Pinky Cole Hayes joins BOSSIP’s celebration of Black Business Month and opens up about changing the game while transforming herself in this era of evolution. In addition to a flourishing family and rapidly expanding empire, Cole Hayes is making headlines for taking the “Pinky Effect” to a new collaboration.
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Last month, REVOLT revealed Pinky Cole Hayes as the inaugural Creative Visionary in Residence. According to REVOLT CEO Detavio Samuels, the $100 million mogul “will bring her proven expertise as both a world-class innovator and operator to imagine new ways the brand can empower creators while advancing the culture.”
“Pinky has always been committed to making a positive impact on Black communities and building successful brands in unconventional spaces, which perfectly aligns with our values and makes us look forward to the transformative work we’re doing together,” said Samuels in a statement.
In an exclusive interview, the Slutty Vegan founder and CEO tells BOSSIP about creating the Creative Visionary in Residence role at Revolt, “snapping back” to business after three babies, and the future she sees for Black women bosses like Vice President Kamala Harris.
Source: Sydney Foster / Getty
We’ve just begun Black Business Month, so you’re the lady of the hour to speak to. Your name has become synonymous with creative and visionary leadership, but how did this inaugural REVOLT Creative Visionary In Residence come about?
It’s interesting because I did a podcast with Detavio with my then boyfriend, Derrick, and I was sitting and I’m like, ‘Detavio, I got this great idea. We need to do a residency program where I come in and I help with big ideas.’ And he was sold on it at the moment that I said it, and he was like, “I love it. I got to work through it logistically, but let’s keep talking. Let’s make it work.”
And then months later here we are, I’m in the role. I am the first person ever to be in this role, which I’m excited about because I’m almost like the guinea pig, but I also get to come up with the really great big ideas and then show the world what creatives can do.
So I’m excited to partner with REVOLT. REVOLT is already a great platform, and I get to give them my crazy big ideas so that they can execute on their main stages and in their network and really set the tone for the next person that will come after me.
And speaking of setting the tone, how does this exciting collaboration with REVOLT fit into your larger legacy that you’ve built across so many platforms and businesses?
I want to be known as the Pinky Effect. You don’t have to put yourself in one box. If I want to be a singer, I’m going to do that. If I want to be a creative visionary in residence for REVOLT, I want to do that. If I want to own a multi-million dollar burger empire, I’m going to do that.
If I want to have a collective collaborative space for entrepreneurs and creatives, I should be able to do that all while being a mother, all while being a wife, all while being a CEO, and I shouldn’t have to limit the things that I love to do just because society tells you that you have to stay in one space. That’s what I want people to remember.
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The announcement mentions that you’ll be helping creators with developing ideas. What are some of the keys you’ve learned about turning a good idea into a great and successful idea?
Well, you got to pay attention to all the things that could possibly go wrong and work through those things first. So when I come up with an idea, I’m thinking about I need to show myself all the ways that it won’t work and then reverse-engineer it and dissect it and find the solutions to those problems so then I make it bulletproof and I know that this thing will work because I went through every single avenue of roadblock.
And I think that that’s kind of the methodology of how you should approach coming up with new ideas that could end up being executed in places like REVOLT and other great opportunities. So just reverse-engineering what the creative idea is and making sure that you find all the holes and all the speed bumps and seal them so that you can have a bulletproof idea.
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So you support, motivate, and help empower other creators and entrepreneurs with ventures like the Creative Visionary In Residence with REVOLT and the American Sesh series with your husband, Derrick Hayes. What helps keep you motivated and inspired as a creative and an entrepreneur?
The fact that I don’t want to end up as a Netflix documentary. I’m kidding, but I’m telling the truth. I got so much riding on me, it’s a lot of pressure. I can’t fail, I can’t lose. There’s so many people that are believing in me, expecting me to win, because they see me still striving in the midst of all of my obstacles. So it’s bigger than just me at this point.
So I am the quintessential example of entrepreneurship, Black woman entrepreneurship, woman entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship and being a mother at the same time, being a wife and an entrepreneur, right? Being somebody from an inner-city community, being the descendants of Jamaicans as an entrepreneur. So I check every single freaking box.
So what motivates me is the fact that there is a Mercedes-Benz Arena stadium of people that are rooting for me and some people that are not rooting for me, but nonetheless, they’re still in the room. And I got to make sure that I’m showing up every single step of the way because I may come as one, but I stand as 10,000. It may just look like me, but there’s so many other people behind me. And the decisions that I make as an entrepreneur in this journey will affect every single person that will come behind me.
You mentioned identities that aren’t always considered the face of business leaders and success as a mother, as a woman, a Black woman. What do you say to people feeling fear between them and their dream because they don’t think they look like the conventional picture of success?
That’s what makes you qualified, because you don’t look like the picture of success. The most successful people in the world, what does success look like? Success ain’t got no look.
The people who don’t fit the bill are the most uniquely created in divinity that they have the ability to separate themselves and stand apart from the crowd and be super unique so that they can make this stamp in whatever industry that they’re in.
One thing about me is I pay attention to things that look different from the norm, and I think everybody else does, right? And those are the special pieces.
Listen, when I started, I had locs down to my behind and I’m a vegan and I’m thick, and I’m married to a non-vegan. I don’t fit none of the check marks that society says that I should fit, but guess what? I’m doing it in the most authentic way. I’m humble.
Continue reading about Pinky Cole Hayes building an empire with a growing family, facing failure, and advice from six years of Slutty Vegan Success after the flip.
The post Black Business Month Exclusive: Pinky Cole Hayes Talks Creating REVOLT’s Creative Visionary In Residence, Slutty Vegan’s 6th Anniversary, & Kamala Harris appeared first on Bossip.
