Meet The Team: Isabela

Hey everybody, welcome back to another of…….Rachael’s recaps! The blogs where I recap a podcast you’re clearly too lazy to listen to. 😉

Today’s recap? Is another from my meet the team series. Where you get a behind the scenes sense of who is running Plant Sumo and making our vision a reality.

I’m going over my interview with our brand management expert Isabela, who made her start by leading video editing for the team!

Now she has aced managing pretty much every aspect of the business at this point (apart from cooking the food of course)

Out of all the interviews I did, ours naturally focused the most on developing Plant Sumo as a brand and how essential effective marketing and a coherent social media strategy is to this.

Meet The Team: Isabela

Me and Isabela are just on the same wavelength. Which is maybe why in the hilarious screenshot above we seem to be swaying in exactly the same direction to some unheard music.

We first worked together on Plant Sumo’s social media, where I wrote the copy for her planned posts!

Over her time here her role has evolved a lot- she currently focuses on ensuring we get the best collaboration opportunities possible.

She also listens to ‘The Plant Sumo Podcast’!!! which genuinely makes me feel like a bona fide celebrity.

It’s one thing to have random listeners in Texas and Singapore, but to have someone on the team who listens in makes me feel incredibly supported (awwww).

Also it’s fantastic for feedback. If you want to listen to my interview of Isabela (as i’m sure she has) it’s available here on youtube.

Fun fact: Isabela told me her fave episode is the one where I interview Meg, aka instagrammer PoorLondonVegan. It’s one of my faves too due to how entertaining and funny she was so I definitely recommend you check it out.

Anyway! Without further ado, let’s get on to the recap. Here are the highlights of my interview with Isabela.

Image Credit: NSGGA

Social Media Is Essential

“You want to succeed as a business? You really need social media.”

Isabela talked extensively about how marketing and advertising has transformed in such a profound and significant way due to the internet.

How if a company doesn’t have social media- especially if they are targeting a younger audience, they may as well not exist.

She added that even the smallest businesses- like the local corner shop are getting on Instagram.

Which is true! My tiny village shop in the middle of nowhere recently got an instagram account- a testament to this reality.

So naturally our social media strategy- and making sure we have a coherent brand identity- is of immense importance.

People, especially those passionate about plant based food and it’s associated ethical and environmental issues care a lot about the authenticity of a brand.

Do the people running it care about and commit to its ideals? Are they willing to make a stand and embrace their message?

These questions are critical to buyers who more than ever care about investing in the ideas they care about.

Isabela gets this and has been striving through her changing roles to ensure this is the case.

Isabela’s Fave Thing About Plant Sumo

“ we don’t want to be like, oh, that’s not vegan, that’s vegan. Oh, you are eating this. You’re a rubbish person. No.”

One of my favourite moments was when Isabela shared with me what her favourite thing about Plant Sumo was.

Which was the inclusivity and open mindedness of the brand towards all forms of dietary choice.

Where nobody is judging or shaming you for what you eat, but rather giving you the option of pursuing a healthy, energizing way of eating that is more sustainable in the long run.

She stressed Plant Sumo is great because it allows people to experiment or change their diet in a way that isn’t radical and unrealistic.

You can try our meals, and dip in and out of eating plant based food when and how you feel comfortable.

There is no pressure from us! Which is great because of how busy all of our lives are.

Most people are busy focusing on balancing their careers with spending time with family and friends, and don’t want their diet to consume too much of their mental and emotional energy.

Image Credit: Pinterest

Most Of What We Eat Is….Already Plant Based

Isabela made a really fantastic point that for all of human history including present day, the majority of our diet has been plant-based.

In Hunter-Gatherer societies the overwhelming majority of the human diet was plant-based- meat was very much a luxury, due to the energy needed to hunt, kill and then cook an animal.

Recognising this fact is made even more difficult in our contemporary world due to how the label of ‘plant based’ has been politicised.

Isabela noted that this situates our consumption of meat- abnormal compared to most humans throughout history- as normative.

This is all due to the global scale of industrial animal farming today, which has allowed humans to access meat without the typical stress and physical exertion.

Image Credit: Wired.com

An issue she also touched on which relates back to our evolutionary diet is the idea that eating a plant-based diet is a hassle or struggle.

In fact when only thinking of it in that way because a meat diet has been made so much more affordable and convenient by technology and animal agriculture.

When for our ancestors? Well, lets just say gathering some berries was probably less of a headache than hunting some wild beasts.

Either way, Plant Sumo has worked to address this fear by making our ready meals zero prep and super affordable.

Where’s My Ready Meal?

We also discussed how, both of us being students, we understand the desire to avoid cooking a meal every. Single. Night.

We know the experience of coming home exhausted from lectures and commitments and socialising, and it’s hard to feel motivated to whip up something from scratch.

Isabella joked she comes home and looks in her fridge for something easy 5/7 times a week.

I know that so often I tell myself i’m going to cook a meal from scratch and end up being like- where is that ready meal I bought last week?

So on a personal level, the kind of service we offer here at Plant Sumo is appealing.

If you, like us like the sound of easy, affordable and delicious plant based meals with zero prep, head on over to the Plant Sumo website.

And make sure you check out all the official episodes of the Plant Sumo podcast online! Available on spotify, youtube and any platform that hosts podcasts.