night again, either it's a very light cooked meal or heavy salad. There are also many delicious raw vegan dishes I make for dessert.

How did your social life change after turning vegan?

For the first 2 years, I had to listen to a lot of remarks from my extended family like my relatives and cousins. I also lost a little weight because of my raw vegan diet as it didn't eat a lot of fats or carbohydrates. But now things are different. Many of my relatives have reduced dairy products too! Some of my cousins, friends and their families have also turned vegan. In my earlier days, it was a little difficult. Whenever I used to go to parties or hangouts, people used to force me and ask why I don't eat this or that. I was okay not eating anything if a party or place had nothing vegan. It wasn't necessary for me to eat every time I went out. But people used to get offended. After a while, I reduced attending such parties.

Slowly, some of my friends and family members started changing their habits and now in Mumbai, there are a lot of good vegan restaurants. I constantly keep buying from them and keep sending them to my family and friends so that they know what's good and accessible. I also make them watch relevant documentaries so that they become more aware. I think for older people, it's difficult to change overnight. My grandparents also realised that milk is bad for them and how much cruelty it is causing. They have been reducing their consumption of dairy products.

All in all, it's good because if I would not have taken my stand then, they would have continued with their initial mindset. But now that I have changed, my parents and family have changed quite a bit and many other friends too.

When you say a t-shirt of Hoomanwear is vegan or PETA certified, what does it mean?

Firstly, the inks which are used to print designs on the t-shirt usually contain animal bone powder to get the black colour. Also, there are a lot of products, chemicals or additives which are not eco-friendly and the majority of the industry manufactures these products in bulk. For example, a cotton t-shirt uses a huge amount of water to be made. So, for every single cotton t-shirt that you make that is not sold, wasted or thrown away, there is a huge amount of resources wasted. Most of the brands manufacture 5 to 10 thousand t-shirts in bulk because it is cheaper to make in bulk and they have to throw away the ones which aren't sold.

We don't even use any plastic for our packaging. Any plastic thrown away either enters waterbodies or will be leftover on the land. In both cases, it can be consumed by animals and they will choke and die. There is also microplastic pollution in case of synthetic fabrics. Every time they are washed, they release a lot of microplastic fibres in the water and those get consumed by all of us, including marine animals. It can severely damage their body, especially their digestive system.

Thus, we are trying to avoid any material which is not biodegradable. We're using eco-friendly inks, manufacturing t-shirts only on on-demand, and taking care in packaging as well.

Does manufacturing in bulk use less resources compared to on-demand manufacturing?

Well, while manufacturing in bulk does use less money and time, the amount of fabric, the ink and the energy usage is the same. That's why we manufacture only when we get an order and don't keep any stock. It is a little more expensive in terms of time and money, but environmentally it is a huge impact. The idea is that either the environment pays for the product or the human being pays the money for it. Nowadays, you can see a flood of cheap garments because they are made in bulk and not made with eco-friendly materials. In those cases, we're paying less money but the environment is paying a big cost.

In the fashion industry, everyday millions and millions of garments are thrown away. In addition to wasted inventory, there is a huge amount of wastage because of samples.  We rarely make any samples. We also support a lot of causes through our brand and are trying to set a different benchmark in terms of how a sustainable fashion brand operates.

After turning vegan, what surprising things did you get to know?

I got to know many things. I was shocked to know how many products are plant based, but indirectly they have a huge impact on the environment. For example, palm oil. The amount of palm oil present in processed food comes from plantations which are created by destroying huge rain forests. Another surprising thing was honey. I never thought earlier about honey the way I do now. I got to know how bees are exploited and domesticated for getting honey. Also, a lot of products have milk or some other form of it, which we don't realise.

I have become a lot more aware about such things. Earlier, I used to use deodorant once in a while. I've stopped using that as well. I think after following a healthy diet, I don't even need deodorant. Then comes other lifestyle products like shoes, jackets etc. I realised that in the fashion industry, the first options are all animal products like silk, wool and leather. Obviously, I don't buy them. I look for alternatives.

Is there anything else you want to share?

A lot of people ask me how I could avoid animal products so easily. I have realised that instead of thinking about how difficult it is to find alternatives and  how difficult it is to avoid eating at a party, if you just focus on how an animal must be feeling, for you to be able to eat this, then it becomes very easy. If I focus on the fact that regardless of whether it is convenient or inconvenient for me, an animal is going to die if I eat this thing, say cheese, then it becomes very easy to avoid because I believe that by default nobody wants to kill someone consciously. If they focus more on WHY and then focus on the alternatives, then they can go vegan overnight.

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