Hi, my name is Carmen, and I’m the owner of The Earthly Elephant, a local family-owned plant-based eatery and juice bar.

The Earthly Elephant was born from the deeply personal healing journeys of myself and my mom, Alicia, overcoming multiple chronic autoimmune conditions including lupus, fibromyalgia, and endometriosis without the use of prescription medications after 10 painful years of only managing disease while advocating for our health. That experience inspired me to pursue a career in holistic nutrition and life coaching to now open The Earthly Elephant, transforming all that we have endured in health from pain to purpose. Alicia and I took a leap of faith to open our business in the heart of Olde Towne Slidell a little over a year ago, where we operated within a small 450-foot space. We outgrew this space very rapidly as demand for nutritious, wholesome food surged along with a desire within our community for healthier homes and livelihoods. We knew for the future of The Earthly Elephant to serve you all even more and expand our reach, we’d need more space. We secured our new location about 3 months ago—a beautiful 1,500 square foot space of opportunity to flourish. It has been a huge milestone not only for our business but for our family and marks the beginning of a chapter once existing only as a prayer now becoming reality!

Asking for help is not easy for me. I don’t even like asking for tips at the register, let alone a donation. But right now, we’re facing an unexpected challenge that could make or break our ability to open our new location.

We are nearing the end of renovations, but getting to this very point took all of our savings. We invested time, money, and hard work to bring the space up to city code and to meet our standards. The inspectors have not allowed us to progress to opening because we were hit with a costly, unforeseen issue—we have to completely redo the plumbing in the space to add a second bathroom, something we didn’t plan or budget for.

Additional commercial plumbing was never disclosed as a problem when we secured the location, and now, we’re in a tough spot. Without this update, we can’t fully operate, meaning we won’t be able to serve superfood smoothies, cold-pressed juices, and plant-based bites—or expand to include the plant-based meal prep, cleanses, and local grocery we’ve been dreaming of offering!

This is incredibly hard for us to ask, but I know I can’t do this alone. We need our community’s help to push through this hurdle so we can continue providing fresh, healthy options to Slidell.

We’ve never had to do anything like this, but we’ve come too far to turn back now. If you believe in our mission, tasted our food, or connected with us, please consider donating or sharing this with others. Every bit of support helps us keep health and wellness alive in our community.

Thank you so much for being part of this journey with us!