Aisha “Pinky” Cole, the founder of the fast-food chain Slutty Vegan and the newest cast member of the coming season of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” said on Thursday that “business debt” drove her to personal bankruptcy.
Testifying under oath during a meeting of creditors in her bankruptcy case, the 38-year-old entrepreneur said she had personally guaranteed much of her business’s debt, prompting creditors to pursue her for repayment.
“The creditors were coming after me,” said Cole, who is set to star in Season 17 of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” next month.
Cole launched Slutty Vegan in 2018 from a shared kitchen in Atlanta, before the business grew into more than a dozen brick-and-mortar locations.
At its peak, the business — known for plant-based burgers like the “Sloppy Toppy” or the “Super Slut” — was reportedly worth $100 million. Though the business has faced financial struggles in recent years, several outposts still remain open.
At the Thursday meeting of creditors, a federal bankruptcy trustee asked Cole how many bank accounts she currently had, to which she responded, “personally none.”
“I actually just closed my personal bank account the day after retaining counsel. I was not aware that I needed to close my existing bank account,” Cole said, adding that the account held about $6 when it was closed.
When asked if she had any source of income, Cole said, “not personally,” before clarifying that she has multiple properties that she rents out.
Under questioning from a representative of a South Carolina-based mortgage lender, Cole said she collects $1,500 a month in rent from one Georgia property and $1,800 a month from another. She added that she plans to lease another property beginning next month for $3,000 a month.
Three years of ‘missing’ tax returns
Cole personally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Georgia federal court last month, allowing her to reorganize her debts under court supervision in hopes of making them more manageable. Her filing estimated assets worth $1 million to $10 million and estimated liabilities in the same range.
Her handwritten bankruptcy petition shows that she owes $1.2 million to the US Small Business Administration for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan, plus $192,000 in state taxes to the Georgia Department of Revenue.
When Cole initially filed for Chapter 11, she did so as a “pro se” debtor, meaning she was not represented by a lawyer. But on Thursday, she told the trustee that she “soon realized” she needed an attorney and hired one.
“We’re actually working on amendments now, because I realized there’s a lot of amendments that need to be made,” Cole told the trustee.
During the creditors’ meeting, Cole also faced questioning from an IRS official over three years of “missing” tax returns.
“We’re showing that you are missing 2020, 2023, and 2024, and we show that there is income for those years,” the official said, requesting that those tax returns be filed “preferably” by the next creditors’ meeting in mid-April.
Cole’s bankruptcy attorney, Jamie Christy, then told the official she would reach out to Cole’s accountant “and see if we can figure this out before April 17.”
In a statement to Business Insider, Christy said: “We will be amending her schedules. Until then, no other comments will be made. Ms. Cole has retained me to aid her in her bankruptcy and that is what I will do.”
Rapping about bankruptcy
Cole appears to be taking her Chapter 11 restructuring filing in stride.
In a recent Instagram video, Cole — dressed as children’s educational YouTube star Ms. Rachel — broke down the bankruptcy process in a catchy rap set to the tune of Soulja Boy’s “Crank That.”
“Bankruptcy let’s learn code, seven liquidate and roll, 11 you reorganize, 13 pay it back slow,” she sang. “Now watch me file that bankruptcy, file that bankruptcy, file that bankruptcy, file that bankruptcy.”
Last year, Slutty Vegan entered a state-level restructuring process amid mounting debt that temporarily cost Cole ownership of the business, before she ultimately bought the brand back.
“It got to the point where I was paying $80,000 a week in payroll on my own. And I had to surrender,” Cole told Forbes in a 2025 interview. “Surrendering was the best thing that I could have ever done. Because what it taught me is that business is not a straight road, right? You’re gonna get a flat tire here and there. But it’s all about the bounce back, and I’m in my bounce back era.”
