Aisha "Pinky" Cole (born December 8, 1987) is an American restaurateur. She is the owner and operator of Slutty Vegan, a

plant-based A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. It encompasses a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of fiber-rich plant products such as vegetables, ...

burger restaurant chain in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia. In 2023, she was added to the ''Time'' magazine 100 Next list, recognizing individuals with an outsized influence on American culture.

Early life and education

Cole was born and raised in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. Her parents are Jamaican immigrants and

Rastafarians Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...

; her mother Ichelle Cole is a musician in the reggae group Strykers' Posse and follows the traditional Rastafarian vegetarian diet. Her mother is a wealth adviser at

PNC Bank The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 U.S. state, states and the District of Columbia, ...

Her father served prison time for the first 20 years of her life and was then deported to Jamaica. Cole became a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

in 2007, and a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

in 2014. Cole received her bachelor's degree from

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded on September19, 1865, as Atlanta University, it was the first HBCU in the South ...

. She was elected “Miss CAU” in 2008 and is a member of

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emp ...

sorority. After college, Cole moved first to Los Angeles to become an actress, and then to New York to work in television production.

Career

Television

In 2010, she moved to Los Angeles and worked as a producer on the reality show '' Judge Karen’s Court.'' She left television briefly to launch a Harlem restaurant. In 2016, Cole moved back to

and worked as a casting director for programs such as '' Iyanla: Fix My Life''.

Pinky’s Jamaican and American Restaurant

Pinky’s Jamaican and American Restaurant opened in 2014. It was Cole's first restaurant. It operated in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

for two years, until she shuttered it in 2016 after a grease fire.

Slutty Vegan

In July 2018, Cole sold her first vegan burgers through delivery apps and opened the Slutty Vegan food truck in September of that year. In January 2019, she opened the first Slutty Vegan brick-and-mortar restaurant in the Westview neighborhood of Atlanta. In 2023, Slutty Vegan had 11 locations in Georgia, New York City, Birmingham, Ala., and Dallas. Cole was inspired to create the

restaurant Slutty Vegan due to her own cravings for vegan junk food. All of Slutty Vegan's products are titled with some form of sexual connotation, including "

One Night Stand A one-night stand is a single sexual encounter in which there is no expectation that there shall be any further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single night performanc ...

," "Fussy Hussy," "Sloppy Toppy," and "Chick'N Head".

Cookbook

In November 2022, Cole began a five-city tour to promote her new cookbook, ''Eat Plants, B*tch: 91 Vegan Recipes That Will Blow Your Meat-Loving Mind.'' The book was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. ''Oprah Daily'' published four recipes from the book in December 2022. ''

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

'' said the cookbook has "food combinations that will make you forget about meat altogether."

VegNews VegNews is a media brand focused on a plant-based lifestyle, encompassing a flagship magazine, a website, and a podcast, among other properties. VegNews covers content relating to veganism, including news, recipes, and celebrity interviews. His ...

listed it as one of the "Top 100 Vegan Cookbooks of All Time" in 2024.

''I Hope You Fail''

Written based on her own experience turning failure into success, Cole's book ''I Hope You Fail'' was published in October of 2023 and is available in print and audiobook formats.

Recognition

In 2023, when ''Time'' magazine named her to its 100 Next list,

Danny Meyer Daniel Meyer (born March 14, 1958) is a New York City restaurateur and the founder and executive chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). Background and early career Meyer was born and raised in a reform Jewish family in St. Loui ...

wrote that "Her myriad fans adore her sassy, sexy attitude that has not only reinvented the way people think about a vegan restaurant, but also turned classic roadside burger fare into a rollicking party." In 2024,

listed Cole as one of the "17 Black Vegan Chefs Redefining Plant-Based Food and Community."

Personal life

Cole met entrepreneur Derrick Hayes in 2020. The couple became engaged on July 2, 2022, and married on June 10, 2023 at The

St. Regis Hotel St. Regis Hotels & Resorts () is an American multinational luxury hotel chain, owned and managed by Marriott International. History Origins In 1904, John Jacob Astor built the St. Regis New York as a sister property to his part-owned Waldor ...

in Atlanta. The ceremony was covered by the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Hayes is the owner of Big Dave's Cheesesteaks, a non-vegan

cheesesteak A cheesesteak (also known as a Philadelphia cheesesteak, Philly cheesesteak, cheesesteak sandwich, cheese steak, or steak and cheese) is a sandwich made from thinly sliced pieces of beefsteak and melted cheese in a long hoagie roll. A popula ...

restaurant based in Atlanta. They have a daughter, D'Ella (born 2021), and son, Derrick Jr. (born 2022). Hayes has two daughters from a previous relationship, Dallas and Denver. At their 2023 wedding, the couple announced Cole was pregnant and they are expecting a third child, a boy, in December.

Philanthropy

Cole and fellow alumna Stacy Lee paid the tuition of 30 Clark Atlanta University seniors in September 2019. In May 2022, Cole gifted an

LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

to every graduating student at the Clark Atlanta University commencement ceremony. Cole runs her own philanthropic organization, The Pinky Cole Foundation, which focuses on providing financial support and educational programs for children of color.

References

External links

Pinky Cole
on Instagram
Official website
for Slutty Vegan {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Pinky Living people Women restaurateurs Businesspeople from Baltimore Clark Atlanta University alumni American people of Jamaican descent Delta Sigma Theta members 1987 births