<p>Nowadays, it seems as though everyone wants a career in the limelight. Many scroll through social media and dream of becoming bloggers or influencers with millions of followers to their name. Well, it seems as though there is more to the influencer world than meets the eye, and it’s not all thumbs-ups and double-tapping. There are some major downsides to having such a huge platform, and one YouTuber found this out the hard way.</p>

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<p>The path of fame never runs smooth, and it seems as though the smallest slip up can land you in hot water with your fans. This is especially true for celebrities and YouTubers alike, and one vegan YouTuber has since felt the wrath of scorned fans thanks to her online rouse. <br></p>

<p>YouTube has become one of the biggest social media platforms to exist on the web. It’s now a place for professionals and amateurs to record videos and easily make money doing what they love. It seems as though anyone can now become an internet sensation. </p>

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<p>Of course, this is easier said than done, and only a select few manage to find themselves in the big leagues. While this is now the dream of many, people need to realize that your YouTube fame can be stripped from you in a heartbeat. </p>

<p>One particular YouTube star has realized this for herself, and it seems as though she’s now struggling to get her fans back onboard her fame train. Yovana Mendoza Ayres, also known as Rawvana, is a vegan YouTube star who has devoted her life and career to a vegan way of life.</p>

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<p>Thanks to the rising popularity of a vegan lifestyle, Yovana has been able to showcase the positive aspects of veganism to those who want to learn more about a life without animal products. In fact, she was once regarded as one of the most popular vegan bloggers out there. </p>

<p>A vegan lifestyle means avoiding meat, milk, eggs, or anything that comes from an animal in any shape or form. More and more people are changing their diets to embrace this lifestyle, and Yovana became a popular source of information and knowledge on the matter. </p>

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<p>She has posted various videos on the health benefits of veganism and has shared recipes and tips on how to lose weight on a vegan diet. The YouTube star would do this through two separate channels; one English, and one Spanish. Together, this meant that she had over 2 million followers. Unfortunately for her, that’s no longer the case.</p>

<p>So, what did Yovana do to lose the respect of her followers? Towards the start of 2019, eagle-eyed fans noticed something unusual about a video that Yovana&#8217;s friend uploaded during their vacation in Bali. The footage showed the group of YouTubers eating food in a Balinese restaurant, but there was something a little strange about the dish in front of Yovana.   </p>

<p>After watching her promote her vegan lifestyle for over five years, fans were astonished to see that she was eating a fish. Of course, fish doesn’t exactly fit the vegan criteria.</p>

<p>It didn’t take long for the video to gain traction, and as word got out that one of the most popular vegan bloggers had ditched her vegan lifestyle, fans started looking for answers. They felt as though the young woman had betrayed them, and they wondered how long she had been going against her own beliefs. </p>

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<p>After all, she had built up a following online because she promoted the vegan way of life, and fans assumed that she was fully committed to this diet.  The video showed that she wasn’t, and they wanted to know why this was the case. Sadly, it took weeks before Yovana finally mustered up the courage to respond to the outrage. This didn’t work in her favor.</p>

<p>Yovana tried to cover her tracks and remove all traces of her wrongdoing. She allegedly began to remove any comments on her YouTube videos that spoke of her eating fish, and she hoped that this would be enough to make the negativity go away. </p>

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<p>This wasn’t the case, and she soon realized that the people she once called her fans wanted to know why she had gone against her word. She made money from advocating a vegan lifestyle, so why wasn’t she living the life she portrayed online? </p>

<p>After weeks of silence, Yovana eventually uploaded a video of her finally explaining herself. It seemed as though the public’s need for answers had piled on top of her, and she realized that she had to give them the explanation they deserved. She posted the video in March 2019, and it soon became one of her most popular videos on the social media platform to date. </p>

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<p>The video gained a whopping 3.5 million views on her Spanish channel and over 1.1 million on her English channel. It was during this video that she announced that she was no longer a vegan. In fact, she hadn’t been a vegan for two whole months! </p>

<p>Within the hour-long video, Yovana announced that she had discontinued the vegan lifestyle because she was suffering from health concerns. Although she admitted that her diet was not to blame for these illnesses, it was also not helping the matter. </p>

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<p>She had been diagnosed with a small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), and this had an effect on her physical health and wellbeing.  Yovana knew that adding new ingredients to her diet would help her illnesses, but she also didn’t want to hurt her career or her brand as a whole. So, she decided to keep this news from her followers. </p>

<p>Yovana went into more detail about her health concerns that apparently surfaced in 2014. During this time, Yovana decided to go on a 25-day water fast, and this had a disastrous effect on her monthly cycle.  She explained that her diet caused her hormones to go “out of whack.” </p>

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<p>Her doctors couldn’t believe that she was experiencing such symptoms at such a young age, and they told her that she would need to reintroduce certain foods into her diet to regain her health. This was a huge wake-up call for the young woman. </p>

<p>Until that point, Yovana had been living a raw, vegan diet for many years. She had thought that it would be the best move for her health, but it actually had the opposite effect. Her doctor advised the YouTube star to add more fat into her diet, and so she did just that. Consequently, her happiness took a hit for the worse.</p>

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<p>Even after reintroducing fatty foods, it didn’t take long for Yovana&#8217;s symptoms to return, and Yovana felt as though she had made all of the changes to her diet for nothing. According to her doctor, however, she had not taken her change in diet far enough. </p>

<p>Yovana’s fans had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, and they had no clue that the health of their favorite vegan YouTuber was suffering.  The YouTube star didn’t know what to do, so she decided to try various options. </p>

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<p>She tried to go on a cleanse, and she even tried a fasting method. However, none of these options worked, and her body was not able to digest the vegan food that she was eating. In the end, she had to make a drastic decision that would soon affect the rest of her life. </p>

<p>After numerous discussions with health professionals, Yovana and her doctor decided that it would be best for her to start incorporating eggs and meat back into her diet. Although she had stood by her vegan way of life for many years, she couldn’t risk her health any longer. </p>

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<p>She had suffered long enough, and she didn’t know if her health would recover if she didn’t make changes right away. She wanted to feel energized and healthy, and she also had a desire to be a mother. If adding these foods back into her diet would put her back on the right track, then she was willing to make the change. </p>

<p>Although the YouTube star knew that adding meat and eggs back into her diet was the best option for her, she wasn’t proud of the decision that she was making. After all, she had spent the past six years advocating the vegan lifestyle, and she had even built a career on the raw and natural way of life. Because of this, she felt as though she was a failure.</p>

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<p>She didn’t want to let anyone down, and she didn’t want to let herself down. However, she knew that her body needed the extra fat and nutrients to survive and operate as normal, and that was a risk she would have to take.</p>

<p>Fans understood Yovana’s explanation, but they didn’t appreciate the fact that she had hidden her change in diet for so many months. This was something that the YouTube star addressed in her apology video, and she stated that she kept the matter quiet for a very specific reason. Because she was not happy with the fact that she had to give up her vegan lifestyle, she was trying to experiment with her food and her body’s reaction to these ingredients. </p>

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<p>She wanted to find foods that would work with her body without straying too far from her vegan beliefs, and she intended to find her own answers before explaining herself to her followers. Unfortunately, she was caught out before she could do this. </p>

<p>Despite the fact that Yovana has had to stray from the vegan diet because of her health concerns, she stands by the notion that her diet did not cause these illnesses. She simply believes that at this point in her life, incorporating meat and animal products back into her diet is one of the best ways for her to reach peak health. </p>

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<p>That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want to go back to the vegan way of life at another point in her life. She has every intention to make her way back into the realm of veganism when she feels better in herself and her body, and she still stands by the idea that veganism is the way forward. </p>

<p>Yovana may have every intention to become vegan again, but she might have to work hard to rebuild her YouTube following. Those who have followed the vegan blogger for many years feel as though she has been selling her lies over the course of her dietary experiments, and it’s safe to say that they aren’t happy with her.</p>

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<p>In fact, the apology video on her English channel has racked up over 1 million views since it was first published, and a whopping 30,000 people have shown their irritation through the thumbs-down button. Things get even worse on her Spanish channel, as 153,000 people have so far clicked the same button. </p>

<p>This isn’t the only way that former fans of Yovana have expressed their harsh opinions. They feel betrayed by her dishonesty and haven’t been afraid to share this with the YouTube star and the rest of the world. They have bombarded her social media channels with fish emojis, and they have not held back when it has come to their comments.</p>

<p>While many are annoyed that Yovana has left her vegan lifestyle behind, they are more annoyed by the fact that she continued to promote an ideology that she was not following herself. As the top comment on her English YouTube channel suggests, “eating fish is ok, making money off of bluffing people is not.”<strong> </strong></p>

<p>There’s no doubt about the fact that Yovana was once an influential figure within the vegan world, and she still is to many people across the globe. This is why so many people are annoyed. She has been able to make a huge amount of money from her YouTube channel, and many believe that it’s wrong to make money from a lifestyle she no longer follows.</p>

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<p>There are even people who suggest that she is spreading an unhealthy message &#8211; considering she suffered health problems while living a vegan lifestyle. Although she has reassured her fans that her vegan lifestyle did not cause her health problems, she has not denied the fact that it didn’t help it either. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, it seems as though Yovana has lost a large number of fans. They have unsubscribed from her channel, and they have decided to boycott all of her social media platforms because she has broken their trust. It can often take years to build up the trust of the online community, but it can also take just a few seconds to go back to square one. </p>

<p>Yovana realized this first-hand, and things didn’t get any better. As more and more people heard of her lifestyle change, they began to question her apology video. Had she really only ditched the vegan diet two months previously? Or was she lying about that too?</p>

<p>While there are many people out there who are angry with Yovana for her lying antics, there are more hardcore vegans out there who are upset by her actions. Vegans often have a hard time staking their place within the online community, and they are often shut down by haters and critics. </p>

<p>Yovana seemed to be one of the few YouTubers who could command the attention of vegans and non-vegans alike, but then it all came crashing down. These former fans believe that her actions give the rest of the vegan community a bad name, and sent them back two steps when they had only just gone forward.</p>

<p>It seemed as though Yovana was going to crumble under the criticism. She went off the radar and took some time for herself to figure out where her career would take her. Three weeks after the apology video, Yovana posted another video on both her English and Spanish YouTube pages.</p>

<p>Titled “Turning The Page,” this video was a follow up to her previous video. Within this five-minute video, she noted that her own opinions of veganism had not changed. Yovana believes that veganism affects everyone in different ways, and it just so happened that a vegan lifestyle didn’t help her body. </p>

<p>Although Yovana knew that she needed to clear the air and set the record straight in terms of the fish video and her lifestyle change as a whole, it seemed as though she was a little too far gone. Her fans had made their decisions, and many of them had decided that Yovana was no longer worth their time or their views.</p>

<p>Her second video once again racked up a huge number of views, and the large majority of these views also came with countless thumbs-downs. As the comments came flowing in, many of them criticized the YouTube star for making a profit from her “unhealthy” lifestyle advice, and some even called for YouTube to remove her channels altogether. </p>

<p>Yovana has not uploaded any videos to her YouTube page since her the follow-up to her initial apology, and it seems as though she is now figuring out what to do next. Can she really continue her vegan blog if she is not following a vegan lifestyle herself? Or should she close her channels and find a new career venture? </p>

<p>Either way, it’s safe to say that she has lost a considerable number of followers in the process, and they won’t be there to watch her videos even if she does continue online. Her reputation had taken a turn for the worst. While her lifestyle change has worked out for the best in terms of her health, it has broken her career. </p>

<p>Of course, Yovana is not the only vegan to revert back to the world of meat and other animal products. Many celebrities and influencers have done so for various different reasons, but the circumstances surrounding Yovana’s decision is what has truly cost her her career. No thanks to her dishonesty, she has since been bombarded with criticism and hatred that has since transformed the famous YouTuber into an infamous YouTuber. </p>

<p>While everyone has their own opinions on the matter, there’s no doubt about the fact that this circumstance shows us just how fragile internet fame can be. Although you can be famous one minute, it can all come crashing down the next. </p>

<p>In the past, Yovana has called out trolls and haters for stunting the growth of the vegan revolution. Although there could be people out there who want to experiment with veganism, those who call out and bash vegan YouTubers are ruining it for everyone.</p>

<p>Yovana once noted that she wanted the online world of veganism to be welcoming and wholesome, but it seems as though she has not helped this in the slightest. She has now been called out for being a liar and for selling out when it comes to her videos.</p>

<p>Of course, Yovana still has some fans out there who have supported her throughout this ordeal. Many of them have gone through their own issues with veganism and even had to make certain changes to their own diets. While they sit on the fence in terms of her monetary gain, they also understand that Yovana can still believe in veganism.</p>

<p>Everyone is fighting their own battle and making their own changes in life, so should she really be penalized for putting her health first? Sure, she shouldn’t have lied to her followers, but Yovana still believes in veganism and should still have the right to express that. </p>

Vegan for the Likes: A YouTuber Comes Clean About Life Behind the Camera