The Good Soil Forum (Good Soil) —a gathering space for entrepreneurs seeking connection and growth—is returning to the Dallas Arts District for a 3-day assembly June 12th through June 14th. Boasting as “more than a conference”, the highly anticipated forum is “an ecosystem where innovators, momentum builders, and wealth creators come together to fund, mentor, and elevate the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
The speaker line-up includes the Who’s Who of entrepreneurs and advisors, including global media mogul Oprah Winfrey; CEO and Founder of Camille Rose, Janell Stephens; Financial Literacy Advocate WallStreet Trapper; Dallas’ own Craig Lewis of Rair Equity Partners; K104 FM’s DeDe Mcguire; and many more.Just recently, Slutty Vegan Owner Pinky Cole Hayes took to her Instagram to officially announce her appearance at Good Soil, and to let Dallasites know that she will enthusiastically be in the building. Fresh off of the news of buying back her Slutty Vegan enterprise, Pinky Cole is slated to be one of the most awaited voices to hit the Good Soil stage this forum.Always one for transparency, truth, and empowerment, we caught up with the serial entrepreneur to chat briefly about Good Soil, her entrepreneurial comeback, and what’s new on the Dallas horizon. Keep reading for the scoop.Southern Dallas Magazine: You’ve been the subject of quite the buzz lately. From regaining ownership of Slutty Vegan to now launching Atlanta’s first vegan hoagie shop “Voagies”, you are truly a living testament to the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. And yet in the midst of it all, you’re coming to Dallas for the Good Soil Forum. Why was it so important for you to attend?Pinky Cole Hayes: As an entrepreneur, I have learned so much. I like to say that I got a PhD in entrepreneurship because I have had a thousand wins, and about 500 losses. [However], the commonality between all of that is that I learned along the way. What I love about being around entrepreneurs is that it’s not so much about the wins—it’s more about what happens within the journey. I’m on such a beautiful rollercoaster ride of the journey where I have learned so much. Even now, I’m still learning.So to be able to come to the Good Soil Forum—not just as a consumer, not just as a sponge, and not just as somebody who will also be receiving knowledge and wisdom and education—I get to host that thing and be a testament of what it looks like when you don’t give up and when you get the wins. I want the people who are attending this fabulous program to see the transparency, the vulnerability, and the realness of entrepreneurship.Southern Dallas Magazine: You’ve always kept it real—even in your latest public revelation of almost losing Slutty Vegan. Some entrepreneurs would only show the glossy highlight reel. Why do you opt to always be so transparent, even if it doesn’t look or feel so good?
Pinky Cole Hayes: That’s a really good question. All of my life, I’ve always been like that. I have always been super confident in who I am, and because I’m so confident, I am not moved by the opinions of other people. I’m not looking for applause…so it’s easy for me to tell the truth, and I think that you get farther in life when you are real and honest. I’m just transparent with who I am, because you never know how many people are watching and being blessed from the mistakes that I have made.Southern Dallas Magazine: Were you nervous to tell your fans and the public recently that you had almost lost the restaurant—or were you just like “screw it…here we go?”Pinky Cole Hayes: Yeah, it was like, screw it, here we go. Especially because, as the CEO of my company, a lot of what happened in my business—I didn’t directly cause. But because I’m the CEO and founder of my company, I gotta eat it, and I was prepared to do that and I knew that I was gonna have to stand in front of the cross, [even] from other people’s mistakes. But that’s okay, right? That’s the ebbs and flows of business. One day I’ll be able to tell my story in a way where people truly understand and will be like, ‘Oh, I get it now.’That’s a part of what we’ll talk about at the Good Soil Forum. I’m prepared for whatever comes my way. It’s hard sometimes, I’m not even gonna lie, but I’m preparing for whatever comes to me.Southern Dallas Magazine: The Good Soil Forum is obviously the best atmosphere to share your wisdom, especially where there are so many entrepreneurs at so many different levels. You’ve raised so much money for Slutty Vegan, will you be able to give advice on venture capital funding or fundraising at the forum?
Pinky Cole Hayes: You know, this VC world is a whole ‘nother ball game, right? To be honest…if you’re not safe, you’ll drown in this game—and I almost drowned in this game because there were a lot of things that I did not know. So we’ll absolutely talk about those things at Good Soil—what to look for, how to understand that when you get money from investors, you are entering into a marriage. And when you get married, you gotta know what comes with that marriage. It ain’t always gonna be pretty. Sometimes it’s going to get ugly and stagnant and you gotta get comfortable with that. You gotta get comfortable with the uncomfortable. So we’ll talk about that as well.Southern Dallas Magazine: And hopefully there will be some talk about the launch of your new Vegan Hoagie concept “Voagies”. Can you fill us in on your latest venture?Pinky Cole Hayes: Voagies is a vegan sandwich shop that sells all different types of lunch meats, and fresh vegetables that are sliced daily. I’ve been sitting on this concept for like six years. I knew that there was a gap in the market for this, and I wanted to create something that people can get excited about. I’m excited that people [already] love the brand. It’s already doing numbers and is super successful. I can’t wait for people to see Voagie’s scale because that is a brand that’s separate and aside from Slutty Vegan.Southern Dallas Magazine: Selfishly, we want to know when we’re getting one of these for Dallas?Pinky Cole Hayes: We want to be back in Dallas. Dallas is a great market, and I love Dallas and what Dallas is doing. Our [Slutty Vegan] location in Dallas was doing extremely well. We just didn’t have the bandwidth, and we didn’t have the right leadership. So we are coming back, and will be back soon.Southern Dallas Magazine: As you get ready to head here to Dallas, is there anything else that excites you about the Good Soil Forum—perhaps, the heavy hitters like yourself that are a part of the line-up?Pinky Cole Hayes: A lot of times there are tons of people who have conferences and forums and they tell you what you need to do and this is how you do it—but it’s coming from people who have no experience. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to an event where people try to give you a blueprint, but they ain’t even go through it themselves.Southern Dallas Magazine: Like the brunches that say “Let me tell you how to make six figures.” But really, have YOU made six figures, before you can tell me how to do it? (Laughs)Pinky Cole Hayes: (Laughs) And they ain’t even make it themselves. The difference between those events and Good Soil, is that you have people who have been denied. You have people who have failed, and who have had the door closed on them—but that sparked a bounce back that was out of this world. So the people that will be at the Good Soil Forum are not just educators, these are people who have experience and can speak from these experiences so that you can either do the same thing or not. And it’s real, it’s not a money grab. This is really a melting pot of entrepreneurs from everywhere to be able to learn best practices on how to not only be a good entrepreneur, but how to be the best mentally, spiritually, financially and emotionally, which is the most important part, because guess what? If your mental cup is empty, there’s no way that you could be a successful entrepreneur.Southern Dallas Magazine: Speaking of mental, with everything that you’ve been going through, how did you keep your mental health solid, and what advice would you give to entrepreneurs?Pinky Cole Hayes: At my lowest in entrepreneurship, I met God. So, sometimes the lowest may appear to be bad, but that might just be the portal to get you closer to your higher power. And once you lock in with your higher power, there’s nothing that you can’t accomplish.The Good Soil Forum hits the Dallas Arts District June 12 – 14. Visit GoodSoilForum.com for more information.
