Daily Inspiration: Meet Deborah Peoples

Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Peoples

Hi Deborah, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I attended Institute for Integrative Nutrition in 2013 to be able to understand the body and nutrition after my hashimotos diagnosis and Rouxbe cooking schoolin 2015 to perfect my plant-based cooking skills. I learned how to make cashew cream cheese at Rouxbe, and since I had removed all dairy from the house, this cheese seemed like a blessing. My late husband often said that it’s so good I should sell it. He passed away in 2017 and I, a seamstress at the time, took a position at a major department store as their seamstress. This caused me great misery as i had always worked for myself and absolutely hated walking into flourescent lights everyday. It was that misery that kept replaying in the back of my mind my late husbands voice, ooohmama this is so good, you should sell it! In January of 2021 the store closed their alterations department and I was offered a position to sell men’s suits. There was no way I was going to allow my soul to be lost so I decided to take my severance money and start ooohmama. In April of 2021, just 3 months later, I was at Uptown Farmers Market selling my product and haven’t looked back.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been fairly smooth and I have slowly grown with the growth and have added items to my menu based on the needs of my customers.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I love using my creativity each week when I make my cheezcakes and make little works of art with the fruits. I am adamant on keeping my products clean and organic and only use whole food and organic ingredients. One thing I learned at IIN is walk your walk and talk your talk. I would never sell anything I wouldn’t eat myself. Also, unlike other cheez makers that use nutritional yeast and other herbs and spices to make their products taste like cheese, my cheez is allowed to culture for 24hrs with active cultures and that gives the cashews a natural cheese flavor. I also make the cheez in small batches which takes A LOT of time. Because of this, my cheez has a smoothe texture which everyone loves compared to other national brands that have a gritty texture.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
My late husband deserves most credit, as he always believed in me and pushed me to do better and be better. Next are my customers. I listen to their feedbacks and suggestions and am able make improvements based on their words.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ooohmama.com/
• Instagram: ooohmama_cheez
• Facebook: Ooohmama Plant-Based Cream Cheez