Anything you can do, she can do feta—when it comes to cheese, that is. Miyoko Schinner is the award-winning chef behind Miyoko’s Creamery, a leader in vegan cheese and butter, and the author of several plant-based lifestyle guides.

We spoke to the 64-year-old about how her cookbook started a movement, 50 being the new 30, and why she’s helping the competition.

How long have you been vegan?
I went vegetarian when I was 12 years old. I grew up in California seeing cows grazing, looking so happy. I never thought there was a problem with dairy, and therefore I consumed lots of it. Then I happened upon an article that exposed the suffering in the dairy industry and its environmental impacts, so I went 98% vegan almost overnight. But my downfall was cheese. If I walked by a pizzeria or was at a party with a gorgeous cheese platter, it was very hard for me to turn it down. I was a cheating vegan for a number of years before I finally said, “You know what? I can’t do this anymore.”

And then you decided to start a business?
When I was living in Tokyo in my mid-20s, I needed to figure out how to make the foods I wouldn’t be able to eat anymore, so I started experimenting. My first business was a little vegan wholesale bakery where I baked pound cakes. I didn’t have a car, but I did have a backpack, so I carried 70 cakes that were a pound each and delivered them by subway all over Tokyo. I don’t lift pound cakes anymore, but I still lift weights. [Laughing.]

How did you build your own vegan empire?
I am, as they say, an “overnight success story.” In the 2000s, I decided someone needed to figure out how to make great vegan cheese, so I studied dairy cheese-making. I read books, watched videos, took classes, and applied that science to plant milks. That culminated in [my] book, Artisan Vegan Cheese, which became a cult classic. I like to say it was the book that launched 1,000 vegan cheese companies, because cheesemakers all over the world have said they learned from [it]. I never intended to go into business [after that], but people kept saying, “I love your book, but it’s such a hassle to make this cheese. I don’t want to wait a month for it to age. Can’t you just start a company?” I heard it enough that I decided to start Miyoko’s.

What’s it been like to watch the plant-based industry boom?
It’s exciting! Back in the ‘90s, I couldn’t get the time of day from anybody. People were like, “Why the hell are you doing that?” So I think it’s wonderful. I also love that I was able to start a company in my late 50s, because it proves to women that you can [start] a new chapter of life at any age. Sometimes it’s even better when you’re older because you’re no longer caught up in all the drama of youth.

Was it a different experience founding a company as an older woman?
Absolutely. When I had my earlier companies, I was still trying to figure out [how] to be a leader. When you’re younger, you’re still looking for affirmation from others. As you get older, it’s like, “I don’t give a sh*t anymore. I’m gonna do what I believe in. If you don’t like it, that’s your business.” I didn’t have the guts when I was younger because I was easily intimidated by the “white male expert” that would come in and tell me I was doing it all wrong. But they weren’t the ones who had started the company or that got national distribution. It was me! But I didn’t give myself credit for that. I mentor a lot of women in business, and I see self-doubt and a lack of self-confidence. We’re still easily intimidated, so it’s something we need to grow into.

You recently started helping dairy farms in California transition to plant-based farming. What made you want to take on that project?
The Dairy Association feels the success of my company is negatively impacting dairy farms, but I don’t think it’s us—it’s consolidation. When the automobile came along, what happened to the horse-and-buggy driver? When there’s a shift in technology—and right now we’re having a shift in food technology—[some will] become irrelevant unless they become part of the new economy.

So you’re helping others adjust?
Instead of being the enemy to dairy farmers, we became the solution by telling them, “You know what? We’re going to help you become part of the new economy.” My goal with Miyoko’s is to create a world that’s based on compassion for all living beings. I don’t believe animals should be exploited, so I’m trying to change consumers’ perception that animals are food. We have to evolve our own consciousness to create a society based on equity and justice for all.

You’re so passionate about your work. Do you ever see yourself retiring?
I consider myself an Epicurean activist that tries to reach people’s hearts and minds through their stomachs, so I’ll probably be an activist for the rest of my life. I also have a farmed animal sanctuary and a nonprofit organization, so I’ll be fighting for justice and equity for as long as I live.