US-based restaurant chain Slutty Vegan has announced the appointment of Lauren Maillian as its new President.
Maillian has impressive credentials, having previously led the turnaround of a nine-figure minority-owned media company. She is also the founder and CEO of LMB Group, and was formerly President of Hero Media and CEO of digitalundivided; at the latter, she helped to grow revenue by five times.
Furthermore, Maillian founded and exited Sugarleaf Vineyards, becoming the youngest self-made winery owner in the US. She has invested in over 40 consumer startups with a market cap exceeding $5 billion, and has been an advisor to OptimizeRx, Overtime, and Cartier Women’s Initiative.
“Big plans”
Maillian has seemingly been appointed to help Slutty Vegan recover from a difficult chapter; founder and CEO Pinky Cole temporarily lost control of the company earlier this year, before reacquiring it under a different entity. The chain is now entering a new phase, which Cole calls Slutty Vegan 2.0.
As reported by Black Enterprise, this is the first time Slutty Vegan’s corporate side has had an all-female staff. Maillian is the second ever President of the company, and the first Black woman to hold the role.
On LinkedIn, Slutty Vegan shared that Cole and Maillian have “big plans” for the future of the company. Cole has also recently launched Voagies in Atlanta, which is claimed to be the first all-vegan hoagie shop.
“I think that Lauren will bring a sense of sophistication and calmness to everything,” Cole told Black Enterprise. “She can take those ideas and execute them in a way where they can be scalable. And that’s literally what has been missing.”
