Aisha "Pinky" Cole, the owner of the rapidly expanding Slutty Vegan franchise, was named one of “20 Most Influential Vegans of 2019” by VegNews Magazine. She also received “The Compassionate Chef Award” from PETA, which is given to individuals who are making an impact within their community creating and serving amazing vegan food and showing how easy it can be to go vegan.
“Since Slutty Vegan has gained so much notoriety, we are using our platform to do a bunch of good during this time,” says Cole. Founded in 2019, the Pinky Cole Foundation (IG @pinkygivesback) has an overarching mission to lead entrepreneurship and financial literacy-focused education initiatives, specifically targeting teens and young adults (13 to 22 years of age) in the U.S.
Some of the initiatives and plans include the following:
Paying the rent for other small businesses in the Metro Atlanta area
PCF paid for college students to return home to be with their families during the pandemic.
“Thank you so much to the Pinky Cole Foundation. I truly appreciate your effort to help me make it home safely! You guys have truly taken the burden away from my mother to bring me home,” says Clark Atlanta student Tinasia Coleman.
Providing free food to hospital workers and assisted-living families
They hope to provide ongoing meal support to both Northside Hospital and the Grady Memorial Hospital, two leading medical centers in the community. They are appreciative of their local health care providers and know that they are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of patients, staff, and families during the COVID-19 response.
They also provided 100 meals for residents at Baptist Gardens, an affordable housing independent senior living community in Southwest Atlanta.
Launching an Entrepreneurs Anonymous Digital initiative to help businesses (via webinars) hit hard by this pandemic
Distributing 1,500 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables at the restaurant’s brick-and-mortar location
Relieving college debt
Pinky Cole, along with the foundation’s Board Chair, Stacey Lee made headlines when they paid off the remaining debts of 30 seniors at Clark Atlanta University. The entrepreneurs contacted the school for a list of seniors with balances and randomly selected them. They, then headed to campus to surprise the scholars with the news.
Registering voters
Pre-COVID-19, Cole and Slutty Vegan were on a 50-city pop-up tour, where they decided to use the opportunity to register customers to vote. Customers complete their voter registration forms while waiting in line, which was aimed to inspire people in her community to vote in the upcoming election.
