The Columbia entrepreneur is expanding plant based food, wellness education and culinary training through a production kitchen designed to prepare the next generation
By Karen Alexander-Banks
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
For SaaShalom “Chef Saa” I.M. Bey, food has never been only about what is served on a plate. Through Rawtopian Bliss, she has built a business around plant-based cuisine, holistic wellness, education and the belief that healthier living can still be flavorful, joyful and rooted in culture.
SaaShalom “Chef Saa” I.M. Bey
Known throughout the Midlands as the “Soul Vegan Goddess,” Chef Saa has spent decades helping people experience vegan food in a new way. Her dishes invite customers to begin with flavor, not restriction. For many, one satisfying meal has opened the door to a broader conversation about wellness, ingredients and the choices people make every day.
Her work grew from years of personal study and practice. After living as a vegetarian and vegan, she pursued training in raw foods and nutrition in the early 2000s. She later founded the Raw Foods Training Academy in Columbia, where she taught plant-based food preparation and trained aspiring raw and vegan chefs. The response to those classes revealed something important: people did not only want to learn how to prepare the food. They wanted to purchase it, share it and make it part of their lives.
That demand helped inspire Rawtopian Bliss Gourmet Vegan Deli, which operated in Columbia from 2015 to 2021. The deli developed a loyal following and proved that plant-based cuisine could hold a meaningful place within South Carolina’s strong food culture. Chef Saa’s work has continued through products, classes, demonstrations, wellness education and community programming.
Now she is preparing for the next chapter. Chef Saa’s vision is to establish the Rawtopian Bliss Production Kitchen and Training Center on family land passed down by her grandparents, Thomas McKinley Thrower and Mary Jane Moore Thrower. The facility would allow the company to expand production and distribution of its vegan foods while creating a permanent place for culinary instruction, wellness education and workforce development.
The training center is also part of Chef Saa’s succession plan. After years of building recipes, teaching customers and growing the Rawtopian Bliss name, she wants to step back from daily kitchen production and return to what she describes as the training ground. Her goal is to prepare aspiring vegan chefs to operate their own part of the Rawtopian Bliss brand and carry the work into new communities.
That vision makes the proposed facility more than a commercial kitchen. It is intended to become a place where products are made, skills are taught, businesses are developed and knowledge is passed forward. Chef Saa sees it as an opportunity to turn personal expertise into community capacity and to give the next generation a stronger starting point.
The public will have an opportunity to support that vision during Rebirth of Soul, a fundraising event scheduled for Saturday, September 26, 2026, from 6:00 to 10:00 PM at Chappelle Auditorium on the campus of Allen University. Presented by Rawtopian Bliss, the family-friendly experience will bring together live entertainment, poetry, African dance, Allen University’s Mass Choir, local and celebrity talent, vendors, wellness and plant-based food.
The date and location carry deep personal meaning. The event falls on Chef Saa’s mother’s birthday, honoring the woman who helped shape her life. Allen University also connects the celebration to another generation of her family. Her grandmother, Mary Jane Moore, graduated from Allen in 1921 and remained active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church throughout her life.
Chef Saa describes Rebirth of Soul as a call for collective renewal. Its message reaches from personal health to the rebuilding of communities and from racial discord to racial harmony through music, art, food and culture. The celebration will offer an evening of performances and connection, but its larger purpose is to help create something lasting after the stage lights are turned off.
For Chef Saa, the Production Kitchen and Training Center represents that lasting work. It honors the ancestors who prepared the way, expands a business the community has already embraced and creates room for new entrepreneurs to learn, earn and lead. Rebirth of Soul is the event, but the true featured business story is one of legacy: a gifted entrepreneur preparing to package what she has built and pass the baton without letting the knowledge disappear.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit RebirthofSoul.org.