Meet Tammie Ortlieb of VegOut Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tammie Ortlieb.

Tammie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
A good decade and a half ago, I was writing for various vegetarian magazines just to pick up a little cash. My real job was being mom to four kids and working as a full-time student. A lifelong learner, I had gone back to school for my master’s degree in psychology. Writing was never supposed to become a job. It was just something I enjoyed and did on the side. My professional goal was to teach at the college level, which I eventually did.

During my years as a psychology professor, back before blogs were cool, I started a site on Blogger called lifeloveandpixiedust. Dedicated to narrative essay, it was meant only as an outlet for my creative writing. I loved the artsy flair of it and the freedom it gave me from my stuffy academic voice.

At some point in that journey, my daughter Maggie (founder of VegOut Los Angeles) started “a little blog” of her own, a guide intended to help new vegans find plant-based options. Feeling somewhat burned out from my own site, I began creating content to contribute to hers. Over the years, that little blog turned into a full-grown nationwide business. I’m so proud of what Maggie has done with the brand and the ethical foundation on which it is built.

While I’m still contributing content and currently serving as managing editor of VegOut Los Angeles, I’ve also added other accomplishments along the way. I’m now an indie author with six published books to my credit (including a novella memoir trilogy, a fiction series, and a how-to), I’ve started a YouTube channel (never stop learning!), and—probably my biggest feat—I quit teaching, sold everything I owned, and moved across country from Michigan (my home of thirty years) to my new life in California, beginning in Orange County but settling in LA.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
You could probably call me a professional obstacle jumper. I’ve led a difficult life. In my book, Cinderella Beginnings, I tell my story of growing up in childhood poverty, of breaking that cycle and creating a world so different from the one I knew.

Once a person does something like that, she can do most anything. I did, however, encounter my share of grown-up obstacles. You can read about those in my memoir, If the Crown Fits.

Please tell us about VegOut Los Angeles.
I’m currently managing editor for VegOut Los Angeles, a nationwide vegan media company founded by my daughter, Maggie. As a brand, we cover the best vegan things to eat, see, and do in cities across the U.S. We have a talented and dedicated team, who—besides being great at what they do—are just amazing human beings. While we do a rockstar job of covering plant-based offerings and cruelty-free vegan lifestyle products, what I’m most proud of is the fact that, as a business, we value above all else kindness and compassion for all living creatures, including humans.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
The lessons in our paths, the things we learn along the way, these all serve us in our successes. If I could start all over again, I’d ask for the very same journey. Hardship, struggle, failure—these are all necessary and part of the process. If anyone thinks she is going to set a goal, work toward it, reach it, and then celebrate it just like that, she needs to set her dreams higher. Living a life that is easily reached is okay, but it’s not nearly as much fun as living a life slightly beyond expectation.

I’ve always been one to “throw myself out at the world,” to dismiss those who told me I couldn’t do something and to strategize alternate routes when someone said a thing was impossible.

If you listen to the doubters, ten years from now you will be exactly where you are.

To say that I was born into childhood poverty and went on to earn a graduate degree, become a published author and professor, serve as managing editor for a nationwide vegan brand, and live out my dream life in Los Angeles, California is something my little girl self could never have imagined. Or maybe she could. She was a big dreamer like that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tammieortlieb.com/
• Email: tammieortlieb@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammieortlieb/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tammie.ortlieb
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKrKTvSsLeyzvP-abSx8CAQ

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