PINKY COLE – A Sandwich, a Setback, and a Second Empire

On this episode of Eating While Broke, host Coline Witt sits down with entrepreneur Pinky Cole—founder of Slutty Vegan—for an honest conversation about money, mindset, and rebuilding after major setbacks. Over a homemade **Tofurky sandwich**, Pinky breaks down vegan label-reading, food costs, and why she stopped eating meat in 2007.

Pinky shares her upbringing in a Jamaican family, her father’s 22-year imprisonment, and how early exposure to her mother’s music career shaped her ambition. She recounts hustling as a teen party promoter, working in TV production (including Maury), and opening a Harlem Jamaican restaurant that later burned down without fire insurance. She explains how that loss—and other setbacks—ultimately led to new opportunities, including launching **Slutty Vegan** in Atlanta.

She also discusses Slutty Vegan’s rapid rise, later restructuring, personal bankruptcy, $20M in debt, and the lessons she learned about transactional relationships, team alignment, and ego. 

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