The Wright Journey to the Good Life

Nestled in the heart of downtown Columbia, on Main Street, is the widely popular lunchtime and dinnertime favorite, Good Life Café. This trendy raw, vegan hot spot—featuring a tasty lineup of healthy and delicious menu options created with always-fresh ingredients and inspired by love and passion—is the culminating lifetime vision of café co-owner Sharon Wright.       

Reflecting on her life, Wright states: “Growing up in South Carolina, eating was a family tradition. I had a mother who made sure our family ate lots of vegetables. We had meat, but I don’t remember it being the center of our meals. My mother did not buy a lot of junk food when we were little, and soft drinks and hamburgers were only an occasional treat. Mom planted a garden in the summer that produced fresh vegetables for us.”

Wright goes on to say: “My love for food started in the kitchen with my mother. I would put a little pie in my Easy-Bake Oven as she baked in her oven. I loved being in the kitchen with mom. Despite my mother’s efforts to provide a healthy diet for us, as a child I was often sick with fever. I remember going to the hospital with high fevers and never getting any good answers. As a teenager, as is the case with most teens, junk food consumed my diet. In fact, it was only 24 years ago that I seriously changed my diet and started a sincere quest for better health.”

Wright’s first daughter, Christina, was born in 1985. With her pregnancy, she gained 95 pounds that took more than two years to lose. Wright contended with many health challenges during this period in her life, such as surgery for endometriosis and recurring sinus problems. “It seemed like I was sick all the time, and it was only by the grace of God that I found a better way,” says Wright.

Turning the page to January 1991, Wright and her family received the unfortunate news that her grandfather had advanced-stage colon cancer. Sadly, he died shortly thereafter. Upon reflection, Wright states: “Something good did come from this life-changing experience. I heard about the macrobiotic diet and knew I had to make a change, so I called a friend who owned a health food store. I knew that I was on a path to better eating, believing that God had big plans for me.” While pregnant with her second daughter, Shannon, Wright followed a vegetarian/macrobiotic lifestyle.

The life-changing trials of life would intersect her path again when she later learned that her father, too, was diagnosed with cancer. Thinking of that experience, Wright shares: “I cooked macro meals for my father and he did very well for a while, but eventually, he became tired of the diet.” Wright continues: “My father was an avid hunter accustomed to eating lots of meat and other foods largely considered to be unhealthy. I started to research raw and living foods. Fortunately, I was able to get him to start drinking raw juices in the hospital; but sadly, it proved to be too late for my beloved father, as he lost his courageous battle with cancer two weeks later, in January 2002.”

The loss of her father was extremely difficult, but amazingly, as was the case with the loss of her grandfather, Wright gathered unbelievable inner strength. “I continued to experiment with preparing raw foods after the loss of my father,” she says. “It was not long before I fully realized that I just did not feel well after eating cooked foods, even macrobiotic options. One day, I walked into a food store to get something to eat and everything I saw looked dead; nothing appeared alive with energy. That was it for me. I began a raw, living foods diet that day.”

Good Life Café stands today as a declaration and successful testament of determination to fulfill a vision of a life’s journey. Now, Wright shares her vision with everyone in Columbia. She has also included a hot cooked vegan brunch on Saturdays and Sundays for those that prefer vegan cooked foods. Everyone can come and get a taste of the good life!  

Wright invites everyone out to the Agape Conference Center on Saturday, May 9, for Lere Robinson’s Alive Again!—The RAW TRUTH, a healthy food, healthy living event featuring speakers Robinson, founder of Alive Again; Dawndy Mercer-Plank, WIS-TV news anchor; and Wright. For more information and to register for this event, visit AliveAgainOnline.com.  

Good Life Café is located at 1614 Main St., Columbia. For more information, call 803-726-2310 or visit GoodLifeCafe.net.