Celebrity influencer goes all out for her love for animals, becoming mother to 12 cats and turning vegan

Rachell Tan is serious about cats. She and her husband Sean, both vegan since 2019, have 12 (TWELVE!) at home, all of which are rescued domestic shorthairs. Amusingly, considering Rachell and Sean’s commitment to veganism, one of their cats is named “Chicken Wing” – a name she was given because, when she was rescued, she was “tiny and pinkish, and had no fur on her – like a chicken wing!”.

But it is another of Rachell’s cats, Korkor, to which she credits her conversion to veganism: “Korkor’s character is so much like a human child that we realised we shouldn’t be viewing animals as food anymore.” A friend from work, Kennard, was also hugely influential:

“He (Kennard) helped us draw the link that the animals we thought of as food are very similar to the cats we love and treat like family at home – they are sentient beings; they cherish their lives; and they form bonds with other animals”

You may have heard of Rachell – with over 105,000 Instagram followers, she is a heavyweight presence on social media. It’s easy to see why – she’s an extremely likable character, simultaneously relatable and aspirational. And, as well as being a trend-setter, fashionista, avid baker, cat rescuer, and all-around good egg, Rachell is also the founder of wellness and beauty store Pixiepax, a fully vegan enterprise that has flourished since its foundation in 2018.

I asked Rachell about Pixiepax, and how her own passion for veganism is reflected in the company’s ethos:

“When we turned vegan, I could no longer work on campaigns with past clients, which promoted animal products including dairy, meat, collagen, eggs… we started sourcing products that didn’t contain any animal ingredients. I consider Pixiepax fully vegan – to us, that means not using any animal ingredients, and not doing any testing on animals. I don’t think being vegan has restricted our growth because we want to bring in products we personally enjoy and will consume. We recently added vegan dashi stock and vegan gummies from Japan to our catalog, and can’t get enough of them!”

It’s great to see a vegan wellness and beauty company doing so well, but it’s not a huge surprise – veganism in wellness and beauty has been on the rise for years, as consumers across the world have become more aware of the nature and provenance of certain, key ingredients, such as beeswax (which comes from bees – obviously!), lanolin (a wax secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals such as sheep) and carmine (a red pigment produced from powdered scale insect bodies). However, it is important to remember that not all products that are vegan are necessarily cruelty-free – the unfortunate truth is that the majority of well-known cosmetics companies still engage in animal testing behind the scenes, despite marketing themselves as ethically innocent.

Among the cosmetics brands paying for animal testing in China are Estée Lauder, Clinique, Maybelline, NARS, Victoria’s Secret, Clarins and Benefit. So please take note and ensure you only buy wellness and beauty products from a company, such as Pixiepax, that is fully vegan.

Veganism isn’t all high-minded ideals and monastic abstinence though – as the infectiously vivacious Rachell proves, it can be an exciting, eye-opening and mouth-watering lifestyle choice. Forget limp salad leaves and furtive, longing glances at your friend’s plateful of chicken rice – there’s more delicious vegan comfort food available than ever before. Rachell is certainly no stranger to that aspect of vegan cuisine:

“There are people who turn vegan for their health, and while we do try our best to eat healthier, we do occasionally eat vegan junk food because it’s so yummy! Gummies, chips, burgers, pizza, fried vegetables, vegan luncheon meat… but we try to strike a balance between processed food and whole food”

Veganuary is just around the corner, and there’s never been a better time to follow your heart and find out just how easy and rewarding it is to switch to a vegan diet. And, if you want to get a feel for what real vegan food looks like in this day and age, why not take a trip to one of the plethora of fantastic vegan restaurants Singapore has to offer – Rachell recommends Loving Hut (nearest MRT station: Paya Lebar), Mother Earth (Joo Koon), Gokul (Little India) and Love Handle Burgers (Chinatown).

But if anybody is going to convince you to give it a whirl, it’ll be the wonderful, irrepressibly optimistic Rachell Tan:

“We see more and more delicious vegan options sprouting up all the time, making them more affordable and accessible to the masses. Whether someone is trying out a vegan diet for the environment, for their health, or because they love animals, this is definitely a great time to go vegan!”