- 3 months ago
A fireside chat featuring Pinky Cole & MC Lyte.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, good afternoon. So hi everyone, I'm going to read from my notes. I am MC Ly.
00:22I have to tell you all that. And I am thrilled to be here for the inaugural Essence Eats.
00:31Took a while for us to get started. We blessed that woman on her way, right? That she is healthy
00:38and whole in moments. God will deliver. All right, so we could not gather without including my guest
00:47in the conversation of moguls who are making incredible impact. And by the way, I was especially
00:55invited for this conversation by my sister here, Pinky. She has taken the world by storm.
01:03She is an entrepreneur. She is a mother, a philanthropist, a visionary, you name it.
01:12She has conquered it and is conquering it. Please put your hands together for Pinky Cole.
01:21Hey guys, don't clap too loud. I'm about to have a baby in 12 days. Y'all might get the baby excited.
01:27But we're here.
01:29Well, okay, well let's get to it because the folks have been waiting. Talk to us about your early days.
01:3620 years ago, did you think you would be right where you are today? And did you have the goal of
01:42being a business owner way back then?
01:45Well, I want to back up a little bit. Is everybody in here familiar with Slutty Vegan?
01:50Okay, I see some slutty fans over there. If you are not, we got the food out there, so make sure you
01:56get some food. But for the people who don't know me, my name is Pinky Cole. And to some people,
02:03I may be an anomaly, right? Overnight success, so they say. Got lucky, got an opportunity and ran with
02:13it, but that is the furthest from the truth. I'm literally supposed to be a statistic, right?
02:20I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Hey, Baltimore. And the day that I was born,
02:29my father was being sentenced to life in prison. So I came into the world, into the atmosphere with
02:38the short end of the stick, right? So I watched my Jamaican mother work every single day, all day,
02:44which is why here I am in nine months still working. But I saw my mother work hard, and I became a
02:49hustler in the process because I knew that if I didn't want the people that I love the most to work
02:55for 34 and 35 years at the same company and not really have anything to show for it, I was going
03:02to change that trajectory with my talents and my efforts. So I did that. So as a kid, I became a
03:08hustler at a very early age. So when you ask me, like, when it started, it started when I was selling
03:14candy. Right. And when I was selling frozen cups and chicken nuggets and McChickens in high school
03:21because I knew that I wanted something bigger for myself. Absolutely. And of course, when you use
03:26the term hustler, we mean hardworking, dedicated to the craft, committed to what it is that you're
03:35looking to accomplish. Absolutely. Yeah. And so I love you saw your mother with the determining factor
03:43of getting it done. And so you followed in her footsteps with working hard. Yeah, I did. I did that for a long
03:49time. And I want to be very clear. Hustler is ain't no money in a bank account and you still grinding.
03:55That's right. You don't feel like it and you want to throw in the towel and you still grinding. Yeah.
03:59People telling you can't do it. How many of y'all know about that? I'm sure that we're all familiar
04:03with that, right? Sometimes the hustle don't always look good, but you still keep going. And that's what
04:08I did for a very long time. And I still do it every single day. And I think that that's what has
04:12separated me from the average entrepreneur because I don't know how to quit and I don't know how to give up.
04:17I don't know what no means. That ain't in my vocabulary. I'm just always hustling and grinding.
04:21That's right. It's the tenacity. And I completely understand that. So at what point in your career
04:28did the vision of the slutty vegan brand become clear to you?
04:32So a lot of people don't know this, but I used to work in TV. So anybody familiar with The Maury Show?
04:39I was about to say, if you said, no, you're lying. But I was a producer for The Maury Show for three years.
04:46And I worked on a lot of other shows. And what I learned from working in TV is you got to learn
04:51how to meet people where they are. So while I was working in TV, I saved up my 401k. I got a loan
04:58from a family friend. And I opened up my first restaurant called Pinky's Jamaican and American
05:03Restaurant. And I didn't know the first thing about restaurant industry, right?
05:06Wait, this was in Baltimore?
05:07No, this was in Harlem, New York.
05:09Okay.
05:11145th between 7th and 8th. Shout out to Harlem. That's my second home.
05:13That's right.
05:14But I opened up a Jamaican restaurant. And at the time, I was a vegetarian. So I'm selling
05:18jerk chicken, oxtails, didn't eat none of that, right? But people came and they supported my
05:23business. And I think that that was the first step of slutty vegan, even before it was called
05:29slutty vegan, right? Because I got real time experience on opening a business, what to do
05:35in a business. And half the time, I didn't know what I was doing. But I had heart and I had passion.
05:39So it worked out, right? So after two years, I had a grease fire in that business. And I
05:46literally lost everything. And I don't know how many people in the audience, you ever work
05:50so hard for something and you put your blood, sweat, and tears and you sacrifice something
05:54just to lose everything? That don't feel good, right?
05:57Right.
05:58So that happened to me. And my car got repoed. I got evicted. I was in a food stamp line. Mind
06:06you, I am a former Miss Clark Atlanta University, graduated with a degree. Not a full point,
06:12though, but I had a degree. So that's what I meant.
06:13Right, right, right, right. I still count. I still count.
06:15And everything in my life that I have always touched has turned to gold. So can you imagine
06:21doing something and it's perceived as a failure? That's what it felt like to me at the time.
06:26Right. But that was the best thing that could have ever happened to me because what it did
06:30is it allowed me to restart the process, move to Los Angeles, California, to work as a casting
06:37director for a show called Iyanla Fix My Life. So shout out to Iyanla. So while I was given
06:44the healing, I was getting the healing. Yeah.
06:47It's so interesting how the universe works, y'all, right? Like you don't even realize things
06:51happening as they happen. So losing everything and really being able to get the healing while
06:56I'm helping other people, it wasn't for the people, it was for me. Right. Right? So I got
07:02a call to go to Atlanta temporarily. And I'm like, okay, all right, I can go to Atlanta for three
07:06months. I packed up all my bags, put everything in storage in my one bedroom apartment, went to
07:13Atlanta. And I was sitting in the house one day and I'm like, I am tired of eating Chick-fil-A
07:17fries and a side salad. I want some comfort food on the late night and I wanted to be
07:22vegan. And shout out to all the vegan restaurants in Atlanta because there's so many. But after
07:2710 o'clock, I want to eat. I'm a foodie. Right. So I was sitting in my bedroom and I came up
07:31with this crazy idea and it was called Slutty Vegan. And literally the rest has been history
07:37ever since then. Well, hallelujah. Amen. Well, first off, I just want to say that I love
07:44your candor. Are you learning things about Miss Pinky that you never knew? Never knew
07:49you had a restaurant in Harlem. Never knew you worked for Maury, for the Maury Show as
07:55a producer. Ayanla fixed my life. And now moving all the way back to Atlanta, opened up
08:02the doors. And what I will say about that is just being open. You have to be open in order
08:10for God to move you into next, into the next step. Right. And so it's open. You got to
08:16be ready. Sometimes we ain't ready, y'all. Yeah. You can be open all you want, but if
08:19you ain't ready, them blessings are not going to come. Right. And I live by this motto, when
08:24you stay ready, you ain't never got to get ready. Okay. And I always live my life like
08:28that. I'm always prepared. I'm always ready for the opportunity because you never know when
08:33that once in a lifetime chance is going to happen for you that will change the trajectory
08:38of your life, your family's life, your friend's life, and the people around you. So make sure
08:42that you always stay ready because you never know when that opportunity might present itself.
08:47Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you for that. And so when it comes to business building, who
08:52did you learn from and who are some of your mentors?
08:56The people in this audience, my consumer. Okay.
09:00Oftentimes we want to look up and find the mentors that's up, the people that are above us.
09:05Mm-hmm. But it's the people at this level, right where you are, that can teach you the
09:10most about business, what you should do and what you shouldn't do. I joke a lot about having
09:15haters and I'm like, give me some haters. Because you know what haters do? They ain't
09:19nothing but secret fans. Motivation. It's motivation, right? And it allows you the opportunity to
09:24show you the things that you need to be working on. So outside of my consumers, which are very
09:28important for me, I got my team. And I know my team members are here. Raise your hand if
09:33you're a part of a slutty vegan team. Clap it up for them, y'all. They're the hardest working
09:38people in show business. But my team helps me a lot. I am not the CEO that just makes
09:45all the decisions like it's my way or the highway, right? So I also look to them as sort of mentors
09:51because I value their opinion. And I realize as I get deeper into the business, it ain't about you.
09:58And when you want to grow, you got to grow with a team. And with that team, you got to have people
10:03that are dedicated just like you, that have the same ethos that you do, that are in alignment with
10:07the vision and your spirit and your mindset. Like I'm a grizzly bear in my mind. And if you're not
10:12a grizzly bear, you can't be around me because it's going to deplete my energy. And I don't want
10:16nobody sucking my energy dry, right? So having the right team members around me serve as sort of
10:22mentors because we can bounce off each other. I know that when Pinky is not in the room,
10:27they can be in a room representing for me. And then the last piece of it, when we talk about
10:32people that I look up to, my mother, who has breath and life to see me reach a level of success.
10:39Everybody can't say that. And I'm grateful that my mother, who came to this country at 17 years old,
10:45on a dance ground to follow her dreams and had to put her dreams on hold to raise kids,
10:50because my father was in jail. Now she can live her dreams out through me. So I look at her
10:55as a mentor. And I know that that is probably the cliche answer, but like I couldn't do what I do
11:01if it wasn't for my mother and even my father.
11:03Yeah, that's not cliche. That's the truth.
11:05Yeah.
11:06Yeah. And we respect the truth. And as you talked about your team members and you,
11:12it goes right into the next question because absolutely you must have shared values. What are
11:18some of those values in business that matter to you?
11:22Confidence.
11:24Listen, products just don't sell itself. Confidence sells products. If you've ever been in a room with
11:32me, I don't care if you got a billion dollars. I don't care if you're a real estate developer. I don't
11:37care if you got more money in the bank than me. My confidence is worth more than any currency that
11:42you can ever put in front of my face. Right? So when it's time for the big meetings and it's time
11:48to have those big, hard conversations, if I ain't got nothing else, if I don't understand the big
11:53political conversations you have, I got my confidence.
11:56Well, you know what? I want to stay right there for a second because a lot of us have the goods.
12:03A lot of us have the great ideas. How is it that we get the confidence? Where did that come from?
12:09Well, first of all, you can't pay for confidence.
12:11Right. It's something that's just in you. It's how you move. It's what they say. Your
12:16je ne sais quoi? Is that what they say? Je ne sais quoi? I'm working on my vocabulary, as you can say.
12:22It is how you show up. You ain't even got to open up your mouth. People will smell when you're green.
12:29You know what I mean when I say that? You can smell. I'm an energy person, right? So I feel a vibe.
12:34You ever walk into a room and you're like, no, I got to leave. This ain't me. I don't want to be here.
12:39But you ever walk into a room like this feels good in my spirit. Yeah. And your confidence comes
12:45from within your spirit. So when you walk through doors, you hold your head up high. You walk through
12:50the door like you own the goddamn room. Okay. Not just you visiting the room, but this is your room.
12:55Right. And everybody is coming here to see you. Right. And when people see that, especially investors
13:00and people who want to invest in you and help you grow your brand, they're not buying into your brand
13:06because they feel like you just got a good product. They're like, if I'm going to bet my bottom dollar
13:10on this person, do they even believe in themselves? Right. So you got to make sure that you walk in
13:15a room and you own it like you paid for it. It belongs to you and you got equity in that space.
13:20And that's exactly how I move. There you go. There you go. Now that's important. So in just
13:26in four years, your brand has a $100 million valuation. Yes. Let's clap for that.
13:34Four years. How were you able to achieve this level of growth so quickly?
13:39A few ways. We really bootstrapped this business from the very beginning. Right. We came into the
13:48space when big companies and corporations were afraid to put vegan items on their menu. Right.
13:55They didn't think that people wanted it. But what we did is we met people where they were. So our
14:01audience is not the vegan audience. Our audience is the meat eater. So we wanted the people who eat pork
14:07and beef and that are flexitarian, vegan on the weekends. Those are the people that we wanted.
14:12Because we knew that if we could raise your consciousness, that we can get you to talk
14:16about veganism in a way that people don't talk about it. Vegans already got the right idea.
14:20And I'll be honest, like, not a lot of vegans eat a slutty vegan. I mean, I don't have any hard
14:25metrics for that, but they already got it figured out. Right. But I wanted to tap into the people that
14:29would have never probably had vegan food because they heard that it's nasty, it don't taste good,
14:34it's bland, I'm going to lose weight. Those are the people that we wanted. And we created an
14:39experience for people to be a part of. So now when they come to the restaurant, they're not coming
14:44for just the food, they're coming for the experience first. That's the first part of it.
14:49Secondly, we've been so raw and authentic with our story from the very beginning on who I am,
14:55what we stand for and what we represent. And then we infuse that community element and build
15:00an ecosystem for people who look like me and you to be the best versions of themselves.
15:05And what I mean by that is through the Pinky Cole Foundation. So I'm building this business right
15:10here, but I'm also building this organization that's helping to bridge that generational wealth
15:14gap to provide resources and opportunities. And a few of the things that we've done that has gotten
15:20people to pay attention is we've paid the debts of local college students so that they can graduate.
15:25When Rashard Brooks was murdered in the Wendy's parking lot, myself and my partner, Derek Hayes,
15:31we pay for life insurance, a brand new car and scholarships for the family. We've partnered with
15:37Steve Harvey and the Marjorie Harvey Foundation to provide lights for families. We've partnered with
15:42the Department of Juvenile Justice to give second chances and opportunity to work at Slutty Vegan
15:47and start their lives over again. Just recently again with Derek, we created a program that we
15:54partnered with Prudential to provide every single black man with life insurance that makes $30,000
15:59or less in Atlanta. I'm telling you this because, and I'm specifically talking to the entrepreneurs,
16:07it is not enough to sell products. You see these big corporations, they want to stand in solidarity
16:12with these small businesses, but now is the time to be very intentional and mission-driven about your
16:17business. People actually care about what you stand for now, not just giving you their money.
16:22Right. You work hard for your money. You don't want to just give it to somebody that
16:25don't have nothing that they stand for. Right.
16:28So because we've infused that community element into this, what some people may think is a racy
16:34business, we got more eyes on us. More people talk about the business. They want to be a part of
16:40our growth. And I like to say that Slutty Vegan is like when Obama won the election. Y'all remember that?
16:45Everybody was so excited. I was in college. So I'm seeing all of these beautiful black people crying,
16:51young people just excited. Half of us didn't know what was going on. We just knew it was a black man
16:56in office, right? Right, right. But we just wanted to support it because it was somebody that looked
17:00like us. That's what Slutty Vegan makes you feel like. There's somebody that looks like us.
17:06There is somebody that has been able to grow this small business to a now hundred million dollar
17:11brand that's on its way to a billion dollar brand because I claimed it. Okay. And people want to be
17:18a part of that journey and that experience. And that is what separates us from everybody else.
17:23Yes, absolutely. It's so much beneath the surface of just the name. Now, a couple of things that you
17:30said that it's not on these cards, but it just brings me to want to talk about it. Tell us how
17:36important has it been for you to give as much as it has been to get? Oh, that's the most important
17:43piece of the business. Yes. So I'll give you an example. My CRO, Jason, raise your hand. Y'all,
17:49this is my right hand in the business. Clap it up for Jason. He's actually the person that did our
17:54round and got us that $25 million. So he's the reason for the season. Right. So I tell you,
18:03I want to tell you a story. When he first came on board, I'm the type of person, I don't care if I
18:06want to help you. I don't care. I'm not looking at the bank account. I'm like, he like, are you
18:09spending a lot of money helping a lot of people? And I'm like, this is what I like to do because
18:14I saw my mother help everybody. Any Caribbeans in the building? Okay. I'm a, I'm a faking Jamaican.
18:21Okay. Okay. New York is close enough. So New York is y'all get the point. But growing up,
18:28it was 10 of us living in our household. If you was Jamaican, you had an accent. You became my cousin
18:34instantly. Right. So my mother would help every single person. We didn't get new clothes and new
18:39shoes for Christmas. We got hand-me-downs because my mother was too busy helping everybody else.
18:45So as a kid, I didn't understand it. I'm like, well, why they got to get new stuff? Right. But as I got
18:50older, I realized that I turned into my mother. She was teaching me and she didn't even realize it.
18:56I became the person that would be willing to give the shirt off my back to help somebody else.
19:01So I've always been like this way before slutty vegan to a fault sometimes, because sometimes,
19:06you know, people can take advantage. Hello? You ever help people too much and they take advantage?
19:10But that ain't my problem. God still got me. Right. God is taking care of you. Exactly. So
19:16that, that level of philanthropy has always been inside of me. So formalizing it was just through
19:22the foundation. But I realized there is a cosmic energy when you put out to the universe, it's going to
19:29always come back to you. Amen. That's good, bad, and different. You good to people,
19:35people are going to be good to you. You bad to people, people are going to be bad to you. Right.
19:40You move with a pure heart, you're going to get pure things coming your way all the time. And that's
19:44how I live my life. So when I lay down at night, I ain't raw from nobody. I ain't steal from nobody.
19:49I didn't cheat nobody. I'm always fair. And that's why I continue to get the blessings every single
19:54week of the month. That's right. And I'm not saying that to brag. That's how I move. My spirit is like
20:00that I do clean business in every single way possible. Yes. Because I know that when you do
20:05clean business, when you help people, when you uplift people and give people opportunity,
20:09you ain't going to get nothing but good back all the time. That's right. That's right. Great
20:14givers are great getters. Absolutely. And so we applaud you for that. And then it was another
20:18thing that you talked about, which is off the cuff, but so very important that we express it to our
20:25people is life insurance. How important is life insurance? Life insurance is very important.
20:32It's so important. It's embarrassing that we even still have to have these conversations.
20:37Right. But it's necessary. So when Derrick, where are you? Here's Derrick. Oh, y'all,
20:42that's my baby daddy, Derrick. As you can see, we just had a baby 11 months ago. So we've been busy.
20:49Okay. So when we came up with the idea to do life insurance, right? We were sitting in a house and we
21:00just kept watching TV and we saw all these black men dying on TV. And I'm like, the value of the
21:06human life when it comes to black men is so disregarded. It's uncomfortable, right? It makes
21:13you not want to watch the news. It makes you afraid. Every time he leaves the house without me, I am afraid.
21:19Because I'm like, are you going to come back home? I want you to come back home,
21:23but this world is so unpredictable. So we said, why not just do an experiment? I mean,
21:29if they're killing us day by day, let's do an experiment and put some life insurance on some
21:35black men. And the minute that happens, guess what? If they keep dying, that means that we're tapping into
21:41the pockets of the life insurance companies. And they don't want that because they get to lose money,
21:45right? Right. So when we did that, it was a no brainer. Like, why did nobody else think of this?
21:51Yeah. So Prudential was excited about the program and they realized that they wanted to jump on board
21:57with what we're doing. But a lot of people don't know that life insurance is just not a death sentence.
22:02It's an opportunity to pull against your life insurance plan. When you think about financial
22:07literacy, we got policies on each other. Yeah. It's necessary to not have to go through a fish fry
22:13or go through GoFundMe's and do all of these things to pay for a funeral. Right.
22:17You should be taking care of your family from the ground. Right. And this is how you build
22:22generational wealth for your family. So this program is not just about death. It's about
22:28teaching people about money and how to use it and capitalize off of it. Right. And then also
22:33talk about the financial literacy, the mental health, things that in our community, we like,
22:38we don't need that. Yes, we do. Right. We do. We need to talk about that. Black men need to
22:44talk to somebody. So we are being the change that we wish to see. And it's been so successful thus far.
22:50And I'm looking forward to branching outside of Atlanta, coming to New Orleans, coming to New York
22:55and coming to all these other great states so that we can get more people, not just black people,
23:00insured. And it's been amazing. And I'm glad that we did it. Oh, thank you. Yes. Round of applause for
23:06that. That's very important. My COO and business partner says GoFundMe is not an insurance.
23:13No, it's not. And for all of us who say we love our families, we want to leave them in a better
23:20position. If you can get insurance on that iPhone 13, you can get some life insurance.
23:27Literally. And you ought to know that private prisons take out life insurance policies on
23:32their prisoners. Yes. You ought to know that. So if they can do it for them, we certainly can do it for
23:38us. Yes. Okay. So you're planning to open, I know we have gone all over the world.
23:42You're planning to open a number of slutty vegan locations inside and outside of Georgia. What's
23:48your secret to scaling up? So, you know, there's a couple of things. When we find locations for
23:55slutty vegan, we're looking for inner city communities, communities that may not be so attractive to
24:02developers, right? Communities that are food deserts or vegan food deserts. And if it checks
24:08at least three of those boxes, it's a no-brainer. It got to feel right in our spirit. You know,
24:12back in the day, they used to say location, location, location. Right. It's not really
24:16necessarily location, location. It got to feel right. It got to be intentional. And we want to be able to
24:21provide support for the communities in which we serve. Because if slutty vegan comes to the neighborhood,
24:26we got a line down a block, that means the businesses to the left and to the right can also
24:30capitalize off that line and earn business as well. Right. So we don't just think about ourselves
24:37when we think about that scale up program. And then what we also do is we have a 70 to 30% ratio.
24:43So we buy 70% of our properties and we lease 30% of the properties. And we do that because,
24:48and for entrepreneurs, if you're listening to this, if anything ever happens to slutty vegan,
24:53we own the dirt. Okay. And the real money is in real estate and wealth. And that's how you get
24:58the real wealth. So, so we buy the property and we own it so we can raise the value of the business.
25:03Because when I say that I'm going to make slutty vegan a billion dollar brand, I mean that from the
25:08pit of my soul. Like, I'm not just saying that just because it sounds good. And we believe you.
25:12Yeah. But it's not just about the money. I want to be clear, right? No, it's clear. I mean,
25:17just as you are sitting here and opening your heart and being very candid with us,
25:21we understand who you are. We see you. And it's so funny how Pinky and I met. We were in a,
25:28it was here. It was at the Essence Fest. We met at Essence in 2019. Right. And we were on a panel.
25:34I think you were on a panel prior to me. And we saw one another in passing in the dressing room
25:39and we kind of locked eyes like kindred spirits. We switched numbers and we've been friends ever since.
25:45And so we understand exactly who you are and we're, we're delighted to be here with you today.
25:52And so I'm asking now, um, as what I'm very excited about is as you enter into these communities,
26:00you're not just there to serve food as an exchange for, you know, money and food being exchanged,
26:08but you are really there to uplift the community. And that's what we all need. When, when businesses
26:14are coming into the community, they're not just supposed to come to exchange money for some
26:19product, but they're actually supposed to be there to enhance and also bring a complete level
26:26of understanding as to who their customer is. And so we're delighted that you're so in the mix.
26:33You have your first cookbook, Eat Plants. You got to say the word and stop playing.
26:38Uh, bitch.
26:43Hitting shelves in November. Tell us about this cookbook. So Eat Plants, Bitch.
26:50Um, it is my first book ever. Okay. And I got my first deal with Simon and Schuster. Um, thank you.
27:03Yes, yes.
27:04And it is a recipe book, 91 meat loving recipes, um, that'll blow your meat love, 91 recipes that'll blow
27:12your meat loving mind. And again, remember I said, this ain't for the vegans. I'm vegan and I've been
27:17vegan for eight years, but this is for the meat eater, um, who just wants to just try something
27:21new. I ain't telling you to go vegan. I don't care what you eat, but I may encourage you, um,
27:26to include some vegan options in your lifestyle. Um, and it's coming out in November. Okay.
27:32And, and we're all going to support. Yeah. And, and you can, shameless plug,
27:37you can pre-order Barnes and Noble, um, Amazon, but I'm excited about this book because what it does is
27:42it is something that's showing people that if you can read, then you can eat better. Okay.
27:48Um, and I'm excited about it. And you know, there's so many things that are happening with
27:53Slutty Vegan outside of the cookbook. We got a documentary coming out. Um, we got some products
28:00in Target right now. Um, uh, another company, a big retail. Wait, what products are in Target?
28:05Oh, we got a chicken dip. Okay. And a spinach dip. It's all vegan. Um, so we just did Target. Um,
28:13Target just ordered more and then another big grocery chain. I just bought 60,000 units
28:19of our dips as well. So we ain't just a restaurant no more. Right. Okay. Um, and then I don't know if
28:26anybody's seen, we did this partnership with Steve Madden, um, and sold out at 48 hours. And let me
28:32tell you a funny story. So is this a vegan shoe? It's a vegan shoe back by PETA. Okay.
28:38And, and, and let me tell you a story about how you need to always go for the things that you want
28:43and not be afraid. Okay. So I did a panel and, uh, Steve Madden was in the panel. So Fearless Fun,
28:50Arian Simone, I don't know if she's here, but she coordinated this panel with some CEOs and Steve
28:56Madden himself, the owner of the company, he was on the call. So one thing about me is I'm going to shoot
29:00my shot. I don't care. Right. Cause the only thing you can tell me is no, and no don't hurt.
29:05So he got on the call and I said, Hey Steve, you don't know me, but I know you.
29:10And I want you to look up my business because I think that we need to do a shoe deal because
29:16Slutty Vegan is a very emerging business. We, we make a lot of revenue. A lot of people know who
29:21we are. We're impactful in the community and I want to do a vegan shoe. And I'm going to tell you how,
29:26not only is this going to help me, it's also going to help you. So I'm giving him the reasons
29:30why it's beneficial to him too. Cause just cause it's a billion dollar company don't mean that you
29:34can't get no benefits. Right. Right. So you know what this man said to me? He said, hell yeah,
29:40let's do it. I'm interested. There you go. And that was last year. And it's because I opened up my
29:45mouth and I wasn't afraid to ask the question. You ain't gotta be afraid just cause these people got big
29:50titles and it seemed like they got a lot. Who cares? Right. Ask the question, ask for the things
29:55that you want because you never, you may never get that opportunity again. And a year later we sold
30:02out on a Steve Madden website in 48 hours, a small little vegan restaurant like Slutty Vegan. We sold
30:09out in 48 hours and they could not believe their eyes. So that just goes to show you the power of
30:14asking questions and not keeping your mouth shut. Absolutely. Well, congratulations. Thank you.
30:18Congratulations. All good things. This is very inspirational. Now, just this past week, DoorDash
30:27named you the new chief restaurant advisor. Talk about your new role as the voice of the industry.
30:33So that was a big one. I don't know if anybody's seen that. What does that mean? Tell us.
30:39It means they gave me a lot of money to advise them on what to do.
30:41Okay. That's what it really mean. Um, but, um, I was named the chief restaurant advisor
30:50for DoorDash, which is a really big opportunity, right? Um, DoorDash is a great company and I used
30:56to be a dasher. I used to deliver for DoorDash. Wow. And you see how you can start here and then
31:01earn here. Okay. Listen, let me tell you. So whatever your situation looked like right now,
31:06it can in fact turn around because it turned around for me in a major way. And here I am,
31:12a black woman from East Baltimore, from around the way, that's a little raunchy on the tongue,
31:16and they need my advice and my expertise to help make the business better. Okay. So you ain't got
31:21to walk like you somebody else. You could be yourself and you could be raw and be real and
31:25cuss a little bit and do whatever you're doing. And they still going to want you as long as you
31:29yourself. And this opportunity is really to help local operators get the resources that they need
31:37through a local operator. So all the problems that restauranteurs, I know that there's some
31:42restaurants over here, all the problems that they're having, they can bring those problems
31:46to me. I present those problems to DoorDash. And collectively, we work on solutions to make it
31:51more efficient and seamless for them. So not only they can make more money, they can be less stressed.
31:56Because as a restauranteur, the last thing we want to worry about is somebody's food got stolen.
32:00Right.
32:01The delivery times is too long. The food cost is too much. We don't want to deal with that. We just
32:06really want to grow our businesses. So they sought me out and they thought that I would be the perfect
32:11person for the job. And I ain't going to say no to no good opportunity. Okay.
32:14That's right.
32:14So I took it. I accepted it. And I'm looking forward to building with DoorDash and helping
32:20to make the company better.
32:21Well, amen. I know they're going to be better for it.
32:23Yes.
32:24I'm glad they sought you out. In addition to growing business, you also have a growing
32:29family. And you're days away from your due date.
32:32That's why I'm so hot up here.
32:34Twelve days.
32:34Burn it up.
32:36I was fanning Pinky in the back. Okay. Okay. Let's hurry up so we can get
32:40you in a restful state. Do you have a work-life balance? And how are you able to carve out time
32:48for your family?
32:48I hate when people ask me that question.
32:51It's a real question. I mean, I call you all super women. When you have husbands or
32:56boyfriends or whatever y'all got. And then y'all have businesses. And then y'all have children.
33:02And it's just a lot to take care of. How do you do it all?
33:05Help.
33:06Okay.
33:07Let me tell you something about a village, right?
33:10Yeah.
33:10If you ever, if you don't have kids and you decide to have kids, just make sure you got
33:14that village around you. If it's a cousin, a mother, an aunt, I'm fortunate enough to have
33:19my mother and Derek's mother and our family and close friends that are really a part of our vision
33:25because they understand the mission. When you talk about work-life balance, this ain't work for me.
33:31You know what I'm saying?
33:31It's life.
33:32Like, this is, this is who I am. Like, this is what I, I wake up in the morning and I'm happy
33:37to do interviews. I'm happy to talk about restaurant business. And for the first time in my life,
33:43I'm in a relationship with somebody who's also a restaurateur. So you ever had your equal
33:48match and y'all do the same exact thing. So when I'm talking about business, he don't get bored.
33:52Right.
33:52When I want to talk about like, how are we going to get this money? He ain't getting bored.
33:55When we talk about community and like problems that are happening in our businesses,
34:00I know that I can talk about those things all day long. So I don't have to cut it off if I don't
34:04want to, because he's also thinking about the same things as me. And that is the best feeling
34:08in the world to be equally yoked with somebody. And I ain't never been equally yoked with somebody
34:13until now. So, which is why I keep getting pregnant.
34:17It's like, I'm kidding. But yeah, so that work-life balance, this is really my dream.
34:23Anybody that knows me, I didn't start Slutty Vegan to make money, right? Like, I'm not that girl.
34:29Because money always finds me, right? I ain't got to look for it. I always get it, right? I'm a magnet
34:34to it. So, you know, I don't move for money. I move for the dream. I'm a dreamer. Like, I'm a big
34:41dreamer. Any big dreamers in the building? I'm talking about like, you got dreams so big, your friends be like,
34:47all right, that sounded a little crazy. That's me, right? I'm a big dreamer. Because I know that
34:52the money is going to come. And because I'm a big dreamer, all the things that I want always come to
34:57me. So when we talk about that balance, my balance is being able to open up my eyes and still being
35:03able to use my mind and it works. Because at the end of the day, that's all I got. This and this.
35:08Right. Right? And as long as this and this work, I'm good. Okay. Yeah. Yeah,
35:12that matters. Mental health, like everything has to be, that part has to be in balance.
35:18Absolutely. Absolutely. So your partner, Derek, that's not my day? No, right here this way.
35:23That's not, oh, that partner. Right. Partner, partner. Okay. Your partner, Derek Hayes, has also
35:29built a successful business and you two were recently featured on the cover of Essence. How do you two lock
35:35arms to partner both personally and professionally? And I think you just spoke to that. So thank you
35:41for getting personal and letting us know. But I want to jump in here because it's fitting because
35:45we are at Essence. So Derek and I were on the January, February issue of Essence, the cover,
35:52which was a game changer for entrepreneurs, right? So we usually see celebrities and people that
35:57everybody knows, but we're just people from around the way that have created successful businesses.
36:02So to be able to be featured on such an amazing historic magazine like that,
36:08we literally opened up the doorways for entrepreneurs around the world. Like,
36:12you don't just have to sit inside of a restaurant. You could build a brand around your restaurant
36:16industry. So that was really good for us. And I'm happy that we did it. So even when I walk,
36:22people are like, oh my gosh, you were on Essence. I'm like, yeah, that was me. It just feels so good
36:26to know that people have embraced us since then. And I'm just happy about that.
36:29Yeah. No, that was an awesome cover. Thank you. And thank you, Essence, for making that happen.
36:35Yes.
36:35Yeah. It's important that we recognize when things are being done in an amazing way that's
36:43different from the norm. And so you have set a new precedent for what it is that Essence can do.
36:50And also what, as you said, inspiring those who are in that position, knowing that it just,
36:57it's just not about food. You can actually pay attention to promoting the brand around it.
37:02Absolutely.
37:02And so you recently gifted Clark Atlanta University, your alma mater,
37:07graduates with LLCs fresh out of school. Why is it so important for our young people to learn about
37:13entrepreneurship early? So that was really probably one of the most, the biggest moments in my career.
37:21I went to Clark Atlanta University and 13 years after I graduated, I got to be the youngest
37:27commencement speaker at the institution. So, you know, thank you. So, you know, commencement speakers,
37:33they like 70, 80, they older, right? More seasoned with wisdom for the most part, right? Which I appreciate
37:41because they've lived life, right? And, and they got a lot of information. So for me to be able to
37:46be chosen to do that was a big deal. So when I decided to offer the students LLCs, I wanted them to
37:54have a pathway to entrepreneurship. So many people come to me and they don't even know how to start
38:00their business. They don't know what, what to do. Like they don't know the basics. And I said,
38:04even if you don't want to start your business and you want to work a nine to five, because
38:08everybody doesn't want to be an entrepreneur, right? I learned that along the way. There's
38:12people in the world that just want to be a great support to the entrepreneur, but you can utilize
38:18this as an opportunity to have your side hustle, right? To put some stuff in your business name,
38:23even if you're working for somebody else. But I wanted people to know that generational wealth is real
38:28and ain't nothing in the world like freedom. So when I provided the students with the LLCs,
38:34they were over the moon. And thus far, more than half of them signed up for the life,
38:39for the LLCs. And they got the LLCs, they got the EINs. We registered with the state of Georgia.
38:45And it makes me feel good to know that out of all 824 of those graduates, they're going to at least
38:52be a hundred people that's going to make it super big and they can tell the story
38:55that somebody paid it forward to them. All right. That's what it's all about, paying it forward.
39:02Wow. You are sending babies out into the world. I mean, not just there, but you know what I mean.
39:09That will inevitably change the world and the trajectory of businesses. So hallelujah.
39:21What are some of your goals now? I mean, geez, you're just doing so much, Pinky.
39:26Receiving. You know, people ask me like, so they used to ask me, will you see yourself in five years?
39:34Right. And I used to say like, I'm going to do this. Like I had it all written out and I stopped
39:39doing that. Okay. I'm just receiving. I'm receiving all the good stuff that's happening for me in my
39:44business. I'm embracing and accepting all the great opportunities, opportunities that are going to come
39:50my way. And I'm going to make sure that I'm always ready for those opportunities. As far as Slutty
39:55Vegan, we're going to continue to scale. We're going to open up multiple locations. We're going to find
40:00people that want to grow with us and make this company as big as the Burger Kings, the McDonald's,
40:05the Chick-fil-A's. Right. And do it in the most authentic way ever. But I'm ready for what the future
40:10has to hold. Like I'm literally prepared for it. I ain't scared about it. I know good things are going to
40:15come to me as long as I continue to move righteously and make sure that I surround myself with the right
40:20people. Everything in this business is going to go up and continue to go up. So I'm receiving.
40:26And we all are here as a support system. We'll be praying for you. This is miraculous. We're living
40:32in the time that this is actually happening. You know, and what I like about it most is years and decades
40:40from now, we'll be able to say that we sat with you as you told us about what was going to happen.
40:48But then at that point, we'll be living in the midst of it. The fact that I'm sitting with you,
40:54you're a legend here. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. I think what you did for us today with just
41:03speaking so truthfully, you know, a lot of people talk about black girl magic. And for me, I feel like
41:09there's no magic. There's a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes. And so for you to open up your
41:16life for us this afternoon and tell us about the hard times. She was a dasher, you know. So people can
41:24really see that everything is possible. Everything is possible. Pinky, thank you for imparting so much
41:30wisdom. Tell the people where they can find you, although I think they know. Tell us.
41:37So today you can find me right out there. Okay. We got Slutty Vegan, so make sure you get a burger.
41:40Okay. But if you want to learn more about
41:45Pinky Gives Back and the foundation, please go to www.pinkygivesback.com.
41:51If you want to learn more about Slutty Vegan and our locations that are coming next,
41:55please go to Slutty Vegan on all Instagram, Twitter, Facebook channels. And if you want to learn about me,
42:02which I don't do this enough, but I'm always offering inspiration to the things that I'm doing,
42:07my Instagram page is Pinky907. So if you need some motivation from time to time, please go to my page
42:15or go to Google. You can Google us, okay? Because every week we got something really,
42:19really great going on. And I'll say this, we are in the process of scaling, right? So I know that we
42:25got a whole bunch of beautiful, educated people here. So go to our website if you want to join the team.
42:30We are looking for social media managers. We're looking for personal assistance. We're looking
42:36for, what else are we looking for? CMOs. We're looking for everything. So if you got the chops
42:41and you want to be a part of this fastly, amazingly growing brand, we are looking for you. But you got
42:47to be a grizzly bear, because if you're going to be a bear, you got to be a grizzly. And if you're
42:50going to be our team, you got to be on the best. You got to be the best. So I'm grateful and thank you
42:55so much. And thank you all for sitting here listening. Thank you. Please give a round of applause.
42:59Thank you so much, guys. Pinky cold. Hope to see you in Atlanta.
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