Pinky Cole, the founder of Atlanta-based eater, The Slutty Vegan, revisited The Karen Hunter Show to speak about the work her charity, The Pinky Cole Foundation, is doing.
“I always make this joke. I started my foundation really as a way to formalize me giving up all my money for free, because I just like to help people,” says Cole. “And my CRO was like, ‘All right, you giving up too much money. Now we need to put this in place.’ So I started the foundation in 2019, and it was really a way to help bridge the generational wealth gap. So when you talk about things that are happening in our community, I really wanted to use my platform and my resources to fix the things that are happening in the community. So I like to call myself a hood politician.”
Cole talked passionately about the incredible things her charity has been able to accomplish.
“We’ve paid the balances of 30 Clark Atlanta University students so that they could walk across the stage,” she begins. “I partnered with Impossible Foods and Jermaine Dupri to get people excited about the past election that just happened. I think that we played a role in turning Georgia blue.”
Cole continues, “We [partnered] with the Steve Harvey and Marjorie Harvey Foundation to provide lights for families in Atlanta that needed them. When Rashard Brooks was murdered in the front of that Wendy’s parking lot, myself and another colleague we came together and provided $600,000 worth of scholarships with the help of CAU, life insurance for the family. We bought a brand new car for the family. I’ve given out thousands of pounds of fruits and vegetables to people in the communities in which I serve. I’ve given out thousands of coats to people in the communities in which I serve. We’ve donated vehicles. We’ve donated resources to business and partnership.”
Cole shared that her foundation has recently teamed up with Atlanta restauranteur, Derrick Hayes, to provide every Black man in Atlanta who makes $30,000 or less with life insurance.”
Watch the interview below:
