When you’re known for blogging about food and lifestyle choices, one of the worst crimes you can commit is going against your own word. But unfortunately, that’s what happened to 28-year-old lifestyle blogger Yovana Mendoza Ayres, who is currently at war with her own fanbase.
Ayres gained notoriety for sharing elements about her raw vegan diet online and turned it into a full-fledged career.
Ayres is the face behind the “Rawvana” name. What’s Rawvana, you may ask? It’s a health plan that Ayres crafted on her own, boasting the importance of raw fruits and veggies and gratitude. “Be mindful of your thoughts,” she writes. “Be active daily.”
On her site, she sells transformations, one including a three-day juice detox.
So really, this is everything for the influencer — it’s both her hobby and her actual career. So it can get a little dangerous when people accuse you of eating fish.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Ayres was technically “outed” by a friend who was taking a video at a restaurant. In the video, which was saved onto YouTube by an account named VeganBean (and titled “Rawvana Eats Fish (Fake Vegan)”), you can see that Ayres tries to position her body to hide her plate.
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq-kTShC57E"]Now, in a standard diet, fish is extremely healthy and nutritious.
But in the vegan world — and even in the vegetarian world — fish is one of the many things you want to avoid.
It’s almost like things came crashing down in those brief two seconds.
It’s a big deal for two reasons — one, she’s advertising a lifestyle that she doesn’t even follow. And two, she’s making money off of it.
Ayres, who’s more popularly known just as “Rawvana,” wasn’t innocent.
She uploaded an apology video to explain what really went on.
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHjaKB0A14A"]In it, she says she’s sorry and asks for forgiveness.
“I was not planning on hiding this from you,” she states, “…but on my terms, on my time.”
The reason she said she started incorporating fish and eggs in her diet? She was having issues with her menstrual cycle, and figured a dietary change might help her get healthier.
But, that brings on a host of other problems.
How can you sell a health system when you, yourself, are not healthy? “With all due respect — this is not a hate comment — if you at any point in your life thought that not having a period was healthy, please do not coach people in diet or nutrition, that is incredibly scary people listen to your advice,” a YouTube commenter named HelenA Pappas said.
You’d assume that the second she noticed there was an issue, she’d go to a doctor.
And if she assumed it was because of her diet, Rawvana should have at least shut down sales. Otherwise, the YouTuber just seems immoral.
rawvana I hope she learns a lot from her ordeals. She is a charlatan and grifter. Maybe have to actually work for a living now rather than scamming countless people. #Veganism is life giving and promoting, not of oneself but for others, the animals and the planet.
— Bill (@BillNy914) March 20, 2019
The apology video posted was over a half-hour.
Obviously, Rawvana knew her reputation and career were at stake.
But, it still wasn’t enough for her fans. When there are so many other lifestyle influencers out there, why would you continue to follow one who wasn’t being all that honest?
Rawvana built an entire platform and business using the vegan lifestyle and she’s out here eating fish. Such a disappointment, sad.
— ivy (@stillnotivonne) March 14, 2019
You also have to admit that she’s not making the vegan community look very good. As there are many people against the vegan diet, it doesn’t help that one of their own can’t even follow it.
So, what could Rawvana have done?
It’s hard to choose between your own health and your major source of income. If she wanted to stay a vegan, she could have probably met with a nutritionist in order to find ways to balance both the lifestyle and her health.
Or, she could have retired early.
Plenty of celebrities have claimed to be vegan, only to change their minds later on.
It’s not a great look for the vegan community, but each person is entitled to eat what they want to eat.
But, deceiving people and pretending to live a certain way is just being dishonest.
She probably thought she was making the right move, but it’ll be really tough for her to move on from this.
Rawvana broke Vegan. And I’m not at all shocked. She clearly wanted to profit off veganism for her Youtube views. Her apology video even had an ad in front of it.
— Brillo_MOBILE 🤙 (@BrilloPadd) March 17, 2019
Especially since all of her social media accounts are flooded with people calling her out for lying.
And that will probably be the case for future posts, until people are over what happened.
— Iz30 (@izzy28hh) March 16, 2019
Rawvana’s last Instagram post was almost a week ago, and focuses around a baked potato. It’s one of her most popular posts, since people couldn’t help but call her out and mention fish.
This is yet another important lesson for all of the influencers out there.
When you push a certain lifestyle, you need to be genuine about it. Otherwise, it just seems like a money grab. People are following you for inspiration, so you need to stay true to everything you promote.
