Slutty Vegan founder Aisha “Pinky” Cole provided Clark Atlanta’s graduating class with an opportunity to become business owners during Saturday’s commencement ceremony in Atlanta.
Cole, an alumna of the historically Black college, announced she was gifting more than 800 graduates a limited liability company (LLC), encouraging the next generation to follow in her footsteps towards entrepreneurship. The 34-year-old also said she partnered with Varo Bank to make every graduate’s dream come true.
“Every single graduate in this audience will leave this stadium as a business owner,” she said.
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According to the press release, Cole graduated from CAU in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication/media studies. During her collegiate career, she was crowned Miss Clark Atlanta in 2008 and initiated into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Sigma Chapter.
“It is a full-circle moment to have Ms. Aisha Pinky Cole serve as Clark Atlanta University’s 2022 Commencement orator. We are excited that Pinky — as we affectionately call her – will serve her alma mater in this capacity,” said CAU President George T. French Jr., Ph.D. “We look forward to hearing her inspiring message to our scholars as we utilize this final opportunity of preparing them to conquer the world.”
In the commencement address, Cole opened up about her struggles after graduation. While many students are still trying to find their purpose, Cole shared similar views after accepting a teaching position in Houston. However, she said, “all it took was five days for me to realize I was not cut out to be a classroom teacher.”
She then spoke about her finances and having to borrow $40 from a friend, not knowing where she was going next. When an airline employee saw her crying, she said the person gave her $240 for a plane ticket home.
“Why am I telling you this? I’m telling you this because 13 years later, that same broken and broke little girl now owns and operates not one but two multimillion-dollar businesses in the middle of a pandemic,” Cole told the graduates.
“I’m telling this to you, the class of 2022,” Cole said, “that I want you to fail.”
“In failure,” she said, is where you find inspiration.
“I want you to fail so hard you become an expert in failure, and you get a Ph.D. in failology, she said. “I want you to fail because failing is not failing at all – it is finding aspiration in the losses.”
The business owner told 11 Alive that the partnership with Varo Bank cost more than $400,000 to cover LLC fees.
“Pinky Cole had a business and lost everything. My car got repoed, got kicked out of my house, went flat broke, almost lost my mind – and almost four years later, she now owns and operates a $100 million vegan brand. She found aspiration in the losses,” Cole said. “You think I was gonna give up because of some failure? Hell no. And neither will you.”
Cole started her path towards entrepreneurship when she started selling Slutty Vegan burgers out of her apartment on Instagram in 2018. And now, the Slutty Vegan empire is worth more than $100 million, with Cole securing $25 million, according to a recent Forbes report. In addition, she plans to open ten restaurant locations by the end of 2022 and 10 more by 2023.
Clark Atlanta is the largest HBCU in Georgia. Click below to watch the 2022 spring commencement ceremony.
