Pinky Cole has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. AFROTECH™ spoke with the founder of Slutty Vegan earlier this year, ahead of the announcement that she was joining the 17th season of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” At the time, she acknowledged the risks of entrepreneurship and the importance of not operating from ego. “There’s risk in everything. There’s risk in being an entrepreneur. I’ve gotten out of the ego conversation a long time ago,” she explained to AFROTECH™ . “I’ve been laid at the cross plenty of times. And at the end of the day, like I’m really not concerned with other people’s opinions. As long as I provide them a really good product and they have a really good experience, that’s what matters to me. My reputation will precede me and the services that I offer will precede me. I’m excited about new opportunities to be able to amplify my business.” Cole has faced various challenges and changes as the entrepreneur behind the plant-based venture that launched as a food...

Pinky Cole has never been one to shy away from the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. This will be no different when she appears on the 17th season of “ The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” Cole’s Business Pursuits Before the show, Cole built her fast-food business, Slutty Vegan. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, she temporarily lost ownership when the company went through a global restructuring on Feb. 13, 2025. The company’s challenges included $10 million in corporate overhead and the closure of its Spelman College location. At the time, she described feeling every emotion possible from grief, sadness, fear, depression, and uncertainty. However, Cole didn’t let those feelings distract her from the bigger picture. In March 2025, she bought back the company under the name “Ain’t Nobody Coming to See You, Otis LLC.” Today, there are six Slutty Vegan locations, and Cole has expanded her footprint through a new venture called VOAGIES, a plant-based eatery selling 100% vegan hoagies,...

Pat McGrath Labs has been fueled by nearly $30 million in financing. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the beauty company, founded by Pat McGrath, explored an asset sale on Jan. 27, with an auction scheduled for that day, which was later canceled indefinitely. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and continued operations during the restructuring process, a spokesperson told Women’s Wear Daily (WWD). The majority of this debt resulted from a loan obtained from GDA PMG Funding in April 2025, according to Business of Fashion. “During this process, the company will continue operations in the ordinary course of business while working to restructure its balance sheet and to forge a path to thrive,” the spokesperson said, according to WWD. “Pat McGrath Labs remains committed to its community, customers, partners and stakeholders as it continues delivering its signature, high-quality products and culture-defining artistry and innovation.” Retail Dive reports that Pat McGrath Labs has...

Winnie Harlow is getting candid about her journey as an entrepreneur. Cay Skin The supermodel, who was raised in Jamaica , founded Cay Skin in 2022, an inclusive and affordable SPF skincare brand . After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and vitiligo, she set out to create sun care products that are effective for all complexions. “I have two skin tones, and it needs to work on me, and most SPFs don’t,” she told AFROTECH™ during a virtual press junket. Cay Skin offers SPF products, including lip balm, sunscreen, moisturizer, sun sticks, and lip masks. Raising VC Harlow envisions long-term staying power for the brand, and raised $4.1 million in a seed round ahead of Cay Skin’s official launch, bringing its total funding to $6.5 million at the time, according to Fortune. However, it wasn’t an easy victory, and Harlow admitted she heard enough ‘no’s that nearly made her question launching the business. “When it came to even fundraising, I still got a lot of no’s, and I was...

Antoinette Banks is a cognitive scientist on a mission, and for her, that mission starts at home. Much of Banks’ work in tech has been fueled by her daughter, who was born in 2006 and diagnosed at with a neurodevelopmental disorder at five years old that Banks later learned was autism. Doctors told her there was a “0% probability of adult autonomy,” Banks shared with AFROTECH™. Rather than accept that prognosis, Banks set out to build a solution for her daughter, one rooted in possibility, not limitation. Photo Credit: Antoinette Banks “I actually talked to a special education attorney, and he said at the time, ‘Black families don’t care enough about things like being autistic, so you might want to put her in a facility to give her the best shot,'” Banks recalled. She wanted to gain a better understanding of how the brain works, and chose to enroll in night classes at a local community college. She eventually enrolled in a cognitive science bachelor’s program at the University of...

Founder Fawn Weaver remains “unbothered” despite challenges surrounding her whiskey brand Uncle Nearest. Uncle Nearest has been under a court-appointed receivership since August 2025 after reportedly defaulting on more than $108 million in loans from lender Farm Credit Mid-America, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. In response, Fawn and her husband, Keith Weaver, had pointed to errors allegedly carried out by the company’s former chief financial officer, Mike Senzaki. They filed a civil lawsuit against Senzaki for financial misconduct that included exaggerating the whiskey barrel count, which led to a $24 million credit increase from the lender and contributed to the call for a receivership. Nonetheless, the Weavers and Grant Sidney Inc., the largest shareholder of Uncle Nearest, have shared a plan to reduce debt and stabilize the balance sheet and are pushing for the receivership to end, according to a separate article from AFROTECH™. They claim the receivership has harmed Uncle...

Founder Chisom Okwor wants to build technologies that improve the lives of the Black community. Okwor, who currently works as a Google software engineer, signed up for a hair-braiding apprenticeship during a gap year after graduating high school in Nigeria. She then moved to the U.S. to obtain a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Fisk University on a full-ride scholarship. She was braiding hair on campus as a side hustle, and the money funded her living expenses and travel. It was through her experience that she began to consider technology as a solution to relieving pain points for hair braiders. “I started to realize, as a Black woman, we all know the struggles with hair. Hair braiding takes time. We do it very often, and there’s no technology in that space … In the U.S., hair braiding is also not accessible. If you walk into any salon here in Nairobi, any salon, your hair can be done. That’s not the case in the U.S. There are very specific salons that cater to textured...

Pat McGrath Labs is no longer exploring an asset sale. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Pat McGrath Labs — sold at Sephora and Ulta Beauty and owned by Pat McGrath, a British beauty and makeup veteran and now creative director of La Beauté Louis Vuitton cosmetics line — was exploring an asset sale. Managed by Hilco Global, a U.S.-based financial services firm, bids were due Jan. 26, 2026, with an auction scheduled for Jan. 27. Founded in 2015, the goal was for the beauty company, valued at more than $1 billion in 2018, to “align its financial framework with the enduring strength and creative leadership of the brand” with partners through restructuring and recapitalization processes, Modaes reported. “Pat McGrath Labs is currently going through restructuring and recapitalization processes with its partners to align its financial framework with the enduring strength and creative leadership of the brand,” a company spokesperson said in December 2025, according to Women’s Wear Daily...