Black History Month: Sabrina Blue
JACKSON, Tenn. — Sabrina Blue is one Jacksonian who is a great example of how far hard work will get you.
She started her leadership career when she was only 18-years-old at a Cato’s Fashion.
“I ended up getting three promotions in less than a year, and ended up being one of the youngest managers for Cato’s Fashion,” Blue said.
Afterwards, she opened her first business, a 24-hour daycare center in Charleston, South Carolina.
Her team later expanded to a second location. After a few years, Blue decided to sell her businesses and move to Tennessee.
She moved to Jackson and opened her second business — Tennessee Insure. She relied heavily on God at this time in her life, where she went into ministry.
“I had an internal conversation that kind of went like this: God said, ‘Sabrina, if you could do anything what would it be?’ I said, ‘I would like to start a nonprofit organization and help people. That’s what I would do,’” Sabrina said.
Afterwards, she began creating her third business — Helping Hands of Tennessee.
Helping Hands is a dental clinic that provides medical insurance assistance to those earning up to 200% of the federal poverty line.
She says here, her patients are one of her biggest sources of inspiration.
“I’ll tell you, I’m inspired by my patients that I serve all the time. They share something positive about their experiences, a story that they have shared with me, or even just a smile. Believe it or not, it just inspired me to move forward,” Blue said.
Now, she is the founder and CEO of Helping Hands of Tennessee. In her free time, she is also an associate pastor at Historic First Baptist Church in Jackson.
At the end of the day, she says that Black History Month is important to her. She says it serves as a time to think about both present and past leaders.
“Black History Month should hopefully inspire people of all races because that is the purpose. It is not just to inspire African-Americans, it’s a way for all of us in the melting pot that we’re in America, to reflect on the history of other people and to applaud it,” she said.
