“Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Aisha “Pinky” Cole detailed her income streams at a bankruptcy meeting Friday, saying she charges up to $50,000 for speaking engagements — and was “not sure” how much she gets paid for her time on the Bravo reality TV show.
Cole, the founder of the fast-food chain Slutty Vegan, testified under oath during a creditors meeting in her personal Chapter 11 bankruptcy case that she earns income from several rental properties, a “mentorship group” that she runs, and speaking gigs.
She told a federal bankruptcy trustee that the speaking work — for which she said she charges between $25,000 and $50,000 — has “been a bit slow.” Her last engagement was at a conference in January for $50,000, she said.
Cole said revenue from her speaking engagements goes through an LLC called Pinky Cole Enterprises and then into another entity from which she takes home roughly 75% after expenses.
“But not recently, though, because Pinky Cole Enterprises has had some debt on it because we took a loan and we’ve been paying that back,” the 38-year-old entrepreneur said.
Cole, who wore a black Slutty Vegan T-shirt to the meeting, told the trustee that she started a mentorship group in December and has been making about $800 a week from that.
“It’s just me giving them advice, business advice,” she said of the program. “It serves as, like, an accountability group for entrepreneurs.”
At one point, the trustee asked Cole whether she earns any income from “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” which she recently joined for its 17th season that premiered earlier this month.
Cole confirmed she receives a “lump sum” for her time on the TV show, but said she didn’t know the amount offhand. The trustee then asked her to provide a copy of her July 2025 contract related to the show, which Cole agreed to do.
In February, Cole filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Georgia federal court, seeking to reorganize her debts under court supervision.
Her bankruptcy petition said 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.
Cole told the trustee at a previous creditors’ meeting last month that “business debt” drove her to bankruptcy.
She revealed during Friday’s creditors meeting that she was about two months behind on mortgage payments on her $1.5 million Georgia home when she filed for bankruptcy.
Cole described the home where she said she lives with her husband, their children, her mother, and her husband’s grandmother as in “immaculate condition” and something she would “like to keep.”
Cole’s bankruptcy attorney, Jamie Christy, told the trustee on Friday that the goal is to get her client’s finances “in order.”
“Really, what this is, is that, unfortunately, it’s just like the ghost of failed business past following her,” Christy said, adding that they’re trying to “rewrite the ship” for both Slutty Vegan and Cole, “and get this under control and get everything discharged.”
Christy told Business Insider after the meeting that Cole “is looking forward to reorganizing and having a plan confirmed.”
Slutty Vegan, once reportedly worth $100 million at its peak, has faced financial difficulties in recent years. Several outposts remain in operation.
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