Vegan Jobs Ireland talks to Wasted.ie

On World Vegan Day, we speak to Wagner Rosati, the brains and inspiration behind Vegan Jobs Ireland.

We wanted to know the story behind Wagner’s journey, what inspired him to launch a business like this and what has brought him to this point.

We started by asking him exactly that.

What was the starting point of the Vegan Job’s Ireland site?

I arrived in Ireland from Brasil in 2015, a graphic designer and website creator and started to search for jobs in my area, which was difficult. A lot of my skills and experience seemed to be specific to the Brasilian advertising market, so convincing someone to hire me, was hard.
Before arriving in Ireland, I had also decided to go Vegan. This brought it’s own challenges, because finding places to eat in a city I was unfamiliar with was not easy.

There were times when I thought I won’t be able to keep this up. But I soon found ways of cooking for myself and seeking out places that supported a vegan diet.

I did eventually find work, but I realised that I also really wanted to do something to support the protection of our environment and that a job in the area of veganism would have been the ideal position for me. But, as I researched the area, there seemed to be a few sites in the US and UK, but nothing here I Ireland. I decided then, why not set something up myself? I started with a Facebook page to see how that went first of all…

After just 1 week of starting the Facebook page, I had over 500 followers! And that was the inspiration to keep going, build the site and service this market.

The site really has taken off, how are people reacting to the concept of Vegan Jobs?

In the beginning, it was hard to explain what I was doing. I was told that there wouldn’t be enough positions in this area to justify a full site. So, in the beginning, I approached companies that were working in the food sector that had a focus on vegetarianism or plant based values and basically anyone that was embracing sustainability in food. If they were looking for staff, I would advertise the positions on the site.  But as time went on, things started to change. Soon, companies started to come to me, looking to advertise their open positions on Vegan jobs Ireland

I have watched this area really explode over the past 2 years. Companies are embracing plant-based diets more than ever before. They are looking for staff that match their mission and candidates are realising that there is an active market looking for people who have experience working in this area.

Has the attitude towards Veganism changed?

Yes, for sure. There is just so much more awareness here now. The products now available in supermarkets for example are increasing each week. And places too. There are now lots of Vegan and vegetarian places all across Ireland that are serving up top quality food and these places are real players in the market. The best chefs around the country are now exploring plant based dishes and taking it very seriously.
As a result, more and more people are looking at food differently and embracing ways to use and cook with plants rather than have an over reliance on meat.

The challenge sometimes, is that people can be afraid of the word ‘Vegan’. They feel that Veganism is very severe and that Vegans are people that have little tolerance for people who still eat meat. And for some vegans, this is true.

Alot of vegans believe that if you want to cut out meat, then you need to be 100%,. That to truly be vegan, you cannot buy any products from a supplier that isn’t 100% vegan. I have no time for this.

I believe that if anyone want s to embrace their own version of veganism, then that’s fine too.
I have lots of friends that are non-vegan, but have decided to cut back on eating meat. Or they are just vegetarian.
I want to change the way people see food and what they eat. I want to simply educate people, or give them a space where they can learn more if they want to.

So, what’s the next step for Vegan Jobs Ireland?

My mission is to turn Vegan Jobs Ireland into a broader platform that’s not just about jobs, but about providing knowledge and advice for people who want to learn more about food sustainability and the realtionship between food production and out planet. I wasn’t it to be a positive space. I want to make the site accessible for anyone looking for positive information about eating a more plant based diet. That’s everything from where to shop, how to shop, how to get the best value, what are the new products on offer.

But remember, Veganism is not just about food, it’s about fashion and cosmetics too. And these industries are really exploding also.

Mainly though, we want this to be a place that supports small businesses, local producers, because if we really want to tackle our climate crisis, we must start shopping local again.

Find out more at Vegan Jobs Ireland here Vegan jobs Ireland