Meet Micro Grant Recipient, Crystal Latty-Lee in the USA

We are happy to announce our latest recipient, Crystal Latty-Lee.

Crystal was born in the Bronx, New York and raised between there and Kingston, Jamaica. She’s currently based in Miramar, Florida where she co-owns a popular vegan restaurant with her husband, called Vegetarian Delight Juice Bar. Crystal is also the founder of The Lady Bookworm Foundation.

Through Lady Bookworm, Crystal brings her love for reading to the forefront by hosting dynamic monthly book recommendations and bookclub selections. She also brings her love for cooking and baking with her co-created dishes that are featured in Vegetarian Delight Juice Bar on a daily basis.

In this interview we learn why this micro grant is especially impactful for Crystal and her family at this time, her interesting multi-cultural heritage, and how she plans to use the micro grant to benefit her community.

Why is this micro grant impactful or special for you at this time?

Crystal: Recently my husband and I lost our baby girl, and to be honest, prior to even knowing I was pregnant with her, I knew I wanted her. She was actually the driving force for Lady Bookworm before her conception. Named after one of my favorite authors, Zora Neale Hurston, she was literally going to be everything we needed, especially me to push through with my purpose in the literary world. The loss is still very fresh. Some days we’re up and some days we’re down, and honestly I pray to God everyday that he gives us the opportunity to bring her earthside one more time.

Due to this loss, it’s just been difficult to be in the right frame of mind to work, but we are trying, every single day. This grant confirms more of what God has in store for not just me, but my husband as well. Lady Bookworm is my passion and purpose, and so is Vegetarian Delight. Collectively, I OVERLOVE reading and sharing that love with others just about as much as I love cooking and baking, and seeing the joy our food gives others.

Tell us more about Lady Bookworm and Vegetarian Delight.

Crystal: The Lady Bookworm Foundation, still a blossoming baby, was founded out of my divine love for reading. The mission is to foster and inspire lifelong learning through reading. Monthly “reads” are selected and the community can choose when to jump in or out of the book club. Each month, a virtual or in-person meetup happens to discuss the book. Under Lady Bookworm, I actually started an event series called the Literary Series that had to be put on pause due to COVID. Since much of that is behind us, I’d love to bring it back into rotation. The Literary Series is an event that highlights authors, typically authors of the diaspora, and brings them here to South Florida in an intimate setting that creates space for discussion and celebration of their work with their readers.

Vegetarian Delight is a cultural landmark. Having been located in Miramar, Florida for over 20 years, we have laid the groundwork and the blueprint for what the plant-based demographic has to look forward to in South Florida.

We take pride in knowing that each element of what we serve to our customers is handmade with love. All of our juices, dishes, and baked goods are made fresh, daily, in house. We also try to be as resourceful as possible – all of our fruit and vegetable fibers that are extracted when juicing are used to make our meat alternative in house. As we say, let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine thy food.

What inspired you to start The Lady Bookworm Foundation?

Crystal: Lady Bookworm was founded formally on January 1, 2016. However, it was a concept I had been developing since approximately 2013. I founded it merely out of my love for books and reading. I wanted to foster a community of readers here in South Florida. Not just for avid readers, but people who may have a love for books yet not know how or when to find the time to dive into a good book. The purpose is in my mission statement, “To foster and inspire lifelong learning through reading.”

How does your work positively impact culture + community?

Crystal: With The Lady Bookworm Foundation, helping people find their love for reading and stories again is what fuels me. When we meet at the end of each month and discuss the books and the connections it has made in our lives, always makes me full. Also, being able to connect my community with authors that they look like is the real win 🙂 Creating a space when meeting an author and being able to ask them what inspired their story almost seemed impossible, but Lady Bookworm has done it time and time again.

With each aspect of Vegetarian Delight Juice Bar – juices, main dishes, and pastries – we show our community that eating healthy and whole foods is not difficult, nor does it lack flavor. We make it feasible for our community, all while showing them that some of our favorite cultural dishes can be replicated with a twist and be plant-based. For example, our vegan OXTL is always a head scratcher. People will ask me, how can you make oxtail vegan? Once I’ve explained that much of our cravings come from the flavor profiles in the food and not the actual meat, people become more open-minded. I think our positive impact isn’t limited to just the food we make, but also the education we put along with it… showing our community that if we can, then they can too.

How has your Caribbean heritage impacted your work?

Crystal: I am of Jamaican descent, out of many one people. I have lineage that goes back to various places, though – Cuba, Taino, Syria, Ghana, and China. My Caribbean heritage has fostered a relentless desire to keep going despite the obstacles of life. West Indians are determined people. That’s something I’ve always noticed. We are prideful, hardworking, and overcoming. When we put our minds to achieving something, we push through until that is attained.

How do you plan to use this micro grant?

Crystal: I will more than likely utilize the grant to either put towards an event for the community, or to pour into my business to better serve the community. As previously stated, I would love to bring the Literary Series back and this could really help me do that. We used to do a lot of events prior to COVID, and I would love to bring them back as it allowed the community to become more knowledgeable about going plant-based and what we have to offer. Also, my literary events connected people that didn’t know they may have had similar interests.