Tech Tycoon Lauren Maillian Named President Of Slutty Vegan

[ad_1] by Janee Bolden June 5, 2025

A game-changing transfer for Black ladies in enterprise

Slutty Vegan founder and CEO Pinky Cole is beginning a brand new chapter—and she or he’s not turning the web page alone. In a transfer that alerts daring intentions and even bolder execution, Cole has appointed Lauren Maillian as President of the wildly standard plant-based model. Maillian formally started her position June 4.

“That is the primary time that I've an all-woman workers in my company, which is tremendous, tremendous thrilling,” Cole shared. “Particularly after I take into consideration who I'm to Black ladies entrepreneurs in America… I do know it’s gonna be nice.”

Her optimism hits tougher while you perceive what she’s needed to rebuild. Earlier this 12 months, Pinky was concerned in a severe automobile accident that left her bodily injured and emotionally shaken. That very same season, she quietly misplaced management of her firm—an expertise she has since described as probably the most humbling chapters of her entrepreneurial journey.

“I misplaced the corporate February thirteenth. I purchased the corporate again March twenty eighth. And now at the moment, I’ve appointed my President of Slutty Vegan—who's the second president ever, and the primary Black lady.”

The management shift comes because the model strikes ahead into its subsequent part, which Cole calls Slutty Vegan 2.0. For Pinky and Lauren Maillian it’s additionally a full-circle second practically a decade within the making.

Their earliest encounter was pretty random and simple to miss. “Our very, very, very first encounter was very casual,” Maillian recalled. “We had been each talking that very same 12 months, which I imagine was 2017 for John Hope Bryant on the Operation Hope convention—on the backside of the escalator. That was the very first time. And that very same day I had my very first Slutty Vegan burger too.”

Cole confirmed the reminiscence: “I truly bear in mind that now. And it was you and your husband on the backside of the escalator… after which after that was Indianapolis, proper, Lauren?”

The 2 reconnected lately at Kim Blackwell’s ExcelerateHER occasion. That’s when the dialog turned from admiration to motion.

“It actually felt like enterprise love at first sight,” Cole mentioned. “I want anyone that may are available and simply be my proper hand and actually take the enterprise to the subsequent stage… And at the moment truly is Lauren’s first day.”

For Maillian, becoming a member of Slutty Vegan wasn’t only a skilled determination—it was private.

“I bear in mind even saying, like, ‘Can I make investments? Is there room for me?’ I needed to be part of Pinky’s imaginative and prescient. I needed to be part of the best way that she was lighting the trade on fireplace,” she mentioned.

With 20+ years of enterprise management, together with time in VC, media, tech, and meals and beverage, Maillian sees this second as one in all alignment: “That is additionally very private for me… very synergistic with the life that I lead and permitting me to indicate up as Lauren Maillian wholly and absolutely in each a part of my private {and professional} life.”

“There’s somebody crucial on Pinky’s crew that I’ve labored with… on some actually huge offers,” Maillian mentioned. “Every part simply clicked for us… And what risk-taking and producing the appropriate rewards seems to be like. So yeah, full circle in so some ways.”

Cole emphasised the importance of their management dynamic: “In Slutty Vegan 1.0, it was very man-heavy… It is a new power. It’s a brand new alternative to indicate that ladies are dynamic—particularly Black ladies.”

And it’s not nearly identification—it’s about execution. “I'm rah rah, this uncooked power that's in your face, loud and vibrant,” Cole mentioned. “I feel that Lauren will deliver a way of sophistication and quietness to the whole lot… She will be able to take these concepts and execute them in a means the place they are often scalable. And that’s actually what has been lacking.”

Slutty Vegan’s progress plan is expansive—and VOAGIES, Cole’s new plant-based sub idea, is only the start. “We're remodeling programs,” Cole shared. “Stabilization is vital proper now… after which we get again into progress mode: CPG, hyper progress, scale, verticals. Now we’re placing it on steroids.”

Maillian’s focus? Innovation by way of tech, client expertise, and operational precision. “We’re actually going to be recreating a playbook of how to have the ability to construct and scale excellence… Each retailer, each social media interplay, every bit of merch. That's one thing that's going to be a big a part of my focus within the subsequent quarter.”

When requested what recommendation she would share with different Black ladies trying to construct their enterprise, Maillian shared a strong reflection: “You don’t get the whole lot you deserve, however you positively deserve the whole lot you get. And that's how I really feel on this season.”

Pinky Cole echoed that sentiment along with her personal testimony: “There are going to be individuals, locations, and issues that let you know you could’t do it… Six months in the past was the roughest season of my life. And now I’m getting into one of the best season of my life.”