B Y T R I S TA H AV N E R P H O T O S B Y TA M A R A R E E D M I L L E R
Admittedly, it can be daunting to set up an interview with a complete stranger in hopes that I can glean enough about who they are, their nuances, to do their story justice. Two hours is hardly enough to capture the essence of who someone truly is. But time and time again, I find myself being captivated by the women that I interview, and I continue to leave their spaces feeling as if I have entered into a real place of knowing. Sabrina Blue was certainly no different. When I arrived in her office on the second floor of the Helping Hands of Tennessee clinic, I watched as she, quite literally, sped around the space outlining changes and additions to a contractor who was doing his best to keep up. I would later understand this to be a metaphor of how she lives her life — fast, measured, with purpose. Sabrina Blue was born in Frankfurt, Germany, but was raised in rural Georgia by parents who were full time ministers interested in
church planting — and they did just that. They started a small church, meeting in homes and later moving into a cafeteria to meet the needs of their growing congregation. The values of service and true belief, the kind that leads people to build whole ministries to uplift and dignify others, were instilled in Sabrina by her parents, and ultimately would be the foundation for her own vocation and calling. When I asked how she felt her parents and her childhood most impacted the trajectory of her life, she explained that she was most grateful for her parents’ ability to live authentically, but also for the exposure they gave her to diversity. Witnessing different racial and cultural and socio-economic experiences led her to shed preconceived notions and to view the world through the lens of acceptance and advocacy, eventually leading her to Jackson, Tennessee to start a non-profit. Sabrina moved around before landing in South Carolina, where
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