Latino Vegano
Latino Vegano
LYV179: 🏋🏻♀️From Courts to 🍨Cones: Roger Smith's Journey to Vegan Bodybuilding and Entrepreneurship with Robert Cheeke
What happens when a basketball enthusiast from Panama transforms into a vegan bodybuilding pioneer and entrepreneurial force in the world of plant-based treats? Roger Smith is here to share his fascinating journey from the courts to the kitchen, revealing how a chance encounter with veganism at age 22 led to a life committed to animal welfare, personal health, and groundbreaking business ventures. Discover how Roger defied early skepticism about protein intake, turning his doubters into believers while building impressive muscle strength on a vegan diet.
As Roger and I navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of vegan fitness coaching, we weigh the impact of digital influencers on genuine coaching practices. The surge in vegan coaches is undeniable, but not without its challenges and opportunities. We explore the delicate dance between maintaining authentic coaching roles and the allure of influencer-driven markets, questioning the future shifts in the fitness industry and its broader implications on personal health and entrepreneurship.
But it’s not just about muscle and coaching—Roger’s entrepreneurial spirit shines with his latest venture, the Chilled Cocoa vegan ice cream truck in Houston. Inspired by a memorable visit to Sweet Ritual in Austin, Roger crafts unique ice cream flavors, collaborating with vibrant vegan communities. Join us as we celebrate Roger's gratitude and contributions to the vegan movement, and the broader impact of plant-based lifestyles on fitness, business, and social responsibility. This episode is a heartfelt tribute to passion, innovation, and the power of community in fostering positive change.
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Hello and welcome back to the Plant Powered Athlete podcast. I am your host, robert Cheek, and I have a phenomenal guest today. My guest today is a longtime friend, a longtime vegan, an athlete, an entrepreneur, an all-around great guy and someone, I have to say, who has the best arms of anyone that I know in the vegan movement. I've always been jealous and envious of his arms, his strength. He's a fellow vegan athlete as well, roger Smith. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you for having me, Robert. It's always a pleasure to have a conversation with you and your audience.
Speaker 1:How are you? Yeah, so happy to have you here on the Plant Powered Athlete podcast. I know you're in Houston, texas, these days, but you've got roots in Panama, new York City, perhaps some other places. Can you take us back and tell us your vegan story, because you've been vegan for a long time and you're also really strong and muscular and an entrepreneur. I want to figure out where this all started. So, if you can take us back, tell us your Powered Athlete story and give us some context, I think that would be really helpful for our audience yeah, that's, that's great.
Speaker 2:Thank you for for um, for the opportunity. Actually, before I even go that, congratulations on this project. It was a long time coming. You needed a podcast a long time ago, but so congratulations on this.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, so tell you a little bit about my background for the for those that don't know me, um, like robert said, I'm originally from panama. That's why you hear a little slightly accent on me, uh, and I was born there, um, in my 20s, so that kind of gives my age a little bit. Also my mid 40s, actually 45, about to turn 46 this year. So I I moved to the states. But but, going back to my earliest beginning, I wasn't born a vegan. I think it's one of those things that a lot of us would wish it would have been that way. So I turned vegan when I was 22,. I want to say I was 22 or 23, around that age, so that was around 2004, 2002, 2003.
Speaker 2:I turned vegan and, um, and the reason why I turned vegan was initially was kind of curiosity. So I saw a good friend of mine that back back in those days that you don't used to call it vegan, right, he used to be, uh, he used to be vegan, when he is vegan or plant-based for the most part, and I was kind of curious why he, when we used to be vegan Well, he is vegan or plant-based for the most part and I was kind of curious why he, when we used to get together, he wasn't really participating or eating any of the food. Most of us were eating pizza, burger. Back in those days. There was really no consciousness when it comes down to eating the proper food, so I was kind of curious about why he wasn't, and in a long short after, like me, harassing this guy for a long like hey why are?
Speaker 2:you not eating this? What's going on with our food? He kind of explained to me that, uh, he just basically, you know, he went plant-based or he wouldn't be vegan. And I was like vegan, like what is that? So he, I kind of he, he was kind of basically encouraged me to do some research on what actually the plant-based movement back then, or the veganism or vegetarian meant, because he felt like he was kind of kind of tired of like explaining people what vegan was back then and nobody was kind of listening. Everybody was just like, oh yeah, I was mocking him. It was a lot of a lot of bullying back in those days. So, uh, I kind of started researching right, and then, um, he actually brought up, um, vegetarianism or veganism back then from, uh, from a food health standpoint. Well, mostly, and to me that was fine.
Speaker 2:But since I was young, I was an athlete, robert said I always play sport. Um, one of our, our biggest passions is basketball, as Robert knows, and he likes that as well. I used to play ball a lot. So I really was pretty healthy running around, very athletic, I always used to dunk the ball and do all these different things, even though I'm 6'2", which in Panama is considered tall, but when I came to America I was like I'm short, I'm a point guard, so anyway.
Speaker 2:So I kind of started researching more about it and I found out that there was an animal warfare aspect of this whole movement and that, to me, was kind of what led me to remain vegan. So when I saw different type of videos that were showing all what happened in the slaughterhouses and all different things, I was like, okay, well, I'm definitely not eating animal anymore. So that's when I actually made the switch. So it happens to me maybe, I want to say maybe like six, between six to eight months from the day that I get acquainted with the whole plant-based movement. And yeah, and I mean being insane, so what triggered that was watching all these different types of content back in those days when the internet was actually just coming out, watching all these different types of content and then and then that actually was what made me kind of win vegan, stay vegan for for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, roger, did you have any concerns in those early days about getting enough protein building your body? I mean, obviously you're very fit and strong. You've competed in bodybuilding and fitness competitions. We'll talk about that a little bit later. I've already mentioned people. You've got these big muscular arms. You and I've been on a vegan cruise together and I trained together in the gym and I'm like man. I wish I had arms like that guy. But did you have? Did you have any concerns, or did people in your life have concerns about your health or wellness or whether you could build your body with plants, or was it no problem from the beginning? What was that experience like for you?
Speaker 2:No, that's a great question because there was a lot of feedback, a lot of challenges when you go vegan at an early age of your life or at any stage of your life, pretty much. But specifically at that time there was not a lot of information. So we're talking about from a different country, right? So there was not really any information at all. So most of the information was created here up north. You know, canada, us, maybe Mexico, probably, and we're trying to get that information um all the way to the south, but there was no information whatsoever.
Speaker 2:So when people don't know about it is the first thing is rejection, what's going on? What's going to happen? So, yeah, I did get a lot of flags for um going vegan specifically. Uh, yeah, protein was one of the topic, but the most people just like what are you going to eat? That's what always. They just like what are you going to eat? That's what I always ask. Like, what are you going to eat? Like, I mean, for me it's kind of a mind-boggling question because basically it's like does meat is the only thing that people eat? Like, if you look at people's overall plates, meat is one component of their food, but they have a couple of the things that goes into into that place. So it was kind of interesting that people associated food only with with meat. So yes, they were.
Speaker 2:I was getting a lot of questions with what are you going to eat? And actually myself I didn't know what was going to happen. Like I didn't know what I was going to eat. The only thing I knew that I was straightforward with it was I'm not going back to eating meat. So now I have to figure out why I'm going to eat. So that was my next question, right? So I started asking questions and back then there was not a lot of options. Mostly my diet was like 90% fruit, like Robert, like 90% fruit, like bananas. I used to eat a lot of bananas. So really, the banana girl she was old school to me. I was like Roger the banana guy, because bananas were cheap, like you used to buy like 10 bananas for 10 cents, like for 10 cents, so I can get like plenty of bananas. So I will use a lot of banana.
Speaker 2:And then I first started got introduced into like cooked meals when I met Rastafarians. So Rastafarians eat like they call it ital, which is basically just eat like vegan food, kind of like our buddy, our bodybuilder. So yeah, so I got introduced to food and that's when the first time I ate like tofu and rice and beans and other different type of things, but for the most part, my diet was like fruits, maybe rice, beans and a lot of vegetables. You know, tomatoes, lettuce, any type of vegetables, cucumbers and so on and so forth. So since there was not a lot of options, I keep it simple. So that was a benefit because my diet was very simple and I wasn't eating a lot of junk food or basically a lot of processed food.
Speaker 2:I think most processed I was eating was like soy milk, because that was the only options that we found Soy milk or maybe rice milk. So we replaced the dairy with rice milk and mostly fruit. So eating that is fine, but a lot of people be like oh, you need protein, you need protein, you need this, you need that. So there was a lot of question when it comes down to it. So I was just have to be able to find the right answers. How do, how do I find the right food to be able to feed myself?
Speaker 2:So, yes, I did struggle at the beginning with finding the proper combination of food at the beginning and then eating enough calories was also another issue that I dealt with, because I was not eating at all, because I really rely on my family a lot for when it comes down to eating, because I was living with my parents back in those days, so I relied a lot on what they consume, what they buy and what they're cooking a lot of what they consume, what they buy and what they're cooking. So once I started getting a little bit of my freedom and growing on my own personality, then I started kind of understanding more of the different aspects and I started kind of branching out. But at the beginning, yes, I did struggle because, like I said, I relied a lot on them and a lot of less and I was using a lot of information. So I didn't know. So I had to find a way to get the proper food. So I would just stick to the basic, you know fruits and vegetables.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think I think that's a really good point. I even wrote that down. You tend to have a a healthier diet with fewer options, so to speak, because you go back to rice and beans and corn and potatoes and sweet potatoes and tropical fruits and bananas and all the stuff you have access to. And really you also made a good point when people were asking, like, what do you eat, when really a lot of the mainstream eats the same five animals over and over and over. They're just eating the same animals and and then mixing up sometimes their, their milk and their eggs with those meals and vegetables, a few fruits here and there.
Speaker 1:But what you did was you, you took out those animals from your diet and you replace them with the staples that we know to be the healthiest foods for the longest living populations, things like beans of all types and rice and vegetables and fruits. And they're also the foods that are the lowest calories and provide the most nutrition. So they don't contribute very much to obesity, but they contribute to long lasting health, and so keeping it simple is really part of the key. So how did your diet change when you got to the US? And all of a sudden, I mean, you're from Panama. You don't have access to all the milkshake, the burgers, the pizzas, all the vegan stuff. I think, if I recall, you went to New York, which is one of the vegan capitals in the world, you had access to everything.
Speaker 1:Is that how the muscles grew?
Speaker 2:So, yes, that's a good segue. So, yes, I went, like you mentioned, right, I went from panama. There was not a lot of action back then. Now, if we talk about panama now, that's a completely different story. So we can, we can talk about for a different conversation. But, um, so I moved to new york and now it was like I, I got introduced just from a high level because when I move in, my family members were not vegan, so they're at the same time, they don't really know much about it.
Speaker 2:They just heard oh yeah, there's a vegan place over there that sells pizza. You want to check it out? Like vegan pizza? Oh yeah, so let's, let's go. Like, this is something like a vegan pizza.
Speaker 2:And then I got introduced to quite a few things during that time, which is great Because I remember it came from not having no options to now it's like there's a plethora of things that you can possibly eat, although, going back to what you said, eating basic has a lot of advantage, right, eating just the basic staple food. So, yeah, I moved to New York. Have a lot of advantage, right, eating just the basic staple food. So, yeah, I moved to New York, have a lot of options, and but actually I actually got. I stayed in New York for a short period of time it wasn't a really long time so I can explore all the different food. I actually went back to New York and that's when I actually was introduced to Champs, all the different great places to eat. But, um, when I moved to texas is when I was, I started living myself and I got to see all these different options. Even though it wasn't as much as, let's say, new york or portland where you're familiar with um, I still was able to see. Go to the Whole Foods or Sprout or Trader Joe's, all these different places that have like just sections of flambé things. And that was even 20 years ago. The movement was big, but it wasn't as big, but it was bigger than what I was accustomed, right, so for me it was a big step.
Speaker 2:So everybody was like, oh yeah, it's so easy to be vegan when you have so many options. And like in the US, and I'll tell my international friends, like, well, having an option is great. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to say there's nothing wrong with it, but eating the basic is probably better for you. Nothing wrong with it, but eating the basic is probably. It's probably better for you.
Speaker 2:So, not having a lot of options, sometimes it's good because you stay eating the basic food, which allows you to have a healthier lifestyle, in my opinion. So for me, actually, it's like yeah, it's great. Uh, yeah, we can go eat a different type of restaurant, have a different type of options, but, hey, if you have the options to to stay basic, because you're going to get tired of of eating x, y and z meals for a period of time, like, how much can you go out and eat at a restaurant? Like you can do that every now and then, but you're not going to do it every day. So, yeah, I guess just knowing that you have the options to go to those places is great, but just a lot of these things that you can consume, you can just make it your own self too. Don't just take time.
Speaker 2:But yes, going back to the question, like I said, I moved to texas and when I moved here, then I started seeing other, different places, different restaurants. For me, that change was again changing, basically because now it's like, oh, okay, well, I can, instead of me making my own tofu, I can probably buy a pre-cooked tofu, right, ok, that's great. Or now, instead of just seeing soy, milk and rice meal, now we've got 15 or 20 other vegetable flat meal type of meals that are available, so it opens the market, right. It's like you don't have one type of vehicle. You have now 10 15 type of vehicles so you can choose from different prices, different range, size, whatever.
Speaker 2:So that's but the the beautiful part of it is like having the options. Now you can pick and choose which one you want. You want the healthier one, you want that might be as tasty, or you want to get the um, the the not so healthy, but it tastes a lot better, it's a lot sweeter. So you know you have more options to pick from. So that's the beautiful part of it. So it was a game changer from that perspective, right. But I never lost my interest on like how can I maintain as healthy as possible even though I have all these opportunities to eat out and consume all these different types of meals?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I imagine that move to Houston opened lots of doors, one of the biggest cities in America, Even though it's in Texas, which you don't always associate with veganism. There's many cities like Austin and Dallas and Houston that are very forward-thinking when it comes to veganism. There's lots of restaurants, there's communities there, there's vegan festivals. I even spoke at a veg fest in Houston a long time ago. I don't know if it's still happening, but it was a long time ago, 10 or 15 years ago and and it was great. So so, Roger, when did you really get into weightlifting? I mean you basketball as a background, sports as a background, being physically active and fit and doing that with a plant-based diet. But then you got into weight training and I'm not even sure I know the answer of when you actually started that and why you started that and why did you want to get bigger and stronger. So can you tell us about that origin story and how you ended up on the bodybuilding stage?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, thank you for asking that question, robert. So let me go back. So when I was an athlete, I never thought about lifting weight, although weight lifting could have definitely helped me on my longevity of my career, right? So that's again. That's one of the things is like when you don't have enough knowledge about a specific thing, you can, can incorporate that into your daily day. Once you start gaining more knowledge into a specific topic, then you don't have no excuses.
Speaker 2:At that point of me, when I was probably like 14, 15, with one of those traditional old school benches that has it's just like one bench with the bar, like that You'll find. You'll find pictures of me that I always had like, like a passion, and not only that. But if you look, if you talk to a lot of my family members, bodybuilding was one and is is being one of the sports that a lot of my family members gravitate to. They never went like, they never took it to the level I did, but they always had a passion and attraction, especially my uncle. I have an uncle on my mind. Shout out to my uncle, carlos. He actually lives in upstate New York. He's a huge fan of bodybuilding, like huge fan Old school, old school fan of bodybuilding. Like, huge fan, old school, old school fan of body builder. He still lift weight, he coaches, he coaches people and whatnot. Um, huge fan of bodybuilding. He sent me magazines all the time. You know ronnie and all the different type of guy back in his day that are not all the different type of guys, right, he idolized and um. So when I started lifting weight he called me like, hey, man, congratulations. He was. So I felt I felt good, just my uncle, just he's calling me to congratulate me for that. So bodybuilding always been in my family. But I didn't know that like for me it was like I, I just like basketball. Basketball is my thing, so basketball is always my sport.
Speaker 2:But, um, when I, when I transitioned to big in 2002, I was thinking about lifting weight robert, right, and I'll tell you this, I never shared this before, but I was talking to my buddy that um is vegan, right, and I was like man, I've been thinking about lifting weight. He was like, why you want to lift weight? You should do that. You know, why do you need all this muscle for? So I kind of let myself get convinced not to do it during that time and I kind of started thinking like man, if I would have lifted weight back then, I would have been a world champion by now. I would have cut a lot of the years. But things happen for a reason. So at that time I was thinking about lifting weight. Now I didn't know how I was going to do it, because I'm going from changing my whole lifestyle and now talking about lifting weight. So that's just like two things at the same time, like two big changes in my life. So I had those thoughts from back then to way way 2002, 2000, early 2000.
Speaker 2:So I started lifting weight just because I wanted to get in shape, because even though I lost a lot of weight when I went vegan, I did lose a lot of weight when I went vegan. I was a lot slimmer, right. So I wanted to gain some muscle. Because I never had muscle, never because I never had like. I never had muscle, never like. I never had. Well, let me rephrase I never had bodybuilding type of shape, look right, because we all have muscles, so I understand. So so I never had like bodybuilding muscle, I never had that physique. So I I wanted to get in shape, I wanted to to look good, especially because I always hear people say you can't accomplish that out on a vegan diet. So to me that was kind of like a motivation. But everything happens.
Speaker 2:When I actually went to Portland breakfast and I met Mr Robert Sheik, right, and all the all the different athletes that I met during that time, they were all like you should go, you should do bodybuilding, because at that point I think I was like about 220 pounds. But uh, I was a big guy because I took like two or three years just to get as big as possible. I wasn't even looking at, no, no physique whatsoever. I just started lifting weight, lifting heavy and getting as big as possible. So I gained, I gained a huge amount of weight and uh, um, and I get a lot of, I get a lot of strength from that. So I was like bench pressing like 400 pounds. I was just going crazy on base. I was going to the gym. People thought I was like a football player, you're so big. I remember those times during I went to the cruise, so some of those days. So I just started lifting weight, motivated by one.
Speaker 2:I wanted to prove people that you can accomplish, you can get big and strong on a vegan diet. It was a personal challenge for me, because I'm always been the person that when I put myself a goal, I try to achieve it to a highest level. So I put myself a goal that even though my late 30s, mid 30s, whatever that age was, I'm still going to accomplish this because it is possible. There's no way people keep saying that it's not possible when I'm going online and I'm seeing all these great athletes, robert, and all these different people promoting veganism and bodybuilding at the same time. So and then the third motivation was my family loved this stuff. It comes from my family origins. Like they're all like oh, we love bodybuilding. So I'm like wait, what am I doing? Let's do this.
Speaker 2:And the fourth thing was I had a really bad injury with playing basketball, so I needed another sport. I needed another sport. And this bodybuilding is an individual sport. There's nothing you can blame here. There's no coaches you blame. I mean you can go from a competitive level. You can blame your coach, but at the same time, you make sure you're doing all the work. So it's a very individual sport that you go and you have to put the time in the diet into your workouts and everything. So there's really nobody to blame, it's just yourself.
Speaker 2:So for me it was a good way for again, put myself a goal, a challenge and accomplish. So I had those four, four motivations to be able to make this, this step, take that step, and that's how I started it. So I started by just going to the gym. First I was just going to the gym working out. Um, I was going with my partner during that time because she wanted to lose weight. So she was in the goal of losing weight. I was in the goal of gaining muscle mass and gaining size. So we had two different goals.
Speaker 2:But I wasn't taking it serious. I was just going to the gym. I was going with my cell phone, with my flip-flop, on my phone, talking to my buddy, and I would just grab a dumbbell, be talking on the phone and then a trainer caught me. He said what are you doing? What is it that you're doing? Like you're not taking this stuff seriously, like you cannot be coming to the gym and flip-flops and on the phone and thinking that you're going to gain something. So I was like you know what it's right. So I I put, I got serious and I started lifting. So then I went to Portland. Meet you guys meet a bunch of the athletes, like you need to start doing bodybuilding, you're going to win. You're going to win People believing in me. I'm like, you guys believe in me, like you guys think I can win, like, yeah, you're going to win. I'm like, okay, well, let's do it. So that kind of motivates me even more to kind of get into a competitive stage.
Speaker 1:So that's my career started, yeah, and it sounds like we have a little bit of a similar background there, where we were motivated to show people that we could do it without consuming animals, that we could be champion vegan athletes and we could build our bodies. So we have this. You know, a little bit of something to prove. And also this slogan comes to mind when you're talking anything you can do, I can do vegan. Right, like that seems like an attitude that you had was that, listen, anything you guys can do building muscle, being on the bodybuilding stage, I can do that as a vegan, and it seems like you took that to heart. But then you also had that extra layer of that being something that was part of your family.
Speaker 1:And so there's this family and culture and heritage and pride of being this bodybuilder and having your uncle proud of you and getting on stage and it kind of. It kind of comes full circle there. So that's that's kind of a, that's a cool story. That's got to make you feel good, it's got to make your family feel good, and so you've been around for a while now 22 years in the vegan fitness industry. Essentially, what are your thoughts on the vegan fitness industry today? How have you seen it change? What direction do you think it's headed in? How do you feel about it today? What's your role in it these days?
Speaker 2:And I'd love to hear your thoughts yeah, that's a great question because I actually wanted to talk to you about this because I've been hearing a lot of so. So let's say from where we started it to now, and then you can even speak even further, further out. Uh, he has grown so much right, so now it's so mainstream like I think the the whole fitness industry is. So it's so mainstream like. But at the same time, I think this is a blessing and a curse one. I think it's a blessing because, um, you cannot go online and find any type of support, um, that you that you that you can find from from a coach you can find from a coach. You can find a coach a lot quicker these days. Before it was kind of hard to find somebody that helped you with coaching. You have to find maybe a meat eater, a carnivore coach, and then have them try to accommodate your not the fitness part, but mostly the eating part to your lifestyle, and then he or she might not know much about it, so he will be like, oh no, that's not possible. So you have all this debate and all this discussion. Now you kind of strip that away and you can strictly find vegan coaches and it's vegan coaches for, for all levels. So that's great. So now we have a supply for this demand. But then the other aspect is now everybody thinks he's a coach, someone not even certified, right. So now everybody's like oh, I'm a coach, I'm a lifestyle coach, I'm a fitness coach, I'm combined. They, everybody's a coach. So the internet has opened it so much that it's like it's a free for all type of deal. And then that sometimes can create a situation where it's confusing for some people, right, because it's like is he or she a coach? So for me it's good to do the dealings when you're hiring a coach. Second thing is that I think, like a lot of the coaches now, they're moving more into the influence part of it now it's the move of the lives and we're moving more into the influence type of concept more than just coaching people. So are we losing the message? Are we losing the core concept of helping people accomplish their goal? I'm not saying all of them are, but it's important that we stay on track and then we provide people with a service that requires that's needed, which is improvement of the body, improvement of health or whatever that is Losing weight, gaining weight, whatever it's individual goals are. So I feel like at the beginning.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was great that we have access, because if it wasn't for the internet, maybe I would have never met Roger, robert, roger would have never met Robert, right, because I got into bodybuildingcom website, I found the group. Then I saw a community. I felt that I'm not alone. There's a sense of like. There's more people like me, not only like they like fitness, but they also eat vegetables and they're vegan and they love animals. So there's a community like I'm not alone. I mean, they're far from where I am or they're distant from where I am, but the internet make us closer right. So at the same point I I found a great um highway to connect to folks on my list from a distance. To this day that we still utilize and leverage those, those tools. So it was great to have that. We had the internet in that sense, and now from there I connected with all the different people, made so many friends around the line and it was awesome. So it's great. I think it's a great community that we built there.
Speaker 2:Now, when it comes down to where we're headed, where we are now, it seems like the whole movement of coaches, like I said, they're turning more Hollywood now or more doing videos now and we kind of lost what the main core of helping others was. I actually, at some point I wanted to become. I trained and I helped a lot of people. I never even charged, I was just open to help people when they face this journey. But I noticed that it turns down into one of those situations that a lot of people would need help and the information is out there so you can get that information, you can leverage that information. But now the coaches themselves I know that they rely more more on on this to become a business and um, and it's great.
Speaker 2:But even as you go to the gym you see personal trainers and they still get some clients and they, they get some clients, but every not for for mostly online coaches to be able to be successful, they have to do it online and then there's no personal interaction. So the downsides to that is that I don't get a coach that can help me on my form and Robert can vouch on this how important he is, formed for different aspects of training, right, maybe for losing weight. For some folks might not be as as as important, but at the same time I would say well, not really because you don't want to do exercise the wrong way and then get hurt. So that's even worse. So you want to be able to have the right form. So online I help us to kind of expand and and and get more, meet more people, be able to spread the message for further out.
Speaker 2:But at the same time I think it lost a little bit of the human, the personal interaction. That's what's been with a lot of things In the industry itself. We think or that's what I heard is that the industry, as far as fitness, is dying. I want you to tell me what you think, robert, in that context. When they say the fitness industry, as our influencers doing fitness, is dying, all the influencers that have been doing or doing fitness have set way to something else because they don't see a market on it. And then you can tell me what you think, especially because you come from a fitness background.
Speaker 2:You come from a fitness background. Um, you became I mean, you always been great, but you became multi-famous for multiple books and information related to fitness, but your last book was not fitness related. You set way to something else. So I wanted to give us your opinion about that. Actually, I had that. I had that doubt. A question in my mind, like I need to ask robert about this. Like, talk, tell us a little bit about this, robert yeah, well, this is.
Speaker 1:This is almost going to turn into you interviewing me now, because I took like five pages of notes. Um, first of all, roger, I want to validate what you said. I share some of the same thoughts and same impressions and same I don't know if it's the word concerns about the fitness industry and some of the directions that it's going, and I wrote, I wrote down a bunch of notes, so I think I'll um, I'll, be able to explain what I mean by that. And I also have to say, I don't know, with a caveat, you know, it seems like almost all my friends in the vegan industry are coaches these days. Like they're all fitness coaches, like everybody's a coach. I'm not people even. I mean, I'm telling you, someone just last week offered to send me hundreds of dollars just to write them a meal plan, but I'm not a coach, it's not what I do. And now that person is working with somebody else because I'm not a coach. But everybody I know is, you know, all my friends and social media and the vegan fitness team, vegan bodybuilders, they're all coaches. So here's what I wrote down based on what you said, and you can tell me if I'm right or if I'm accurately kind of representing what you said and again, I feel a lot of the same things about this.
Speaker 1:Number one there's a lot of money in coaching. It's something that came on the scene 10 years ago or so, but much more popular in the last five years. There's a lot of money in it. People want to pay lots of money to have someone tell them what to do. So number one for someone who's a vegan athlete, especially a bodybuilder, who's kind of focused a bit more on ego and and their self image and all that and people are offering to pay them, sometimes thousands or many thousands of dollars to help guide them. And bodybuilders love to be in a position of authority and give advice and coaching. And here's how I did it. Here's well, here's what works for me. I'm a champion, you know, pay me and I'll and I'll share that with you.
Speaker 1:And now we're in an era where your coach is not just your, your football coach at school anymore, or your basketball coach, uh, coach. Or your music instructor, which you could call a coach, or your financial advisor, which you could call a coach. Coaching has become universal. Like you mentioned life coaching, you mentioned fitness coaching, health coaching it is everywhere now is everywhere now, and I also will acknowledge what you said, that there's a there's a relationship with being a coach and a popular influencer and a popularity contest, and that that brings us back to a little bit of of high school days, teenage days, but it doesn't mean that it's not happening in front of our eyes.
Speaker 1:Roger, I can give you examples that you're going to appreciate and I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus, but let me tell you some of my experiences, roger, because you asked me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a few years back, for example, I was at one of the big fitness expos in the whole world 50,000 people or so and there was eight time Olympia champion, lee Haney, one of the greatest bodybuilders who've ever lived, and he had basically no line to go see him. But there was like a uh, online influencer bikini model with 17 million followers and there was a line for hours to, to to meet her. I didn't even know her name and you know and again, I'm not anything bad about that aspect of influencer, I'm just talking about how society perceived them. Then I was at, then I was at the Olympia and there were three of the greatest bodybuilders, male IFBB bodybuilders of all time, guys like Flex Wheeler and lee priest, and they joined to form the supplement company right three bodybuilders who used to be on all the magazine covers. They were the ones that we always looked up to right there was like this online influencer, bradley martin.
Speaker 1:I think it was millions of followers and he had a big line for hours that you could see these bodybuilders who helped build the sport of bodybuilding. These popular made the Olympia, the Superbowl of body, but made it popular. You could see they were visibly kind of upset. No one cared about them because they cared about the online and and and I see this everywhere I go that there's the online. Popularity of these influencers supersedes the accomplishments of the most successful bodybuilders in the history of the world, with the only exceptions being maybe like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's popular everywhere he goes because he's Arnold and he's a Hollywood movie star, so he's really a blend, because he's Arnold and he's a Hollywood movie star, so he's really a blend.
Speaker 1:But here's what I wrote down when you were talking. That makes me think, and you asked me what I think about some of the coaching and online influencer presence in the vegan space and here's what I got out of it. One there's a lot of ego involved. There's a lot of ego in personal, uh reputation. Um, there's a lot of money involved in coaching. You can make a very good living.
Speaker 1:I know many people who make six or seven figure income as a as a coach, even as a vegan fitness coach. Some people do incredibly well. There's a self importance of being the coach or having clients and being someone who guides someone else along their journey makes one feel important. It's also helps boost self-esteem or give affirmation of positive self-worth. There's another word I used earlier popularity People trying to get the most followers, the most likes, the most shares, the most traction, the most affiliate opportunities. And there's reputation. There's reputation like that. Your name gets out there and you're someone that people talk about and think about and tell other people about. There's also an opportunity to work from home. We're in this timeframe that we're in, where we all used to go to a job and now you can work from your phone or work from your laptop and make a six or seven figure income as a coach. Well, growing your popularity, your fame, your reputation, which gets you free stuff and opportunities to travel and and go around all over the world just because your name and reputation and your it's kind of like college sports now, with your name, image and likeness, it's going to take you far.
Speaker 1:And, roger, basically the main thing is that everybody is a personal brand these days. I'm a personal brand, you're a personal brand. Every guest I have on this show is a personal brand, whether we know it or not. Even stay at home. Parents are personal brands. They have the opportunity to. They share what they're doing on Facebook and on Instagram and on TikTok and on YouTube and whatever. We're all in this industry of trying to gain other people's attention and we're also in this industry of trying to get other people's money, and I'm not saying that in a negative way. I sell books. People pay for that. You have products you sell. People pay for that. People have coaching services they offer people pay for that. But it doesn't change the fact that I think to your point. I think what you're really getting at is that it used to be a desire to help people was first. Now the desire is to boost personal brand and make money, and if I can help people along the way then that's a good thing. And does that kind of summarize?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, correct, yeah, that's a good way to say it. Yeah, and.
Speaker 1:I don't talk about that a lot. I don't share my thoughts on that a whole lot. Who knows, I might get some backlash for sharing that today, but but I'm not trying to say that in a negative way. I'm saying there's an opportunity now to be a coach, to be an influencer, to to have a personal brand and to grow that into something big and change your life. And a lot of people are doing it.
Speaker 1:And if anything, roger, I would have to admit as one of the first vegan athletes in the world, first notable vegan athletes in the world who built bodybuildingcom 22 years ago, who had all these privileges and headstart and advanced opportunities, if anything, I would have to admit that I'm jealous or envious that that didn't happen for me. I could have been the go-to coach. I created the vegan bodybuilding movement. I could have been the main guy. Didn't happen for me. I could have been that personal brand where everyone wants Robert Cheek to endorse their product or their event or whatever, and that didn't necessarily happen for me.
Speaker 1:On some scale it did. But I think if I do at times sound a little bit critical of the direction some of the vegan fitness movement is heading, it's probably because it left me behind and I feel a little bit you know if I'm being honest, and so we all have our own opinions of of where the movement's headed and where it's been and where it's going and what it is right now. But but I think sometimes I know at least for me, it's because of how I feel in relation to the movement, like maybe I thought I deserved more opportunities than I got, or something like that. Or.
Speaker 1:I missed the boat and things passed me by because I didn't adapt fast enough. But I also share some of the same concerns with you that when there's ego involved and there's lots of money involved and there's personal brand involved. You are going to lose some of the authenticity. It's just part of the deal.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's true, so yeah.
Speaker 1:I think I share some of that, some of those same feelings that you share. But let's go. Let's go back to. Let's go back to fitness just for a moment. Yeah, so you've competed a number of times, I've actually been there and you compete on stage. Are you still competing or do you plan to? I know we're both. We're. What did you say? You're 45, I'm 44. Do you still compete? Do you plan to compete? Do you plan to do any coaching? You're mentoring yourself. What's your relationship with bodybuilding today, roger?
Speaker 3:Hey, it's Nathan Crane, founder of Plant Powered Athlete, and I want to thank you for tuning in to the Plant Powered Athlete podcast. And as a special thank you, I want to give you a 10% discount code on our plant powered protein. Scientifically formulated, super clean, organic, high quality plant powered protein designed with health and performance and longevity in mind, with three super high quality adaptogens that have been shown to help improve energy, increase focus, endurance, speed up recovery and help your body thrive. So the 10% discount code, you can use the word podcast at checkout and you can get plant powered protein at our website at plantpoweredathletecom. Thanks again for tuning in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, so I do have plans to compete again. So, my life, I did a competition last year, so I'm fresh out of, uh, yeah, I'm fresh out of a competition. I competed last year. Uh, I competed, uh, my what fifth? Fifth time? Yeah, this is my fifth competition and I placed third and fourth on my category. So I'm still competing and my plans. So, usually the way I schedule my training, my competition is every other year. So, in theory, this is my growing year and then next year should be my competition year. Right, if I do it that way Now, I had that in my mind, that I would like to compete next year. However, we'll see how life goes because I have so many other personals and outside plans of bodybuilding that my shift that around. But, yes, I do have plans of competing at some point. Yeah, not this year, but maybe next year or the next following year.
Speaker 2:I've never gone more than what two years maybe in between of competitions. I don't know when I will retire when it comes down to bodybuilding. Um, as, from a competition standpoint, because you never retire from training, that's one thing that I want to let clear right. Just same like robert, he goes to the gym. He post pictures going to gym. You cannot take that away from us like we'll always. I'm always going to go to a gym. Even if I'm going three or four times a week uh, let's say less I'm still. I'm still training different type of muscle parts. I'm still training like if I was competing. Even though I'm not competing, I train like if I'm competing and try to increase my weight, reduce my weight. My reps try to improve every time I go to the gym, like I take it seriously when I go. I train even though I might be tired, I might be exhausted from the day, but I still take it like if I'm training for a competition, even though I'm not competing. That's how serious I am about it, because for me it's serious. Again, it goes down to my personality. If I say I'm going to be a professional bodybuilder, I'm going to take it like a professional. When you train as a bodybuilder, especially from a professional standpoint, you really have to get serious because you're competing against some of the best. Everybody brings their best package and a professional standpoint. You really have to get serious because you're competing against some of the best right. Everybody brings their best package and everybody feels like they need to win or they deserve to win. Oh, I don't know why I didn't win. We all get mad when we don't win.
Speaker 2:I will tell you a story about my first show ever. Robert was there and I did my first show, went on stage and I think I placed like four in that show and I was disappointed. I was mad. I was with my head down, I was crying I don't even cry that much and I was like so disappointed. And this guy right here, robert. He grabbed me and said Roger, come here, why are you mad? Like what's wrong with you? This is your first show ever. You did well for your first show. I didn't even place in my first show. I remember those words from you and I was like okay. Robert said it's all good, just just keep doing what you're doing. You're going to get there. I said okay. Robert said that I had nothing to worry about. I looked at my head and we continue smiling. Let's get some food.
Speaker 2:So situations like that change your life, right? You don't even know what kind of impact you create on people. So I don't have no plans to precisely coaching people, but what I will want to do, or what we'll be doing at some point or soon or later, will be public speaking. Eventually, I want to come out with a book or some kind of project that allows me to talk to folks, talk to people talk to men, women, whoever kids that I can be able to share some of my stories, some of my knowledge, some of the things that I gained and learned, some of the do's and don'ts, all these different tangibles, all the different things that I can provide as a content to folks. Right, and that will be my way, you guys, of teaching, spreading the word, spreading the message, all related to veganism, of course.
Speaker 2:Right, I always stay focused on the main goal, right. So that's one of my goals, so that's how I'll be able to coach people is by talking to folks, be on stage and be able to talk different languages. What not? Be able to spread the message in different parts of the world and be able to tell people all the different things about not only the movement, the way bodybuilding helped me kind of shape my life, but also the way I save animals, all the different things. So that's what will be my main ultimate goal, robert, from that perspective.
Speaker 2:So, no, I'm not competing anytime soon. At the end, I want to compete at some point. It's not, this next year will be the next, following year. I'm not fully retired from bodybuilding. I just recently did a show, so, um, my last show was in october, so I'm about to turn a year from my last show.
Speaker 2:October 27 was the last show I actually did. Uh, boat was local show right here in texas. Um, I was probably my best shape ever, like I was top shape in my opinion from since the day I started to now and I still placed fourth and I still placed third. Right, so that's how competitive. And the funny is that my first show, competitors were telling me oh, you're going to win.
Speaker 2:When you're in the show, robert, and the people that you competed against you telling you that you're going to win, my comfort level was way high. I was like I was high and not even taking drugs. I was like, oh man, I'm going to win. I was so excited, I was confident on stage because the guy next to me and the other guy all three or four competitors were saying, no, you're going to win, you have the best package and I played third. I'm like what's going on? Like how I play third and the guys right next to me think that I have the best body. So that's how competitive this sport is, that's how difficult this sport is. So and you can take that information and cry about it right, like Robert said, or you can lift your head up and continue working and improving yourself and do better in the next show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and uh, I appreciate you sharing that too. That's interesting. I, I remember that. I remember, um, yeah, you compete and you not being very happy with how you finished and and I've been everywhere, from first place to last place. You know I've been last, I think, multiple times. I've been first multiple times. I've been second a bunch of times. I've been in the middle there. There were times where I thought, just like you reminded me, I was even saying backstage like, okay, you're probably gonna be first, I'll be second and I ended up in fifth and I thought I was second. Are you kidding me? I was even telling people, man, you got it and people recognize me backstage Cause like, oh man, vegan bodybuilders here I know Robert and and natural bodybuilding competition, and I'm thinking I'm probably second, I've come in fifth. So you never know, roger, you never know.
Speaker 1:But I do want to hear about your training and nutrition program, perhaps in a moment. But also you talked about some of your goals to reach people through public speaking, through books, and also you've had a podcast for a while. Are you still doing the podcast? I know actually you interviewed me, man, it must've been like four years ago Like you've been doing podcasts for a long time, cause you interviewed me three or four years ago for your podcast and I know you've had some episodes even in recent months, or, if I understand it. So is that still going on and is it the Latino vegano podcast?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the Latino Vegano. Yes, absolutely, I still have a podcast. Yes, thank you, and yes, I interviewed you. You were one of my first guests and actually I interviewed you before you even came out with the book. It was way before you got the book out, so we were talking Mostly a lot of the conversation was around the book. It was way before you got the book out, so we were talking about mostly a lot of the conversation was around the book, so it's it's interesting now that you know this is like the, the aftermath of the book, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, so yeah so I still have the podcast. Um, we're still going strong. Um, this day, I used I used a lot to kind of talk my experience about a different because I'm on a different journey right now, right. So when I'm training, I talk a lot to kind of talk my experience about a different, because I'm on a different journey right now, right. So when I'm training, I talk a lot about my training. So I used to kind of like a personal blog.
Speaker 2:Now these days, because a lot of the topics related to veganism it's not like they're updated, but I speak in a lot of I'm talking about like a lot of things. I mean, it's 20 plus years of like being a lifestyle, so we got a lot of a lot of knowledge there, right. So I've spoken a lot of these different topics about veganisms and from different aspects and, um, nowadays they are using more as a personal blog kind of. So I I told my story from from different, uh, different things that I'm living in at that moment. So when I'm training, I talk about my training and what is that? What is some of the things that I'm doing as far as food-wise and as far as training-wise, which I know. You talked about those things and now I'm mostly talking about. I'm in a different path now, so I'm in an entrepreneurship department, so now I'm speaking about that a little bit more. So now you're going to find more information related to that. So, yes, so the podcast is still going related to that, um.
Speaker 2:So, yes, so the podcast still going, and, um, and the podcast came out because I, I wanted a way of having my own platform so I could share my own personal experiences as a, as a male, as a vegan, as a, uh, as a brother, as a future father, as a, as a friend. I mean just to kind of share my, my experience, that I, that I, everything that happens to me, or or everything that I learned during my journey. Hopefully, some of that information you can take it, I mean, and then you can, you know, find something valuable and don't make the same mistakes or learn something from it, right. So like, for example, when I, when I first went vegan, um, I went to a stage that I was not eating anything and I don't recommend that to anyone. I went vegan cold turkey right when I went vegan cold turkey and I was like I'm not going to eat nothing because everything touch animal.
Speaker 2:That was my radical idea. You want to put it on those terms and I don't advise that. Because you got to eat. Your body needs some food, at least water. I mean, some people might not tell me that no body, body doesn't need food, but during that time, since I'm feeding myself, I needed to consume something, right? And um, I wasn't even eating at all and so and I got sick. So the first thing that happened was people were blaming veganism. So that's one thing that I will not recommend. I mean, some people might like the state-by-state type of approach, the maybe meatless Mondays, whatever is your approach, right? I'm a guy that if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right, so I won't call it talking upon intended, right? But then I have the right information. Maybe you're the type of person that I need a lot of research, a lot of data before I take any steps. Fine, whatever is your approach, but the one I took was okay, I'm not eating, and then I got sick, and then I'm like what's going to happen?
Speaker 1:It's always good to have a platform that I can go share. Hey, this is what I did. This is what I would recommend you new project I mentioned you as an entrepreneur numerous times and you've got, uh, you've got your own all vegan ice cream truck chilled cocoa right and you're in Houston, texas. Tell me, I remember you texted me some time ago. You texted me, uh, like what my favorite ice cream flavor was? That you were like gonna name a product after you know, after me, and you were. You were starting this new venture in Houston. And then I see your videos. I see you online. You're making waffles and ice cream and all kinds of stuff. So tell me how that started and how people can find you and where they can find you, how they can try your products when they come to Houston and, like, how did that even begin? I don't even know the origin story of where that all started.
Speaker 2:I know it's kind of weird, but you'd be surprised. So your favorite flavor is mint. Yeah, yeah, mint chocolate, chocolate chip, mint, yeah, okay, okay. So I made it, I have it in the store, I have the rubber chick special, I have it. So, anyway, so I'm gonna tell you how this, this one, well, one of the way, one of the things that kind of inspired me, because there's a couple of there's a couple of things that kind of inspire me to create this project. So you remember that year, that year that we were in austin right, that's the year that we were austin for another natural federation, uh, competition. That same year, that the same year that we're talking about that, you came out and and greet me backstage and say, hey, lift your head up and whatnot, right, that same year, yeah, so you told me. You told me, hey, here in austin, he is one of my favorite ice cream places. You remember which one it is?
Speaker 1:Yeah, was it like Sweet Ritual or something Sweet Ritual.
Speaker 2:There you go, sweet Ritual, uh-huh. So I went to that place and that changed my life because I had never had vegan ice cream at that point. Made that way, yeah. So you're like, oh, let's go to Sweet Ritual. And now they had all this variety of flavors. I was like, oh, wow, this is awesome, this is great.
Speaker 2:So seat ritual always came to mind when we were talking about ice cream. So let's fall forward now, right? So, um, I went, my girlfriend, and then she was like, oh, I want to try some, some vegan ice cream. I said, oh, let's go to my favorite spot, which you already introduced me to back in those days here in austin. So we drove to austin. When I got to austin, wow, I was like, oh man, what, what are we gonna do now? I'm like, I'm all here disappointed. I was all excited because I wanted to introduce it the same way you introduced to me. I was like, oh, yeah, the different thing, especially because my uh, my girlfriend, wife now, and she she's transitioning to, well, she was back during that time transitioning to kind of plant-based vegan, right. So I wanted to like, introduce her to like the vegan ice cream scene and whatnot See the original clothes. So I'm like, oh man, that's sad, like what am I going to do now? So I started thinking about that could be mine. So I started.
Speaker 2:That was the same year, around the time that I was competing, and I wanted to get some really macro-friendly treats, to be able to have something especially, maybe something with some kind of high protein, low carb, low fat, whatnot. So I was trying to find some kind of treat that I can create, because you get creative when you're competing, go really right, because you're pretty much eating the same thing over and over again. So you want to get creative. So I was trying to think about ways that I can think, and one thing that came to mind was to make paletas, so popsicles basically, and I was eating with fruits or whatnot. So I was trying to find something, some way that can be created. So one thing led me to another. So, in that research and not having sweet ritual, I was like you know what? I'm going to create my own sweet ritual, I'm going to create my own business and I'm going to segue all these different things that I know into this.
Speaker 2:It's interesting because I'm coming from a bodybuilding background per se, right, but I was a bodybuilding now and I was going to be a bodybuilding, but I was never wanting to necessarily be identified from Roger the Bodybuilder, because I never sold myself, I never sold that brand on me, even though I like fitness. So I'm a fitness person, I like sports, I like fitness, so that was mostly what I enjoy. I'm a fitness person, like I like sports, I like fitness, so that was mostly what I enjoy. I was not necessarily saying that I wanted to be recognized in the world as just a bodybuilder. You know I'm a vegan first and then everything else right. So vegan can be an advocate for animals, it can be an activist, it could be a variety of things and business always been in my DNA especially. There's a lot of things in my DNA, especially because, you know, from an educational standpoint, I studied business. So I was thinking, like man, how here in Houston specifically, we don't have a spot that offers those kind of options for vegans and the one that I like in Austin, close so, which is, you know, it's two and a half hours for the people that were familiar with the distance between Houston and Austin and they got some other places that sell vegan ice cream and whatnot, but nothing like that specific place. So I actually reached out to the owners of Sea Ritual and and they they sold me an e-book like kind of coaching right, we're talking about coaching, right, they sold me an e-book. We have a lot of the recipes, a lot of things they use, and that's how I started to getting some knowledge and some information regarding this specific field.
Speaker 2:But before I even went ahead that way, I was starting to make my own recipe here at home with an ice cream and doing all the different things. I was starting to make my own ice cream here at home. And then I took a trip to Panama to see my family and I was working on a different project over there. Right, I had all the different concepts, different projects over there that I was going to do. Do like a vegan, dave and Buster basically I was gonna build one over there. That was my whole goal, with all the basketball shoot and other different games and whatnot. And he was gonna sell I begin all the conf. All the food section was gonna be all full vegan. That was gonna be my concept.
Speaker 2:But the politics part of it kind of made me, uh, forced me, to move back here. Well, not to move back, but to to take the idea and then make the idea here instead of opening that idea over there. That doesn't mean that eventually I will go back and do something else, right? So I just have to shift the the concept. So I came back, I came back to Houston. So I'm jumping from one to another, but at the end it's all going to come together, right.
Speaker 2:So I came back to Houston and I took the idea of the street ritual, I took the idea of making paletas for you know, from the competition standpoint, and then I took the idea of the Dave from Boston type of concert that I was going to build in international, and I combined that and I was like, okay, I'm going to build something here in Houston, so that's how it all comes to play. So it was a combination of different events that kind of led me to it. Right, it wasn't like one specific thing, but you had to do with that too, because it's all going down to what we were talking about in Austin. So I came down here and I was like, all right, well, I'm going to build to here. So now what I do from that point on, what's next? It's always what's next, and I started brainstorming ideas I was going to get a little establishment and rent is high and all these different things.
Speaker 2:So I started working in the logistic. I have a background in what we call business analysis and project management, so I'm pretty good at managing projects. I'm pretty good at looking for improving processes. Something needs to be improved. How can I improve that? Either by utilizing technology or utilizing a better way of doing things basically right, so I'm very good at that. So I started using some of those skills that I had developed. I'm just not just muscle guys. So I started utilizing some of those skill sets so I can create this whole concept.
Speaker 2:And, long story short, I did all that, put it together, wrote it down, drew the plan and boom, we built the first ice cream, the first vegan ice cream truck or food truck here in Houston. First of all, it's the first vegan, all-vegan ice cream here in Houston in general, because there's a lot of places that sell vegan ice cream but they don't have one that's 100%, everything, 100%, including the owner 100%, 100% vegan. We built it and we're proud that we put it together. And then, you know, I have auctions, like sugar-free auctions. We got gluten-free auctions, and then you know, we have about 30 flavors. Now I even have a protein flavor ice cream. So I mean, yeah, the sky's the limit, right? So I'm able to be creative and create all the different things.
Speaker 2:I always like being in the kitchen doing different things, but just being the fact that I can be able to be creative with something that I enjoy is being great.
Speaker 2:We use coconut milk as our base or we use oatmeal as our base, and then we create amazing ice cream for people, and people have been enjoying it so much so and I'm so, so happy and grateful that I'm able to give back in some way. So how? Because when people come and say, well, we didn't have anything here, like I'm so glad that we are here. But then it comes down to the aspect that business owners, we love creating things, we love putting out, robert likes writing books and giving information, but we all need your support, because if we won't get you guys support and we cannot be able to continue creating more things to benefit people. And then, when it comes to a business, we all know that they say that usually businesses are difficult in the first six months, first six months of the year, first year. So I'm happy that I'm able to create for you guys and then for having people come back and recurring customers and supporting our business, and I want to encourage people to continue supporting us.
Speaker 1:And then we'll talk about a a little giveaway that we have uh later. Yeah well, congratulations on that, roger. How long has your ice cream truck been open now?
Speaker 2:it's been six months. We started in february. Okay, we started in february this year, so yeah, and um, we started in February this year.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, we started in the same location that we've always been. It's crazy to have an ice cream business on a food truck because logistically it's very difficult so there's a lot of logistics behind it just because you've got to have a cold item 24-7. And we actually make the product from scratch inside the trailer, like inside the truck, like it's. This is not. We're not outsourcing it for nobody. We make it from scratch. I make, I mix all the ingredients, mix everything, the milk, everything that needs to be done vegan milk, of course. Right, we miss all the ingredients. And then we have the machine, you know professional machine that we use to churn the ice cream and do all that.
Speaker 1:So, yes, everything is done in-house well, I've got an idea for you. I just wrote it down. You mentioned you've got a protein option. Maybe you could come up with a plant-powered athlete ice cream flavor. We're using the athlete protein, um, and we could, like I don't know, put a spin on it. Could, like I don't know, put a spin on it Like that I don't know, like it has some sort of nickname or it's like it's it's endorsed or promoted by plant powered athlete Cause it's got the protein in it. We could do like a. I'm just I'm just making it up on the spot.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking that if I, if I shared that idea with the owner of the company, I think they'd be excited to have their name as an ice cream flavor at the shop in Houston and telling our customers to go there to check it out and try it and post photos online. Maybe there's a collaboration. So, uh, we could follow up offline, um, about that, and so does your. Does your truck? Uh, do you do travel to events as well, or is it the same like stationary location? Um, that's like listed on your instagram page? I saw you've got an address there and open, I think, four to ten every day. So, no, you got work coming up. We're coming up soon and it's called chilled cocoa right, right, right.
Speaker 2:So I do. I do go to events. As a matter of fact, this this month well, by the time this comes out it already passed, but on the 20th of this month we'll be doing a vegan vibes event. So it's it's going to be a big festival here in Houston where we're going to have a bunch of vegan vendors. They're anticipating about 3,000 people and the event. So that's going to be a good turnaround. Well, I'm just excited. It won't be my first year, but I do.
Speaker 2:I do go to events. Sometimes I I'm very selective with the events I go just because of, like I said, the logistics of traveling with freezers and all these different things to an event for a long period of time is not as easy as it sounds. But we do love going to events. I had an event on the local university here Actually I can say at the Rice University here in Houston, which went during the days of Earth Day. So the group of students from Rice, they hired the truck itself and then we serve ice cream to all the different students. I do an employee appreciation day as well, so companies hire us just to give ice cream to their employees, and I did a festival for Fort Uli as well, too, and that was great during the summer. So, yes, we do events every now and then we do those, but for the most part, we are located in 1001 West Timer Road, monsters and West Timer.
Speaker 2:For people that are familiar with the Houston area, that's very close to downtown Houston, and the beautiful part of where I'm located, guys, is that if you come prepare, if you come to visit us, when you guys come to visit us let's put it that way come ready to eat, because I have.
Speaker 2:This is one of the few places in Houston that you can find vegan food and vegan dessert. In the same location, in the same spot, you have two vegan food trucks two, not one, two vegan food trucks plus mine, which is a vegan dessert. So you got three vegan businesses in one location. You can have your burgers and your fries and your nachos, and then you can have Mexican vegan as well, which is super delicious as well, and then you can come have some ice cream or your milkshake or your float or whatever other good you want to take with you. So it's a beautiful time. Would you ever imagine that, robert, having so many vegan businesses in one location, and then we're trying to build a vegan corner, like have more vegan businesses and kind of push all the other guys away. But do you ever thought about like this, like we get into a point that vegans is not on the ground play but moving anymore?
Speaker 1:yeah, I think that's awesome. I just wrote down visit roger in houston uh, so here's what I'm gonna do?
Speaker 1:um, I gotta talk to my wife, karen, of course, but what I want to do is I want to come out, I want to visit, I want to document it. I want to come out, I want to visit, I want to document it. I want to take photos and videos. Um, uh, especially, we get some sort of plant powered athlete protein mixed in somehow as well. Um, I'd love to come down there, give it a visit. Uh, see you. It's been a while since I've seen you. Um, it's been in person. It's been a little while now. So I'd love to come out for a visit, check it out.
Speaker 1:Try try the, the chocolate chip mint that's named after me. Drop off some bags of plant powered protein for you and do some promotion there, in case you end up wanting to use that or incorporating it in and doing those things that you and I both talked about, like the influencer stuff, and and, and get content, because I think that sounds like a lot of fun, and the fact that I can eat all all these other restaurants, vegan restaurants from the other vegan food trucks in the same area and I can have my, my dessert and eat it too. I can have my, my dinner, my dessert and all vegan to eat it too. It too, I can have my dinner, my dessert and all vegan and eat it too. And Houston is one of the cities I really wanted to go to to sign books and bookstores and I never made it. I made it to Dallas, austin, I believe.
Speaker 1:Maybe did I make it to Austin, I'm not sure but I know there's some great bookstores out in Houston and I can go out and sign books, and I love going to half price books too, which is a Texas based company. I love their used bookstores. They do sell some new books as well, but I always go there and sign all kinds of books for them and and distribute them, so people get a chance to buy my books at a discounted price about half price compared to what they get in other stores or online and I love doing that. So I'm going to put Houston on my travel schedule. I do have a pretty busy travel schedule right now Lots of vegan festivals to go to.
Speaker 1:So I don't know exactly. It might not be until the spring, although I know you have some pretty nice weather during the winter. So we'll have to see. I'll have to talk to my wife and see what we can arrange, but I've got the air miles, especially with Southwest Airlines, so it's not that big of a deal for me to come out and I would love to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, anytime, robert and you guys are more than welcome to stay with us. You guys will love it here, so it will be a pleasure to have you guys here. So don't worry about lodging so you can stay with us here. So that's perfect.
Speaker 1:That makes it even easier because it's that's a bit of an obstacle is trying to.
Speaker 1:You know, flights I got air miles for, but lodging is always a big expense and all that worry about that. Well, I appreciate that, roger, thank you, thank you, um. I wanted to ask you actually a little bit more about Houston, about, like, what your favorite restaurant is, what the vegan scene like, because you're the third or fourth largest city in America. You're basically Chicago, you're right behind New York and LA. Houston and Chicago are basically tied these days as the third largest city in America. So I know we're probably probably another 10 or 15 minutes as we wrap up today to cover anything else you want to cover. But just briefly, like, what's the vegan scene like in Houston, texas, one of the biggest cities in America?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's a great question, because for many years, austin has always been a vegan mecca and it still is. There's no doubt there still is. When you think about vegan in Texas, you think about Austin, right? You never think about Houston or Dallas or even San Antonio, right? You never think about any of those cities, right? However, the vegan movement has really gotten better and bigger here in Texas, right, no pun intended. Right, it's gonna be getting better. So, um, we, we have definitely more, more auctions down way before 20 years when I came here.
Speaker 2:Now, the the downsides is that Houston is so big that you do have to travel to go to places, which is one of the biggest drawbacks of the bigger movement, because, like, for example, if I'm in downtown area but I live west, so that's like a half an hour drive for me to go from one place to another. So people usually that live in, let's say, west, north or South, they're usually going to stay on their area. So you're going to be limited to the locations. You're going to be limited to the restaurants, depending on if you live on the suburbs or on the outskirts of Houston. Now, if you move into the city-wise, then you have a plethora of options. Right, I like some of the places that I like. I'm going to give a shout out to my buddies that actually had the trucks where we're at. So Houston, atlanta Vegan is actually a really good comfort vegan food. I recommend it. Vigo's is Mexican vegan food Very clean, very fresh food, really great flavor. He makes tacos with jackfruit so yeah, so this is a different level, really good food as well. So that's two of my favorite places. Then we got places like they got a soul food vegan place, mug Better Brew, which is, you should say, like vegan soul food, and there's a soul food vegan place too. There's a place that is interesting because there's a place in Houston that kind of sells kind of raw food. That's that's very interesting raw vegan food. It's called Green Sea and it's been out for so many years. I mean, it's not located in the best area but it's um, it's a really good, clean, uh, raw-ish type. You know have a lot of options called Green Sea. They don't do a lot of advertisements so it's like a really mom and pop, stop a shop, but it's a really good uh food.
Speaker 2:Now is you're looking for a place with a good ambient which will definitely go there. It's called ginger meal. Ginger meal have a a nice story. It was owned by a by a chef, local chef. Um, she used to have a truck, a food truck called Sweet Tomato, and then her business became so popular that she opened a storefront, and then even more popular then. Then she sold her business, retired and she's not even like 40, brother, and she retired. She's like, oh, okay, good, they gave me a really good offer and she sold the business and now it's called Ginger Mule.
Speaker 2:The food is pretty good as well and it's interesting because since now I have the trailer, I have the truck, a lot of my customers, they go to the same places. So every time I go to a place hey, this is the ice cream guy they already know me because we don't have a lot, but the ones that we have, we have some pretty good places and, like I said, they're all in the same metro area of Houston. So I mentioned those ginger mules, I mentioned that one as well, and there's a place called Pitagoras. It's a little bit farther out of Houston. Their menu is crazy. They make like Greek food and they make all kind of food. They make seitan, make it look and taste like ribs and they make all kind of stuff. It's a really good place as well. And Cascavel is another Mexican restaurant which really have a nice menu.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I mentioned like at least 10 restaurants are really great food. Just thinking about it, it's like awesome just to go there. But it's a variety of food and also it depends on what you're looking for. If you're like looking for like a nice ambient or you're just looking for like actual food, food, food, then, um, it don't matter like where you situated. I give you, uh, those different options, but those are some of the ones that comes to mind, uh, and I'm sorry if I'm missing some of the some other ones, but this is the ones that come to mind, like the most popular ones, like the most the most famous one I'm gonna ask you about it's honestly been I don't even know, roger yeah, at least 10 years since I've been to houston.
Speaker 1:Okay, I mean, I travel a lot but, for whatever reason, I mostly go where the vegan festivals are, where I get invited to go, and I just haven't been to houston a long time. And I was in Dallas last year and the year before. Actually, this year I was in Dallas. That's where my publisher is based. My book publisher, ben Bella, is based in Dallas, but I have not even been to Austin since we were at the Naturally Fit. I think Really, yeah, I think so. I mean, maybe I've gone some years after that one that that you were in, but it's been years since I've even been to Austin, haven't even. I don't even know what the downtown looks like anymore, and I used to live there 12 years ago so barbecue revolution close, robert.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, yeah, but Arlo's still open. Okay, yeah, it's been a long time, but but I remember a couple things about Houston.
Speaker 1:There used to be a Loving Hut there. Is there still a Loving Hut?
Speaker 2:Yes, they're still there. They're like the grandfathers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love Loving Hut. They're just. They're open. And does Chef Kenny still have a place there?
Speaker 2:No, he left. We miss him. We love, we love, love Jeff Kenny. We love Jeff Kenny man. But it was tough for him because he was not located in a very good area of town so there was not a lot of, there was not a lot of traffic for him to to sustain that business. His menu was very extensive but his food was amazing amazing.
Speaker 1:I know him from Las Vegas. I see him almost every time I go to las vegas. He's got two locations there and he told me he was opening one in houston and I. That was a couple years ago and I remember that it opened, but I wasn't sure if it was still going, so so no more stuff he recently closed, recently, uh, sometime this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, summertime he closed, so yeah, yeah okay, well, yeah, I look forward to uh discovering some of the places when I make it back to houston and I will, I really will talk to karen and we'll make it. We'll make a plan to visit uh sometime in the near future because it would be great to uh to catch up again. Um, absolutely so, roger, I know you, you mentioned some sort of a book giveaway or something like that. We'll talk about in a moment, because I think we'll just kind of wrap up here, so maybe we'll finish with whatever thoughts you have, because I know you bought a bunch of copies of my book, which I'm very grateful for. You bought a whole bunch of copies of the Impactful Vegan.
Speaker 1:I have no idea what you have in mind. So we'll cover that'll, we'll. We'll cover that at the end, um, cause I know you mentioned something about highlighting the book today, uh, but I want to ask you maybe almost like, um, like rapid fire, maybe like like really a bunch of questions with really short answer, just to get a bunch of questions, um, at the end here, how would you? So we'll just go right one to the next. So, how would you describe your current nutrition program? Like, what do you eat today?
Speaker 2:Basic, oh, basic, basic. So I stay basic rice, beans, lentils, a lot of greens, nuts and seeds, just just that's it. That's my.
Speaker 1:I don't, I don't keep difficult, it's just basic yeah, that's how I keep it, and you eat from the restaurants that are that are next to you I do, but not not every time, not every day.
Speaker 2:I maybe do once every what, two, three months, like yeah, it's not every time. Um, because they're amazing, don't get me wrong, but yeah, I can't just eat like that every day. I don't even. I don't even eat my ice cream every day, like I had it the first time that. I just made sure that my recipes were right yeah, and then that's it.
Speaker 2:Like I already know the formula, so I don't have to eat it every day because now I'm gonna get fat. Like, let's be honest, be honest Speaking of that what is your current exercise routine?
Speaker 1:look like as you're in between competitions. What do you? Are you five days a week? Are you six days a week? Are you three days a week? And free weights? Like briefly, what's your exercise routine?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great, great. So I'm training three days, between three to four days a week. If I can do four days a week, great, but at least I get minimum of three days and it's just a split routine. A lot of supersets. I'm not doing super heavy. I'm not doing super heavy these days. So I'm maintaining my weight pretty much.
Speaker 2:I'm about what? 215, 6'2", 215. That's where I roughly stay. I think. Maybe every now and then I go 220, but I stay around that same weight. I should literally be 200 pounds. So I'm a little bit over my size for my goal for this summer, I mean for my off-season, but I'm okay with it. So I train three days a week, or four days a week, depending on the week, and then the fourth day is cardio, or cardio and core, and if I can do more than that, uh, and that would be great. So, and during the week, my three days, uh, I got one day I work legs and then the rest is split routine right back, shoulders, uh, biceps and and, uh and chest, okay, so, yeah, so I'll break it down the way roger, how do you see the future of the vegan movement?
Speaker 1:I know that's that's a hard dance that one briefly, so take an extra minute if you need. But where do you see? I mean, it's been a wild year, yeah, wild couple years in veganism good and bad, restaurants closing, artificial intelligence, lots of money going into certain industries, growth and lots of progress, companies moving away from fur and leather and other types of diets where they actually were vegan before, but they're leaving veganism behind. When you reflect on the future of veganism, what do you see?
Speaker 2:I see what's going to happen is that more and more people even though we're getting more people going vegan, we're going to get more people that are going to be like what they call flexitarian People, that are going to be flip-flopping or eating here, eating there. So they're going to reduce their animal consumption, right, and they will double with veganism and then they'll go back here and there. So I see that, I see that trending and I might have a different opinion about it, but since you're asking me, I'm not going to go into that episode. But since you're asking me where I see the future, I think there's going to be more people doing that way. They might be like oh, I'm vegan on Wednesday. Don't call yourself vegan, I'm vegan, you know X amount of time and then I'll go back to I need a reboot. So I'm going to see an increase of that right. Yes, it's less animal consumption, but at the same time, you know, people might say, well, it could be more, but at the same time, I'm going to also see another increase of more people since the information is still available turning more into vegan. Now, the advantage of having more people that are flex flex for flexitarian, for example is that you can potentially get a percentage of those people that can turn vegan eventually because it starts finding more information. But the other downside is like they can stay there for the long period of time and never cross over to the other side. So you're going to see those two things right.
Speaker 2:So I see the future going more people going flexible with their diet right, going more people going flexible with their diet right, but then going to. Also, we're going to see a small percentage of people increasing into the vegan lifestyle because, um, they're going to see it from influence artists and it's something that you and I talked about before um artists and they're going to see it from athletes and all these different aspects. So they're going to be look at those images because now we are moving into um, if he's doing it or she's doing it, he's a famous person. That might be a good thing.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm, I'm gonna do it. So they follow all these influences right since long time we talk about. So the more that, the more that keep increasing, then the more people will gravitate that to that to them, and they're going to try to go in that way. So I'm going to, I'm going to see a actual. It could be a parallel, or I could see a slightly edge on the flexible people, and then right right next to it, right, right above it, we'll see, uh, more people coming to begin it. So that will be that's how I see the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's gonna be really sense yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see what that looks like in the next few years. It's hard, it is hard to predict and there's so much changing with with food technology, innovation, where we might be able to get rid of industrialized factory farms and use cultivated precision fermentation and and artificial intelligence and all these new things that make it change really, really fast and it makes it hard to predict?
Speaker 2:yeah, but the thing, the one thing, robert is like we're making all those changes in technology, because I've been watching a documentary of Microsoft, bill Gates, talking about all these things that he's helping out to change, like the weather, and all these different things that he's creating, all this technology, all the companies that he's supporting. But my question has always been like we can have all this technology to make changes in different aspects, in the environment, in food, but the people that work in those companies, what is their lifestyle? What is their diet? What are they eating? So it's like the changes, big changes are great and innovative and we need those. We need big corporations behind all this. But the small changes can start from people. And then the small changes could be like okay, well, I change, I change the way I eat, I change the way I dress, I change the way I see life. Small changes make big impact. So you have all these, all these companies doing all these things. But the employees, for example and I'm not blaming them, what I'm saying is like those people. It's like I always use example of like I used to work for, uh, I used to be, uh, when bp had a big issue with the oil spill.
Speaker 2:Then there was um, they did spill up ultra oil right here in louisiana, yeah, um, there was, uh, there was a couple of companies I used to work for, for that, for a team that was helping during that recovery time. And there was a couple of companies I used to work for for that, for a team that was helping during that recovery time. And there was a team that were protesting because there was a lot of wildlife and animals in the sea that were dying because of all this spill. Right, but all the employees that work in that company, they were asking for chicken and they were eating barbecue. I'm like, wait a minute, you guys are a bunch of hypocrites, right? Excuse my language, because it's like you're here fighting this big corporation and I'm not justifying the corporation decision and the corporation choices, but you're here blaming this corporation for this. But here you are. There was a team of like 15 people. In that team, Only one guy was eating like vegetarian and I was vegan back then when that happened.
Speaker 2:So there's no excuses. So all these people were eating fish, the same fish that they were complaining that they were killing. They were eating it anyway. So for me it doesn't make no sense, it's like you go with one hand and protest about one thing, but then, on the other hand, you're doing the opposite, so it's not productive. So that's why I always I always tell people like, if you're going to protest about something, it's like if I'm going to talk about vegan, I have to stand by it. I can't be saying that I'm vegan and then doing some some other thing behind the scenes. So that's that to me, that was the ethical part is not there no-transcript.
Speaker 1:Compassion, accountability, responsibility for our fellow beings. We make some forward progress, which affects supply and demand and all these things that I wrote about in my book and you also reminded me of, like the oil spill while they're eating animals, while they're trying to save them, or people trying to save straw you know, not use a straw to save the fish while they're still eating fish. Or what I wrote down was people who are serving chickens at, like, a dog adoption event. You know that you see a lot of humane societies. They're there to support cats and dogs, but they're serving up chickens and pigs and cows on menus for for fundraisers. You're right, there's hypocrisy there. It doesn't make any sense. We there's this juxtaposition there of our value system and our actions, and I think it's. I think it's okay to call attention to that because I think a lot of people aren't aware of that. I just I see it every day.
Speaker 1:I mean, look what's happening right now, like as we speak, as you and I are talking, when this is being recorded, there's a hurricane hammering. You know the state of Florida, and there's a lot of climate related decisions we make with food, with animal agriculture, and there's a lot of people upset about the damage from the hurricane and damage from other weather-related issues or climate-related issues. Yet industrialized animal agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to adverse implications for the climate. And yet people are unwilling to change their diet because they want their $5 bucket of chicken and they want their three dollar burger and they want their five dollar large pizza, because that's what what they're conditioned to to crave. But that's, you know, that's for another, uh, another conversation. Just final couple questions here. Roger, yep, what does being a plant-powered athlete mean to you?
Speaker 2:man. It means everything because, uh, I have a passion for sport, but for the most part, I have a passion to help people, educate people, and if I use my experience, my knowledge, my um, my my own body to kind of help others and see the benefit of going plant-based, going vegan, why not? So this is nothing to do with race, nothing to do with social status. This is nothing to do with. It's just basically being educated, learn, and there's no excuses. So for me, being a plant-based means the world to me.
Speaker 2:I love fitness, like I mentioned, I've always done it, and I always say that animals save me. I didn't save the animal when I went vegan. I always say that as well. And then, being an athlete, it means that I can be able to use my own strength to make the world make a difference. I'm in my trailer sometime on my truck and people say, like man, I can't believe you're vegan. They still ask me, they're still saying those things, right, because they look at my physique, right, and I?
Speaker 2:That was not even my intention. My intention was just to prove that you can do it. Everything else from there has been great. So for me, robert, I mean it means everything. It means everything from the fact that I got inspired from guys like you and some of the brothers and sisters that have been doing it for a long time and they're still doing it and I just wanted to continue that same momentum. And we had a great run and we continue doing work in some different way, but for me, the aspect of me training and doing exercise completely changed my life because I could have been so sedentary and didn't do anything. But now I found something that I'm passionate. Yeah, you look good. It benefits you, but at the end of the day, we're giving a bigger message. It's bigger than just working out and having muscle. It's bigger than that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, Well said, Roger. Really just the last question for you, something for you to think about here, which is kind of a fun question to end on. Roger, if there was a movie made about your life, what actor would play you?
Speaker 2:What actor would play me? Yeah, a movie about your life. What actor would play you? What actor would play me? Yeah, a movie about your life. Movie about my life. I would want this to watch it to play me, because I think he's so versatile like he could play any any anyone like if you had to play.
Speaker 2:He had to play. Uh, I'm I, actually I could. I could say that he could probably be like my uncle or something like that. Right, I wouldn't say we really have a resemblance, but you know, we can come along saying that, yeah, it will be him.
Speaker 2:I would like him to play me if it was a movie, because I think he can definitely showcase all the different stages of my life really well. He can articulate those really well, he can make you have different type of emotions, from crying to laughing. He can move a little bit, he has a little bit of action, he can get greedy with it if he needs to. So he's such a versatile person and in that case that simplifies me a little bit. As you can say, we have talked from my, from my beginnings. You know my life has not always been one thing right, even though I'm being in the same place for 20 plus years, I did travel a lot, I did a lot of things. So that simplifies my life, how I was constant, moving constant, changing constant, improving constant, seeing different things, different angles of life. So definitely here that that's awesome and really.
Speaker 1:The last thing is where where people can find you online, roger. And then, if you wanted to mention anything about book, you know some sort of a book offer or giveaway or something, so yeah, so where can we find you online? You've got your podcast, you've got social media. You've got your chilled cocoa you're. You're out there. Where can we find you online? You've got your podcast, you've got social media. You've got your chilled cocoa, you're out there. Where can we find Roger Smith?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can find me online. I'm in all the socials, especially on Instagram. I'm more heavy on Instagram. You can find me at Roger A Smith. You can find me there, and there I have the links to all my different projects. You can find my podcast is Latin Vegan, or Latino Vegano in Spanish, and Latin Vegan is in all the podcast platform, and I also have a YouTube channel that is linked to that same, so I post a lot of the videos. Well, I post all the videos from the podcast I posted there as well, so you can find it. I post all the videos from the podcast I posted there as well, so you can find it.
Speaker 2:And at the same time, you can find our ice cream, chillcoco. That's our Instagram, and then we also have X for the chill cocoa. And, yeah, if you're ever in the Houston area or you want to stop by, stop by and visit us Just to say hi. We love talking to people. I talk to people every day, uh, which is a beautiful thing. And then I appreciate Robert for having me in this project. I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, thanks so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sorry. The last thing is uh, um, just to finalize, so I have about, I have about. I have several copies of Robert, which he personally signed them, and I want to go give those away. So I'm going to do a giveaway in the shop for people that purchase this amount, let's say $25. If you spend $25, you automatically get a ticket. We can put it on a draw and I'll have Robert pull up a number and read that number to the winner. So you have to keep your copy of your ticket.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I'm just going to send a box to him, mail it to him, or we'll figure it out or something else, or maybe when he comes here we'll do that. And then the other one is if you purchase, let's say, $60 or more, you automatically get a copy of the book with a bundle of a bunch of other good stuff. You're going to have t-shirts from the company, you're going to have a bunch of supplements and a bunch of stuff that we throw in there. So that's going to be a really big barrier. So we're going to start that soon and yeah, so stay tuned.
Speaker 1:Well, roger, I really appreciate that. That's awesome no-transcript out there who's trying to make a difference in reducing animal suffering. So so I want to go ahead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sorry. One more thing that I wanted to say. One of the things that I like to to point out is that when I decided to open this business, I wanted to take all the aspect of my lifestyle into it, so you're going to see a piece of it. What I mean with it is, like, all the utensils that I use are eco-friendly utensils, from the plates to the cups. I use high-grade water, quality water, so everything is recyclable. I use craft paper, everything is vegan, plant-based, mainly plant-based material.
Speaker 2:For me, it's not just a. Yes, I know it will cost me more, but I don't care, because for me, I live vegan. Right, vegan is not just me wanting to profit from people. Yes, definitely, I have a product, we have a service, we offer something and we get money in return. But at the same time, there's a message that I want to send across to people, right, and then for me, it just doesn't start just with the item that I'm making. We also start with everything that we use. So everything that I can use vegan and just out there I utilize it. The cups that I use are craft, plant-based material. The spoons that I use are made out of wood, so everything is like catered to that. So I just wanted to make sure that people know that, that our mission is bigger than that. Sorry about that, I just wanted to clear that.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you sharing those details, roger. That's awesome and I'm really grateful that you take all of those things into consideration and that that's important to you and it's important to our planet and and for animals. So thank you for taking that step. And also, roger, just on a personal note, I want to thank you for spending time with me today on the plant powered athlete podcast. I want to thank you for I mean naming a flavor ice cream after me and reaching out to me when you were starting your business, and for buying a whole bunch of copies of my book that are signed and in your truck right now that you're offering to other people, and for supporting my work and for agreeing to be on this podcast as soon as I asked you, and so I want to thank you for everything you've done for decades to help animals, and I want to thank you for being for everything you've done for decades to help animals, and I want to thank you for being an impactful vegan.
Speaker 1:So, uh, so this has been the plant powered athlete podcast. I've been Robert cheek. This has been Roger Smith. Uh, we're so grateful. Uh, please check out the next episode of plant powered athlete podcast coming soon, and I wish you all a wonderful week ahead. So, roger, thank you again, and everyone, have an amazing rest of your week. You're welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you, bye guys.