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Heather wins VegNews Person of the Year 2009

[Taken from VegNews]
"Behind the scenes" may not be the phrase that comes to mind when one thinks of Heather Mills, but maybe it should be. Of course, the majority of the world still knows her best for her divorce, but this year, Mills has made her mark on all things veg—and when we say all things, we mean all things.

"The more fabulous vegan products, the better," she says. From food to fashion to fish-free vitamins, Mills has her fingers in more pots than just about anyone we know. Her omnipresent name in the media this year — always closely followed by the word "vegan"—has helped catapult cruelty-free living into the mainstream. In fact, keeping her myriad projects straight can prove to be its own challenge. Her umbrella company is Be@One, under which fall her VBites restaurant ("a cool place to hang out," according to its creator), line of refrigerated packaged meals, newly acquired vegan meat and cheese brand Redwood Foods, and recently launched recycled clothing line, also named Be@One. Got it?

While her business plan is decidedly Marquezian, it seems to be working. Since opening on July 4, Brighton’s VBites has seen a steady stream of customers and requests for franchising, with the first US location set to open October 3 in the Bronx, NY. All of her products undergo nearly constant upgrades: she’s working on making potato-starch-based packaging for her refrigerated dinner line, so plastic can be taken out of the production, and she’s creating an algae-based EPA-DHA omega-3 blend to add to her VBites line of faux meats that will also soon be available as a supplement. For her out-of-the-spotlight work, Mills works closely with animal-protection groups like Viva! and The Humane Society of the United States. She donates freely ("I put every bit of cash I’ve got into these projects"), and supports burgeoning businesses like Beyond Skin, with which she’s obsessed. "They’ve really stuck to their ethics," she says of the vegan footwear company. "They haven’t gone over to China [for production]."

With so much currently on her plate, what does the future hold? Possibly a more toneddown version of the highly outspoken—read: preachy—Mills the tabloids tend to report. "It can come off as lecturing. Now I’m hitting 42, and I’m realizing there are other ways to show people that there’s a vegan, ethical, environmentally friendly alternative." And she’s hoping that the VBites line of faux meats will take off, literally. "Richard Branson’s a good friend of mine and just gave up eating beef, so I’m hoping we can work to get VBites on Virgin Atlantic." Though she seems to be at the eye of her own storm of veganism, Mills is optimistic about the future. "There’s always sense in what seems like madness at first." Whether in the spotlight or behind the scenes, Mills’ tireless activism is making sense.