Source: Digital / Radio One Digital
The CEO of Slutty Vegan and Founder of Pinky Gives Back, Pinky Cole is a serial entrepreneur. Her worldly popular concept Slutty Vegan is racy, tasty, and healthy is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Eric Kelley II and Kiara J got to speak with Pinky about being a new mom while running a successful business, her sold-out shoe deal with Steve Madden, and what it meant to her to gift the 2022 graduating class of Clark Atlanta University with LLCs.
The grind doesn’t stop for the 34-year-old “mompreneur”, she calls herself. She is just days away from giving birth to baby #2. She and her partners Derek Hayes have an 11-month-year-old together.
She says with the help of her mother and her village she’s able to be super mom and keep her $100 million company Slutty Vegan booming.
“And I’m so grateful for them because everybody is not afforded that opportunity to get that kind of help.”
When Slutty Vegan first hit the scene, Pinky mentioned she received a lot of pushback on the name. It’s racy, its taboo, she describes. The drama behind the name was intentional she said.
“Drama makes you pay attention. It’s just the truth, right, the dramatics of it all,” she said. “I created a low drama, sprinkle low drama in it, but for good reason, right? And be intentional about it, then I could get people to pay attention. And then I can educate them and open up their consciousness to eating better, even if it starts to be uncomfortable.”
The entrepreneur is not only successful in the food industry, but she also made a leap into the shoe game too. Pinky talked her way into a shoe collaboration with Steve Madden after introducing herself to the founders himself Steven Madden on a panel discussion they were a part of.
She doesn’t miss an opportunity to get to the bag and a chance to build her brand.
Pinky described the moment when her popular concept not only hit the glass ceiling but cracked it. She received a call from super-producer Jermaine Dupri at 1 AM who was in the studio with Snoop Dogg and Lil Duvall.
“Jermaine Dupri called me like, “hey, I need you” and I’m like, “alright, you got a decision to make. Are you gonna say no, and you’re gonna miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime? or you’re gonna say yeah, and the possibilities could be endless?” So guess what I did? I said, “Hell yeah, I’m on my way.”
In those late hours her team was super tired and had settled in for the night.
Pinky said “I’m like, I don’t care. Scare money, don’t make no money and no chances make advances. We put our clothes back on. We went and got that truck 45 minutes from where were and then we drove another 45 minutes”
She’s also no stranger to giving back to her community and people.
The Slutty Vegan CEO went back to her alma mater, Clark Atlanta University 13 years later and delivered the commencement speech as one of the youngest speakers and gifted the entire 2022 graduating class LLCs.
She says her message in gifting those LLCs was for those who wanted to start a business to make sure that the hustle is legitimized.
Ms. Cole said, “what that did is it helped provide a pathway to entrepreneurship, for people who may otherwise have never thought of it, right.”
She continued, “it was such an amazing blessing to be able to support these young people and help them and I’m confident that at least half of them will use it for good and be able to pay it forward in the future.”
Pinky currently has five brink and mortar Slutty Vegan restaurants around Georgia and announced two more coming in Birmingham, Alabama and Brooklyn, New York.
So, you know we had to ask if Slutty Vegan was coming to Charlotte. Slutty Vegan Charlotte is coming very soon.
“I’m actually I found a location,” she confirmed. “We’re negotiating right now. And I love Charlotte and I love Charlotte because Charlotte really really supports Slutty Vegan and I don’t know why Charlotte like us so much. But every time we go, we got lines down the block and around the corner.”
Slutty Vegan Charlotte is coming very soon. Stay tuned.
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