Entrepreneur, group organizer, and mom are all titles Jessica Cruz holds proudly. They’re the end result of years of labor—networking, pooling sources, and of labor—networking, pooling sources, and type. A passionate advocate for sustainable residing and consuming, Jessica’s dream has been to create a platform the place veganism is widely known, accessible, and delectable. Vegan Avenue Truthful has not simply been an occasion to realize all that; it’s a testomony to her dedication, drive, and perception that plant-based residing may very well be each joyful and mainstream.
However because the ebb and circulate of life would have it, Cruz was confronted with a chapter she hadn’t written into her story: a breast most cancers prognosis. All the time eager on discovering silver linings, she reworked this private battle right into a broader message. Her platform now bore a further layer: a name to embrace our vulnerabilities and perceive the ties between our meals decisions, the setting, and our personal wellness.
By way of her journey, Cruz isn’t simply surviving, she’s thriving—exemplifying the truth that our trials, regardless of how private, can resonate and encourage a group.
Simply days earlier than a profitable double mastectomy, VegNews sat down with Cruz to peel again the layers of her expertise, diving deep into the ever-evolving tapestry of Vegan Avenue Truthful, and exploring the tender crossroads of vegan advocacy and private well-being.
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JASMIN SINGER: To begin with, how are you doing?
JESSICA CRUZ: I’m good. It’s so fascinating since you undergo all of the phases you see on TV and films the place they let you know the information and every little thing goes mute. It’s like this tunnel imaginative and prescient factor. You undergo the levels of grief. You’re simply in disbelief and anger, and you’ve got moments of tears. However finally, the most effective half about this complete scenario, fortunately, is as soon as I had my assembly with the surgeon, she mentioned it’s not aggressive. We caught it early.
JS: I’m actually glad to listen to that. Can I ask you the way you came upon?
JC: I’m 41, and also you hear on a regular basis that it’s best to get a mammogram or sonogram at 40, nevertheless it’s not one thing that Kaiser essentially sends an electronic mail about. So I felt one thing, and I used to be like, that doesn’t really feel proper. So, I attempted to make an appointment. It was two weeks out however I mentioned, no, I’m not going to attend. So I went into pressing care the following day. I did a mammogram and a sonogram … and now, increase, right here we’re. For all of our issues with healthcare on this nation, I’ve felt so grateful that I’ve freaking insurance coverage to maintain this.
JS: I’m 44, and I’m getting my first one subsequent week. My physician mentioned I didn’t have to but as a result of I don’t have the gene—however we’ve got to self-advocate, proper?
JC: Proper. I don’t have the gene both. I do advocate it for anybody who turns 40—even sooner, to be trustworthy. I simply know the sooner you do that, the higher, as a result of why not?
JS: How has your group been reacting? Are you coping with the entire “let me offer you some recommendation that you just didn’t ask for” phenomenon?
JC: You nailed it. When individuals hear information like this, their intestine intuition is, “I need to assist. I’ve an individual. I’ve a factor, I need to show you how to.” And all these issues are pretty and delightful. The issue is, it’s very overwhelming for individuals in my scenario.
It’s like: have you learnt how a lot data I’m downloading right now? Not simply from you, however from my docs, my very own analysis, from individuals who have gone via this, whom I’ve personally reached out to as a result of I belief them?
And so, as a substitute of all of the “get a second opinion, you don’t want surgical procedure, do that CBD, do that, try this,” what I believe is absolutely vital is to ask the individual, “What sort of assist do you want?”
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JS: How has this labored for you internally relating to the very fact that you’re a very public-facing vegan? Have been you in any respect involved in regards to the rhetoric that vegans don’t get sick, which is, in fact, full BS?
JC: I’m so glad you mentioned this—that is the primary time I’m getting to speak about this, so thanks for permitting me to truly have this dialog.
It goes to this ableist narrative. So usually throughout the vegan group, veganism is a few type of magic factor that forestalls all issues. That’s not the case—it’s a way of life. We may speak about how a lot better it’s for our levels of cholesterol [and] so many alternative issues. However please don’t sit right here and say, “You can be cancer-free for those who’re vegan.” It’s bullshit. It really hurts my emotions as a result of I’ve been a vegan for a few years. I do know what I’m doing. I eat very properly. I maintain my physique. And I bought most cancers. That is actual life.
JS: You and I’ve one thing else in frequent: we’ve each had public weight journeys, and we’ve additionally each been very outspoken in opposition to fatphobia, particularly inside veganism. You’ve been very public about your weight journey. Are you able to inform us about what’s been happening with you bodily?
JC: Sure. So earlier than I used to be vegan, I used to be an athlete. I did acquire some weight after I was youthful, after which I gained 55 kilos throughout faculty after which misplaced all of it. I used to be a contestant on American Gladiators in 2008. I had my son in 2011. I used to be vegan at that time for a couple of yr. Slowly however certainly, I began to do occasions, and I began to achieve some weight. As a result of for me, discovering veganism was like this lovely lightbulb second. But it surely was additionally like I used to be a child—new on the earth. “What are all these superb meals that you would be able to eat?” I ate all of it, and I don’t remorse it.
JS: It was our ethical crucial as new vegans, proper? We had been obliged to strive all of the vegan meals on the market.
JC: Sure. And your social media needed to mirror it, and all people needed to understand it. However within the course of, I gained about 80 kilos. So it wasn’t merely the meals; it was additionally my mindset. I wasn’t in a wholesome headspace on the time. And I believe that mirrored how I used to be not caring for my physique … not placing myself first. And this has zero to do with veganism. It has every little thing to do with simply me not wanting to vary.
I used to be vegan after I was fats. I’m vegan now. I merely make totally different decisions. This can be a liberation motion on the finish of the day, proper?
Why is it that vegans have to look a particular approach to battle for animals? You don’t want a particular approach to battle for ladies, for the LGBTQ+ group, for Black Lives Matter—for some other liberation motion.
Nobody gatekeeps you and says it’s important to look a sure manner since you’re gonna make that motion look unhealthy.
With veganism, individuals count on you to look a particular manner. I want I had a nickel for each single time I heard somebody say, “Fats is making veganism look unhealthy.” What the hell does that need to do with saving animals? It is mindless to me, and it by no means has.
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JS: Precisely. I at all times thought you had been lovely—it hasn’t modified in any respect. However what I’m noticing proper now’s this exuberance and this glow. You’re getting a mastectomy in a couple of days and are simply exuding sunshine. How do you try this?
JC: It’s at all times about mindset. What modified for me was that I left a scenario the place I felt sad and made each single stride to be glad once more. One of many hardest issues to return out of that is mom martyrdom. Which is like: you are supposed to give your total soul to your kids, and for those who don’t try this, you’re a foul mom.
What society tells girls to do is basically put themselves final. However you change into much less of your self. You don’t have an identification as a result of it’s wrapped up in others. I’m a greater mother now as a result of I maintain myself, and I present up as me. And that’s how I’m capable of discuss to you 4 days earlier than I’ve a double mastectomy, which goes to completely uproot and alter my complete life. I’m residing the life that I select. That’s tremendous vital to me.
JS: That’s superb. Okay, now, Vegan Avenue Truthful. It’s one thing that may be a direct reflection of all of the positivity you set on the earth. What impressed the thought for … I need to name it a vegan meals competition, nevertheless it’s a lot greater than that. It’s actually a motion.
JC: I like that you just mentioned that. That’s what it’s, and oddly, I don’t know that I began off considering that. I don’t suppose that anyone who creates one thing thinks that it’s going to be a motion.
For me, Vegan Avenue Truthful began as a love letter to New York, the place I grew up. Avenue festivals had been all over the place round me. The San Gennaro competition has been round for many years—I used to be so accustomed to that occasion and the truth that you don’t need to be Italian to go take pleasure in this competition that occurs in Little Italy. You’re having fun with the music, the meals, the individuals, and you permit with yummy emotions and need to come again yr after yr. For me, that’s what I needed for veganism.
I inform individuals on a regular basis that Vegan Avenue Truthful is just not for vegans, and I don’t care who hates that—vegans like us can discover vegan issues in a gasoline station. Vegan Avenue Truthful is for non-vegans to stroll into an occasion like they belong. And we’ve got $4 choices, which could be very purposeful as a result of for those who’ve bought $4 in your pocket, I need you to stroll away with one thing scrumptious.
“Vegan inception” is this concept that I plant a seed, doubtlessly, since you got here to a competition that is filled with good vitality, filled with glad individuals, and the meals is unimaginable. No one’s in your face making you’re feeling unhealthy about the truth that you eat animals. I don’t care, as a result of guess what? I used to do this, too. So actually, it’s all about these individuals discovering a motion and a bunch of individuals they really feel like they need to be part of—whether or not they’re fats, whether or not they’re queer, whether or not they’re Black, white, brown, whether or not they have a particular faith. Each single individual is welcome right here.
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JS: 2023 marked the primary yr that Vegan Avenue Truthful turned a nationwide occasion, with the occasion coming to 9 totally different cities throughout the US. How did you select the cities?
JC: That was tough as a result of loads of them had been very close to and pricey to my coronary heart. Clearly, once we did New York, I may have performed any borough. I may have chosen Brooklyn, which everybody needed me to do. I’m from the Bronx. The Bronx wants veganism greater than any borough on the market.
And I’ll always remember the group being like, “Why the Bronx? I’m not coming. I’m gonna get shot” … all of the myths. However I like the chance to show individuals unsuitable. I do it with Vegan Avenue Truthful, with speaking about mindsets, and now, this breast most cancers scenario. Please permit me to point out you one thing totally different, since you don’t really know what the Bronx is.
And the quantity of people that hugged me and thanked me for bringing Vegan Avenue Truthful to the Bronx and nowhere else—I cried the entire day.
So I selected cities that had been acquainted to me. My ex-husband and his household stay in Seattle. So he spends loads of time there, and individuals are like, why not Portland? As a result of Portland doesn’t want it.
JS: What do you need to occur along with your platform?
JC: We’re watching so many vegan distributors go underneath, shuttering their companies. It’s horrifying. So I wanna take these distributors and provides them a lifeline. I need to put them on tour, pack 40 of the most effective distributors in your entire nation right into a truck, take all their stuff with us throughout the nation, and pop them up as soon as a month in these cities on tour with Vegan Avenue Truthful in order that we give them a second life.
I’ve the infrastructure. These occasions are so profitable that I may give this to those individuals and assist them, and assist the animals, and assist the motion.
JS: So what I’m listening to, and what I like about this ethos, is that you just’re leveraging your group—together with loads of marginalized individuals.
JC: Sure. It’s at all times been constructed on supporting essentially the most underrepresented as a result of after I used to go to vegan occasions earlier than I began working them, I’ll always remember for so long as I stay the sensation of being othered as a fats brown lady at veg fests—feeling like I wasn’t skinny sufficient to be strolling via these occasions or as a result of not one of the meals that I used to be accustomed to was represented.
So for me, Vegan Avenue Truthful is an alternatives for individuals like me and essentially the most underrepresented in the neighborhood to strive meals they’re accustomed to—to stroll via the road and see individuals who appear to be them.
We wish all our bodies and colours and kinds there as a result of I need you as an individual to stroll via and say, “Oh, I belong.”
So the vast majority of the distributors are primarily Black, brown, queer, single mothers, and/or girls as a result of these are the folks that I need to assist essentially the most. It’s not that I’m particularly in search of them, however they really feel safer within the house I’ve created for them. I believe that’s actually what units Vegan Avenue Truthful aside.
EDITOR’S NOTE: As of November 2023, following a spherical of profitable procedures, Jessica is now cancer-free and relishing all that life has to supply.
For extra vegan girls changemakers, learn:
