March 22, 2024 • 13 mins
This week on "Color Between the Lines," we're continuing our homage to Women's History Month by engaging in a captivating conversation with Pinky Cole, the creator of Slutty Vegan. Join us as she sits down with BIN's Ester Dillard to delve into her entrepreneurial journey, her literary endeavors, and a major revelation she's excited to share.
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(00:08):
I'm mister Dillard on the Black InformationNetwork, chatting with writers and authors who
offer an added perspective for our listeners. This is the Color between the Lines.
In this edition of The Color betweenthe Lines, we're talking with the
ultra successful business woman and entrepreneur PinkyCole, owner of the multimillion dollar franchise
(00:34):
The Sluttie Vegan. She is alsothe author of I Hope You Fail Ten
hater statements holding you back from gettingeverything you want. Welcome Pinky Cole to
the Bion. Thank you for havingme excited to be here and talking to
you. Well, first off,I tell you you are coming to the
New York City region for a specialannouncement this week. Please tell us what
(00:57):
that is all about. Well,drum roll. The announcement is is that
I have a new location opening upon Blicker Street this month, and I'm
very excited about it. This willbe my third location in New York City
and just this the milestones being beingable to have my brand in New York
(01:19):
has just been so powerful and ithas allowed me to build new relationships and
I'm excited. I'm excited to seepeople experience the brand in a whole new
way awesome. I'm going to tellyou that my family and myself are big
fans of your food, and Ifeel honored that I'm going to be able
to talk to you about that bookin which you had so many great points
(01:42):
talking about the building of your businessand all the different hills and valleys to
get to where you are today.You make a lot of points that aren't
just for entrepreneurs, but just foranybody. I wonder what gave you that
idea of all these hater statements aschapters. I was fascinated by it.
And what was I guess the hardestchapter to write out of all those None
(02:04):
of them were hard to write becausethey're all based on my real life experiences.
Right. So when you talk aboutlike reading, technology is at the
forefront of everything that we did,right, So when you want people to
read something that's going to help them, sometimes you got to throw it in
their face. So I could havewritten a book called Pinky's Top Tips to
(02:28):
Navigate through hard Times? Will peoplepick it up? Yeah? Will everybody
pick it up? Probably not.But creating something that says, I hope
you fail with re engineering negative mindsetsis a really, really big deal.
So I created this book because Iwanted people to understand that like hard times
are inevitable, everybody is going togo through things, whether it's big or
(02:52):
small, but as an optimistic wayis what makes all the difference. And
here I am with a book tellingyou what society tells us all the time.
I hope you fail. I hopeyou lose your job. I hope
he cheats on you. I hopeyou get fired from you know, I
hope you lose your friendships. Thosethings really are what people hear every single
(03:15):
day. I just wonder it wasit really difficult talking about so many intimate
parts of your life, especially aboutyour parents. You know. It's funny
because I've always been an open book, and I think that's a part of
the reason why I've been able tohave mass On a success in my life
because I keep it real right.I've always been transparent. So you're gonna
catch the good side and you're gonnacatch the bad side. But at the
(03:37):
end of the day, I canbe a walking testimony for somebody. So
that's literally what the book is.It's a walking testimony. People can be
able to identify their own situations basedon reading about me, even if they've
never encountered me before, even ifthey've never went to any one of my
businesses, what they will learn isthat I'm human. I've been through things,
(03:57):
and I've been able to use thosethings that I've been do as experiences
to rise above bad situations. Youunderstand what I'm saying. So like,
writing the book really felt like Iwas writing in a diary because I was
telling my real story. In thebook, I talk about how I got
kicked out of school and I wasescorted in handcuffs, and it felt like
everybody wrote me off. But Irose above the ashes and was able to
(04:20):
get into a better school and Iended up going to college when by society's
standards, I was really a statisticI walked out of a high school in
handcuffs. Nobody thought that I wouldmake a major turnaround. And what that
situation taught me is that bad thingshappen to good people, but you can
always find the light at the endof the tunnel. And I'm the living
(04:43):
and true example of it. Sowhen people read my book, I want
them to know that listen. Likethings are going to happen in my life,
but as long as I take anoptimistic approach to everything. I'm gonna
be all right. The chapter aboutthat said they lie on You seemed really
like a pivotal moment in your businesslife that was pretty scary. Especially,
(05:05):
I want you to explain to peoplewho may not know what you went through
when it came to helping the familyof her Sharp Brooks and what did you
get through that experience. You know, it's interesting because that story was very
crucial to my career growth and Ican remember it. This is actually how
(05:27):
I met my husband, so GeorgeFloyd. The riots that were happening rest
in peace to him. Somebody brokethe windows into my husband's restaurant during those
riots, and when that happened,I reached out to him and I asked
him if we could connect, youknow, if he needed some support in
the community, could I help him? And obviously he didn't need any help.
(05:47):
Long story show, when we connected, we came together and said we
need to help a family and needlike, what can we do to you
know, to come in allegiance togetherto help somebody in need. And that's
exactly when Rashad Brooks was murdered inthe parking lot and we were so compelled
by the story, and I'm like, we got to do something about this,
Like this happened in the community inwhich we serve our food, like
(06:11):
we have to be able to help. So we decided to help. We
purchased a car for the family,life insurance for the family, and college
scholarships for the children to go tothe Clark Atlanta University. Right. And
at that time, we were feedingfirefighters, we were feeding police officers,
were feeding frontline workers. And Istood in solidarity with the people right the
(06:38):
community, and I said, atthis time, we weren't serving police officers
for free. Never did I saythat they couldn't come to the restaurant.
And as a result of that,my words were twisted and it was translated
that police officers cannot come to SluttyBegon, they can't eat a slutty Beacon.
And I don't like police officers,obviously, I know that I need
(06:58):
police officers to maintain my safety asI'm maneuver in our economy and our world.
Right. So it was a bigsmear campaign against me and my brand,
which was very tough to deal withbecause it wasn't what I said,
it wasn't who I was and obviouslyI didn't operate like that, but I
needed that to happen to me becausewhat happened from that point, I literally
(07:21):
had thousands of people going to batfor me and supporting me and giving me
five star reviews because of the negativitythat was placed my way. But that
happened for a reason. So whenyou talk about failure, it's finding the
aspiration and the losses. Did itseem like a good situation at the time,
Absolutely not, But when I lookback, it was such a good
(07:43):
learning and coaching moment. And thenit was also an opportunity for me to
get more visibility in my brand andthe movement and what we represent as a
community. So that you know,that story is in a book alongside a
whole bunch of other compelling stories thatI went through. For those of you
who are just I'm Esther Dillard withthe Black Information Network speaking with entrepreneur and
businesswoman Pinky Cole, who is thecreator of slutti Vecan, and we're talking
(08:07):
about her book I Hope You Fail. Ten hater statements holding you back from
getting everything you want? What wouldyou say? Was the probably the most
challenging part of the book. Writingthat book. The most challenging part the
fear of judgment. For just asecond, I'll be honest, right,
(08:30):
you know, I'm human at theend of the day, and I'm also
brand building, and everybody can't handlethe truth, right. But then I
also had to snap out of it, and I realized that there is somebody
in the world that's going to takethis book and it's going to prevent them
from one making a bad decision,two doing something that them or their family
members probably would regret, and justit's it's literally like a walking bible for
(08:52):
people who just need support in aresource. So the judgment probably was one
of those things that came to mymind. But but after I got past
that hurdle, in that hiccup,I literally came to a place where I
felt free to be me and dowhat it is that I needed to do
for this book, because I realizedthat it was bigger than me. I
(09:15):
recently heard on an interview someone wasmentioning Shirley Chisholm and her motto, title,
motto and title of her book calledUnbossed and Unbought. Do you have
a model that you live by?I have a couple of them. If
You're going to be a bear.Be a grizzly bear. That is my
(09:37):
motto. Anybody that knows me,it's just okay to be good enough,
but what about being great enough?So if I'm going to do it,
I'm going to do it like agrizzly bear. I'm going to put my
all into it and everything that Ido. And that is the model that
I live and die by. Andpeople that know me know that when I'm
in grizzly band mode, there's nothingthat can stop me. You have a
(09:58):
cookbook, Please tell us a littlebit about that one and what's in it.
Yes, the book is called EatPlants. Hopefully I can say it
on this program, but it's ninetyone recipes that will blow your meat love
in mind. And basically in thebook, it's all plant based food,
but none of it tastes plant based. It tastes like the quote unquote real
(10:20):
thing. Oh what a meat eator would call it. And my audience
is seventy percent me either. SoI wanted people to know that like vegan
food don't have to taste nasty,right like, it can taste good.
It can be flavorful, like itcan have a punch and a kick to
it. And these are real timerecipes that you can make at home and
you don't need a chef to doit. So the book did extremely well.
(10:41):
I'm excited about the success of thebook. We got nominated for a
NAACP Award, and I know thatthere's more to where that came from.
And I'm excited about more people justhopping onto this vegan lifestyle right like it
really is just a mindset thing.It's not even just a flavor thing.
If you can change your mind aboutthe food that you consume, then you've
already done the hardest part. Nowit's time to eat. And that's literally
(11:03):
what this book does. You know, it's funny, but I know reading
through your book, you've gone througha lot of challenges, some hills and
valleys. I guess what is themost for people who are just trying to
start their own business. What doyou think is your best advice for them
in navigating those challenges. My bestadvice for any entrepreneur that is listening to
(11:26):
this program, the bigger you get, you will get sued. And this
is the advice that somebody gave tome, and when they told me when
I first started my company, I'mlike, impossible, I won't get sued,
right, But then my business startedgrowing, I started scaling, started
making a lot of money, startedgetting a lot of notoriety. And there
(11:48):
are some people in the world thatwant what you have, and if they
can't get what you have, thenthey'll do whatever is required to try to
bring you down. So my adviceto entrepreneurs that are just starting out is
to make sure that you have allof your paperwork done properly. You have
your legal team in place. Youmake sure that you move in best practices
(12:11):
in everything that you do, becausealthough it's inevitable, there are certain things
that you can do to prevent beingsued all of the time when you're growing
a company. The best companies ofour time have been sued, So it's
inevitable, but just make sure thatyou have everything in place so that if
it happens to come in your way, you're prepared to be able to handle
(12:31):
it well. You are not onlya successful business person, you are a
successful in life as a wife,as a mom. What's next for you?
World domination, so many things.Man Like, if you would have
told me that I would be doingthis five years ago, I would have
said you a lot. But whateverI do, I'm going to make the
(12:54):
best of it, make the mostof it, and I'm going to continue
to make an impact everywhere my handstouched. That is my promise to myself
first and my promise to the people. So just know that it's going to
be great, whatever it's going tobe. You are an inspirational dress of
fresh air. And I thank youPinky Cole for joining me on the BIL.
Thank you so much. The bookis called I Hope You Fail.
(13:18):
Ten hater statements holding you back fromgetting everything you want. I'm Aster Dillerty
on the Black Information Network
I'm mister Dillard on the Black InformationNetwork, chatting with writers and authors who
offer an added perspective for our listeners. This is the Color between the Lines.
In this edition of The Color betweenthe Lines, we're talking with the
ultra successful business woman and entrepreneur PinkyCole, owner of the multimillion dollar franchise
(00:34):
The Sluttie Vegan. She is alsothe author of I Hope You Fail Ten
hater statements holding you back from gettingeverything you want. Welcome Pinky Cole to
the Bion. Thank you for havingme excited to be here and talking to
you. Well, first off,I tell you you are coming to the
New York City region for a specialannouncement this week. Please tell us what
(00:57):
that is all about. Well,drum roll. The announcement is is that
I have a new location opening upon Blicker Street this month, and I'm
very excited about it. This willbe my third location in New York City
and just this the milestones being beingable to have my brand in New York
(01:19):
has just been so powerful and ithas allowed me to build new relationships and
I'm excited. I'm excited to seepeople experience the brand in a whole new
way awesome. I'm going to tellyou that my family and myself are big
fans of your food, and Ifeel honored that I'm going to be able
to talk to you about that bookin which you had so many great points
(01:42):
talking about the building of your businessand all the different hills and valleys to
get to where you are today.You make a lot of points that aren't
just for entrepreneurs, but just foranybody. I wonder what gave you that
idea of all these hater statements aschapters. I was fascinated by it.
And what was I guess the hardestchapter to write out of all those None
(02:04):
of them were hard to write becausethey're all based on my real life experiences.
Right. So when you talk aboutlike reading, technology is at the
forefront of everything that we did,right, So when you want people to
read something that's going to help them, sometimes you got to throw it in
their face. So I could havewritten a book called Pinky's Top Tips to
(02:28):
Navigate through hard Times? Will peoplepick it up? Yeah? Will everybody
pick it up? Probably not.But creating something that says, I hope
you fail with re engineering negative mindsetsis a really, really big deal.
So I created this book because Iwanted people to understand that like hard times
are inevitable, everybody is going togo through things, whether it's big or
(02:52):
small, but as an optimistic wayis what makes all the difference. And
here I am with a book tellingyou what society tells us all the time.
I hope you fail. I hopeyou lose your job. I hope
he cheats on you. I hopeyou get fired from you know, I
hope you lose your friendships. Thosethings really are what people hear every single
(03:15):
day. I just wonder it wasit really difficult talking about so many intimate
parts of your life, especially aboutyour parents. You know. It's funny
because I've always been an open book, and I think that's a part of
the reason why I've been able tohave mass On a success in my life
because I keep it real right.I've always been transparent. So you're gonna
catch the good side and you're gonnacatch the bad side. But at the
(03:37):
end of the day, I canbe a walking testimony for somebody. So
that's literally what the book is.It's a walking testimony. People can be
able to identify their own situations basedon reading about me, even if they've
never encountered me before, even ifthey've never went to any one of my
businesses, what they will learn isthat I'm human. I've been through things,
(03:57):
and I've been able to use thosethings that I've been do as experiences
to rise above bad situations. Youunderstand what I'm saying. So like,
writing the book really felt like Iwas writing in a diary because I was
telling my real story. In thebook, I talk about how I got
kicked out of school and I wasescorted in handcuffs, and it felt like
everybody wrote me off. But Irose above the ashes and was able to
(04:20):
get into a better school and Iended up going to college when by society's
standards, I was really a statisticI walked out of a high school in
handcuffs. Nobody thought that I wouldmake a major turnaround. And what that
situation taught me is that bad thingshappen to good people, but you can
always find the light at the endof the tunnel. And I'm the living
(04:43):
and true example of it. Sowhen people read my book, I want
them to know that listen. Likethings are going to happen in my life,
but as long as I take anoptimistic approach to everything. I'm gonna
be all right. The chapter aboutthat said they lie on You seemed really
like a pivotal moment in your businesslife that was pretty scary. Especially,
(05:05):
I want you to explain to peoplewho may not know what you went through
when it came to helping the familyof her Sharp Brooks and what did you
get through that experience. You know, it's interesting because that story was very
crucial to my career growth and Ican remember it. This is actually how
(05:27):
I met my husband, so GeorgeFloyd. The riots that were happening rest
in peace to him. Somebody brokethe windows into my husband's restaurant during those
riots, and when that happened,I reached out to him and I asked
him if we could connect, youknow, if he needed some support in
the community, could I help him? And obviously he didn't need any help.
(05:47):
Long story show, when we connected, we came together and said we
need to help a family and needlike, what can we do to you
know, to come in allegiance togetherto help somebody in need. And that's
exactly when Rashad Brooks was murdered inthe parking lot and we were so compelled
by the story, and I'm like, we got to do something about this,
Like this happened in the community inwhich we serve our food, like
(06:11):
we have to be able to help. So we decided to help. We
purchased a car for the family,life insurance for the family, and college
scholarships for the children to go tothe Clark Atlanta University. Right. And
at that time, we were feedingfirefighters, we were feeding police officers,
were feeding frontline workers. And Istood in solidarity with the people right the
(06:38):
community, and I said, atthis time, we weren't serving police officers
for free. Never did I saythat they couldn't come to the restaurant.
And as a result of that,my words were twisted and it was translated
that police officers cannot come to SluttyBegon, they can't eat a slutty Beacon.
And I don't like police officers,obviously, I know that I need
(06:58):
police officers to maintain my safety asI'm maneuver in our economy and our world.
Right. So it was a bigsmear campaign against me and my brand,
which was very tough to deal withbecause it wasn't what I said,
it wasn't who I was and obviouslyI didn't operate like that, but I
needed that to happen to me becausewhat happened from that point, I literally
(07:21):
had thousands of people going to batfor me and supporting me and giving me
five star reviews because of the negativitythat was placed my way. But that
happened for a reason. So whenyou talk about failure, it's finding the
aspiration and the losses. Did itseem like a good situation at the time,
Absolutely not, But when I lookback, it was such a good
(07:43):
learning and coaching moment. And thenit was also an opportunity for me to
get more visibility in my brand andthe movement and what we represent as a
community. So that you know,that story is in a book alongside a
whole bunch of other compelling stories thatI went through. For those of you
who are just I'm Esther Dillard withthe Black Information Network speaking with entrepreneur and
businesswoman Pinky Cole, who is thecreator of slutti Vecan, and we're talking
(08:07):
about her book I Hope You Fail. Ten hater statements holding you back from
getting everything you want? What wouldyou say? Was the probably the most
challenging part of the book. Writingthat book. The most challenging part the
fear of judgment. For just asecond, I'll be honest, right,
(08:30):
you know, I'm human at theend of the day, and I'm also
brand building, and everybody can't handlethe truth, right. But then I
also had to snap out of it, and I realized that there is somebody
in the world that's going to takethis book and it's going to prevent them
from one making a bad decision,two doing something that them or their family
members probably would regret, and justit's it's literally like a walking bible for
(08:52):
people who just need support in aresource. So the judgment probably was one
of those things that came to mymind. But but after I got past
that hurdle, in that hiccup,I literally came to a place where I
felt free to be me and dowhat it is that I needed to do
for this book, because I realizedthat it was bigger than me. I
(09:15):
recently heard on an interview someone wasmentioning Shirley Chisholm and her motto, title,
motto and title of her book calledUnbossed and Unbought. Do you have
a model that you live by?I have a couple of them. If
You're going to be a bear.Be a grizzly bear. That is my
(09:37):
motto. Anybody that knows me,it's just okay to be good enough,
but what about being great enough?So if I'm going to do it,
I'm going to do it like agrizzly bear. I'm going to put my
all into it and everything that Ido. And that is the model that
I live and die by. Andpeople that know me know that when I'm
in grizzly band mode, there's nothingthat can stop me. You have a
(09:58):
cookbook, Please tell us a littlebit about that one and what's in it.
Yes, the book is called EatPlants. Hopefully I can say it
on this program, but it's ninetyone recipes that will blow your meat love
in mind. And basically in thebook, it's all plant based food,
but none of it tastes plant based. It tastes like the quote unquote real
(10:20):
thing. Oh what a meat eator would call it. And my audience
is seventy percent me either. SoI wanted people to know that like vegan
food don't have to taste nasty,right like, it can taste good.
It can be flavorful, like itcan have a punch and a kick to
it. And these are real timerecipes that you can make at home and
you don't need a chef to doit. So the book did extremely well.
(10:41):
I'm excited about the success of thebook. We got nominated for a
NAACP Award, and I know thatthere's more to where that came from.
And I'm excited about more people justhopping onto this vegan lifestyle right like it
really is just a mindset thing.It's not even just a flavor thing.
If you can change your mind aboutthe food that you consume, then you've
already done the hardest part. Nowit's time to eat. And that's literally
(11:03):
what this book does. You know, it's funny, but I know reading
through your book, you've gone througha lot of challenges, some hills and
valleys. I guess what is themost for people who are just trying to
start their own business. What doyou think is your best advice for them
in navigating those challenges. My bestadvice for any entrepreneur that is listening to
(11:26):
this program, the bigger you get, you will get sued. And this
is the advice that somebody gave tome, and when they told me when
I first started my company, I'mlike, impossible, I won't get sued,
right, But then my business startedgrowing, I started scaling, started
making a lot of money, startedgetting a lot of notoriety. And there
(11:48):
are some people in the world thatwant what you have, and if they
can't get what you have, thenthey'll do whatever is required to try to
bring you down. So my adviceto entrepreneurs that are just starting out is
to make sure that you have allof your paperwork done properly. You have
your legal team in place. Youmake sure that you move in best practices
(12:11):
in everything that you do, becausealthough it's inevitable, there are certain things
that you can do to prevent beingsued all of the time when you're growing
a company. The best companies ofour time have been sued, So it's
inevitable, but just make sure thatyou have everything in place so that if
it happens to come in your way, you're prepared to be able to handle
(12:31):
it well. You are not onlya successful business person, you are a
successful in life as a wife,as a mom. What's next for you?
World domination, so many things.Man Like, if you would have
told me that I would be doingthis five years ago, I would have
said you a lot. But whateverI do, I'm going to make the
(12:54):
best of it, make the mostof it, and I'm going to continue
to make an impact everywhere my handstouched. That is my promise to myself
first and my promise to the people. So just know that it's going to
be great, whatever it's going tobe. You are an inspirational dress of
fresh air. And I thank youPinky Cole for joining me on the BIL.
Thank you so much. The bookis called I Hope You Fail.
(13:18):
Ten hater statements holding you back fromgetting everything you want. I'm Aster Dillerty
on the Black Information Network
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