Mother-daughter team Melanie Blake and Amy-Lee Goodman recently launched Zibble, which creates all-natural cupcakes and other sweets to promote a healthy, environmentally friendly diet that also tastes delicious. The two entrepreneurs, originally from South Africa and Texas, USA, donate a portion of their proceeds to organizations working to make the world a better place. Their first beneficiary is the International Fund for Africa (IFA), ifundafrica.org.

How did Zibble come about?

We both realized about eight years ago that what we eat impacts us and everyone else. Our food has global effects and we wanted to make a positive difference. The turning point was when my youngest daughter was diagnosed with arthritis and for nine years battled with it until we read The China Study, which showed us how our food choices can heal us. After changing our diet, my daughter’s arthritis went away. We had been toying with the idea of selling our frosting for years because whenever we served it, family and friends always raved about it. We changed the recipe to make it dairy-free and it was such a success. Once Amy graduated we decided to pursue the business and our passion for creating a better world. While we are starting out with sweet treats, our goal is to expand to healthier foods and grow Zibble into a household brand that teaches children from a young age how to make healthier, environmentally friendly and cruelty-free food choices.

Tell us about Zibble’s social effort.

Our Frost Your Future campaign is the social component of our business. We want to use the campaign to educate others about how they can make a difference and how powerful their choices are starting with what is at the end of our fork. The goal of our company is to educate through food – both by showing how a plant-based diet is versatile and delicious as well as how we each can make the world a better place. We align each one of our products with a non-profit or cause so we can educate our consumers about a wide range of organizations that reflect both our of values from animal issues to human trafficking.

How has this experience changed you? What have you learned?

We learn something new everyday. Neither one of us has run a business before or really worked in a business role. You learn so much about people and compromise. We also have learned about ourselves- when to ask for help and what our strengths are. Most of all, we’ve learned never to give up. It has taken us a long time to launch our business and it has gone through many revisions but it is all about perseverance. We will continue to learn as we grow our business but we are excited about the positive difference we will make in the world.

What inspires you?

Melanie: The truth inspires me. Most people are not aware of how their daily choices have a positive or negative effect on other beings. When I see suffering it inspires me to take action to help make a difference. I know that our small choices can help change large complex issues such as global hunger, deforestation of our rainforests and animal exploitation.

Amy: I am inspired by people standing up for their beliefs and taking action to create a more compassionate, tolerant world. I love seeing someone who is courageous enough to go against the grain of society and give a voice to an important issue. I am a firm believer in justice and am inspired to spread the message about activities that we participate in but do not understand the true ramifications of how it affects someone else.

What do you want women around the world to know about you and what you’re doing?

We all have the power within us to make a positive impact through whatever passions inspire us. We want women to look beyond the material aspects of life and focus on important issues that impact us all. We want women to start THINKING. We want women around the world to join with us, spread the message of compassion, tolerance and respect and help us “frost” a better future. We want to hear from you- what inspires you and how Zibble can get involved in causes that you are passionate about.

To learn more about Zibble, visit http://www.zibbleinc.com.