Dear Family,

I watched an interview over the weekend with Pinky Cole, founder of the wildly successful Slutty Vegan brand, on the Earn Your Leisure podcast.

If you’re not familiar, Slutty Vegan is a fast-casual restaurant chain known for its plant-based, over-the-top burgers and unapologetic branding. Pinky’s been everywhere—Forbes, Black Enterprise, People Magazine. From the outside, she looked like she was winning at every level. But this was her third time on the show—and it was different. This time, she opened up.

She admitted that even though the world thought she was thriving, behind the scenes she was barely holding it together.

Legal issues. Health scares. Personal losses. At one point, she even lost the business. Honestly, it reminded me of something I see far too often—especially in our community.

Too many of us are chasing success but not building systems to sustain it.

We’re grinding. We’re performing. We’re carrying the weight of being first, being only, being everything for everyone. But behind the curated images and public wins, there’s often exhaustion, anxiety, and burnout.

Let me be clear—I’m not sharing this to criticize.

I’m sharing it because I know someone reading this needs to hear it.

The goal in life isn’t just to go viral. The goal is to be well. To build well. To live well. So if you’re in a season where it feels like everyone else is “doing better”—breathe. Not everything is what it seems.

Everyone’s carrying something.

It just doesn’t always show up in the pictures.

From LUX, With Love,

Matt