A Conscious Consumer

Melani Vermay, also known as Mel Ve, has so many strings to her bow she could start an orchestra. She has done more in her lifetime than most people could achieve in ten.

An accomplished artist by the time she was 11, Mel was born and raised in South Africa but wanted to spread her wings and moved to London when she was 23. She ended up in media working for brands such as L’Oreal and the M & C Saatchi, before being scouted as a plus-size model, which landed her contracts with high street brands such as Marks & Spencer.  Mel moved onto various artistic directions including working as Art Director for brands such as Coca Cola. 

Mel has always been passionate about food and cooking, her talents were recognised when she reached the final eight in the UK Master Chef TV series in 2004.

I am not finished yet! In her spare time, she has produced an extensive body of work, which falls under the title of Dragonology. She defines this as “the study of anthropology via the mode and application of decoding symbolic expression, rather than through the traditional context of standardised textbook doctrine presented by educational institutions.” Her first book Spell Breaker has been published, she is working on Cultus, the second book of the Dragonology series.

It was while studying ritual sites that she stumbled on the oldest and largest ancient advanced civilization to have yet been identified, which has been verified by a team from the University of Oslo. They dated this site, located in the Kalahari desert, to be 70,000 to 100,000 years old. 

This discovery resulted in Mel’s book called The Greatest Discovery, which details one of the most controversial archaeological discoveries of our time, as it points to indisputable evidence of ritual and agriculture having existed at 70,000 years before present times.  This flies in the face of mainstream academia and historians, who claim that agriculture and ritual only appeared around 13,000 years ago. Clearly, there is a forgotten chapter in humanity’s story.

Mel’s work resulted in an appointment by royal mandate, as the International Media Advisor to the Royal House of the Khoisan Nation, who are fighting to achieve first nation status in Southern Africa.

One of Mel’s most controversial bodies of work, is her first book The South African Guide to the Global Conspiracy, was followed by her hard-hitting documentary film, Last of the Boers, which details the genocide of white farmers in South Africa.  Her work has resulted in Mel being unable to return to South Africa.

You could write a whole novel on her life, but for this article, I will focus on what she says it all comes back to, and that is trying to create a better world by using her talents to give more than she takes.

After a decade of living in London in the mainstream media world, Mel moved to Holland, where she lived for 10 years.  During this time Mel became an activist, hosting and speaking at conferences all around the world. On 1 January 2015, Mel and her husband Biggi started a live independent TV network called Conscious Consumer Network (CCN), which is a live broadcast online TV network. To date, CCN has aired over 3,500 live broadcasts from broadcasters across the world, focusing on a vast plethora of topics related to education, health, well-being, lifestyle and revisionist history. 

“Never underestimate your power as a consumer. I want to contribute to positive changes” she tells me.

Due to Mel’s research into ancient civilizations, Mel learned that the market place was a focal point for the community, being a natural gathering point. Mel decided to participate in the local market scene in the Algarve in order to better integrate into the local community. 

“I felt drawn to the Algarve,” Mel says, “this is my new homeland.” Mel has been immersing herself in the local markets and food festivals and as she has found a lack of tasty plant-based options for herself, resulting in the development of her own artesian food range, which she has been selling at various events and markets, as well as supplying to gourmet food boutiques and restaurants.

“I am an activist and I believe in creating a better world.  My Algarvian Life product range is a manifestation of that.”

When I ask her how she achieves so much, Mel puts it down to not having kids, not watching television and keeping inspired. One of the ways Mel accomplishes this is by doing something inspiring every day, such as taking her kitties to the beach every morning or feeding the local cat colonies.

Mel’s next project is to open a vegan delicatessen or cafe in the Algarve, and I have little doubt this conscious consumer will be able to add this to her long list of achievements.