Ever since she became vegan roughly 16 years ago, Iris Nguyen has worked to promote veganism and its positive effects on the environment. In 2014, she began her own Etsy shop, Envision Positive, where she creates handcrafted items to help support farm sanctuaries like SoL Criations Farm Sanctuary in Wisconsin and to spread awareness.

“I have a passion, I want to spread the vegan message everywhere I go,” Nguyen said. “I want people to be able to promote veganism in a more affordable way.”

Having sold over 5,700 items on Etsy alone, she currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and often visits vegan festivals and events around the nation to sell items. She participated in Freedom Fest in St. Louis on Saturday, May 28, and most recently attended the Lancaster VegFest in Lancaster, Pennsylvania from June 4-June 5.

“My life has never focused on making a lot of money, I want to enjoy life, and live it as well,” she said. “Up until this day, I always donate monthly to different farm sanctuaries. That’s my purpose, why I started my business.”

Nguyen said people transitioning to being vegans could lead to very beneficial results.

“I believe if we become vegan, we become more compassionate towards animals, towards humans. Humans are also animals, people tend to forget that. We have so much compassion, we are going to manifest this loving energy and I think that’s going to uplift this whole planet,” Nguyen said.