Slutty Vegan’s Pinky Cole shooting with ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’
On Friday, Slutty Vegan founder Aisha “Pinky” Cole shot scenes with “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast, fueling speculation she is being tested to potentially join the reality show.
Restaurateur Kelli Ferrell, who debuted as a cast member in March for the 16th season, hosted a media launch event for a new location of her restaurant, Nana’s Chicken-N-Waffles, in Sandy Springs at the Prado off Roswell Road just inside I-285.
Cole was not made available for an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the event. She spent most of her time in front of Bravo cameras interacting with women who were on the show last season.
The other cast members from Season 16 who attended the event were Shamea Morton, Drew Sidora, Angela Oakley and Phaedra Parks. Cynthia Bailey, a part-time participant who previously was a full-time cast member, was also at the event.
Brit Eady left the show in July after one season and filed a lawsuit against Bravo and its parent company for defamation after former castmate Kenya Moore showed a sexually explicit photo of her in a public setting.
Porsha Williams, a longtime member of the show, was absent from the event at Nana’s.
Bravo has not announced the full cast for the 17th season of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” which will likely debut early next year.
Cole shooting scenes for “Housewives” doesn’t guarantee she’ll appear on the show, but based on how Bravo has worked in the past, producers are likely testing her out to see if she’d be a good fit.
In April, Cole told UATL she returned to plant-based burger chain Slutty Vegan after briefly losing then reacquiring the company through restructuring earlier this year.
Slutty Vegan, which she opened in 2018 as a food truck, expanded to 14 locations at one point. But it has retrenched recently, closing several restaurants, and now has five: metro Atlanta locations on Edgewood Avenue and in Jonesboro; and in Baltimore; Birmingham, Alabama; and Brooklyn, New York. Locations at Spelman College, Georgia Tech and Duluth shuttered earlier this year.
Ferrell opened her first Nana’s Chicken-N-Waffles in McDonough in 2016, and that restaurant remains open.
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
