Pinky Cole Transcript

Pinky Cole Transcript

Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond. Today I'm talking to Pinky Cole, the superstar entrepreneur behind Slutty Vegan, the fast-growing fast food chain, making vegan eats sexy. Today's show is the fourth episode in our Restaurant R(e)volution miniseries, and Pinky is truly a great person to end with. She is a rule breaker, a risk-taker, and a marketing genius, not to mention a mom and a newlywed. Pinky's second book was just published yesterday. Congratulations, Pinky. And it is not a cookbook, it's a business book, and the title is, ready for this? “I Hope You Fail: 10 Hater Statements Holding You Back From Getting Everything You Want.” It's a no holds barred advice book for any entrepreneur or would be entrepreneur who needs a little kick in the butt or some positive reinforcement. Pinky will be here in just a minute to share her wisdom. Stay tuned. 

Our Restaurant (R)evolution miniseries is supported by OpenTable. OpenTable is proud to sponsor Cherry Bombe’s dinner series, Sit With Us, which highlights amazing female chefs and restaurateurs in the Cherry Bombe network. We'll be on the road starting later this month and tickets are now on sale. Get out your pens or open up that notes app because here are the cities and the dates. We'll be at Chef Evelyn Garcia's Jun in Houston on October 23rd, Chef Renee Erickson's The Whale Wins in Seattle on October 25th, Chef Beverly Kim's Parachute in Chicago on November 1st, and Chef Camille Beccera’s As You Are at Ace Hotel Brooklyn on November 11th. You can come solo and sit at a Cherry Bombe community table or bring a friend or two and we'll seat you together. Tickets are available exclusively on OpenTable. Just search the restaurant and go to the experiences tab to purchase a ticket, which includes a welcome drink and a three course or family style meal. A portion of the proceeds from each dinner will benefit a local charity. Learn more about the OpenTable and Cherry Bombe’s Sit With Us series at cherrybombe.com. I hope to see some of you at Sit With Us. 

Restaurant (R)evolution is also presented by FOH. If you are chef, pastry chef, or restaurateur passionate about what you do, you need to know about FOH. Founded in 2002 by Simone Mayer and Mayda Perez, partners in business and in life, FOH shares your passion for excellence and creativity and wants to help bring your vision to life. The FOH team designs and manufactures smart commercial grade and distinctive dinnerware and tableware collections, serving pieces, buffet essentials, and other tabletop categories for the food service and hospitality industries. Headquartered in Miami, FOH has showrooms and distribution centers conveniently located around the globe with items always in stock and ready to ship. You can visit frontofthehouse.com for catalog, showroom appointments and custom capabilities. You can also view products by category from porcelain to flatware, drink ware and unbreakables. Again, that's frontofthehouse.com. 

Now, let's check in with Pinky. Pinky Cole, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.

Pinky Cole:
Thank you.

Kerry Diamond:
So let's jump into your past because I don't think everybody knows the Pinky Cole origin story. You were working as a TV producer and you decided to open a restaurant.

Pinky Cole:
That is correct.

Kerry Diamond:
Why did you want to do that on top of your TV job?

Pinky Cole:
Because I'm crazy, that's why. And that's what crazy people do. We do insane things. I had my dream job. I was working as a producer for the “Maury Show,” and it was great, one of the best experiences I've ever had, right? Contrary to popular belief, but working at “Maury” really taught me a lot about dealing with people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. So it was an opportunity to just connect with all walks of life. And while I was working there, a friend of mine, he asked me if I wanted to open up a restaurant. So I like to eat. I'm not a chef and I like to cook sometimes, but I had no idea that my purpose would lie in the restaurant hospitality industry. So I did it. I took over somebody's lease, I opened up the restaurant with all the knowledge that I found on YouTube and Google and I had lines.

People were coming and they were supporting and they were excited about the experience. Although I was selling jerk chicken and oxtails and food that I didn't eat, I was creating an atmosphere where people felt like they could be coming home. So that was my first taste of restaurant business. Now, I wasn't the best entrepreneur there. I thought that I was. Here I am working 24 hours a day damn near, but I wasn't doing it right. I was hustling backwards, so much so that I didn't have the proper paperwork, and as a result, I had a grease fire and I was not able to salvage anything from that restaurant so it put me in a bind. But that was the best thing that happened to me because I really shifted from feeling like a failure to jumping back into TV and it really guided me to my destiny, and that destiny was Slutty Vegan.

Kerry Diamond:
So not only did you lose the entire restaurant, it also affected your personal finances, right?

Pinky Cole:
Oh, I went broke. If any entrepreneur that's listening to this, we all can attest to the fact that you can have it today and it could be gone tomorrow. There's nothing guaranteed in business when you're talking about entrepreneurship. So having money, which was the safety net, I'm thinking I had enough for a rainy day and that rainy day came pouring. I had to figure things out fast because I didn't have anybody to lean on that was making the kind of money that I was making, and I had to figure it out fast. But the universe aligned in my favor because then I got an opportunity to work as a casting director on a show in LA. So I packed up everything and I walked away from everything. While that was a hard decision to make, yeah, it actually was the best thing for me because the show that I ended up working on was a therapy show and it was just a blessing in disguise.

Kerry Diamond:
So you were doing that in LA. How did you wind up in Atlanta?

Pinky Cole:
Working in LA for almost three years, I got a call one day from upper management saying, "Hey Pinky, do you want to go to Atlanta and work on the ground with the guests?" And I'm like, "Okay, cool, I'll do it." I went to college in Atlanta. My sorority sisters are there. I got friends there. So this is not me going to a foreign place. When I got to Atlanta, it was only supposed to be for three months. I packed up all my bags, I put it in storage, and I'm like, "Okay, cool. This is just a temporary move for me. I'm going to make a couple of dollars, save up my money, do what I need to do." And around that time, I started running every day. I was running five miles a day. I was reading a book a day. I was preparing for what? I don't know, but I was preparing for something special.

And when I got to Atlanta, that's when I was in my two bedroom apartment and I came up with Slutty Vegan. I did not know that I was going to open up another restaurant. I thought that my restaurant days were over. I knew that I still wanted to be in entrepreneurship, but the restaurant industry was very hard. Even my mother was like, "Pinky, are you sure?" But when I came up with Slutty Vegan, I'm like, "You know what? This is my opportunity to do it again and do it right." And when I opened up Slutty Vegan, the world unfolded for me because every single thing happened so beautifully in the last five years, going from a shared kitchen to a food truck, to 13 locations now winning the bid in the airport and just additional opportunities in the business, all from an idea that happened in my two bedroom apartment.

Kerry Diamond:
Pinky, go back to that moment when you had the idea. Was it like a lightning bolt or did you say to yourself, "I'm going to brainstorm a business"?

Pinky Cole:
I'm the kind of person that I'm always brainstorming a business. If I'm not creating, I don't feel like myself. So this was just another day of me creating. And Slutty Vegan, just literally when people ask me, it came out of nowhere. This wasn't one of those things where I'm like, "Okay, I need to think of a vegan concept to do." This wasn't that. This was like, I'm just thinking of a whole bunch of ideas and just like, "Oh, this will be dope." Slutty Vegan just came like a lightning bulb and I called my best friends and they're like, "Girl, you need to do that. That's good." And there were some other names that we played with, but I'm like, "No, this is it. Slutty Vegan just rings," because when you think about veganism, you don't think about anything slutty. Veganism feels so green for the longest, so green is super healthy, but I wanted to create two different worlds and merge them together, and if I can spark an interest, then I know that I can get people to pay attention, and that's exactly what I did.

Kerry Diamond:
And you yourself had been a vegan for several years.

Pinky Cole:
I hadn't eaten meat since 2007. If you put a piece of chicken in my face, I would not know what it tasted like. I don't eat meat.

Kerry Diamond:
Knowing how hard the industry was, why is it that food, one of the hardest things ever, was the one that popped in your brain and stuck?

Pinky Cole:
I felt like I had unfinished business when I had to walk away from my first concept. I've never walked away from anything that I put my hands on. I'm always the person that whenever I touch, I'm going to see it through to the end. I felt like there was still some area to really complete that, and it always lived with me. I just felt like I walked away. I'm like, "Did I give up?" And doing another restaurant was my opportunity of redemption to really see it through, that thing that I felt like I never completed. Even till this day, I'm like, "Why would I choose a restaurant again, knowing the hours, the headache, the stress level that comes with it?" And I mean, let's be real, the restaurant industry is the hardest industry to be in. You'll have great days and then you'll have a lot of difficult days. What happens in between is really what gives you the strength, and I was willing to take that risk again, and I'm so happy that I did because it was about timing, space and opportunity. I started Slutty Vegan at literally the perfect time, and what it did is it put me in a space where I became an anchor of a movement that I had no idea that I would be an anchor of.

Kerry Diamond:
Pinky, how long did it take you to get to 13 locations?

Pinky Cole:
So it took about five years to get to 13 locations, and it took about two and a half years to get to a hundred million dollar valuation, which when you think about restaurants, restaurants don't get those kind of valuations, but I really have worked hard for a very long time to be able to create something that's bigger than just a restaurant. I built a brand.

Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about food a little bit. You didn't go to culinary school, you didn't grow up working as a cook. Who does the recipe development for you?

Pinky Cole:
I did.

Kerry Diamond:
You did?

Pinky Cole:
All of the initial recipes, because I like to create. As an artist, I've always been a creator no matter what. I'm so happy that I just got in the kitchen and started playing around because I ended up making a really good fried seasoning and a really good burger sauce. I really didn't know what I was doing, but it worked.

Kerry Diamond:
So if someone's going to the Slutty Vegan for the first time, what should their order be?

Pinky Cole:
They should order a One Night Stand with fries, a pie, and a drink. A One Night Stand, Pinky Cole style, is the patty, the bacon, the lettuce, the tomato, the secret sauce, on a warm Hawaiian bun with our crinkle cut fries with our homemade seasoning. And then the pie is the best vegan pie that you'll ever have in your life. And then our homemade lemonade. And when I tell you it's the best thing that you've ever had, you can't even tell its vegan.

Kerry Diamond:
What pies are on the menu right now?

Pinky Cole:
So it's a sweet potato pie.

Kerry Diamond:
And that's on the menu all the time?

Pinky Cole:
Yeah, that's our signature pie.

Kerry Diamond:
And tell everybody what Slut Dust is.

Pinky Cole:
So Slut Dust is a mix of spicy, sweet, a little salty seasoning that I created to put on the fries, and I can remember when I created the recipe, I'm like putting all these different seasonings in a bowl and I'm mixing. I'm like, "Ooh, that tastes good. Ooh, I like that. Let's do that." And then it worked. I started using it and everybody loved it and I went and found a co-packer and that's how we got to the Slut Dust seasoning.

Kerry Diamond:
You clearly have a great mind for marketing. So in addition to this great palette you have, you have a marketing mind. When did you realize that was a skill?

Pinky Cole:
For a very long time. I love to look at brands and see what they could do better and see how they could be better. And if I could turn back the hands of time, I probably would've went to school for marketing, but I ended up going for mass media communications with a concentration in radio, television and film. I think what helped me the most is working in TV because you want people to pay attention and one thing I do really well, is I know how to make people pay attention to what I'm trying to offer and what I'm trying to sell.

Kerry Diamond:
Speaking of which, you've attracted some notable investors. You mentioned the hundred million dollar valuation earlier. Some of those investors include Danny Meyers, Enlightened Hospitality Investment Group. Why did you decide to take outside investment?

Pinky Cole:
Because I realized in order to scale in the way that I want to scale, I'm going to need partners that one, understand the vision and the mission, beyond money, because you can get money from anywhere, but I need people who really understand that this is a business that can be sustainable, it can be a billion dollar brand, and I want to support making that happen. Between them and Richie Lou Dennis, who's a part of New Voices who also invested in my brand, I knew that they were the most experienced in what I was trying to do. So Richie Lou Dennis is an expert in marketing. Danny Meyer obviously is the king of restaurants, and I knew that if I had those kind of people by my side, then there is no losing. And that's what I'm learning in life, surrounding yourself with the right people who are committed to winning is just going to make it an easier one for me and that relationship, I'm so glad that I got into business with them because both parties are super helpful.

Kerry Diamond:
Not only have you raised money, but you're also giving money away. How did The Pinky Cole Foundation come about?

Pinky Cole:
I've always watched my mother help everybody all of the time growing up. And I'm like, "Okay, there's a reason why this lady just wants to just be a steward and help all these people get in better positions." And I didn't understand it as a kid, but now that I'm older, I'm like, "I done became my mother." I've become this woman who wants to see other people win, who wants to help other people, who will be willing to give the shirt off her back to help people. That's why I created the foundation. I did that in 2019. We have literally done so much. We've paid the rents for local businesses, we've given out fruits and vegetables, we've turned on lights for hundreds of families. We bail people out. We have provided life insurance for black men who make $30,000 or less. We've given out over 900 LLCs to graduate and college students and people who want to start their businesses.

We have really done a lot of work and the work is just beginning. I'm happy that we get to do that because that's the part that really, really brings me joy. So the restaurant is good. Yeah, it's cool. We make money, that's fine. The idea that I can use my leverage and my platform to make other people around me better is the piece of the mission that is so fulfilling for me. That part gets personal for me and I'm just so happy that our extended hand has been able to help so many people.

Kerry Diamond:
The way you're giving the money away is so interesting because it seems like you're very focused on smaller actionable donations or charitable giving that really changes people's lives directly. Instead of giving a big grant to an organization where you don't necessarily know who it's helping or how it's helping, you seem very focused on helping individuals immediately.

Pinky Cole:
Yeah. So I said that the foundation is like urgent care, so you get immediate help right now. This isn't one of those long-term things where... I didn't want to create an organization where we have all these long and drawn out programmatic thrusts, and that's fine for other people, but I wanted to be able to help people in real time. And when people can feel impact in real time, you'd be surprised how many lives you'll save.

Kerry Diamond:
Let's take a quick break and we will be right back. The brand new issue of Cherry Bombe's print magazine has just launched. The theme is The Future of Food and video star and cookbook author and brand new mom, Sohla El-Waylly  is on the cover and there is lots to discover inside the magazine from our Future of Food 50 list of rising stars to a feature on restaurant robots. Yes, the robots are coming faster than you might think, actually. You can pick up a copy of Cherry Bombe at your favorite bookstore, culinary shop or magazine stand like Wedge in Warren, Rhode Island, Bold Fork Books in Washington DC, and Vivian Kitchen and Pantry in Portland, Oregon. If you swing by any of those places, tell them Cherry Bombe sent you. Cherry Bombe's print magazine is lush and gorgeous and packed with features, photos, and recipes, of course. The team and I worked so hard on this issue, we can't wait for you to see it, read it and spend some time with it. 

Pinky, you published your first book last year, “Eat Plants, Bitch.” And your second book just came out yesterday. Congratulations. It's called “I Hope You Fail: 10 Hater Statements Holding You Back from Getting Everything You Want.” Tell me about that provocative title and why you wrote this book.

Pinky Cole:
So you know I'm a woman of many titles, as you can see, but I created the book because I'm an expert at failure. I done seen it all. I done been broke, I got cheated on, I got my heart broke, I've lost relationships, lost friends, lost businesses. I've been around the block a couple of times, so I got some experience. But in that experience, what I learned is that failure is not really failure at all, it's about finding the aspiration in the losses. I've been able to do that, and as a result of that, I wanted to be able to share that story to people who are in positions similar to me, who have been through things like I've been through. When I go through things, I can resort back to the idea that this is not failure, this is an opportunity to navigate and grow and get better. So I'm excited about this book. Every single person in the world can say that they have felt like they failed at something, but this is the book that you need to really help you understand that there's a lesson to be learned in every single circumstance that you have in your life. I learned it and I'm sure that other people can benefit from it too.

Kerry Diamond:
There's a lot of tough love in this book.

Pinky Cole:
A lot of tough love. I hope you lose your job so that you can find a better job, and I hope he cheats on you so that you can find somebody who is worthy of your love. It is really in your face, but I promise you, it'll be a blessing to anybody who opens this book and reads it.

Kerry Diamond:
The table of contents will make people either cry or laugh out loud because you just mentioned some of the titles, but you've also got, I hope your business burns down. I hope your customers don't show up. I hope you make a decision that ruins your life. They're pretty harsh, Pinky.

Pinky Cole:
Yes, they are, but for the right reasons. It'll tell you what society says is a failure, but then it'll help you navigate through those things that may seem like that, but they're not really that at all.

Kerry Diamond:
Does everything always have to be trial by fire? Are there other ways to succeed today?

Pinky Cole:
There's so many ways to succeed, but the world that we live in now, you see the economic downturn, you see the shift in the environment and all of the things that are happening. There's so many tests that we go through every single day, and this is the common denominator that a lot of people can resonate and identify with. I wanted to go with the masses. Those are the people who I feel like I can reach. The people who have already got it figured out and how to get success without all of the resistance, they've already got it. But there's an audience where people are still trying to figure it out, and I want to be able to tap into that audience.

Kerry Diamond:
I think a lot of the fear comes from money. You've talked about being flat broke, only having a dollar in your bank account, $250 to your name, I think maybe when you moved out to LA. It is so scary when you're broke or owe people money. I'm curious how you've navigated that.

Pinky Cole:
Oh, I have had moments. I hate owing people, by the way. So when I had my restaurant, the first one, there was someone who gave me a loan for the restaurant, but I couldn't afford to pay it, and it haunted me for a very long time because I felt like I was at the helm of somebody because I owed money. And I made a promise to myself that I would never do it again. If I can't get it on my own or use OPM where they understand that there's patient capital, then I don't want to do it. It's very hard when you owe people. It's very hard when you're trying to figure out where your next dollar is going to come from. So I like to literally plan everything that I do in advance. I'm very mindful of the decisions that I make today because I know that it'll affect me tomorrow. There's a lot of trial and error in it. Do I always get it right? Maybe not, but I think I'm getting a lot better at it, especially over the years

Kerry Diamond:
And OPM, other people's money?

Pinky Cole:
Yes, other people's money.

Kerry Diamond:
I listened to and read a lot of Pinky Cole interviews preparing for this one, and you drop a lot of Pinky Cole wisdom in all the interviews that you did, and I collected a little bit of it and would love for you to expand on some of it. For example, you told Glamour Magazine that you are the ultimate risk-taker. Why doesn't risk scare you?

Pinky Cole:
Because I've taken so many risks and have failed at those risks before. I realized that even when they don't work out in my favor, I still can bounce back and rise above. So taking a risk doesn't hurt me because if it doesn't work out, I can always start over. The only timeline in life is the fact that one day we will all pass on and go to another side of the atmosphere. But one thing for sure and two things for certain is that if something doesn't work out, I can always start over and I can always do it again. And there's no age limit. There's no timeframe to do that. As long as I'm alive and healthy and breathing, I have another opportunity to do it all over again.

Kerry Diamond:
During a TED Talk at Morehouse, you said you are a raw, real, and transparent CEO, not a polished CEO. And I was curious, does it matter today? Can you be any kind of CEO that you want?

Pinky Cole:
You can be any kind of CEO that you want, but what I realize is people want authenticity. People don't want cookie cutter CEOs anymore. They want to know how do you feel about your business? How are you going to impact the world? Do your ethos align with the consumer? People want to know that, and people want to know who's behind building these businesses. As for me and mine, I make sure that I show the highs and the lows because showing the lows shows you that I'm human. I went from having a non pager in the New Yorker to being on Jet Magazine to the next day, the New York Post is posting that I'm getting sued while my lawyer is advised not to talk about it. I'm like, "This is a part of my story." You got to understand that even in business, things like this will happen and how do you navigate and go from that? And maybe I can be blessing and saving somebody else from going through a similar situation when they hear my testimony. So it's so cool to be rare and raw and real. That's what I'll say about that.

Kerry Diamond:
But let me ask, you said it's good to be an authentic CEO these days, yet so many CEOs are still white guys.

Pinky Cole:
Well, the shift is happening. I'm a part of that change, which is why I come so authentically real because there's going to be people who look like me that feel like they can do it. There's going to be people that look like you, they could be a woman CEO, and conquer the world and not have to stand behind a group of rich, wealthy white men with trust funds that have done it for years. And I see the progression. It's a slow progression, but slow is better than no progression.

Kerry Diamond:
You also said success doesn't necessarily mean money. How do you define success?

Pinky Cole:
Success is being able to be a PTA mom and getting your kids to school on time, your kids knowing you and loving on you when you walk through the door. That is changing for me. It was never about money for me, but it was really, for me for a long time, it was about climbing the corporate ladder, then climbing the entrepreneur ladder. And now that I'm a mom, I just want to make sure that I'm a great wife and a great mother and that my kids genuinely love me and that I've set up things for them that when they get older, they can decide to take over Slutty Vegan, take over their dad's business, or go off and be great in the world and just having a level of freedom. That's really what it boils down to, freedom.

Success, it's freedom to do the things that you want to do without malice, without reservation, without hesitation. That's what I'm chasing, freedom, because with that freedom, I can do whatever I want. The reason why we work so hard is so that we can unlock that level of freedom. And everybody's not fortunate enough to unlock freedom, which is why we get stuck in the rat race. But for me, I want freedom so that I can create opportunities for my family, for other people, so that I can build upon generational wealth, so that I could be on the beach with my kids and my husband and traveling the world. That's success to me.

Kerry Diamond:
You said you don't practice for life, you stay ready. What does that mean?

Pinky Cole:
When you stay ready, you never have to get ready. This is life, for me. This is what I do every day. I eat, breathe, sleep, Slutty Vegan and my brand and building and entrepreneurship. I do this on a day-to-day basis. So when I'm always prepared, I never have to practice. I never have to practice, and that is how I live my life. And the moments if I'm not prepared for something, I'm like, "All right, Pinky, you're getting lazy. What are you doing?" Because I do this all day, every day, and anybody that's listening to this, this is how you get to the success. They get you to the freedom, they get you to unlock that purpose and all the things that you want. Always in it, not as a part-time thing, not here and there for leisure. But if you really want what you say you want, you got to go all in all day, every day. You got to speak life into it. It got to become who you are. If it's on you, it's in you and it's on me every day, so it's in me every day.

Kerry Diamond:
You also said data analytics is better than cash money. What did you mean by that?

Pinky Cole:
Data is money. When we think about growing and scaling businesses, all we're really doing is building communities. When you can build a community by way of data, you'll have people supporting you indefinitely. The revenue is great. You need revenue to continue to grow the business. But when you have that data, data is for a lifetime. Now you know what people like, you got the email, you got their phone number, you got the kind of foods that they like to eat, and you can make decisions based on that data. So before, I used to make all my decisions based on my gut and what I was feeling at the time. Now, all of my decisions are based on what the data says. I make better decisions when the data calls for it. So as many phone numbers and emails that I can get, it'll allow me to be able to convert it into money because they helped me make decisions on how to grow the brand.

Kerry Diamond:
Pinky, you are expecting your third baby soon. Congratulations.

Pinky Cole:
Thank you.

Kerry Diamond:
And you were married this summer. We all saw the pictures and all the magazine stories. Congratulations on that as well. You have a lot going on in your personal life, obviously. So I have a few organizational questions for you. I'm curious how you organize life and work things. You said you can do everything you love if you are strategic, and I think this goes back a little bit to your, you don't practice for life, you stay ready. So when you say strategic in that sense, what do you mean?

Pinky Cole:
I mean, making sure that you have a chef, making sure that you have cleaners coming every week on Wednesdays, making sure that if you can afford a nanny, to have a nanny that's freeing you up from the hard things so that you can save time to create so that you can build. So just like I've automated my business, I've also automated my personal life. So I cook at home, but that's not what I want to do every day. I want to sometimes be able to sit and create and build and have a meal prepared for me and my husband so that I can focus on my relationship and my business. That quality of life that you get to have as you elevate and evolve in business, it's priceless. I'll be honest, I now don't have to wash clothes because there's somebody that comes over to wash my clothes because I have automated my life that if I have extra money, I'm not going to go out and splurge and buy expensive diamonds and all that stuff.

No, I'm going to find somebody that can wash my clothes so that I don't have to take three hours out of my day to wash clothes for my entire family that's going to take me away from my focus. And just automating it literally has freed up so much stress off of me. So when people ask me how am I able to do it with three kids and a husband and all these businesses? Automation. Automation is key. It's allowed me to really have my mental health and not go crazy because I know that there are people in the world that don't know how to do that, and I've been showing people in real time that it is possible you can do it and you can really keep your sanity.

Kerry Diamond:
Along those lines, let's talk about a few work things. How do you handle your email? I would imagine you get hundreds every day.

Pinky Cole:
My assistant and I do my email. I still like to be hands on with the emails, but my assistant, she responds to everything, but I put my eyes on everything. When I wake up in the morning, I make sure that I'm checking my emails first. So I open up my eyes, I pray to God, I'm like, "Thank you for the day. Thank you for my family. Today is going to be a great day. I'm claiming it." And then the first thing I do is I check my email, I check my bank account, and then I go to social media. And I do that in that order because I want to make sure that when I check my email, nothing crazy happened in my email, check my bank account and make sure nobody stole my money. And then I check social media because I have a social media driven business, so I got to make sure that a natural disaster didn't happen that'll affect my business or something with the stock market or the government or the economy. And I just want to make sure that everything is good. And then I go about my day.

Kerry Diamond:
How do you handle your calendar? I'm sure a lot of people want to meet with you for informational interviews, young people coming up in the industry probably want to talk to you, aspiring entrepreneurs. How do you handle that?

Pinky Cole:
I talk to anybody that I can. People always ask me rapid fire questions when they meet me. Everybody has a pitch. When they come to me, I'm like, "Okay," I'll give them real time advice. And they tell me that it's super helpful. Do I have a mentorship program? Not yet. I would love to have one, I just don't have the time. But I like to offer real time advice for people who need it in passing.

Kerry Diamond:
Pinky, what's next for Slutty Vegan?

Pinky Cole:
World domination. I got so many dope things happening, man. I'm just floating. I'm on cloud nine. This year has been a very interesting year for me, but I'm excited about all of the things that have happened in the business. Is it hard? Yes. Running a business is hard. I'm not going to sit here and be like, "Yes, just great and..." No. Sometimes I want to pull my hair out, but I also know that with elevation comes growth and there's a lot of beauty to that. So I'm looking forward to all the great things that will come in the business, and that's opening up more locations, that's more brand partnership opportunities. And whatever it is, as long as it's good, I'm embracing it.

Kerry Diamond:
And Pinky, how are you taking care of yourself in the midst of all this?

Pinky Cole:
My husband takes care of me. I get to do this with my partner, so I'm never by myself. So we travel together, we have fun together, and that support system really allows me to not lose my mind. And even in the moments where I feel like I'm about to, I just step away and take a little vacation.

Kerry Diamond:
So Pinky, this is part of a miniseries we're doing called Restaurant (R)evolution. Do you ever stop and think of yourself as a restaurant revolutionary?

Pinky Cole:
No. The reason why is because the minute that I consider that for me, that means I've gotten comfortable. And I still got long ways to go, but I appreciate the compliments and I accept them. And it feels good to know that you could be recognized for all your good work, but I still got work to do.

Kerry Diamond:
Well, you seem like you're someone very comfortable with rewriting the rules, so that's exciting to see.

Pinky Cole:
Absolutely.

Kerry Diamond:
Well, Pinky, you are such an inspiration. Congratulations on all the good things that are happening to you, well-deserved. And congrats on this new book. I hope people get to go out and see you while you're on book tour.

Pinky Cole:
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. Thank you so much to FOH and OpenTable for supporting Radio Cherry Bombe and our Restaurant (R)evolution miniseries. If you didn't catch our other Restaurant (R)evolution chats with Chef Tracy Malachek from Birdie’s in Austin, or Chef Amanda Cohen from Dirt Candy in New York City, or Chef Angie Mar of La B, also in New York City, head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify to give a listen. And while you're there, be sure to subscribe. You can find the transcripts for all Radio Cherry Bombe episodes on cherrybombe.com. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. This episode was recorded at City Vox in New York City. Our producer is Catherine Baker. Our associate producer is Jenna Sadhu, and our editorial assistant is Londyn Crenshaw. Thanks for listening, everybody. You are the Bombe.