Member Article

Ethical Entrepreneur Launches UK's First Vegan Lifestyle & Networking Site

A “Veganpreneur” and activist has launched the UK’s first truly independent and fully inclusive networking site for the nation’s vegan community.

Set up in a bid to give vegans a website to be proud of, Bohemian Hippy provides a shop for vegan and animal rights branded merchandise and a platform for people to network, communicate, find friends and love.

It will also give an olive branch to vegetarians and non-vegans who would like to know more about the vegan lifestyle.

The website - which has experienced thousands of hits from around the globe since its soft launch in November - already has its sights on expanding its services onto the European stage – has announced it will use its profits to invest in campaign work and promoting the benefits of the vegan lifestyle.

Lynn Jolly, Bohemian Hippy’s Creative Director, who was born in Glasgow but brought up in Cheshire has been a proud Scottish inhabitant for the past 28 years campaigns for animal rights with movements such as Earthlings Experience Scotland and Animal Aid. She now hopes her new website and her decades of experience will pave the way for a truly connected vegan community online.

She said: “Bohemian Hippy is a website for vegans and activists and people interested in animal rights & veganism. To start with we will focus our efforts in the UK, but we hope to expand to Europe and internationally as we grow more popular.

“It is also a place for animal rights and vegan charities, groups, and businesses to promote themselves in any way they so desire. We serve people who are looking for love, friends, travel companions, gig buddies, resources, advice, support and also for people looking for merchandise to promote the animal rights and vegan message. This will include vegan athletes and bodybuilders who want to carry that message into the gym and other areas of fitness.

“Bohemian Hippy was formed to try to make the vegan lifestyle easier for vegans and also easier for people wishing to transition to veganism. It is important that people looking for people to connect with can do so with ease and feel part of a family where they can ask questions, arrange meet-ups, find love and friends with like-minded people who share their own values about peace, love, and compassion to all beings.”

In what has been heralded within the vegan world as a landmark moment for vegan networking online, the website will also provide a UK based directory of all things vegan.

From food and catering, clothing and footwear to Vegan B&B’s, tattoo artists, yoga teachers and online shops, Bohemian Hippy has it all covered.

The highly interactive platform will allow businesses to add their own details and raise their profile in front of the eyes of its members, and encourages people who have had positive experiences on and in vegan outlets to shout about it.

Lynn Jolly, who has spent the last year campaigning on a variety of vegan led campaigns, has now pledged to use profits from her new company to invest in worthwhile projects and will also host the Happy Moo Year Vegan New Year Event at Glasgow’s Admiral Bar on 30th December.

Lynn, who recently saved a steer (male cow) from slaughter in Scotland, adds: “Profits from the site will be used to care for animals like Prince, the 2-year-old son of a dairy cow who was rescued from slaughter in Autumn 2016.

“We will also use monies already made to help fund a vegan animal sanctuary in central Scotland which a Go Fund Me has already been set up for.

“I genuinely feel there is a need for Bohemian Hippy because currently there really isn’t any UK based website out there serving all the areas that we will.

“There is also a huge need for a fully vegan animal sanctuary in central Scotland, a place animals can go to when they have been rescued from abuse and slaughter or when they’ve been found in vulnerable situations. This, in turn, will be a place that children, young people, and adults may visit and experience the true love and affection these beautiful animals have to offer, therefore learning that the only difference between these animals and the cats and dogs so many share their homes with, is indeed only human perception.”

For more information about Bohemian Hippy visit www.bohemianhippy.com

To donate to its Go Fund Me Campaign visit https://www.gofundme.com/educational-animal-sanctuary

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jane Crosby .