Black Entrepreneurs Pay Off Debt for Some HBCU Seniors

Pinky Cole, Founder and Proprietor, The Slutty Vegan. Photo by Ahmad Barber

Mutual aid seems to be the theme for HBCU campuses this summer. First Robert F. Smith promised to pay off all of the loan debt for students graduating from Moorehouse this spring. Now, entrepreneurs Pinky Cole and Stacey Lee have elected to pay off the student loans for 30 senior students at Clark Atlanta University.

Cole and Lee are both alumni of CAU and after finding success individually, the two decided to band together to make a difference in the lives of a few students. Once Cole approached Lee with the idea to pay off all the student debt for a few outgoing seniors, it was hard for her to say no. 

“She said it would be dope if we came together to help a few students,” Cole told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It was a no-brainer.”

Cole is actually the founder of the popular restaurant chain Slutty Vegan and Lee is the owner of Harlem Hops, a trendy craft beer lounge in upper Manhattan. The two hope that with a little bit of support, the students that they’re helping will feel a bit more focused on what drives them rather than the financial purgatory that is the modern student debt crisis. 

“Growing up in a single-family household, and being the first to go to college, I know what it feels like to not know where the money is coming from,” Cole said. “But there were people who believed in me despite my circumstances and I wanted to be that person for someone else.”