From Pandemic to Plant-Based Powerhouse Business Owner: How One Nicole Lopez Birthed a Baby, a Brand, and a Mission during the COVID Lockdown
When the System Fails You, What Will You Create Instead?
The year was 2020. The world was locked down, fear was everywhere, and Nicole Lopez was in labor alone.
No partner. No support. After a traumatic, isolated C-section, she wasn’t even allowed to hold her newborn.
“I surrendered to what is real. I said, "I know nothing. I am nothing. But when I get out of this… It’s going to be a journey,” said Nicole Lopez.
That journey became more than personal healing. It became a book. A business. A kitchen. A movement.
Today, Nicole is the founder of two intertwined ventures: Mama Chea Cafe, a plant-based community kitchen in Davie, Florida, and Forage Earth & Ocean, a national brand that creates high-integrity, whole-food-based meat and seafood alternatives—no vital gluten, no chemicals, no compromise.
This is her story. And for anyone in the wellness or food industry wondering if purpose and your virtues can be profitable.
This blog is your answer.
The Personal Catalyst: A Birth Story No One Should Have to Tell
Before she was an entrepreneur, Nicole was a customs broker, climbing the corporate ladder.
But when she gave birth during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, everything changed. Alone in the COVID ward after testing positive, she was stripped of everything human: companionship, consent, her birth plan, and her breast milk.
“They wouldn’t let my fiancé in. I had a C-section alone. They gave my son formula milk. I didn’t even get to hold him,” said Nicole.
Her healing journey started not just with postpartum recovery, but with reclaiming her power. She authored “The Pandemic Birth,” the first published memoir from a woman giving birth during COVID-19. “I wanted it in writing. For women. For history,” she said.
The emotional trauma planted a seed.
“It was like I gave birth to two things my son and my brand,” Nicole recalled. “My stitches were still wet, but I had to go into survival mode.”
The First Mother to Publish Her Pregnancy Story During the Pandemic
Before Nicole ever sold a single product, she wrote a book. Not for publicity. Not-for-profit. But for power.
Titled The Pandemic Birth, the memoir documents one of the most emotionally devastating experiences a new mother could face—giving birth alone in a COVID unit, separated from her newborn, silenced in her most sacred moment.
“I had a C-section by myself. My fiancé wasn’t allowed in the room. They gave my baby formula. I didn’t get my golden hour. I couldn’t even advocate for myself,” Nicole recalled.
So she did the only thing she could do to reclaim that story—she wrote it down.
“I feel like it was so important to have that in writing, you know, in history. And I was the first woman,” she said. “No other woman wrote during that time. Nobody. There were interviews, sure, but no one published and sold her story like I did.”
The book became her proof. Her prayer. Her protest.
A birth plan turned into a literary legacy. A reminder to every mother, especially those navigating medical systems, that this is your body, and this is your voice.
“It’s like a will,” Nicole explained. “A will for your birth. Because when you’re in that room, anything can happen. And your birth plan is a way to say, "I deserve to be heard.”
The Pandemic Birth is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in physical copies distributed directly by Nicole herself. It includes photos, journal entries, and raw reflections.
But more than a book—it was her first product. A tangible declaration of autonomy, resilience, and feminine power.
And for anyone who’s ever felt erased by the system, Nicole’s words offer this quiet, unwavering truth:
You still get to write the ending.
When Survival Becomes Strategy: Building a Brand with Stitches Still Fresh
Launching a food brand is never easy. But launching one while recovering from a C-section, navigating postpartum hormones, breastfeeding on the hour, and grieving the loss of a birth plan?
That takes more than grit. That takes fire.
Nicole Lopez didn’t plan to walk away from an 18-year corporate career. But when her employer demanded she return to the office just six months after giving birth—in the middle of a pandemic—she knew she had a choice.
“I was still breastfeeding, still healing, and they needed me back sooner. I told them, I can’t do that. And they let me go,” Nicole shared.
With no backup plan, she leaned into the only thing she had left: instinct.
“Nobody knew I had just given birth,” she recalled. “I was out there—with stitches still fresh—walking into stores, trying to get my products on shelves.”
Every “no” stung. Some stores overlooked her. Others undervalued her. But she kept going—pivoting, rebranding, refining her formula, and learning to be both CEO and new mom at the same time.
She was no longer just surviving. She was creating. Crafting not only a brand but a new identity—one that honored her womanhood, her voice, and her mission.
“We had to move production. We had to rebrand. We had to figure everything out ourselves,” she said.
And in that crucible, Forage Earth & Ocean was forged—not as a convenient business idea, but as a purpose-driven response to trauma. A love letter to nourishment. And a mother’s promise to never again silence her truth.
A Brand Within a Brand: How Nicole Built a Healing Ecosystem
Nicole didn’t just launch a product. She created an ecosystem.
Mama Chea Cafe is her plant-based café, named after her grandmother, where every dish is cooked with alkaline water, no deep-frying, no canola oil, and whole-food ingredients. It’s also the production hub for her CPG brand, Forage Earth & Ocean.
Think of it like this: Mama Chea is the heart. Forage is the bloodstream.
Forage Earth & Ocean offers a range of plant-based products from walnut “meatballs” to fishless “seafood”—crafted without the junk that defines most commercial brands.
“People think it’s healthy because it’s vegan, but so much of what’s out there is just chemicals and gluten,” said Nicole. “I want real food to come back.”
The brand is now shipping nationwide and listed on Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, and boutique wellness stores across the country.
What makes it different?
Whole food-based plant ingredients
Gluten-free recipes (no vital wheat gluten)
No deep frying, artificial binders, or preservatives
Designed for both flavor and function
And Nicole doesn’t just preach it—she lives it.
“I’ve been plant-based for almost a decade. I know what gluten does to me. My body talks to me,” she said.
Transforming Taste, One Conscious Consumer at a Time
Nicole’s impact is growing—not because she’s selling “vegan food,” but because she’s educating people to unlearn what they’ve been sold.
Her customers aren’t just vegans. In fact, most aren’t.
“The vegan community isn’t our biggest clientele,” Nicole shared. “Most of our customers are people just wanting better food. They're tired of feeling like crap.”
Every meal served at Mama Chea and every shipment from Forage carries a message:
Food is medicine.
Flavor and ethics can co-exist.
Whole food isn’t a trend—it’s a return to truth.
And when people taste it, they know.
“We’ve had people tell us, ‘I don’t even like plant-based, but this? This tastes like home. ’That’s the goal,” she said.
Message to Wellness and Food Entrepreneurs:
Nicole has a message for anyone feeling stuck in a system that doesn’t support their values:
“The fire will come. The trauma might come first. But what do you create after that? That’s your healing.”
Her lessons for fellow founders:
Birth a plan—even if the world burns.
“Write it down. Even if it changes. Especially at birth. Your body deserves a voice.”Don’t just go plant-based. Go real-food based.
The wellness world is full of marketing, but your body knows the difference.Honor your seasons.
Nicole didn’t rush. She surrendered. And then she built—step by step.Be bold with your branding.
“I want people to understand what I built without me having to explain it. Be unapologetically clear.”Community matters more than category.
Her biggest supporters? Not vegans. But mindful eaters are looking for quality.
What’s Next for Nicole and Forage Earth & Ocean
Nicole is just getting started.
Product expansion: From hormone-balancing yam creams to new meatless proteins
Kitchen growth: Mama Chea is becoming a hub for education and conscious food production
Public storytelling: Nicole continues to speak out on food truth, healing, and womanhood
Her biggest vision? Becoming a national leader in honest, whole-food-based, plant-powered nutrition that empowers people, not just feeds them.
Final Reflection: From Trauma to Transformation
Nicole Lopez didn’t ask for a pandemic. She didn’t ask for a C-section in isolation. Or to lose her job. Or to fight for her right to breastfeed in peace.
But when the system failed her, she built something better for herself, her son, and for all of us.
“We’re taken for granted because we’re delicate. But we’re powerful. And I wanted to leave something behind that says, “I didn’t just survive.” I created,” Nicole said.
At MBNews, we share stories like this because healing isn’t just clinical—it’s cultural. It’s creative. It’s courageous.
And it often starts when everything falls apart.
Ready to Experience the Brand
🌱 Explore her full product line at Forage Earth & Ocean
📍 Visit Mama Chea Cafe in Davie, Florida.
📦 Order plant-based meats & seafood shipped to all 50 states
Join Mama Chea Cafe Community on Instagram.
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