Julia Tulsch spent the day and interviewed Lagusta Yearwood on her expanding vegan chocolate business:
“It’s hard for business owners because [people want vegan junk food], so why would you not make that stuff? But I don’t want my market to be vegans because that’s not activism for me. I don’t even want people to know we’re vegan. Because I want people to come in here — it happens, and I’m always very gratified by it — and just be like ‘Oh, that’s good food.’
“The way I think about it is that I’m a political person trying to run businesses from a political standpoint. Veganism is just a piece of that. You can get into a lot of trouble when it’s like ‘Oh, but it’s vegan!’ But that can leave out so many other ethical concerns. I don’t want to say [veganism] doesn’t matter. But it’s not The Thing. I feel like it’s one small component of an ethical life, you know?”
Yearwood’s background is fascinating, especially how her anarchist side affects her business—from putting recipes out so people don’t have to buy them and also letting employees have a say in what jobs they prefer doing around the shop.