WEBVTT - Pinky Cole: Thriving with a Hustler Mentality 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.720 Tired of ads interrupting your gripping investigations. Good news, AD 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.119 free listening on Amazon Music is included with your Prime membership. 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.440 Ads shouldn't be the scariest thing about true crime. Just 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.320 head to Amazon dot com slash ad free True Crime 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:18.000 to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads, 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.599 and so as shows a free for punchbscribers. Some shows 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:20.040 me how that. 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.279 This podcast is brought to you by e Harmony. Finding 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.479 someone who gets you is hard, right, You're not alone. 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.880 That's because we're human and there's a lot of different 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.440 humans out there, which is why e Harmony's personality based 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:35.839 dating app helps you find someone you can be your 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:39.280 whole self with someone you can be fully comfortable with. 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:45.920 That's what true connection and compatibility are all about, being seen, heard, understood. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.520 When you match based on personality, you're already one step 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:51.640 ahead when it comes to getting to know one another. 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.160 So try e harmony and get started today for free. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:57.720 E Harmony get who gets you. 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.760 As a person with a very deep voice. I'm hired 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.039 all the time for advertising campaigns, but a deep voice 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.560 doesn't sell B to B. An advertising on the wrong 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.440 platform doesn't sell B to be either. That's why if 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.319 you're a B to B marketer, you should use LinkedIn ads. 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:15.560 LinkedIn has the targeting capabilities to help you reach the 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.959 world's largest professional audience. That's right, over seventy million decision 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:24.200 makers all in one place. All the big wigs, then mediumwigs, 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.080 also small wigs who are on the path to becoming bigwigs. Okay, 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.000 that's enough about wigs. LinkedIn ads allows you to focus 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.559 on getting your B to B message to the right people. 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.720 So does that mean you should use ads on LinkedIn 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.639 instead of hiring me the man with the deepest voice 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.520 in the world. Yes, yes, it does. Get started today 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.520 and see why LinkedIn is the place to be to be. 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.160 We'll even give you a one hundred dollars credit on 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.520 your next campaign. Go to LinkedIn dot com slash results 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.560 to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn dot com slash Results. 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:57.040 Terms and conditions apply. 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:04.800 My What If Year is an exuberant, hilarious memoir about 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.320 a woman in midlife who pauses her career for a 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.200 year to explore the what if jobs of her dream 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:16.639 sounds right up our alley. Delightfully irreverent, My What If 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:20.160 Year recounts the adventures of a successful LATINX CEO and 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:22.960 mother of twins who takes a break from her job 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.720 to dip a toe in the careers that she idolized 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.920 as a young woman. My What If Year by Alicia 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.880 Fernandez Miranda is on sale now from brand new publisher 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:37.160 Zibbi Books and available wherever books are sold. That's My 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:42.320 What If Year, a memoir by Alicia Fernandez Miranda. Hey, 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:42.640 what's up? 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:43.120 That's your girl? 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.720 Pinky Cole, founder and CEO of the world famous Sledty 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:55.440 Vegan Ato and you're now tuned into She Pivots. 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.680 Welcome back to She Pivots, the podcast where we talk 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.280 with women who have dared to pivot out of one 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:06.560 career and into something new and explore how their personal 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:11.639 lives impacted these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:17.000 Today I'm sitting down with a legend who's just getting started, 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:23.120 Pinky Coal, founder and CEO of Slutty Vegan. Slutty Vegan 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.520 is one of the fastest growing chain restaurants. In just 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.640 five years, she has gone from a food truck in 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:34.079 Atlanta to now operating more than ten locations across the country. 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.920 Pinky has been featured in publications like Essence, The Washington Post, 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:44.320 the cover of Ink and more. Her savvy business methods 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.400 have landed her partnerships with some of the biggest brands 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:52.720 in the world, like Steve Madden and Shakeshack, and with 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:56.000 every success, Pinky has continued to give back to her 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:01.720 community through her Pinky Coal Foundation True Force. I am 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:05.000 honored to sit down with Pinky to learn more about 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:09.760 what brought her from teacher to television producer to now 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.880 owning and operating her Slutty Vecan Empire. 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:23.000 Have you always gone by Pinky since the day that 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.320 I came out of the womb? I'll tell you a 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.280 story about that. So my godmother, her name is Yvonne. 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:32.200 My father he got sentenced to thirty five years in 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:35.279 prison on the day that I was born. So she 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.520 was in the hospital with my mother and I was 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:40.520 super super pink, right, don't X But I was pink, 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.359 very pink. So she says she is pink. We're gonna 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.840 call her Pinky. My mother laughed at her, but do 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.360 you know that name's Duck. Since the day that I 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:52.160 was born, everybody knows me as Pinky, which is full 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:55.880 circle to me because I named my daughter D just 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:56.440 the letter D. 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.520 Just the letter you know you've never heard that. Really. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.000 Reason why I did that is because growing up I 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.560 knew that I was extra special. Because people were so 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.640 interested in wondering why the hell my name was pinky? Right, 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.200 So because of that, they were so intrigued by it, 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:13.080 and they wanted to get to know me because her 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.520 name is not normal, like, her name is not similar 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:18.920 to what we typically hear on a day to day basis. 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.640 So growing up, all through my life, I was always 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.480 very popular. Everybody always knew me, but I really believed 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:27.120 that there was power in my name. 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:29.720 What did you think you were going to be when 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:30.320 you grew up? 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.080 When I was a kid, my grandmother used to watch 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:38.880 Golden Girls, Okay every single day, days of our lives 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.159 and as the world turns, So I was not watching cartoons. 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.920 I didn't grow up watching cartoons. So I always had 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:47.640 a mature state of mind. So when I was a kid, 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.360 when everybody was playing with dolls and I wasn't, I said, 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:52.080 I'm going to be a star. I'm going to be 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.119 a billionaire. I used to say it every single day 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:57.320 and people would laugh at me, like pinky crazy. But 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.159 we believe her, but she's crazy. And I knew in 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.400 my heart that I had something special because I just 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:04.520 felt like I was wired differently. I'm like nobody in 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.359 the world thinks like me, Like I was thirteen years 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:11.239 old and fourteen having parties selling candies, selling frozen cups, 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.120 like I was a hustler at a very young age, 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:15.039 Like where did I get I'm like hustle man? 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:15.720 Like how? 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:20.120 And I realized that I wanted to be more than regular. 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:25.159 I saw extraordinary people doing regular things, and one of 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:29.039 those biggest examples was my mother. My mother is my 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.400 favorite person in the world. I love her to death, 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:35.000 and she's so talented. But I saw her work at 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.320 the same company for the last what thirty six years now, 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.400 and while it's a great company that she works for, 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.320 I realized that she worked so hard all of her 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.400 life for someone else. So in my mind, I said, Okay, 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:48.200 I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna be a star so 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.440 that my mother does not have to work for somebody 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:51.719 for the rest of her life. 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:52.800 So when you asked me. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:54.240 What did I think I was going to be, I 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.640 didn't know it was gonna be flipping burgers and shaking fries. However, 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:00.520 I knew that I had something to offer the world, 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.240 and it just took for me to unlock that potential. 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:04.720 And that was slutty begin. 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:08.479 What were those steps did you feel like along the 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.640 way to unlock the potential? Like, I feel like if 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:11.960 you had it in you that you were going to 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:14.360 be successful, and you had it in you, it sounds 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.200 like that you were going to be entrepreneurial to some degree, 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:19.800 there must have been some fits and starts. 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:21.720 I always felt like the underdog. 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:24.040 I always felt like the girl in a room that 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.080 had to overly prove myself. But that was the best 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:29.480 thing that could have happened to me, because always having 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.120 to prove yourself means that you never get comfortable. So 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:36.480 throughout the years, I'm always proving myself. But in proving myself, 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:39.960 it made me always be on my toes. And because 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.119 I was always on my toes, it made me realize that, like, okay, 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:44.640 I gotta get it, like I got to figure out 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.160 ways to get it. I don't know at the time 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:48.760 what I was chasing, but I was chasing something, and 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.400 I realized that entrepreneurship was something that I was really 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.480 good at and I like to talk to people, and 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:57.000 in talking to people, I knew that, like, if I 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.560 continue to do this and be consistent at it, I 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:03.040 can build something really great and something really big. What 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.280 did you do right out of college? So I got 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.760 a job working at Teach for America. So I did 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:12.640 not want to be a teacher and shout out to 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:14.880 all the teachers, but that is not my ministry. 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:16.840 And by the way, I feel like their whole model 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.600 is to take college graduates who are stars. 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.280 That's exactly we put it in a classroom. 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.240 Who don't necessarily want to be teachers, but then get 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:25.280 them the experience and they. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.880 Go on to do incredible things, exactly, and they only 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:29.679 want the best. I was the queen of my school, 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.040 so like how they have homecoming Queen. So I was 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.280 Miss clark Land University shout out to CiU and that 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:37.640 is like Miss America at an HBCU. 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:37.959 Right. 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:40.480 So I was a queen of the school and I'm like, Okay, 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.280 I don't want to be a teacher. But I was 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.000 one of the most popular girls on campus, but I 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.880 could not find a job. So I took the job. 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:48.280 My mother was like, just take it. It was in 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.360 the heart of a recession. They were paying me forty 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.559 five thousand dollars a year, and I'm like, okay. 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:53.920 Cool, this is a lot of money at the time. 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:58.880 So I went to Houston after graduating, and in five 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.199 days of being there, I'm like, I. 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:01.840 Can't do this. 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.199 And my friend gave me forty dollars and I went 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.520 to the airport with my dog, Rudy, and while I 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:09.920 was at the airport, there was this guy from Southwest. 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.560 She gave me two hundred and forty dollars to get home. 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:14.680 I was dead broke. I didn't have any money. So 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:16.840 that's what I did after college. 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.880 Not sure if her next move, but knowing it wasn't 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.520 home or to Texas, she packed her bags and flew 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:26.120 to LA without a plan. 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.160 Two hundred and fifty dollars, a Duffel bag and a 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.200 suitcase and thirty resumes that my mom printed out at 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.800 her job. And I went to LA and in six 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.280 days I got two jobs, one working for the Census, 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:43.719 one working at DSW. 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.920 But I had no plan. I just had confidence. 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.800 Broke in a new city and without a job, Pinky 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:57.080 hustled and applied to Central Michigan University just to get 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.960 a refund to make ends meet. It was then an 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.360 old sorority sister gave her an opportunity to work as 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.559 a production assistant for six hundred and fifty dollars a week. 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.320 So I took the job as a production assistant, and 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:14.000 at about two to three months I moved up and 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:15.000 I became a producer. 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:16.440 I was really good at it. 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.360 And I was in LA and got a call from 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:21.240 New York saying that they wanted me to come to 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.520 New York to work on a TV show. And that's 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:26.000 how I ended up in New York started working on 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:26.400 a show. 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:31.079 That show was none other than The Maury Show from 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:31.640 New York. 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.640 I opened up my first restaurant called Pinkies Jamaican, an 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:35.560 American restaurant. 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.120 I mean, opening a restaurant is a big deal. Were 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.680 you doing it as your side hustle while being a producer? 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:42.440 The restaurant was the side hustle. 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:44.720 How did you know how to open? I would not 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:46.360 begin to know how to open a restaurant if it 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:47.600 was my full time job today. 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:49.840 So I went to the school called Google. 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:54.280 Okay, Google and YouTube really hopped me out a lot, 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.359 which I think a lot of people underestimate those resources. 0:10:57.600 --> 0:10:59.320 And I had my four to one K saved up, 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.720 and as a twenty six year old woman, a black 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.360 woman who did not learn about financial literacy, like you 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:05.720 know what I'm saying, I'm doing great. I got a 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.640 seven hundred almost eight hundred credit score, I got a 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:09.199 four to one K. 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:11.160 I'm doing a thing. 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.360 And then I opened up my restaurant based on what 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:14.400 I learned online. 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:16.480 I didn't know what I was doing then. I still 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:17.480 don't know what I'm doing now. 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:22.200 Pinky dove headfirst into the restaurant. Although the school of 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.600 Google took her far, it was really her family and 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:27.679 roots and cooking that carried her through. 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.120 I know how to cook it because growing up in 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.440 a Jamaican household, my grandmother would cook some of that food. 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.679 My mother is a Rastafarian, so my mother's been a 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:38.920 vegetarian all of my life. I've never seen her eat meat. 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:40.880 She's never wore makeup, never seen it with air rings, 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.280 she never shaved. She's just a very natural woman. So 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:45.440 I ate when my mother ate, and my grandmother would 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:47.199 sneak in and try to give us chicken here and there. 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:49.040 My mother would get mad sometimes, you know. 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:53.679 But I was ninety percent vegetarian growing up, and then 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.400 in two thousand and seven, I went fully vegetarian. I 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:58.920 decided to eliminate all meat and I was only eating fish, 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.480 and then almost nine years ago, I went completely vegan. 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.720 Okay, so you're a producer now on Maury and you 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:06.800 have your restaurant. 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:10.800 Is the restaurant successful, well, I was grossing like thirty 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:13.800 three thousand dollars a month. I was also making at 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.040 the time eighty five thousand dollars a year as a 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.040 producer at the time, which again at that time was 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:20.679 a lot of money. 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:22.480 So it wasn't enough of me to leave. 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:26.079 But I eventually left because I couldn't juggle the three 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.760 because I ended up opening a juice bar right down 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.920 the street, and I sold juice out the juice bar. 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:33.440 So I had the juice bar, the restaurant, and I 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.280 was a producer. I'm like, I'm an octopus. I have 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:38.760 to figure out how to make this make sense. At 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:40.720 this time, I was no longer working at the moriy 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.480 Show because I'm like, okay, bye, I'm going to run 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:45.480 my business. You know what I'm saying, Like, I'm going 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:47.400 to grow my brain. I believe in my vision. 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.080 What happened next was not in Pinky's grand plan to 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.880 become a billionaire, and in fact forced her to pivot. 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.440 I had a grease fire, and I remember it like 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:00.360 it was yesterday. I closed up the restund I was 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.600 about eleven o'clock. I went home and I got a 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:04.360 call from I think it was a fire department of 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:06.480 police department, but I think it was fire department. And 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.079 they called me and they told me that the restaurant 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:09.760 was on fire, that I need to come down. So 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.320 I lived about ten blocks from the restaurant. When I came, 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.000 they had just gotten all the It was very smoky. 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:17.640 They just like put the fire out. Windows was busted, 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.280 everything like everything in there was not salvageable. So I 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.040 had just enough money to pay the bills to keep 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.640 up some When I lost their revenue, I was only 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.120 relying on the revenue for my juice bar, so all 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.280 of that money diminished really really fast. So then my 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:34.440 car got repulled, and then I got kicked out. 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.560 Of my apartment. So there was like a domino effect 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:37.439 of all of these things. 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.160 But it's such a beautiful feeling to talk about it now, 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.560 because that was really just God taking those things away 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:46.600 from me. I needed that to happen so that I 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:49.880 can shift and adjust and do something new. And sometimes 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:53.920 we go through difficulties in our personal and professional lives 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.360 so that we could see a different light. Right, Like 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:58.680 the light that I was looking at was dim. The 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:00.520 light that I was supposed to be looking at was 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:02.520 a lot brighter. But it took for me to remove 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:04.800 that dim light to get to that brighter light. 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.920 How quickly was that mental transition for you to go? 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:10.640 I mean, I have to imagine that was a real 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.360 low point. It was a very low point for me. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.079 I was a pageant girl. I'm a sorority girl. 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.880 So like anything that I've ever done has turned to 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.160 go growing up, like I was just always the girl, 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:24.440 like that vibrant energy personality. So this was the first 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:28.560 time in my life that I've experienced tribulation. 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.160 Where it was just like, Okay, this is a moment. 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:33.000 You can either change the course of the circumstance or 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.800 you can sit and dwell in it and like become 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:37.520 a victim of that circumstance. 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:39.080 And I wasn't willing to be a victim. 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:42.120 I almost they almost got me, but I wasn't willing 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.960 to stay a victim of that circumstance, so to lose 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.400 the thing that you live in and breathe in every 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.080 single day, and you've created a pattern for yourself and 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.160 then you lose it and then you go broke. 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:55.680 At the same time, it was very difficult, but. 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.840 Then she had the stroke of luck. She needed a 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.760 job in La back on Oprah's network own as a 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:06.560 casting director for the show Eanla fixed my life. 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.000 When they offered me the job, it was a no brainer. 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:13.040 I said yes, I moved to La as a casting director. 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:15.640 Did you feel like you had failed because you had 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.160 tried the restaurant and then couldn't revive it? 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:20.040 I feel like I failed. 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:25.960 But what revived my feeling of failure and not feeling 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:28.520 like a failure is when I got the opportunity to 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:31.200 work on the show. And the best thing about working 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.440 on the show that I was working on is it 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:36.200 was a show about therapy right and helping people like 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.640 unlock their trauma so that they can heal. This is 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.280 like for me, like I am a casting director for 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.400 a show that provides healing for people who needs it 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.280 all the while I need a god dag on healing 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.640 and I'm getting the healing all the same time while 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:50.360 still getting paid. 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:51.440 It was just a win win for me. 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.080 So I didn't even have enough time to really think, 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.880 because once I started working, I was helping people unlock 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:58.720 their trauma while healing mine. 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.240 Were you thinking that you would get back into restaurants? 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.240 That this was just no? No, you was done. 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.160 I was done because I realized in that moment when 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:08.760 I lost the restaurant, a lot of people that I 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:10.920 thought would be there for me were not. And I 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.720 also realized that some people just don't have the capacity 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:15.200 to be there for you like you need to. 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:16.440 And that's okay, it's life. 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.560 While on hiatus, brian La fixed my life. She did 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:24.760 what she did best. She hustled. I'm not prideful. 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.640 So I started doing door Dash and like grub hub, right, 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:29.840 so I was delivering food for mind you, I was 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.240 making money. So I was delivering for door Dash and 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:33.760 one day I found. 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.520 This facility that was a shared kitchen. 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:39.440 And it had like six different restaurants but it was 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:40.520 just delivery only. 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.640 So I'm like, damn, that's a really cool idea. 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.720 So registered that and then the job was like okay, Pinky, 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:47.680 we need you to go to Atlanta to be on 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.480 the ground with the shelf in just about three months. 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:49.880 That's it. 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:52.320 I picked up all of my bags and I put 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.040 it in a storage right And that was four years 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:58.880 ago in July. And then I moved temporarily to Atlanta. 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.760 And when I moved to Atlanta, that's when I came 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:03.200 up with Slutty Vegan. 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:04.240 And the rest is history. 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:08.359 From Sludy Vegan, what started as a food truck is 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.240 now a multi million dollar brand with billion dollar dreams 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:13.240 in our business. 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.240 Reformerlitionize the cuisine of Veganism down South. 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:16.720 Welcome. 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.960 I love the name of your restaurant, Floody Vegans, Slutty Vegan. 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:24.440 Her name is Pinky Cold, Pinky s Imagination. 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:25.640 Thank you so much. 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:25.960 Hello. 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:28.840 If you have not gotten Slutterfied, come on down. We 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:30.400 are here at Sellaberria is trying to. 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:31.199 Get you slutterfied. 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.439 We promise you it's working your way. But let me 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.520 tell you something spiritual that happened to me. So about 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.200 four weeks before I came up with Sluddy Vegan, I said, 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.240 I'm gonna start running every day, five miles a day. 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:43.160 I'm gonna read a book to day don't ask me why, 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:45.399 crazy right, And I can't even believe I did. 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:47.200 It, but I did it, and I lost a lot 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:47.480 of weight. 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:49.560 I was reading all types of books like I just 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:51.119 got super smart, real fast. 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:53.119 I don't know what I was preparing for. 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:54.280 That's what I know. 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:57.960 Like, I realize now the moment that you tap into 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.480 your purpose, something really really big happens, whether it's really 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:05.119 good or whether it's really bad. Something happens before you 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.439 unlock that key to your purpose. And what happened for 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.000 me is I started running. It was like I was 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.560 training for the Olympics. Floody Vegan is the Olympics that 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.439 I've been training for, and I opened Fludy Vegan in 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:18.240 the share kitchen. 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:19.879 So it's just digital first. 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.800 But I was basically mimicking what I saw when I 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.600