To celebrate Slutty Vegan’s 6th anniversary, its founder and CEO, Pinky Cole Hayes has rewarded two of her longtime employees, Angel Barnwell and Miesha Hambrick with their own franchise. The two women have been crucial in the brand’s operations and logistics since its inception. They will now become the first-ever restaurant licensees of the brand.
“Since 2018, before all the stores, the lights and the scaling, Angel and Miesha put blood, sweat and tears in my business. Angel was running the logistics and Miesha ran operations. I couldn’t have done any of this without them… So now I want to make their dreams come true. I am no longer the only entrepreneur at the table,” Cole expressed her gratitude on Instagram.
Barnwell has been working with Slutty Vegan as a social media intern in 2018. She worked her way up through the company ranks, becoming Cole’s personal and executive assistant before being promoted to business manager. She served as the assistant vice president in her most recent role.
Hambrick also joined Slutty Vegan in 2018, a month after the first restaurant location opened. As the operations manager, she has been in charge of operational flow, testing out new markets, and ensuring the functionality of the locations. Hambrick also led Slutty Vegan’s tour operations, taking the brand to different locations on the road to connect with customers.
Cole opened Slutty Vegan in the summer of 2018 out of a shared kitchen. She went from selling vegan burgers through delivery apps to opening her first storefront a year later. Cole raised $25 million in a Series A funding round in 2021, bringing the brand’s valuation to $100 million. Barnwell and Hambrick’s restaurant will be the 15th location in the franchise.
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Cole’s gift to Barnwell and Hambrick is only the most recent exploit in her long track record of empowering the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. Earlier in the year, she gifted $8.75 million to the graduating class of 2024 at Savannah State University. She also gifted the graduating class of her alma mater, Clark Atlanta University, LLCs to begin businesses in 2022.
“I am passionate about lifting up the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs of our world. I know firsthand what it means to have mentorship and how someone believing in your dream can make a difference,” Cole said during her commencement speech at Savannah State University.
