Vegan Curious Fest

Naijha Wright-Brown is on the Baltimore Sun’s list of 25 Black Marylanders to Watch in 2023 and a 2021 Baltimore Business Journal Enterprising Women of Excellence Honoree.  A native New Yorker, raised in the South Bronx, Naijha is a people person and loves making connections.  She has an MBA in Business from the University of Phoenix and is a serial entrepreneur.   The thought of owning a restaurant never crossed her mind until she relocated to Baltimore in 2005 and met her fellow Verizon Wireless co-worker, now husband, Gregory Brown.

Naijha is co-owner of The Land of Kush, a multi-award-winning vegan soul food restaurant, and co-founder of Vegan SoulFest and Maryland Vegan Restaurant Month.  She is the Executive Director of the Black Veg Society, a non-profit organization that is on a mission to help Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) close the gap in health disparities by educating on holistic health, veganism, and plant-based lifestyles.  Her digital talk show,  Naijha Speaks, helps others find their vegan soul through food, people, events, and culture. Naijha is also Vice Chair of the Board of the Restaurant Association of Maryland.

Michael Jantz Moon is the Co-Founder and COO of DC Vegan. He is also a musician (Michael has toured with Paul Simon & Brian Wilson and opened for Train, Black Crowes, Space Hog, BB King and even Barry Manilow!) and an event professional. Michael transitioned to a plant-based lifestyle after an especially egregious holiday season eight years ago. DC Vegan, located in Dupont Circle, believes in co-creating a better world with their clients. Their shared values around cruelty-free living, clean & delicious food and building a sustainable future are the foundation of everything they do.

Chelse Williams is the Co-Owner and Founder of Smoky Mmm Eats, a plant-based craft meat producer. When Chelse went plant based she missed the classic Texas recipes she grew up with. As an engineer she set out to create plant based versions of the animal proteins that her Texas cowboy dad taught her how to smoke and grill growing up.

Sabina Leyla Jules is the owner and founder of Motherland Kitchen, an African Caribbean restaurant, Motherland Spices, and author of “The Motherland Cookbook, – Easy, Tasty, Healthy But not Fast”. She has an unwavering dedication to her craft and celebrating the richness of African Caribbean culture through her spin on plant-based foods.

Rooted in her unwavering passion for healthy and flavorful food, she has delved into the realm of exotic African herbs and spices sourced from the continent’s vibrant rainforests. Her inventive spirit comes alive in her distinctive seasoning blends, which not only pay homage to the African palate but also enchant epicureans worldwide.

Sabina has a Bachelor of Science degree from Kean College of New Jersey and several certifications in Information Technology. She embarked on her food business after working for several Fortune 500 companies as an Oracle Database Administrator for 20 years.    

A true connoisseur of life’s flavors, she passionately pursued accreditation in Food, Nutrition, and Health, weaving her cultural insight into her mission of promoting mindful, healthy, tasty plant-based dishes.

Gregory Brown was born in what might be considered the typical African-American household in Baltimore.  Gregory grew up eating a typical American diet.  Filled with fried highly processed foods, with very little concentration on vegetables and nutrition.  Gregory decided to one day challenge this pattern of living by changing his way of living.  After listening to a KRS song, he began researching a new way of thinking, a new way of living, and a new way of eating.

Gregory began a journey of spiritual expression which eventually led him to become a vegan; then years later he created the idea for opening the revolutionary vegan soul food restaurant called The Land of Kush.

Since then Gregory has pushed himself to influence others in his family community, and broader environment to change their way of looking at life through food.  Along with his wife Naijha, he’s not only successfully grown The Land of Kush but has done numerous outreach in the African-American community, speaking to young and old about the benefits of changing their diet and concepts of health and nutrition.

Gregory has been a speaker, teacher, mentor, and leader to many and continues the fight for better ways of living by teaching a plant-based lifestyle.  Gregory is a board member of the Black Veg Society.  Gregory, also, sits on the board of the Visit Baltimore Education and Training Foundation.