Meet Diane Rose-solomon

We recently connected with Diane Rose-solomon and have shared our conversation below.

Diane, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

It took a while for me to learn how to cook plant-based. I had been vegan for over a year, but I finally took a cooking class which changed everything for me. Once I realized I could cook plant-based, I got excited about possibilities for other people. After all, if I could learn how to cook with those “weird” ingredients, so could others.

Before I felt comfortable sharing what I had learned about vegan cooking (and eating), I wondered if a vegan diet was even healthy. So, I studied plant-based nutrition- just to make sure that what I was sharing was health-promoting (and not some hippie idea). I was delighted to learn that a whole food plant-based lifestyle was indeed the healthiest and dovetailed with my values (not eating animals).

My original business idea was to hire vegan chefs to teach plant-based cooking and I would host the class. After all, they were the experts, right? I felt intimidated teaching something that I wasn’t trained in.

Long story short, as much fun as hosting that class was, I realized that I wanted to teach the class. I knew how to cook plant-based. I do it most days of the week. I have fun discovering new recipes and dishes, and I had a feeling I would be a good teacher.

I realized that NOT being a professional chef was actually my superpower. Learning from an expert has its place. But what I wanted to show was you don’t have to be a chef with fancy skills to get a healthy and delicious meal on the table. People in my class seem to respond to that. They aren’t signing up to learn fancy knife skills. They want to learn how to make delicious, healthy, and cruelty-free meals. Just get some good food on the table. And it turns out, I can provide that. Plus, I’m having a lot of fun teaching (and my students are having a lot of fun learning, cooking and eating!).

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Years ago, I wrote children’s books about animal rescue, followed by a book for adults called What to Expect When Adopting a Dog. Then I made some short documentary films about the human-animal bond, which was rewarding, but ultimately not the direction I wanted to go. In 2019 I went vegan out of compassion for animals and eventually learned how to cook vegan food. The amount of plant-based food and the plethora of recipes and support for cooking and eating plant-based these days is amazing. But vegan does not always equate with healthy.

Then I had the opportunity to study plant-based nutrition through Cornell’s online program. The program opened my mind to what healthy eating looks like. I made tweaks to some of the recipes I was already cooking and have discovered new healthy recipes since then. I’ve started calling it the Plant-Based Trifecta. What’s best for our bodies (and minds and souls), is also best for the planet and of course the animals. This is what excites me the most.

I wish everyone could see and experience this for themselves. That’s why I started my company, What’s Plant-Based Cooking Good Looking?. I want to make it easy for anyone who is plant-based curious to build their confidence. I remember being terrified to cook plant-based foods (other than pasta, salads, and roasted veggies). Looking back, it wasn’t hard at all. I just needed to get over that initial fear, and with guidance, I did. I’m here to offer that guidance to people who are ready to learn both cooking and eating healthy plant-based.

I teach plant-based cooking classes online so that anyone can take them. They are all recorded and available to access 24/7. And I’m almost done writing a very short book that helps people get started eating plant-based. It’s purposefully short so that it can be read quickly and then implemented. Lastly, I am available for coaching for people who are just baffled by the whole plant-based process.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three qualities that were most impactful in my journey were:

Willingness- to learn and take a class.
Curiosity- about the health benefits of a plant-based lifestyle
Compassion – for others and myself. For others, because I know a lot of people are just not ready to embrace plant-based. I wasn’t always vegan and I have to remember that. And compassion for myself as I explore how I can have the most impact.

My advice is to listen to your intuition. So often I haven’t, and it hasn’t turned out well. If your intuition says take that class, take that class. If your intuition says, delve further to learn more, delve further. If your intuition says, it’s time to go for it, then go for it. And if your intuition says, it’s time to be patient with others and yourself, then patience it is. I’m so glad you asked this question. All great reminders for me.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?

My ideal client is someone who is curious about cooking and eating plant-based. They don’t have to be committed to going vegan. And they don’t have to be a great cook, or even a cook at all. They just have to be willing to give it a try and curious enough to show up and learn. My job is to make it easy for them. So far, the feedback I’ve gotten is that it’s more fun and easier than they expected. It turns out I wasn’t the only one who realized that taking a plant-based cooking class might be a good idea!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Britni Jaffee Eberle, Stephanie Waisler-Rubin

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