Growing up, vegan restaurateur Pinky Cole prides herself on being the change she wished to see, using that determination to eventually build Slutty Vegan, a popular food chain.

The plant-based eatery opened its first location in October of 2018, and now has locations across Georgia — including two in Atlanta and one each in Jonesboro and Duluth.

With vegan eating now a "worldwide phenomenon," Cole said Slutty Vegan has been able to attract "lines down the block for the last four years," en route to becoming a staple of Atlanta's culture.

While it seems like a quick success, "its been a rollercoaster of a ride," Cole told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview. Now with her platform, she wants to be an example for other Black entrepreneurs.

"I myself, have been the change I wish to see," she explained. There was a long, hard path from self-funding the first Slutty Vegan ATL location to its current expansion, which Cole said underscores the funding disparity for women of color.

"Once upon a time, Black women especially weren't even considered for opportunities to get an injection of capital," Cole said.

Historically, women of color have struggled to find funding to start businesses. According to ProjectDiane, the median seed round for Black women entrepreneurs in 2020 was $125,000, which is far less than the $2.5 million for the national median, Yahoo Money recently reported.

"Now with everything that's happened in the world, we are finally getting our due and our recognition," Cole told Yahoo Finance.

"I'm showing people that as long as you continue to rise up and you have a valuable business...you have a really good model people want to be a part of, you will get the money," she said, emphasizing it does not "have anything to do with color."

Now four years into her endeavor and gaining attraction, she insisted that if an entrepreneur has something successful "people are going to want to attach themselves to it."