SoFlo Vegans founder Sean Russell
Jim Moore 0:14
Hello, my name is Jim, this is my podcast at bloody vegans. You're very welcome to it. Each week I'll be travelling ever deeper into the world of veganism, discovering along the way a multitude of viewpoints from the political and ethical to the practical. Are we doing this through a series of conversations, each aiming to further illuminate my understanding and hopefully yours, of all things plant centric, and this week is no different. This week, I was lucky enough to be joined by Sean Russell. Sean Russell is a media producer of some repute. 25 plus years experience in music making, journalism, education, podcasting, he's got a found at a magazine, he does all kinds of things. event organiser, all based in South Florida, he founded so flow vegans, many of you be familiar with that name, either from the podcast, the Instagram account, the YouTube, he does a bit of everything, it's really difficult to pin down Shawn in terms of what he doesn't do. But most recently, he's become an author. He has written a book called pre vegans, which is out now there'll be links available in the show notes. He's quite an incredible chap and an inspiration. So we'll be getting into that in just a moment. Before we do. I should tell you that this episode of the bloody vegans podcast is brought to you by veg one and the good folks at the Vegan Society. Veg one is the nutritional vitamin and mineral supplement designed for vegans. By vegans, it was launched in 2005 rebranded in 2021. And now it's got a beautiful, plastic free package. To go with all of the wonderful stuff inside. It provides you with all the nutritional support alongside your healthy balanced vegan diet that you would expect for something designed by such wonderful folks as the Vegan Society and you get it all for an affordable price with a six month supply available for just 12 pounds 70 which, which just gonna set you back a little over two pounds a month, and you're gonna get all of your EU nutrient reference values are in our V's of vitamins B 12, D, three ideen, selenium, B, two, B six and folic acid. What more could you asked for wonderful stuff, veg one over at the Vegan Society, just head over to the vegan society.com Search for veggie one, and pick up your supply there and make that difficult choice between orange or black currant. So without further ado, here is a conversation between me and Sean Russell, the founder of SoFlo vegans and author of pre vegans
Sean, it's, it's really difficult to sum up what you do so many things like, bio is so diverse. I'd love to get a little bit of an insight from you. How would you sum up Sean Russell and the things that you do?
Sean Russell 3:09
I would say media producer. I am passionate about telling stories, and connecting with people. And that's you could see that throughout my life. Whenever I had an interest, I created a community around it immediate network around it. And that was my hobby. And I've been doing that since high school, anything from wrestling, anime and manga, music, industry education, but those are all interests for me. And when I decided to go vegan, I took that enthusiasm, and I put it towards my lifestyle. So now it's just ingrained in me this being this person who goes to a place and it's like, oh, I'm going to tell the story of my experience here. You know, your quintessential vlogger. But for me, it's a lot deeper than that. It's about actually bringing people together creating events, creating economic opportunities for the people that are making the community as great as it is. And that's what you know, that's what I've dedicated my life to the last 26 years.
Jim Moore 4:20
So incredible work just looking across the gamut of things that you've been involved in. I was listening to a mixtape earlier, which is about listening to your mixtapes, obviously the podcast incredible what you've done with SoFlo, which we'll come on to, but let's start at the beginning like from the journey into the world of veganism. How did that begin for you?
Sean Russell 4:40
So that began around I would say 2004 I was getting into my health, looking for ways to optimise myself like a computer. I'm hearing myself say that I I found these courses online that pretty much broke down everything that you You're eating all the foods. So it's like once you see that you can't unsee it. So I decided to start eliminating things from my diet. First it was red meat, that it was dairy. So flat, flash forward, fast forward to 2008 I am now like okay, to about 60 pounds lighter. And I said to myself, Okay, what's next? So I knew there was a vegetarian coworker of mine at the elementary school where I worked. And I decided just to pick her brain like, Okay, why why are you vegetarian? What's this lifestyle about? And in the conversation, she talked about veganism. And it was almost like a checkbox, like, okay, like, I have two boxes to check to become vegan, why not just challenge myself to see if I can be vegan. And of course, you know, I didn't wasn't really deep into the ethnic ethical side of veganism, I was just like, No eat no meat, I could do that. So I did that for about a year. And then around 2009. And I remember it like it was yesterday, because of the the circumstances behind the event. I was going out to Los Angeles for an anime convention, and wow, Anime Expo. If you're into the anime world, you might know that name. And that happened to be the same weekend as Michael Jackson's funeral. So it was just like a spectacle. Everybody obviously was mourning at the Staples centre. But the every street corner corner filled with news trucks from all over the world. And it was juxtaposed to, you know, kids, I don't say kids, but like people dressed up in anime outfits. So that was just an interesting sight to see. But anyways, I say all that to say I went out to LA and if you know anything about the vegan scene in the United States, it's the biggest one of the biggest destinations for anybody that's vegan. And that's where I fell off my one year, you know, vegan journey, because it's just an interesting part about that. And it speaks to the journey for a lot of people. It's like you could be so you could be in the place to be to be vegan and still fall off, if you're not connected to a community if you don't have the right resources. And if you don't have that intrinsic motivation to do it, and those are the three things I didn't have checked off at that time. So after that, I kind of I didn't like go into eating red meat, I still didn't eat red meat. I didn't really eat dairy, because I cut off that for a while. But I was eating poultry, eggs, some seafood, things of that nature. It wasn't until 2013 I decided to give it another go. I decided to build a community around it, which is something I didn't do before. And that helped because I spoke to a lot of people start working with nonprofit organisations, and then really understood my why for going vegan. And it wasn't just a challenge. And then from there, it's been it's been smooth sailing, I would say, since that point on,
Jim Moore 7:57
what was that? Why was it? Was it one singular thing that you can pinpoint? Or was it kind of a collection of things, that kind of triumvirate the three things that people talk about? Was it was it a collection of all or one one singular.
Sean Russell 8:09
So that second time around, I was more of it was more still health at the beginning, right until around 2016, I had an opportunity to work with a nonprofit called Animal Hero Kids run by Susan Hargreaves. And she is she just the way she showed up her way of being invited me and enrolled me into feeling being vegan for the animals. Like at that point, it was more or I'm vegan, and oh bonus, I'm doing it, you know, I'm not doing any harm to the animals cool. But just the way she described it and the way she answered my questions in such a loving, compassionate way. It was, it was a contrast to what you see, you know, what the media portrays as veganism, you know, people yelling with bull horns and, and throwing pain and things of that nature. Now, I'm not bashing any of that I support everyone in the way they want to choose to express themselves. But coming into veganism that I perceive that as being extreme and I didn't really want to be associated with that. But seeing her who she is went to jail and she you know, for a protest and you know, definitely represents aspects of that culture. It gave me a more dynamic representation of the movement and made me want to dive a little bit deeper and go to these different demonstrations and do documentaries on the marches that are happening down here to know the people and and that's when I went from being out vegan for health being vegan for the animals and now I strongly say that I'm vegan for compassion, because I see that something that even vegans, you know, we can adopt because in and out and maybe He can go into that a little bit later. But to answer your question, you know, I'm strongly vegan for compassion, but I did kind of go through, you know, a journey to get to that path.
Jim Moore 10:13
And her kind of example, you know, when she used mentioned she, she sort of answered your questions with compassion. So you treated your your intrigue, kind of kindly and brought you in into the world did that almost act as a bit of a role model for what you were then going to go on to do with with SoFlo this idea of, you know, community, I want to bring people in as opposed to, you know, here's the message, and it's kind of stark reality, and you're either with us or you're not,
Sean Russell 10:41
I would say it helped, it was a seed that was planted. Because around that time, I also was doing a lot of work on myself, going through different transformational programme self development. And it kind of just was all those building blocks coming together for me to realise that, at the core of everything that I choose to do in my life, there gets to be love. That gets to be the intention of spreading love, spreading compassion. And I guess I'll elaborate a little bit more on that, because those sound like buzzwords, kind of cliche at this point. But it's cliche for a reason. You know, there's a reason why a lot of people when they go on psychedelic trips, and take a mother, you know, Mother medicine, that they come back with a revelation that you know, love is the answer. Love is the key, the Beatles, all you need is love. It's because this world, it's so heavy, it's so heavy, if you truly take it in no filter, it's a it's a heavy existence, we don't know what happens after you know, the next journey we go on. And that can drive you crazy, if you really sit in that question for a long time. So for me, I would choose, I'd rather choose to just love every moment of it, soak it in, you know, have love for myself, forgive myself, you know, forgive others. But forgiving doesn't mean, you know, I'm going to let you take advantage of me. And that's the that's the distinction I was leading to. When I say compassion, that doesn't mean, they'll let you take away my freedoms makes you take away my liberty and my right to do the things that I want to do. It doesn't mean that if you rip me off or put harm to me or my family, that I'm just going to accept it. Compassion for me means that my intention is that intention of love a loving heart, when I move, and if we don't align, I'm going to set boundaries, and I'm not going to associate myself with you. Because I don't want to pull myself into a space where I'm not operating out of a place of love. And it's a practice every morning, and every moment, I choose to be compassionate as a reminder of the alternative. So that's why i That's why I'm begging for compassion, because when I see it, I see the opposite show up in my space, even within the vegan community. That's a reminder for myself to take pause and be like, Okay, how do I want to respond to the situation? Do I want to respond to the situation, this person could be going through something right now, because I've been there. I've had my horrible days, and I've not been the kindest person in the world. You know, and if that person responded to me in such a way, where they're yelling, and they're being confrontational, and, and hostile, who knows what I could do in that situation, who knows how that could get me to over the edge and completely ruin both of our lives. So I'd rather just be that change that I want to see, instead of trying to force people to be the change that I want to see.
Jim Moore 13:49
100%? You mentioned that, you know, you see some of that that division that still exists within the Vegan Society or vegan not the Vegan Society, the vegan community, they're fine. In fact, they sponsor this podcast, but the in the vegan community, you see some of that, that, that perhaps not hot, not leading with compassion. Do you see that as a as a central kind of challenge if you like within our within the the quote, unquote, vegan community, for us to kind of progress and move things forward?
Sean Russell 14:23
I see it definitely being a challenge. But I also believe that we are where we're supposed to be for a reason. Because you're, and then also another thing distinction with the compassion, it's more in your listening. And what I mean by that, it's, I believe I make up that you can either be listening from a place of understanding or a place of judgement. And when you're operating out of place a judgement you're closing opportunities. You're shutting off have the ability to really connect with somebody. So, for me, it's the challenge. Yes, there is a challenge. But the challenge isn't fixed by telling someone how to Yeah, different. The challenge is for me to show up in such a way that someone's inspired to be different. And so yeah, the challenge is, yes, the challenge exists within the community, but it also exists within ourselves. Because if I were to sit here and pretend like I don't have some of that going on with myself, it'd be hypocritical. And I'm not here to preach to anybody, I'm just sharing my experience. And for me, it's, I make up if everyone operates out of a place of understanding rather than judgement, we'll have a much, we would have a really strong, cohesive society. And I get to be that change, to see if what I'm saying is correct.
Jim Moore 16:00
And that's the sphere you can control, right, that you can control your own sphere. Outside of that, you can't and I love that idea of, you know, being the being the role model being the change you want to see. Absolutely. Let's talk about SoFlo. So when did the idea of SoFlo vegans come about? And for those who don't know, what is it? How would you describe it?
Sean Russell 16:22
So I'll start with what SoFlo vegans is, our mission is to make South Florida a global hotspot for veganism. And the reason why we want to do that is because I've lived in South Florida my entire life, I've operated in multiple industries, like I mentioned earlier in the podcast. And I've seen a common thread, in terms of the way the community shows up. We're very transient community, because just a vacation destination, we're already a global hotspot. And what I don't see here that I'm working on creating is support for the underdog, support for people who are up and coming. And you see that a lot in cities like Boston, and Chicago and Philly, it's like the team could be straight garbage. I use sports, because that's the easiest. It could be garbage, water, but they're still gonna show up, they're still gonna route they'll probably yell at them and stuff. But the passion is there and whatnot, in South Florida, from my experience, and I could be wrong, but my experience being here and for over 40 years, it's, it's very much, if you're not winning, I don't have time for you. But if you're winning Watch out, there's a parade every day. So so the reason I want to make South Florida global hotspot is if I can, with all that being said, be successful with curating a platform that allows all these businesses and nonprofits to thrive, these events to thrive, that I can take this model, and I can share it with other cities across the globe, to create a global community where all vegans can thrive where every city is a global hotspot. And that's the ultimate goal. So that's why I created SoFlo vegans, what is so flow vegans, we are a media network. We're a community, we do events, we do marketing, pretty much anything that we can do, like we're filling the gaps in the community. If something doesn't exist, we'll create it and do our best to inspire others to create similar things. Because, you know, I'm not under the illusion that we're, you know, I'm gonna be here forever. So I want to just make sure that this community is set up to win.
Jim Moore 18:46
Amazing, what was it? What was the community like in terms of veganism when you when you first set out on this journey?
Sean Russell 18:54
So there was definitely organisations around that were hosting events and doing awesome things. What we added to that was just the media component of it, the constant videos, podcasts, consistency in terms of that, so just put my spin on it from things that I've done in the past and just apply it to the vegan community. We launched. I came up with the idea around 2014 A little bit after I went vegan. I joined the group on meetup if anyone's familiar with meetup, it, it's a platform where you can go to different cities and see what events are happening based on on specific interests or niches. So I had I was in a group called South Florida vegans for a couple of months and the organiser stepped down already was running groups on meetup I decided to take over the group, rebranded it as SoFlo vegans spent the next two or three years doing some research and development within a community start working with nonprofit organisations and then 2017 like may or April of 2017 officially launched the platform. And then since then we've gone on to host over 300 events 300 Plus events, I'm hosting support over 300 plus events launched a podcast, which we were super fortunate to, for our first guest to get earthling ed. So that that really put a lot of wind in our sails, and launched a magazine this year, that live expos, so you name it, we, you know, we're looking to create it, because that's, that's my background. So that's what SoFlo vegans is, you know, from soup to nuts. And I'm excited to continue the mission. I imagine
Jim Moore 20:39
it's difficult to pinpoint. But is there is there one particular aspects of SoFlo that, or perhaps an event or a specific thing that you that you feel really kind of proud of that you look back over and think that, you know, that is why I set this up.
Sean Russell 20:55
I would say it's, if there's one thing in particular, let's see, I would say just in general, the events, that's my favourite part of it, because that's when you can actually connect with the community. And that's something I didn't do a lot of with my other ventures. So this is something that I've done events before, don't get me wrong, but the consistency and the quality and the quantity of events that we've been doing, since we've launched, I'm extremely proud of that. And just to see how much work you've grown since we've launched, like, we just did a dinner event at a restaurant called full bloom that actually got number one vegan restaurant in the United States. 2021. And we sold out, like, within a couple of days. So it was just that was a nice moment for me to see like, Okay, I remember when it you know, we didn't sell out was a lot harder to do it. So, I do want to I do take occasional moments to pat myself on the back, but at the same time, there's so much work to do. And, and yeah, it's so much work to do, but I am excited that I get to do it.
Jim Moore 22:08
Events are they lay back on the road now? Did COVID put a bit of a spanner in the works.
Sean Russell 22:14
Well, this If this was any other region in the world, I would say no. But um, we're in South Florida. And, and that's one of the things I love about South Florida. It's like we are extremely rebellious. And it's not always for the best. But we we've been we've been back since April to 2020. Well, I'm exaggerating. I'm exaggerating, of course, but it's about like that. But ya know, yeah, I wouldn't, I would say cautiously. Yeah, we're events are coming back. Even more so than in the last couple of months. So yeah, yes, that's your question. Yes. Back to doing events.
Jim Moore 22:57
I want to touch on the podcast if that's okay. Just because it's a huge inspiration to me is that obviously we're in the same kind of area. Obviously, the bloody vegans is nowhere near the kind of level of a full community and network and I think it's just all inspiring what you've what you've created out there. But when you started the podcast, and you started reaching out to guests, you got Ed winters, like first up like you mentioned, you've had Dr. Clapper on, you've had so many different folks from the, you know, a well known folks within the community. How did you go about starting that and reaching out to those folks and being so successful with it so quickly?
Sean Russell 23:37
It comes from experience, I've been podcasting since 2007. And I've worked out the process of reaching out to guests, especially with the anime, I was like, it it all started with just like reaching out to them, and being like, hey, here's, here's what I want. I here's what I'm looking for you to do. And what I've learned is a lot of these places and a lot of these, it all depends, you know, obviously like, like if I wanted to probably interview earthling Ed right now, I probably couldn't. So I'm not under any delusion that like I have these people on speed dial, a lot of its luck. A lot of it's catching them at the right time. Being strategic, like some free advice for anyone doing a podcast, if they're writing a book reach out. A lot of times they want to just have a lot of media stacked up so that they increase their chances of becoming a best seller. So your best opportunity to get the guests that you want is when they're pitching a project. Reach out early, because as soon as they start getting like the major outlets, they're probably not gonna have the time to reach out to you have something interesting, have a unique concept. Put together a deck, you know, make yourself look polished and professional. Sometimes if you look super polished and clean, they're not going to ask you about Your numbers, you know, so yeah, that's that's what I would say just present yourself as if you are a successful podcast, be professional, have a process in place and then just go for it. If they say no they say no. On to the next.
Jim Moore 25:17
This episode of the bloody vegans podcast is brought to you by veg one from the Vegan Society. Bedouin is the nutritional vitamin and mineral supplement designed for vegans by vegans launched back in 2005, and rebranded in 2021. With a fantastic new plastic free package. Veg one provides nutritional support alongside a healthy and balanced vegan diet, all for an affordable price with a six month supply available for just 12 pounds 70 Veg one will cost you little over two pounds a month and offers EU nutrient reference values or n RVs. A, vitamin B 12, d3, iodine, Selenium b two B six and folic acid base one is chewable, it's affordable and reliable. You can take it once a day. It's available in fantastic orange and black currant flavours super easy and convenient, completely plastic free. So why not head over to vegan society.com Search for veg one and take your next healthy steps into the world of veganism. It's great advice I'll be I'll be taking it myself really thinking about you know that over the course of what 78 episodes I think now, huge number of different guests as I mentioned, what what have you learned throughout that process? Is there any that really stood out because I know for myself, every conversation I have, I've picked something up and and some of those episodes really kind of stand out are the ones for you that were kind of watershed moments for you.
Sean Russell 26:51
I would say one that stands out was the one I had was Dr. Satish Rao who wrote the white paper on, on, you know, animal consumption being the leading cause of climate change. And the reason that stood out is because I haven't really dug too deep into the conversation to the topic. And I just found the information that he was sharing was so fascinating. And the fact that it isn't like commonly, you know, referenced within the media, it just led me to really look at the information that's being fed to us. So that from a more paradigm shifting, eye opening point of view really stood out to me, but just in general, I just love this hearing the stories of each of our guests of how they went vegan, it lets me realise that there's just so many stories and different ways that people enter, enter the enter this lifestyle, which, you know, we could talk about a little bit later kind of led to me wanting to write the book that I'm releasing, you know, being able to share these stories because we all have our story. I shared my story a little earlier of how we went vegan, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of similarities, but the uniqueness kind of shows the diversity of this movement.
Jim Moore 28:13
100% I'd love to talk about it now. Actually, it feels like it feels like an opportune moment. Let's let's talk about the book what, what was the the seed of inspiration? Sounds like it was a little connected to what you were just saying. But what was the seed of inspiration? What's led you to writing a book is it doesn't seem as if you would have haven't had enough time to write a book. I'm just amazed you have. But tell us a little bit about it.
Sean Russell 28:35
Yeah, so the book is called pre vegans. And the idea is I'm coining a term to replace non vegans. Because I feel like non vegans creates a door, a barrier for people to enter the lifestyle. So pre vegans opens that door and says, Hey, you're welcome. You know, you're not you're welcome. Thank you. You're welcome. But you're welcome to come inside and check it out. And so the book is just a collection of stories that are actually taking from the podcast of our vegan origin stories, and showcasing it with context and resources, sharing my own story, just to prime people into making them feel like they're not alone. You know, I want them to be able to read, read Ingrid, new Kirk's, who's the founder, co founder of PETA, read her story of how she became vegan to realise that Oh, wow, oh, she Oh, she ate she ate meat at some point in her life. This is just to get people comfortable in that respect. But the other thing too about the book is the book is just the first part of what we're releasing. The second part is an actual online resource that you can subscribe to, to get videos. You know, snippets from our podcast content exclusive have content to help you no matter where you live along your journey. And it's not even just for people who are entering the lifestyle, it's also for people who may need that support, who may be struggling. You go in there, you can find out information about oh, vegan dairy products, you might have an interview with, you know, a new company that's opening up. So it's going to be an expansive world that you get to step into, that's going to be coming from, it's going to be grounded in a place of love and compassion. So you don't, I don't ever want you to feel intimidated with anything that I do, I want you to feel like it's a welcoming environment, non judgement zone. And you could just be you, and hopefully, fully, fully embrace this lifestyle,
Jim Moore 30:47
in the process of going back into all of these different conversations that you've kind of had, at certain points throughout the podcast, and so on and so forth. What was that that process of like, going back into? And did it? Did it spark almost a renewed look at some of those subjects, particularly as you researched around them? Did you start to think, actually, there was there was even there's even more to this subject, then I first heard, if you like, in that interview,
Sean Russell 31:14
I'll be honest, I feel like I've had so many conversations in the United even just like through the podcast, but just in personal, in doing the work and being effective in the community. I what I gained the most out of revisiting these things is just my commitment to compassion. And by this time, this is a drinking game, take a tea ever, ever, ever. I say compassion, play it back and just take a swim. Yeah, it just kind of reaffirms that, how I get to show up, it gives me that opportunity to have entered into that conversation and see how that looks for other people. And then you could see that you can see slivers of that in each of their stories. And it's usually because I'm speaking to people that have committed their life to veganism, made it their job made it their, your mission or passion. So see kind of what that first seed is, it's usually a seed of compassion for the animals for themselves, maybe their loved ones, you know, was dying from a disease and they didn't want that to happen to them or their family. So all these stories, just kind of, you know, bolsters that commitment to move in such a way where I'm, you know, proud of myself at the end of the day.
Jim Moore 32:39
Is there any stories that really, really stood out that ones that you think I see that that one was quite unique, quite set apart from some of the others? Or were were they? They're all kind of along similar lines, like you say, underpinned by compassion?
Sean Russell 32:57
I mean, yeah, there's, there are a few that stand out. I mean, for the most part, the ones I'm not in particular, that I'm going to tie to people, but a few that pop up into my head of the circumstances. You know, we've had some people that were actual butchers and you know, decided to make a complete change completely leave their profession and, and go in a different direction and completely devote their life to serving vegan food. You had people who worked on farms and didn't realise exactly the full extent, and had that cognitive dissidence of what it what they were doing to these animals, they would love them, they would treat them like family, and it was just a fact of life that we're going to take them to the market now. And I find those stories interesting those revelations, usually it's when they're eating food, and they started to draw that connection. Like, wait a second. You have veterinarians, we have people who worked in zoos, there's so many different stories where it's just like it hits them, the hypocrisy hits them. Like I say, I love animals, and yet, I'm doing this. So it's usually just seeing that aha moment. In those stories. That's like my favourite point because it cuts gotta come, or else they wouldn't have gone vegan. Everybody has their aha moment. So to see how that shows up, really is what I look forward and look forward to seeing in those stories.
Jim Moore 34:23
If those stories helped inform perhaps how you show up when you're talking to potential, let's call them pre vegans that's usually use the right term, when you're talking to pre vegans in your conversations now, you know, seeing all those different experiences as it made you perhaps, approach if you like activism in a slightly different way.
Sean Russell 34:45
Yes, I would say that I would say in my conversations, it's more of a listening conversation. And just finding those beats of where I can come in and, and maybe plant a little seed here or plant a little seed there, what I find in that listening? They usually, and one of the things I noticed, and you may notice this is it's a very apologetic tone. Someone speaks, at least at least to me, I feel like they're, I feel like I met at church, and they're, like giving me a confession. I'm just like, Whoa, it's okay. I'm not judging you, you know, I just, I'm interested in your story. And but, yeah, it's it's making sure that I'm not coming off as confrontational. I want to give, it's almost like I'm giving them room to come to me. And if they're not moving towards me, then it's, it's not my it's not my role to pull them towards me. You know, I want I want to show like, I'm going back, I want to show up in that room, where they're like, oh, wow, who's this person? What's your story? Oh, here's my story. What's your story? Oh, that's cool. Awesome. And then if they ask more questions like, oh, I mean, I would love to know more about that, boom, then I'll come in and start talking to them. You know, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not in the amount of the business of chasing people. Like, if I present something to you, and you're interested, I'll dive deeper. If you're not interested, then you're not interested. Maybe you'll be interested tomorrow. But today, I have a lot on my plate, I'd rather focus on people who are interested in what I've got going on.
Jim Moore 36:29
Have you found that you know, that, that that's been probably arguably the most effective form for you Have you tried other other forms in the past, you know, I often talk about this with people when they first go vegan, they're quite, they can't or can be quite vocal, you know, they really want to share the truth, they want to, they want to put it right in front of people and show them the you know, this is the scale of devastation, or this is what's could be doing to your health, or this is what's doing to the climate. And then most people I speak to they sort of change their tack over the course of time, as they find that that approach wasn't quite as effective. Or at least they only use that in certain situations. Was that your experience? Or did you always kind of because you started from these kind of quite compassionate routes with veganism? Did you? Did you kind of land there quite early on?
Sean Russell 37:19
Yeah. And I would say no, I was never, I'm not really a confrontational sort of person. I'm more strategic in the way that I that I speak and move. So what changed? was the intent behind my strategy were in the strategy before was how do I get this? How do I achieve this result? You know, through work that I've done on myself, it's that shifted to more of like, How can I be in service to you? And that's my come from now. And then, am I listening? I'm figuring out, I'm using the strategy, I'm using the logic to figure out how I can support this person, first of all, what are they asking? Are they clear on what they're asking? And if they're not asking for anything, then I'm just listening. And then so, so yeah, I would say I would say it the shift that come from it's shifted, but I've never really been like, you got to do this, you got to do that. Because I learned. And I actually through my career, you know, I've learned pretty much how to achieve the results that I want. And it's usually by just figuring out what that person wants and giving it to them. And yet, it always perplexed me like why people struggled so much to like, get the things they want in life or get promotions or get these things, when like, I figured it out, like at age 16. It was just like, oh, the manager wants someone who can properly manage this, well, let me show them that I can manage it as a cashier. So when the opportunity opens up, I become the manager. And that's worked like seven times, you know, consistently. So that translates to, alright, I want this person to go vegan. Let me find out what they want. And then let me give it to them. And if I don't know what what it is that they want, then maybe I'm not the right person to help them.
Jim Moore 39:20
How about that, you know, taking that those kinds of approaches when you're combating perhaps the pre vegan folks who are you know, spoiling for a bit of a debate with you. I'd imagine there's some people who still approach you with a little bit of, okay, this is the, this is the vegan guy. I'm going to ask him about, you know, B 12 deficiencies in protein. And I'm going to say I've listened to something on the Joe Rogan podcast that said, actually, it's all right to eat meat and so on so forth. Do you encounter those kinds of folks, and what's your approach to tackling those kind of conversations?
Sean Russell 39:56
First, for any I don't have For any debate, there's got to be, I feel like for it to be productive, and a good use of my time, the other person gets to be open to being wrong. Because that's how I show up. I'm always ready to to be wrong with my opinion, because ultimately, I'm making it up. Everything I everything I say and do, I'm making it up, you know, I just choose this to be my truth. And if the person is closed, in how they show up to seeing it another way, then what are we doing? If they if their intention is to prove that I'm wrong, and I'm not interested in having that conversation,
Jim Moore 40:47
as often as sound advice for a lot of people, because we can find ourselves getting quite, you know, sometimes you get drawn into this, you're passionate about it, somebody comes at you with their, their version of that, like you say, their version of the truth. And you want to defend, you know, you feel attacked, so you want to defend, and I think that's great advice for anyone, you know, if someone's not showing up looking open for the conversation or prepared to be wrong, then, you know, is it worth having? You know, at that stage, maybe they'll come back to you later? I always think when somebody does that, there's probably something in their mind. That is sort of, they're almost testing you to say like, I kind of think back it in the back of my mind. You might be right. There's my optimistic view of folks.
Sean Russell 41:33
Yeah, I yeah, I yeah, I think I think a lot of it's trolling, I think a lot of it is that cognitive dissidence of them, you know, doubling down on what they may know, is incorrect, because it's their identity. Yeah, you know, we just have, you know, maybe another conversion at stake, but they have their whole life at stake. So they're, they're, you know, what they're going to walk away with, like, Oh, you're absolutely right, let me go change my lifestyle tomorrow, you know, is that what we're expecting them to do? So it's kind of like, I feel like to see that I would plan in that situation is for them to see how I showed up in that situation, where it's like, I'm talking about loving animals, I'm talking about this. These are sentient creature beings and things of that nature. And then I'm gonna yell at you, I'm gonna get angry with you. You know, it's like, okay, where's the love that you have for humans? You know, so rather than me, like, feed into that, it's just like, you know, I guess we'll agree to disagree. What are you doing later? You know what I mean?
Jim Moore 42:42
I've been following you online for a while and you give an amazing insight into the cuisine on offer in South Florida. It always makes me think, what a destination to be at, which I guess is the mission, you know, to make this global hotspot for, for veganism? Are there any kind of favourites of yours in terms of cuisine that's popped up over the last few years?
Sean Russell 43:05
So definitely, we've got a big uptick in Caribbean cuisine. You know, that's another thing about South Florida we are. I just actually I'm just thinking about this right, this second, like, we have the benefit of being the closest region in the country, to both the Caribbean and South America and Latin America, right. So a lot of that shows up in the food that most of us take for granted. Like, you know, being able to have really authentic, really good authentic Cuban cuisine, vegan Cuban cuisine having Haitian having Jamaican, I'm Jamaican and definitely represent that. And it's just be like, Well, let's find places have different vegan oxtail. You know, we'll try him out. You know, so it's like, that's what I would say is really popular. Well, I would say we're known for down here like soul food. We have a lot of good soul food, vegan places. So yeah, there's a lot of different options and variety down here and the food is really good.
Jim Moore 44:15
So awesome. I'm excited to try I'd love that love to get over there. And one of the things I one of my favourite restaurants pre vegan was, was a West Indian restaurant in in Brixton in London. It was kind of a bring your own place, you know, she brought your own alcohol and so on. And it was it was always a great night there. And I haven't been back since obviously, it's, it's there's not many vegan options. So you whetted my appetite for getting over to Florida?
Sean Russell 44:48
No, definitely a live feed coming down. Let me know. I
Jim Moore 44:52
love it. Love it. Let's see. Can I just ask question about the book about the writing of the book. You know, had you had you written anything And to that scale before, what was that process like of actually, of actually writing it was it was it a difficult process to kind of edit, find the right stories and exactly the direction you wanted to take it.
Sean Russell 45:15
I mean, the curation of the book wasn't really that difficult. Because it's really just another medium where you're telling a story. And that's, that's my comfort zone. That's my wheelhouse. And I also produced a couple of books for clients in the past. So I was familiar with the process of putting it together. But um, what has been challenging and difficult, it's just, you know, doing it. Focusing on getting it done, it's so it's a little bit different than like making a video or a podcast, because you know, I just have so much, it's almost like muscle memory at this point, when I'm making Yeah, he'll just like, but writing a book, it's you have to sit down and you got to focus, you got to write it down, and you got to get it to an editor, you got to do this and that. So yeah, that's been probably the most challenging thing and why I haven't done it up until this point. So um, yeah, this is this is going to be a huge milestone for me, I have the utmost respect for, you know, for someone who operates in all these different mediums I have the utmost respect for, for authors, and I'm just excited that I get to, to join that community, as as a seedling
Jim Moore 46:29
as it whetted your appetite for more? Or is it firmly said, no, no, never again.
Sean Russell 46:35
I already have my second book, and it's already it's already done. If you know, it's already in my head. It's done. But um, no, I'm going to continue to write write books, as long as there's topics and things that get to be addressed. Because here's the thing, I'm not just writing books, I'm creating, I'm creating universes, I'm creating worlds. And that's, and that's really what I love to create worlds where people can enjoy themselves where people can grow prosper. And world slash communities. Two different words, but, um, same meaning. But um, yeah, that's, that's, that's, that's, I'm excited about continuing this, and maybe doing some children's books, because I, you know, working with children, and that the future is once again, cliches, but um, I There truly are, and I want to set them up for success. I want to pass along as much as I've learned, each of us has something to contribute, all from all of our experiences. And I feel like, you know, people do that with their children, you know, and I get to do that with, with what I create, you know, what I bring into the world is, essentially I'm giving birth to these things, and then they have a life of their own. And now that's the way I kind of look at the creative process.
Jim Moore 47:51
Absolutely. The book came out, was it a couple of weeks going as it Feb. 17th, or something like that? Oh,
Sean Russell 47:56
no, that's when we announced the book. But the book, actually, we actually just set our final date, we pushed it back a little bit. So it's going to be coming out April 4, that is the final date that is going to be coming out. And in everything will be released by then.
Jim Moore 48:14
Has anybody had chance to get their hands on it? And have you had any feedback from those folks yet? Have you trusted anyone?
Sean Russell 48:21
Just yet? I'm still tinkering with it a little bit. So I haven't sent out any preview copies or anything of that nature. But um, yeah, that definitely wants I'm energised, to see what people say what the reaction is to it. Once I send out some samples.
Jim Moore 48:41
I certainly can't wait to pick up a copy is April the fourth? And is it going to be available globally? Is it a global release? Do you know? Yeah, it's
Sean Russell 48:48
gonna be available globally, especially the digital version of it, we're gonna be selling it through our website, also uploading it to Amazon. So I'm gonna do my best to get it into all the different marketplaces. But um, yeah, our main platform will be our website. So you'll be able to order the book. Obviously, there'll be some additional costs if you're international, but for shipping, but yeah, I'm excited to get that out there. So people can it's set up like a textbook, where you just have it as a resource flip to the page money or the page, whatever you need to do, but it's really it's almost in the guise and I think and I'm thinking about it right now if you know Tim Ferriss he had a book called tools for Titans it's it's a little bit in the guise of that but just mainly focusing on their stories.
Jim Moore 49:34
Sounds awesome. And surely you're gonna audio book it. Have you got any plans to do that? Because I'd love to hear you read it.
Sean Russell 49:41
Oh, wow. So yeah, because the interesting thing about this is because it's actually pulling from episodes of the podcast, you know, I'm the audio book will be its own thing. It'll be once again, I'm pulling from parisons and stuff, but I love it. Gary Vaynerchuk did with with Ask Gary Vee where the book was like literally long podcast. And that's kind of what I want to create with the audio version of of the book where you get me reading the, the subtext to the interviews, but then it goes into the actual interviews myself and there may be some bonus content. So it's its own living entity.
Jim Moore 50:25
All that'd be so cool, like almost a create curated. So flow vegans podcast experience. I love it. Yeah, exactly. They're very cool. Very cool. Shawn. It's been incredible chatting with you. And it'd be absolutely remiss of us not to tell folks where abouts to go and find you the podcast. SoFlo vegan. So where would folks head
Sean Russell 50:47
so yeah, so the best place to go is SoFlo vegans.com, you'll be able to get access to everything I talked about from our magazine, The articles, we have a directory of all the different vegan businesses around the globe, but you know, primarily in the US in South Florida, and there's just so much on there and you could check that out. So for vegans.com and then on social media, we're probably the most active on Instagram. Instagram, tik, Tok, Facebook, YouTube, but every whatever platform, just search SoFlo vegans, it's the same across all platforms, and you'll be able to find us and follow us.
Jim Moore 51:26
amazing show. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for all you do the podcasts incredible. I love what you're creating over there in South Florida. And I think it will be a model for so many so many places around the world. So I appreciate you. Thank you.
Sean Russell 51:40
Thank you so much. And I look forward to making out to the UK sometime soon.
Jim Moore 51:44
Our call we'd love to have you over I'll definitely give you the guided tour. Thanks. Thanks, Sean.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai