Slutty Vegan Owner Pinky Cole’s Near-Fatal Car Accident Forced Her To Find Her Ease

Aisha "Pinky" Cole is responsible for making vegan food accessible, delicious, and a little bit (or a lotta bit) slutty. The owner and operator of Slutty Vegan, the premiere plant-based vegan burger restaurant located in Georgia, New York, and Texas, sparked a movement for a culture that often felt overlooked in the fast food market.

Pinky successfully operated Slutty Vegan with her memorable food items such as "Sloppy Toppy," and "Chick'N Head." From serving her burgers through food delivery trucks in 2018 to securing 11 Slutty Vegan locations, the Atlanta-based entrepreneur's career was only up from here. But, she soon endured several signs she needed to slow down before plotting her next win.

In an interview with People, Pinky shared what happened to her that led to her unwillingly slowing down in her business and life. For the first time, the food entrepreneur spoke to the outlet about a near-fatal car accident she experienced while driving in Atlanta. Pinky shared that, as she was driving at 70 mph on the highway in Atlanta, a mattress flew into and smashed Pinky’s windshield.

“It was like Final Destination,” she said. “I'm not the person to get in accidents, and I wasn't on the phone. I wasn't texting.”

On March 12, Pinky's husband, Big Dave's Cheesesteaks owner Derrick Hayes, posted a photo from Pinky's accident, showing a close-up photo of the cracked windshield. The father of her children — D Ella, Derrick Jr., and, David — said he was grateful to have his wife at the end of the day.

"So thankful my wife is good," he confirmed on Instagram.

Pinky, for her part, deemed the accident as a blessing in disguise, noting she felt like she needed to rest before the accident occurred, joking God "threw a d--- bed on me” to remind her of the importance of rest.

Pinky said the accident came during a time when Slutty Vegan struggled financially. In addition to the accident, she recalled having a "rocky 2024" that included her business in the red.

"Our corporate overhead was about $10 million,” Pinky stated. “I was chasing something that I couldn't catch for so many reasons.”

In February 2025, after over seven years of being the sole owner of Slutty Vegan, the CEO decided restructure the company, a move she pondered over due to how the decision would make her look in her community.

"I fought it for a long time, to be honest, and I didn't want to do it," Pinky admitted. "I didn't want to face the public scrutiny,” she confessed. “I didn't want to face the opinions of others because I know I built something that's so doted by so many people. I could have easily gone to social media and did a rally cry for help, but I didn't want to be a victim.”

Although Pinky has had many setbacks while working on her business, including a grease fire at Slutty Vegan in 2016, she's no stranger to a few roadblocks.

"There's going to be a couple of left turns that you're going to make, you're going to make a couple of U-turns," she professed. "There's going to be some speed bumps in the road,” she said of her business journey. “Somebody’s going to throw a mattress at you — but that is not reason enough to give up.”

Pinky decided to use her accident as another part of her testimony, which she shares more of in her book, I Hope You Fail. In addition to making her debut as an author, she is ready to expand the Slutty Vegan brand on a global scale. She explained the new space will have the same feel as her 11 U.S. stores but with a new level of "elevation and growth."

“Global expansion is big for 2.0.” Pinky revealed. “We've been talking about Dubai and Africa and just really scaling Slutty Vegan beyond the U.S. There's some great opportunities for other people to get invested in the brand by way of having their own Slutty Vegan, which I'll be able to share [more about] that in the future."