Pinky Cole

Pinky Cole was born and raised in Baltimore. Her parents are Jamaican immigrants and Rastafarians; her mother Ichelle Cole is a musician in the reggae group Strykers' Posse and follows the traditional Rastafarian vegetarian diet. Her mother is a wealth adviser at PNC Bank Her father served prison time for the first 20 years of her life and was then deported to Jamaica. Cole became a vegetarian in 2007, and a vegan in 2014.

Cole received her bachelor's degree from Clark Atlanta University. She was elected “Miss CAU” in 2008 and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. After college, Cole moved first to Los Angeles to become an actress, and then to New York to work in television production. In 2010, she moved to Los Angeles and worked as a producer on the reality show Judge Karen’s Court. She left television briefly to launch a Harlem restaurant. In 2016, Cole moved back to Atlanta and worked as a casting director for programs such as Iyanla: Fix My Life.

Other ventures

In November 2022, Cole published a cookbook titled Eat Plants, B*tch: 91 Vegan Recipes That Will Blow Your Meat-Loving Mind. VegNews listed it as one of the "Top 100 Vegan Cookbooks of All Time" in 2024. She has also published a self-help book titled I Hope You Fail, which draws from her experiences as a restaurateur.

Cole also runs her own philanthropic organization, The Pinky Cole Foundation, which focuses on providing financial support and educational programs for children of color. She has also on multiple occasions provided financial assistance to students of her alma mater, Clark Atlanta University.

Marriage

Cole met entrepreneur Derrick Hayes in 2020. The couple became engaged on July 2, 2022, and married on June 10, 2023, at The St. Regis Hotel in Atlanta. The ceremony was covered by the New York Times. Hayes is the owner of Big Dave's Cheesesteaks, a non-vegan cheesesteak restaurant based in Atlanta. They have a daughter, D'Ella (born 2021), and son, Derrick Jr. (born 2022). Hayes has two daughters from a previous relationship, Dallas and Denver. At their 2023 wedding, the couple announced Cole was pregnant and they are expecting a third child, a boy, in December.

On November 11, 2022, Pinky Cole was named alongside three others in a lawsuit filed by an ex-employee of Bar Vegan against the restaurant. The employee alleged that the restaurant was withholding wages from her in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case was eventually settled, but according to the plaintiff's lawyers (as of April 2025), Cole failed to pay the amount agreed to in the settlement.

Slutty Vegan has also been sued by Asana Partners LLC for an amount totaling over $87,000 in unpaid rent, late fees, and interest. Asana Partners LLC owns the properties in Atlanta which host both Slutty Vegan and Cole's The Morning After restaurant. As of January 2023 there is a pending lawsuit over lost wages from an ex-employee.