Today we’d like to introduce you to Tassili Ma’at. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Born in Houston, TX, the family moved to San Diego, CA, when Tassili Ma’at was five. She migrated to Atlanta, GA and made it her home over 30 years ago. Tassili is the owner and chef at Tassili’s Raw Reality Restaurant, the infamous vegan and raw food restaurant located in a big yellow house in Atlanta’s Historic West End. Featuring the signature dishes of Master Raw Food Chef Tassili, it is Atlanta’s premier vegan and raw food restaurant and the “go to spot” for healthy, fresh food and positive eclectic vibrations. The iconic cafe is known for the favorable dishes of spices and herbs that enliven the taste buds of anyone who has had the pleasure of dining there. After catering and vending for years, Tassili opened its doors on January 1, 2011. That was the seventh day of Kwanzaa, Imani. The Kiswahili word for “faith”, this was the starting principle for the restaurant and continues to permeate the spirit of Tassili’s Raw Reality, as well as her other business endeavors.
Tassili has taken the entrepreneurial spirit which she had since childhood and combined it with her life’s purpose of nourishing others. By creating businesses that provide services that nurture and counsel both physically and emotionally, her destiny is manifesting. She not only owns a restaurant that nourishes people’s body but also provides natural hair care and spiritual counseling services, and Kundalini Yoga Instruction. Her “livity” or purpose is to assist in the upliftment of humanity through her works. She seeks to empower people by inspiring, educating, and helping them to help themselves achieve and maintain a holistically healthy life. This includes a healthy body, mind, spirit, and soul. Her knowledge of nutrition and history makes her an advocate for a healthier lifestyle and people really enjoy her informative Raw Food classes and demos. Tassili’s first “un-cook book”, “Raw Recipes on the Go”, a delightful medley of Raw Alchemy is available.
Tassili is a mother of five wonderful individuals and grandmother of six bright stars. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Art from the University of California, San Diego, 1988. She is a Certified Kundalini Yoga Instructor and an Aris Latham (the Godfather of Raw Food) Certified Raw Food Chef. Tassili is also an avid dancer, and in the backyard of the restaurant, exciting and enlightening events are held. The first Saturday in June, Tassili hosts “The Wonderful Wizards of Raw ~ A Raw Food Extravaganza” and during the Fall Equinox she hosts “The Natural Mystic Fair”. Generous to a T, she also annually hosts the Anniversary of the blessing of the restaurant’s opening with a wonderful Imani Kwanzaa Celebration that includes a Karamu (Free Community Feast).
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Yes, it has had its share of struggles. That’s what makes the victory so great! Never an “L” for loss, always an “L” for Love. Both L’s mixed in with the W’s makes for the ultimate “S,” which equals Success.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
What separates me from others is that we use food as medicine deliciously!
The collective efforts of my community make the Raw Reality Cafe a success. It has actually transformed the lives of the multitude for the better in real-time.
I’m known for being a bad ass!
I specialize in being an urban mystic, a renaissance woman, living as an artist of life that translates to being someone that’s here for it. To explore it, to experience it, to be passionate about it, to share it, and the celebration of it all, I take on life as art, I don’t sing, though, I do dance. As a renaissance, I’ve dibbled and dabbled in a lot of things.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
LOL! Living my life has been a risk. I have always functioned outside of the box. That is always risky business because society will always condemn you for it, even your family. From being psychically sensitive and empathic to no one believing me but having to live my truth anyway to being self-employed, it’s a risk. I’ve been married twice, raised five children, to braiding hair and grooming locs. Ultimately, I opened up a raw food restaurant in the middle of a recession in ’08 with only $250. I am an industry disruptor because it’s located in a supposedly disenfranchised low-income area and my business is completely supported by the community. Ultimately, business is a risk any time you go into business, you are taking on a risk; but so is climbing a mountain or swimming in an ocean or dancing till your legs collapse from under you not knowing if someone is there to catch you or not. LOL!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TassilisRawReality.com
- Instagram: @tassilimanifestwellness
- Facebook: tassilimaat
- Youtube: Tassili’s Raw Reality
- Yelp: Tassili’s Raw Reality
- Other: https://unitea640.com/
Image Credits
@hakim.wilson (Photographer)
