SHOWNOTES
In this brand new podcast episode, I chat with Stefanie Ignoffo, the founder of Plantspiration NFP Inc., and Food For Life Instructor with the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine.
This isn’t the kind of conversation you normally hear on the Front Row Entrepreneur podcast, because a good bit of this is about wellness.
But when I discovered Stefanie Ignoffo, I knew I HAD to have her on the show! Her story is amazing and her energy and passion is off the charts. You’ll see what I mean when you listen.
In this episode, Stefanie shares:
what led her to go vegan
her situation before she made the switch
how you can not only live without meat, but you can actually thrive without it
the eye-popping results she and her family noticed after adopting a plant-based lifestyle.
reversing diseases with plants
her Plantspiration membership program
how to run a non-profit like a business
Stefanie’s “eat to live” motto
and more!
Don’t miss this episode and let me know your thoughts after you listen. I always love hearing from you.
RESOURCES
I always love hearing from you. Let me know your thoughts after you listen in the comments below.
TRANSCRIPT
00:01.030] - Jen Lehner This episode is a little bit different than what you're used to hearing from me because we're not talking about marketing. We're talking more about wellness specifically, we're going to be talking about whole food, plant-based living, and it actually fits just fine into the Front Row Entrepreneur suite of content, because how can you be a Front Row entrepreneur? How can you be your best, your most optimized self if you aren't healthy, if you aren't taking care of yourself? So I hope you enjoy this. And as always, let me know what you think because I always love hearing from you. So sit back and enjoy this conversation with my friend Stefanie.
[00:44.050] - Gary Vee Hey, guys, it's Gary Vaynerchuk. And you're listening to the Front Row Entrepreneur Podcast with our girl, Jen.
[00:52.390] - Jen Lehner Our guest today is a plant interventionist, founder of Plantspiration NFT, Inc. And Food for Life instructor with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. She advocates and promotes lifestyle medicine by educating, motivating, and inspiring people to adopt a plant-based lifestyle in order to prevent and reverse health issues. Welcome, Stefanie Ignofoo!
Read more...
[01:16.810] - Stefanie Ignoffo Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.
[01:21.430] - Jen Lehner Well, I couldn't get you here fast enough because you're not really the type of guest that is normally on this show and that.
[01:29.950] - Stefanie Ignoffo I was going to say this is definitely different. So I'm thinking I'm coming here to learn.
[01:35.650] - Jen Lehner Well, no, I'm going to be learning. And all of our listeners are going to be learning from you because this podcast is all about typically, we talk about marketing and sales and tech stuff, but really, the name of the podcast is Front Row Entrepreneur because it's all about people who are living their lives on the front row, and you are definitely living your life on the front row, right. As a kid, did you sit in the front row of class?
[02:03.250] - Stefanie Ignoffo I didn't. I never did. I was kid at the back. Don't be seen.
[02:07.870] - Jen Lehner All right. But all that changed. And we're going to hear about that in your journey. So I can't wait to dive in and we're going to dive into two sides of things. So I want to talk about your journey definitely.
[02:19.210] - Jen Lehner I want to talk about what it is that you're so passionate about, because the thing is like I was saying, this podcast tends to be more tech-based, business-based, but back to the whole Front Row theme and living life on the Front Row, in business, we cannot be all that we're meant to be if we're not taking care of ourselves. I think that this topic is extremely pertinent to the conversation over here on the Front Row. And I want all of my listeners to hear what you have to say, because what you have to say, I really believe, is life-changing.
[02:54.910] - Jen Lehner And then on the business end of things, I'm really super interested in how you've got things set up. So I want to talk about that as well. So why don't we start at the beginning? Tell us what you've got going on now and how you were led to this.
[03:10.930] - Stefanie Ignoffo Well, I don't even know what to say after that. You really made me feel like I'm on the front row because I guess I'm not maybe I'm not taking it in how quick it is going quick. I am getting out there and I didn't always think or live or feel this way. And you're right. It 100% goes right back to being healthy. This is what changed my life physically, mentally, and emotionally. And that is why I'm out here doing what I'm doing and putting myself out there because, well, I wasn't healthy at one point.
[03:45.190] - Stefanie Ignoffo I mean, I thought I was it was just I had to maybe lose a couple of pounds, 240 pound, with my average weight. And one day my daughter came home and said, I want to go vegan. Now, I guess seeing how heavy I was wasn't really the part of the story. But my daughter came home one day said she wanted to go vegan. And I said, that is the dumbest thing I ever heard. You're going to die of protein deficiency. How are you going to survive without calcium?
[04:14.950] - Stefanie Ignoffo Your bones are going to break. I was seriously concerned about her health and that she was going to die. So I went to the Internet and I started searching, how long could we live without meat? I was determined to come back. Yeah, I was determined to come back and say, look, you're going to die. But that's not what I came across. I started coming across information that was saying, not only could you live without meat, you could actually thrive without it. So in that moment, I was okay, she's not going to die.
[04:46.750] - Stefanie Ignoffo I saw this documentary, Forks Over Knives, and I watched a couple of minutes of it and I thought, no way am I going to be able to do that when we get back to my drink, let me get back to my remote control and let me get back to my Facebook and see what's going on. Because I had no drive, I had no goals, I had no mission. I was a professional dieter my entire life, and I thought this was some sad that she was going to be on.
[05:12.070] - Stefanie Ignoffo And John and I argued about it a little bit. We're going to have to buy her this special milk and we're going to have to do this like parents. We'll just be quiet and hopefully this will go away. But it didn't go away, actually. So that was in 2012 when she brought this up and I thought it was so ridiculous. And then in January, we were coming home from our, well, we weren't even coming home yet. John was in our 9th surgery in eleven months, we were in our 9th surgery procedure in the past eleven months.
[05:46.630] - Stefanie Ignoffo I was facing double knee replacements. I had Darticulitis, I had irritable bowel syndrome, pancreatitis, migraines, autoimmune disease, heart disease. I was about to file for disability. I wasn't really thinking entrepreneurship, Jen.
[06:02.770] - Jen Lehner Honestly, I've heard your story before, but when you tell it, my image of you, my picture of you is a picture of you, of who you are now. And our readers will Google you. And I'm going to put all kinds of links in the show notes, but it's just unbelievable. That is where you were based on how unbelievable you look right now. But sorry I interrupted. And by the way, listeners, her husband, John, is her husband. Okay, so you had all these surgeries and then.
[06:30.670] - Stefanie Ignoffo Yeah, he gets out of the surgery and I'm texting like, hey, I need help and the blues and stuff. If the surgery doesn't, we're in bad shape. He's self-employed. I'm not working. My kids are in high school at this point. The doctor comes out and says, basically, sorry it didn't go as planned. It's going to be a six-month recovery rather than a six-week recovery. And I just could feel everything the blood drained from my head like, we're going to lose everything. So what do I do?
[07:03.310] - Stefanie Ignoffo I'm thinking, Well, I guess I should try to lose some weight. Maybe I can get a part-time job somewhere I can't even stand up. I'm thinking about double knee replacements in this very moment. So I think, well, let me go back and watch the documentary Forks Over Knives. It said something about this movie could save your life. Okay, great. So I pick up McDonald's. This was a treat. My husband had surgery. This was a little treat. We're going to sit down. I'm going to gather my family around and we're going to watch this Forks Overnight documentary, my son's battling obesity.
[07:35.890] - Stefanie Ignoffo My daughters aren't too happy. They're following in my footsteps because hereditary. And John is recovering from another surgery. So I put this movie in and I'm thinking, wow, just right away. I'm going to doctor's appointments every week. What's wrong with me? I don't know. Here's a prescription here. What's wrong with me, though? How did I get like this? Why am I so sick? How come I can't even go out to eat without? Sorry. I'm just going to say it blowing mud. It was just my life was crippling from head, from migraines to everything to walking.
[08:10.810] - Stefanie Ignoffo It was just a mess. So I'm watching this documentary and they start saying things like, eat your food. It's eating the meat. It's this that. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. This is exactly what Haley has been talking about constantly. So I look around and I realize we're all sick and they're saying it's because of the food. This isn't about really weight loss. This is about chronic disease and obesity is up there with that. And I guess in that panic moment, we're not bringing animal home anymore.
[08:40.750] - Stefanie Ignoffo I don't want to feed it to you guys anymore. I don't want to hurt you anymore. I'm buckling up my kids every day. I'm making them put their seatbelt on. I'm telling them to wear their helmet. These are all things we do to keep ourselves safe. And I immediately picked up what we're bringing home from the grocery store is actually what's keeping us safe. So you know what I thought, let me just give it a shot. And I started juicing right in the beginning, we were just eating whole food plant-based right out the gate.
[09:10.630] - Stefanie Ignoffo My kids have been to Weight Watchers. My kids have seen Jenny Craig and me trying to do all this stuff, so they were just as willing to say, hey, this is what we're going to do. And I was doing the grocery shopping, so nobody really had a choice here. I couldn't control what they were doing at school, but I could definitely control what I was doing inside the house. It changed our lives within days. So the next day, I was already like, Is this crazy, or do I actually feel better already?
[09:43.390] - Stefanie Ignoffo The scale started moving, and I thought, how could that be? I mean, I'm actually eating. I'm doing stuff, and everybody started losing weight. And long story short, I lost 100lbs eating my plants off. My family lost 250lbs altogether. My brain started working like it had never worked before. And I can get into that the saturated fat and the cholesterol. And it really does open up your arteries and prevent and reverse disease, that way it changes your whole thought process of things. So as this is going on and I'm like, wow, I couldn't believe it.
[0:21.190] - Stefanie Ignoffo I'm over here trying to get into my what were my skinny pants? They were a size 14 for me. And all I wanted to do was get in these darn pants. This was it. And I'll never forget I put them on and they were too big. And I looked at John, and I was like, I've never been this small before. Like, maybe in third grade. It just started coming off. I was back to my birth weight. It's like, all of a sudden what it felt like, I've never seen this happen.
[10:49.690] - Stefanie Ignoffo My son lost 80 pounds. John was losing weight. Our energy was through the roof. The way I found is legit how this house felt. And then everybody started freaking out. There was all that, oh, my gosh. You don't want to lose too much weight or you're going to die of protein deficiency. And I really wasn't sure how to defend myself. And I wanted to at the same time, tell everybody, like, you have got to do this. I was off my blood pressure medication. All of a sudden, all my heartburn stopped.
[11:20.890] - Stefanie Ignoffo I have none of these problems. I reverse the chronic disease, the autoimmune. I still need knee replacements Monday, but I'm riding 100 miles a week on my bike now, and I went from cripple to cranking, all because I stopped bringing the animal home. I got to tell everybody. I had to tell everybody. And then I think the food just fed my brain. It fed my energy. And I wanted everybody to feel this good. So I said to John, my husband, I said, you know what? I'm going to start a business.
[11:50.590] - Stefanie Ignoffo He's like, yeah, go ahead. Do whatever you want to do. I just feel like I got to do something. He's like, yeah, go ahead. Do whatever you got to do. I'm going to do this. And I'm going to do that. And I'm going to trademark my name. And I just kept feeding people to plants, and then they'd come back and be like, hey, I can't believe it. I did get off my blood pressure pills or I need less insulin. And then I just thought my brain is working better. Let me grow it.
[12:17.470] - Stefanie Ignoffo So I started the T. Collin Campbell courses, got certified in that plant-based nutrition, and I just started teaching everybody, inviting them over to my home. Am I getting too far deep into the
[12:27.610] - Jen Lehner No, just keep going.
[12:30.490] - Stefanie Ignoffo I am just like, I don't know what I'm doing. I want to tell people I didn't know what I was doing. And I realized the only thing stopping me from all of this was me. And I'm going to keep saying it. If you want to be a better athlete, if you want to have more energy, if you want to be a better entrepreneur, you better start eating your plants off because it changes everything you do.
[12:52.810] - Stefanie Ignoffo Everybody is doing better when they get on plants, and they're doing it right. So I'm starting to tell people, come to my house, how can I pay you? I'm like, I don't know, man. You shouldn't have to pay for this. Everybody should know how to do this. So that's where I came up with the, well, I thought it was a cute idea to get a non-profit and start all that. I had no idea what I was getting into. I had no idea it was going to take off.
[13:21.070] - Jen Lehner Stop right there real quick. When you say you got a nonprofit are you a 501(c)(3)?
[13:28.270] - Stefanie Ignoffo Okay. So, yes, I am. But the IRS just said they didn't get after all of this, I get my 501(c)(3) tax-exempt. The IRS is back on their paperwork, even though I certified it. I'm so mad about this. This is like getting kicked in the gut. They said they didn't get my tax return, so they revoked my 501(c)(3). So I'm in the middle of doing a reinstatement, things I would never have known about. Sure, but I'll get it back. It will get back. I just found out when everything started going crazy over here.
[14:00.550] - Stefanie Ignoffo I got that letter, and I was like, what does this even mean? See, I didn't realize that my CPA filed the wrong extension. So I'll just say for anybody listening, don't let nothing stop you. This isn't stopping me. I'm just learning from my mistakes, learning how to get stuff straight. But a lot of people stop right there and give up and be like, oh, I can't deal with all this. Please. This is nothing. What doesn't take you down makes you stronger, you know, that.
[14:32.110] - Jen Lehner That's for sure. And I got to say, okay, so I want everybody listening. You've got to follow Stefanie's Instagram. It's @plantspiration on Instagram and on TikTok. And you will understand that this woman is a force of nature. And the reason why everybody needs to keep an eye on you is because I know that even though you've been at this and you've been preaching this gospel or whatever for nine years or something, and PS kept the weight off for that amount of time and probably have even gotten more spelt, like, with all the iron that you're pumping and the miles that you're riding and you and John, if you look at the before and after pictures like your binge have been button, you have reversed the years as well.
[15:16.930] - Jen Lehner And so it's astounding to me that it was that long ago when you had, like, the big transformation, but you are still every bit is fired up and excited. And you bring that to your social media. Social media is hilarious. Just as we've been talking, you have thrown out, eat your plants off, crippled the crank in. What else do you always say? You're like it's very cheesy without the diseasy. You've got all these great things and you're just, I guess so accessible to people and you make it not scary.
[15:50.590] - Jen Lehner And it seems very doable. And in fact, I want you to speak to that for a moment about how you talk about keeping it simple and how you can really eat whatever you want, including carbs, as long as you are choosing the right kind of things.
[16:05.830] - Stefanie Ignoffo Oh, yeah. Definitely. A lot of people are thinking, I'm going to go vegan, and I'm going to go plant-based right now. And that's awesome. That's what I want you to do. But all of a sudden, you get on Instagram and you start seeing everybody, and it looks like these sets of food. And I remember I was so intimidated when my daughter. So as this is going, Jen, my daughter's, like, you should get an Instagram. I'm like what I don't even know. I just figured out Facebook, like, what is Instagram?
[16:32.230] - Stefanie Ignoffo What is Snapchat? I don't understand the social media at this point at all. So I just started posting pictures of my food, and then as I would look around, I would be like, this is extreme food making. And I'm over here just like, I need a potato. Give me some pasta, keeping it simple. And I just started showing people like, this is what I'm doing. And it doesn't need to be all overwhelming. I guess the most calls I get are people who have said, I've read all the books.
[17:01.870] - Stefanie Ignoffo I have all the cookbooks. I just can't do it. And I say, Well, it's because you're overthinking it. We really just need to eat our plants off. And I simplify it by saying, we need Greens, Greens, fruits and vegetables. Keep your nuts and seeds and your avocados to a minimum. When you're in the middle of reversing the heart disease, the diabetes, or you want to lose weight, so it's naturally, then low fat, high fiber and you don't have to count calories. You don't have to count, point or weigh or measure.
[17:34.390] - Stefanie Ignoffo This is like the premium fuel your body is looking for. We need carbs. Okay, the studies are out low carb diets and increase risk of heart disease. They cause other problems. This is just not sustainable. So, yeah, people are reversing type two diabetes in a matter of weeks eating potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta. It's not the carbs or the pasta that are making you gain weight or have insulin resistance. It's just the fact that we're putting on it. The butter, the cheeses, the animal proteins, these things, the science is there. The evidence is there.
[18:14.170] - Stefanie Ignoffo These are what are promoting these diseases. And when I get people to take them off their plate, boom, not only are their diseases going away or improving, their pants are falling off. And that's the biggest thing for people to get over is they start off here's what happens, Jen? They start off. I'm going plant-based. They eat this little salad. I see them post in the group. They post a little salad. All the new people I'm like, what are you doing?
[18:41.050] - Stefanie Ignoffo What is this? I need 80 of those. We need to eat our plants off. So that's what people start doing. They start off with a little salad. They're half a potato. I'm thinking so then they're starving by dinnertime because they're on the diet and they haven't eaten enough. And then they cave, and then they crave. Hunger feels craving. So I just tell people, if you just eat all the fruits and vegetables, carbs, pasta with meat, with sauce. And then I'll get into teaching you how to make a quick lasagna or cannolis or whatever the heck it is you love.
[19:10.990] - Stefanie Ignoffo But just take it easy on yourself. Keep it simple and just eat and watch how good you'll start feeling.
[19:17.650] - Jen Lehner But what about the protein? Aren't we going to die for lack of protein?
[19:22.570] - Stefanie Ignoffo Yeah, I'm still dying. Have you guys been to the hospital and visited the protein deficiency Ward? It's empty. There's literally no such thing as that because all plants contain protein and all protein comes from plants. And that's something that everybody should ask their Doc. Hey, Doc, where do you get protein from? They usually don't know the answer. And that's why a lot of people are so confused or so much misinformation. And America is obsessed with protein. We need this much protein. We need this much protein. That's a problem that's marketing.
[19:59.350] - Stefanie Ignoffo And we don't need all that protein. All the miles I do all the working out. I still keep it at about 46 grams. I'm not really looking at it. It's just happening, guys,56 grams. Maybe if you're doing an Ironman, obviously, I would work on that. And we would change things up. But the obsession with protein is a problem. They should be obsessed with fiber. That's what everyone's lacking.
[20:22.750] - Jen Lehner Right. And it's funny because I never, ever I knew beans had some protein, but I never knew the vegetables have protein. And I remember I learned it. Maybe on the movie Game Changers, I think. And then I decided I was watching my macros for a while there and keeping up with things in the MyFitnessPal app. And I remember I ate an enormous amount of broccoli one day, and I looked at the protein that was in broccoli, and I was like, oh, my gosh. I think it was in Game Changers when they talk about how, basically, the animal is really just the middleman. And you don't need that middle, man.
[21:07.210] - Stefanie Ignoffo Oh, Stefanie, but Lions, they need the protein. But the proteins coming from the plants at the gazelle. And that's how they're getting it. It's just where it comes from originally. And we're not lying. And I think they should have called them plant sizers instead of canine teeth or something. Right. Who invented that word? See what I mean? So everything changed when I started making these connections, here were the movie, The Game Changers. Everybody should watch that.
[21:36.550] - Jen Lehner Well, it's funny because I entered. So it's been, like, a year and a half for me that I've been plant-based. And I started just like, I went cold Turkey. I watched that movie. And I was like 'Called To Forgive'.
[21:51.410] - Jen Lehner Excuse me. And I was like, That's it. I'm going to do this. And then I just dove in and I became obsessed with all of it. And I wanted to learn all the things. And it's been a wonderful journey. But if I'm being totally honest, I came at it more from a vanity standpoint, because I am a complete and perfect example of somebody who has been raised in the diet culture. I am the perfect case study. Like, yeah, weight watchers.
[22:19.190] - Stefanie Ignoffo Same girl same.
[22:21.890] - Jen Lehner And my brain really is kind of wired like that. I mean, Richard Simmons, when I was, like twelve, I remember doing.
[22:29.690] - Jen Lehner Like, Deal, Amelia, he's awesome. He's amazing. Yeah. He's so sincere, right?
[22:36.170] - Stefanie Ignoffo I wrote him. I was like, you're my idol. I want to go around and get in people's houses and do kitchen makeovers and save their lives because I was that person sitting here going, yeah, 'Great, it works for her." I want to get in the houses and go, this will work for you. Let me show you how. You see me. I want to give everybody the hope that they deserve.
[22:59.510] - Jen Lehner That's where you are.
[23:01.130] - Stefanie Ignoffo Oh, yeah. I guess I want a T shirt with the old me on it because I see so many people look at me because there is so much vanity out there. That's true. That's honest. And I love talking about that. I went into it to lose weight. That is a fact. I get to lose a couple of pounds. Maybe I'll feel better to go out, but it quickly changes. Something happened.
[23:21.890] - Jen Lehner That's right. And so I came at it from that standpoint. And then I got more interested, and I started learning more. Then I watched Forks overnight, and I was like, wow, kappow, this is so unbelievably.
[23:32.810] - Stefanie Ignoffo Grabs my megaphone.
[23:34.850] - Jen Lehner Yes. Give me that megaphone.
[23:39.410] - Stefanie Ignoffo John, I need this for what I have to tell the world. Yeah.
[23:43.550] - Jen Lehner You guys Stef literally has a megaphone. And literally there's a megaphone in her life. It's just wonderful. So you're passionate. You're so passionate. I see you brought to tears on a regular basis. So you have this group called Plantspiration. It's a membership site where you do way more than I think you should for what you're charging. But you over-deliver to the hilt. And it's just very clear that you just really care about helping people, like, genuinely. Now, as we sort of transition a little bit into the business end of things, I reached out to you. So I first ran across you on Instagram, and I was like, who is this? Who is this hilarious woman?
[24:30.950] - Stefanie Ignoffo I love this interview.
[24:34.190] - Jen Lehner One of my favorite Instagrams that I've seen you do so far is because this really says it all is that you're walking in the grocery store and you're with John, and you go, "Where's the vegan stuff?" And then you're like, oh, right here. Here's the vegan section, which was basically the entire produce section. And then you are really pointing out every single thing you're like this and this and what about and this does this for you and this you could do this with. But it's hilarious because people think again, you're making it accessible.
[25:09.930] - Jen Lehner You're making it very simple for people to understand. But anyway, so I'm following you on social media, and I'm like, blown away, who is this girl with this energy? And she's just so passionate. So I loved when you would show up in my feed. And then you appeared on Chef AJ's YouTube. And so far, non vegan. Everybody who's vegan knows who Chef AJ is.
[25:33.030] - Stefanie Ignoffo Johnny Carson of Vegan talk shows.
[25:37.110] - Jen Lehner Did you just coin that or has somebody else called her that?
[25:40.050] - Stefanie Ignoffo No, that's what I've been saying, because she was on Johnny Carson. She really was.
[25:43.770] - Jen Lehner Oh, that's right. That's right. Because she was a comedian.
[25:46.170] - Stefanie Ignoffo But that's how I would explain I'm going to be on Chef AJ. This is the Johnny. This is the lady.
[25:52.710] - Jen Lehner Yes, that's right. And I saw Stefanie on the end. And I knew I'd already have, like, a little reference point from her social media, and she talks about, well, she was just, you're amazing. And then you talk about this membership site. I'm like, I got to join this membership site. No, it's like, you have so much content. And I got into your Facebook group, and I was just, like, Wait, you need to do this if you need to do this. I just had some ideas for how you could, like, reposition your content.
[26:23.790] - Stefanie Ignoffo And I was like. No, and then I don't know what you're saying.
[26:27.450] - Jen Lehner You were like, talk to my helper because I don't even know what that means. I'm not techie, you know what? But that's actually as a CEO, as the head of your business, that is the perfect place to be, Stef, because that's a blessing to you. It's the people who know how to do it all. And then they get in there and they get lost in those bits and pieces of their business that they shouldn't be doing to begin with. So my favorite thing to say is, you need who ,not how right?
[26:54.810] - Jen Lehner So you don't need to know how to do what I was telling you to do. You just needed to find the person who was going to do it. Let me tell them. And that's exactly what I did.
[27:03.450] - Stefanie Ignoffo If I may just say so, Jen, it's working out incredible. So it's like, these superheroes keep coming to me with these battered capes is what I say. You're going to love this version. So I feel like these people keep coming to me, and I meet these people and they're like, oh, my gosh, I need help, and I help them get better. And then they come back and they say, hey, I know how to do a website. I'm like, what? So that's how this kind of all started.
[27:27.210] - Stefanie Ignoffo I was like, oh, maybe you could help me with this, or that's how this kind of started growing, where I was trying to do everything myself and all these people were getting better, and they're like, wow, I just want to help make this grow. So this has been ever-evolving. That's why when you mentioned the tabs, I was like, Whoa, I just learned a Google Doc. Okay? I just got my laptop at COVID when we went virtual. This is what I want to inspire people with.
[27:53.970] - Stefanie Ignoffo If I can do this, what I'm doing over here, and I will be the biggest nonprofit I'm sure of it. These need to be everywhere. If I can do this, anybody can do what they want to do. Anybody can do what they want to do. They have to put their mind to it and build the steps to that manifestation.
[28:11.850] - Jen Lehner I love that. And I love that you're talking big. You're not dreaming big. You're just saying what it's going to be. This is what it's going to be. I'm going to be a huge nonprofit. And if we watchers could be in every Church and conference hall and corner of every town in America, why can't Plantspiration be there?
[28:30.810] - Stefanie Ignoffo It's exactly how I think.
[28:32.070] - Jen Lehner Totally agree. But I have to tell this part of the story, too. So I reached out and said, like, okay, once I had access to Stef's Messenger, however, I was communicating with her, I just started bombarding her because my listeners know I'm equally as passionate about the market like, when I see something that needs to be fixed or whatever.
[28:55.170] - Stefanie Ignoffo And I'm over here with my phone making my videos, being crazy. And you're like, I was scared. I was like, now my armpits are sweating. You're talking about SEO stuff. I'm like, I don't understand this.
[29:08.730] - Jen Lehner Well. But here's what I want everybody to hear, because this is okay. So I said, okay, Stef, you can't jump on a phone call with every person in your group and just talk with every person on Monday for what you're charging every month. Like, you just can't do that. You could be charging hundreds, thousands of dollars, blah, blah, blah. I'm throwing out all these different scenarios. And then finally you message me back and you're like, I don't think you understand what I'm trying to do. I don't want to make thousands of dollars off of somebody.
[29:39.870] - Jen Lehner I don't want to make millions of bucks just for the sake of making millions of bucks. I just want to help people. And in fact, I wish this could all be free for everyone. Gulp like a giant gulp. Like, okay, check yourself Jen Lehner like that.
[29:54.750] - Stefanie Ignoffo No, man, I keep trying. I'm always like, I should explain. I'm not thinking like everybody else, but I am.
[30:03.870] - Jen Lehner But here's the thing. It's such a breath of fresh air, which makes me love you all the more. However, I still hold firm to the fact that there's still only one Stef and you do need to reach the masses. It does take money to do that. And I do think that there needs to be levels, and I still think we still have to run a nonprofit, like a business.
[30:27.750] - Stefanie Ignoffo For sure.
[30:29.190] - Jen Lehner What you're doing is social entrepreneurship, which has always fascinated me.
[30:34.710] - Stefanie Ignoffo You can't see. But I'm sitting up straight, looking around like, did you hear her? Did you hear that? Thank you. Honestly, thank you. Because this was really scary to put myself out there. I got crapped on a lot in the beginning. I got a lot of flak from peers and all of that what I was talking about, what I was doing. And then I just started saying that my kids are watching, and I'm like, they're just not ready for this awesomeness. And I just kept on going, I love what you're saying.
[31:06.790] - Stefanie Ignoffo Keep going. I'm sorry. I want to hear more.
[31:08.830] - Jen Lehner No, it's just that I want to do, like, a whole episode that is just about social entrepreneurship, because if you Google it there's no, like, really clean definition of what social entrepreneurship. But it is sort of this overlap in between for profit and nonprofit where it's okay. Let me think of an example. The Bombas socks. No, not Bombas. It's the other sock company where you buy one and then a pair goes to the cause. Right.
[31:40.330] - Jen Lehner And so it doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. But the difference is because you're going to have your 501 (c)(3). It's very transparent because a lot of organizations jumped on that wagon, and they said, like, oh, if you do this, a percentage is going to go to this. But, you know, really, how do we verify that? Like, how do we know what you're saying is true? If you're a 501 (c)(3), it has to be public. It has to be public.
[32:05.290] - Jen Lehner And you have to state exactly what percentage is going to what and all that kind of stuff. And so I just absolutely love what you're doing, which is why I don't typically pick up the phone and just start harassing people.
[32:19.990] - Stefanie Ignoffo No.
[32:23.150] - Jen Lehner But you inspired me. Yeah.
[32:27.230] - Stefanie Ignoffo it's so much I know. It's like the 501(c)(30 will get straightened out. I do really well with that the donation button on Facebook and all that when it was up and running. So I'm feeling it now because if it was your birthday, you donate to a good cause or all the memberships I made it to where it was donations. And people were just like, what are you doing? I'm like, well, look at nonprofits. They still make a ton of money. People can make a ton of money.
[32:55.790] - Stefanie Ignoffo I just want this money to go back to help more people. Not everybody has the money to have this much support. And I know that I can't be everywhere all the time. But you see that there will be more of this. Think about Jean from Weight Watchers. She didn't like going to the clinic. It was like a fat clinic, she said. And the lady who was helping her and had never been overweight and she was pissed. She was like, how can you even tell me what I'm doing if you've never even been in my shoes?
[33:27.530] - Stefanie Ignoffo So Jean, the founder of Weight Watchers, she invited some friends over and they sat around and she started making these menus and charge, like, $0.50 or something. And it got around by word of mouth. And that is seriously how this has all just been going. This has been going for nine years by word of mouth, and I'm global. I've made it to Mumbai. I've got people in every state now. I'm seeing people in Planspiration church, meeting each other in Florida happened. I was like, what is going on?
[33:55.850] - Stefanie Ignoffo So it's like, it's happening and I won't be able to it's just going to keep going, like, Weight Watchers. Nobody remembers. They're all like, Jean, who what? Nobody remembers who Jean is. But they all know where to go. And that's the message I want to have out there is maybe today you're like, you know what? I'm sick of this diabetes. I'm going to walk into Plantspiration and figure out how to get this taken care of. This should be accessible to everybody. So it is like a big humanitarian project, but nonprofits make money.
[34:28.010] - Stefanie Ignoffo If you Google the top nonprofits, you know, that's what I'm doing. Like, I'm going to be up there with that American whatever it's going up there because people love this. And then I've got people who just want a donate because, wow. Is she actually really doing this? Yes, I really am. I don't want anyone turned away. I want everybody to be able to have those tools to figure it out and to find it out. And this will continue to grow. There'll be more Stefanie instructors and more people learning how to eat and making it more accessible. And I'll figure that out.
[35:00.470] - Jen Lehner It's totally scalable. It's totally scalable. There'll be lots of little Stefanies who can do the cooking demos virtually.
[35:11.150] - Stefanie Ignoffo It can't be boring that's it just like I watched enough of these cooking shows to be like. I need to be. Are you guys paying attention? Where's my major?
[35:20.150] - Jen Lehner Well, you just have to build that into the curriculum. You don't get certified unless you pass this. They have to do, like, a verbal exam. And if you don't see any fire and, like, personality and they don't get their certification. They can't be a person.
[35:35.510] - Stefanie Ignoffo My motto was working for me is if you don't love what you do and do what you love, then this isn't going to work, right? That's it. But I'm fun to work with. I think whoever can keep up with. My assistants call me the Stef 5, or Stefanie's or something like that,
[35:57.470] - Jen Lehner Like, five?
[35:58.910] - Stefanie Ignoffo No, like a tornado. Like a level 5tornado. So John started at, like, Stef 5 is in the house, and I'm trying to do everything, and it's getting to the point where I just can't keep up with everything. So more and more people are coming up to help, and it is just blowing up. Jen, it's blowing up.
[36:18.050] - Jen Lehner It's a really good problem to have. I hope all of our listeners check you out. And what are we going to say to all of the Keto people who jump on here and start commenting?
[36:28.790] - Stefanie Ignoffo Well, Keto works for losing weight. Yeah, I'm not denying that, but it increases risk of mortality by all causes. It's just not sustainable. If you want to actually lose weight and feel great and prevent and reverse disease and stop slaughtering animals and make a healthier planet, then I would give up keto and actually come over to the plant zone, because that's where it's at. Just because your doctor is telling you to do it doesn't mean it's not eating cholesterol, clogs your arteries. We don't need all that cholesterol.
[37:00.710] - Stefanie Ignoffo The amount of high cholesterol that I'm seeing in people in their 30s and 40s because they're doing keto diet. Doctors call this some of the plant-based doctors out here call the skinny coffin diet.
[37:12.890] - Stefanie Ignoffo Yeah, that's what they say. They say that they have people with I don't even know if I can say they're, like, smelly body parts like it increases odor everywhere. Like, oh, come on, listen. Just let's eat to live. Let's eat, to live.
[37:29.270] - Jen Lehner And so what would you say is that if you piqued someone's interest, I'm sure that you have, what would you give them as the first step in their journey towards being vegan plant-based?
[37:41.990] - Stefanie Ignoffo Stop thinking it's a diet. It's a lifestyle. That right there. And everybody is so fixated on the weight and the keto and the weight. Well, you can lose weight doing cocaine. That doesn't make it healthy. This is the only evidence-based lifestyle that actually reverses heart disease, late stage Type II diabetes, autoimmune, kidney diseases, Crohn's diseases. What? It's easier than people think. So the best thing you could do is just make that connection of you know what? I'm going to try to do better each day. Maybe more apples, more bananas.
[38:24.950] - Stefanie Ignoffo Oh, my God. The doctor says the sugar and the fruit. Your doctor is wrong. Okay, the fruit is good for people. We should be eating way more fruit. Look what's going on. I have had kids come back to me with parents and dietitians, and they don't want to meet all the sugar. This is what has got to get fixed. This is why I'm out here telling people we have a problem. And it's a shame that doctors and dietitians and nurses are not taught how to reverse disease or get to the root cause.
[38:54.290] - Stefanie Ignoffo But there's no money in that getting people off meds. So what are we waiting for? Why shouldn't everybody and why shouldn't in schools. Thank goodness for PCRM physicians committee. They're the big leaders and lobbying for changing these laws up there, too. So that's why I'm so proud to be working with them. I'll be in Notre Dame, actually on Monday. I'm so excited.
[39:17.570] - Jen Lehner What are you doing at Notre Dame?
[39:19.370] - Stefanie Ignoffo They were like, hey, we need somebody who knows plants in and out. Can you go to Notre Dame? And they're implementing this big thing and be there to represent PCRM? I was like, yeah, I'll be there.
[39:30.470] - Jen Lehner That is great. And tell everybody what PCRM stands for again.
[39:34.070] - Stefanie Ignoffo Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. And I teach the 20 year evidence-based curriculum. So for 20 years, we know when people come to these classes that I teach, they work. And the recipes are put together by doctors, dietitians, nurses and awesome chef, because I'm not dishing out anything that's good. It's good for you. Everything all right.
[39:59.330] - Jen Lehner So you guys, if you are interested in this, I cannot recommend this enough. Again, she over-delivers so much. I had to contact her about it and tell her like, are you sure? Because there's yoga on Sundays. There's cooking classes on Wednesdays. They celebrate your wins on Wednesdays. What's the other thing? She'll have a call with you on Mondays.
[40:20.930] - Stefanie Ignoffo I opened it up for the whole week now. Yeah. I was like, You're right. This is what I got from you can't possibly keep up with calls on Monday. And I was like, you know what? She's right. So I'm going to make it six days a week now. Maybe then I'll be able to fit everybody in. But I've been in that situation. I don't want people to feel like this is just run of the mill. I want them to feel this good. And if I'm doing it for the love of Kale, why not show them I'm doing it?
[40:53.010] - Stefanie Ignoffo So if I can get my yoga girl to come over here and do yoga, I'm going live. Let me show you guys how to do it, too. Since I practice lifestyle medicine, it's part of it. So I'm just being me. And I'm just showing people. I'm a regular old gal. I'm 50 years old. And if I can be out here doing this stuff, I might as well show you how so many people ask me, Jen, how do you do your social media? How do you keep up with it?
[41:20.670] - Stefanie Ignoffo A lot of people ask me or I work all day. I'm working all day. I'm working my plans off over here. It's a nonprofit is a lot of time. And I'm helping people reverse disease over here. You see what's going on? So I just started. I don't need content. I am the content. What's going on? I stole my stuff all over. I'm just like, you guys, this blows or I'm going to have to listen to this music at six in the morning to actually get up and get going.
[41:54.090] - Stefanie Ignoffo It's just me being me. And I'm listening to what people are telling me. Most of all, Stefanie is funny. Just post that or just do that. And I like seeing people who are being real. So I just want to show people that this is really me. And this is me who actually answers the phone. Jen, I get these calls, people they're like, I cannot believe this is you answering the phone right now, and I look around here and nobody's here. I'm working from home.
[42:19.530] - Jen Lehner And I'm going to answer it.
[42:23.250] - Stefanie Ignoffo They think that there's so much more to it. And I'm like that's just that there's not. It's just everybody has the right to eat, responsibly and love themselves and be inspired and gosh darn it. I love Richard Simmons in Weight Watchers, and I wanted to kind of put it together. And that's how I came up with Plantspiration, and I felt so good. It changed my way of thinking. I never in my life thought I'd own a business or a nonprofit. John was going, "we're doing the reinstatement papers," and he's all serious.
[42:55.770] - Stefanie Ignoffo He looks over. He goes, I cannot believe you pulled this off. I go, what do you mean? He goes, it's just like you started off with $0.00, and then you get the 501(c)(3). And it was just like, everything started taking off. I slide through a pandemic. I've doubled every year. So I'll get my stuff back together. Yeah.
[43:15.390] - Jen Lehner And I love that because those cooking classes you were doing initially were meant to be, like, in person, and everybody would get to sample the food that you made. Now you're still doing them. But you're just doing them on Zoom. And that was like, 30 people last night or something or more.
[43:30.570] - Stefanie Ignoffo Yeah, it's blowing up. So PCRM has very strict rules. So physicians committee, they trained us. We can go on the community. We were going to serve the food. It was a lot to do. And I was doing my gosh. I've done so many talks from the Gilda Cancer Center to other cancer centers. I did talk with over 800 people in Chicago. I mean, that's a story right there, because I've never done anything like that in my life. They were like, It's going to be 100 people. They mike me off.
[44:00.630] - Stefanie Ignoffo There's a camera guy. I was like, Holy what? And I just started talking to the camera guy. I was like, That's not good, doesn't it? Everybody started laughing, and I remember looking at my husband in the audience. I was like, I just want to show people if I can do this, they can do this. I was very passionate because I know what it feels like to be sitting there thinking, Well, it works for her. That's great. But, look, it worked for my whole family. And if you stick with me and you see what I'm doing and you stop competing with everybody else, just worry about yourself and what you're doing.
[44:44.310] - Stefanie Ignoffo And it just really becomes comfortable and freeing. You know what I mean?
[44:51.090] - Jen Lehner Yeah. I'm just so blown away and inspired. I'd have to go back to one thing before we close. So I was thinking about what you just said with the six days a week, and I'm like, okay.
[45:03.270] - Stefanie Ignoffo Yes, honey.
[45:08.590] - Jen Lehner There's so much stop and go, stop and go. Stop and go. Like, when you're trying to do other work and you have these calls. I mean, I'm a big fan of batching things. So, like, Fridays, for me, is my financial day. It doesn't mean that I don't do other stuff on Friday, but that's the day I don't take meetings on Fridays. And if I'm going to do financial stuff. It's going to be learning that stuff.
[45:32.230] - Stefanie Ignoffo Yes, I am learning how to block out that kind of stuff. And I did see it in this new calendar thing. I'm so excited, I'll book an appointment, and I was like, Whoa.
[45:42.190] - Jen Lehner So that was my next question. Did you get, like, Calendly or Acuity?
[45:46.390] - Stefanie Ignoffo I don't remember what it was, a booking thing. Yeah, and I could block out my times, and right away, I started learning how to do that. I have standing appointments, and the way I'm doing things naturally is I'm feeling it out. How does this look? How does this feel? And if it doesn't feel right, I'll adjust very rapidly. I blow at listening in and learning like, I try to keep up and let me research this and see how the best way to set this up.
[46:14.710] - Stefanie Ignoffo Or you can imagine I'm trying to figure everything out over here, and I'm over here once you come along and you say, oh, you just need to push this button right here. I'm like, Holy crap. I'm over here thinking I invented the wheel, and it's like, oh, this is old news. I'm over here with a pencil and pen in my appointment, but my kids are like, dear kale. Stop.
[46:37.910] - Jen Lehner But you're making it work. You're making it work. I love it.
[46:40.970] - Stefanie Ignoffo Thank you.
[46:42.170] - Jen Lehner So everybody has to join Plantspiration.org and sign up like, don't waste any time before she gets wise and doubles the price. So thank you so much Stef. I really enjoyed this. And I'll see you in your group eating my plants off.
[47:01.110] - Stefanie Ignoffo You're awesome. Thank you so much for this opportunity. This was so fun, so fun. Thank you.
[47:06.930] - Jen Lehner Thank you. Well, I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Stef as much as I did. And my key takeaway, I don't know about you, but my key takeaway is be yourself. Stefanie does not know all the things. She is just out there doing it, and she doesn't worry about whether or not it's perfect. And she's showing up as 100% herself. And I just find that so refreshing and so inspiring. And if you aren't already listening to my daily flash briefings on Amazon Alexa, then you want to go ahead and go to Amazon.com and in the search bar type in Front Row Entrepreneur Flash Griefing, and you might have to filter it by skills, I believe, and just hit the enable button and every morning you'll just say to your Amazon Echo, just say, hey, Lexi, play my flash briefings, and you will hear the latest news in marketing and social media and all that good stuff every single morning. See you next time.
