Do you understand what it means to let your spirit lead you?

Joanne Sabir can inform you. The Milwaukee-based social entrepreneur says she at all times listened to her intuition to assist answer the query of create systemic change in her community. This investment in others got here about early for Sabir, having an interest in studying social work while pursuing entrepreneurship in college. 

While attending Clark Atlanta University, she launched an event business that she says was aimed toward bringing joyful experiences to her student peers. It was while running it that she had her first taste of what it took to be a real business leader: perseverance. 

“It was called Spitfire Productions—and what I did with that business was fail forward, and fast,” she said half-jokingly.  The corporate would work with record labels to bring artists to the campus for live shows. While planning an event one 12 months, she experienced significant logistical challenges that, if equipped with the right resources could’ve been avoided. 

That’s when she realized she desired to help other aspiring entrepreneurs to avoid the pitfalls she had early in her journey. Over the subsequent several years, she said she worked to construct a community to assist realize her vision of making a business ecosystem for her city. 

“Over time I learned that if I used to be to endeavor to do anything that may have great impact, I couldn’t go alone.”  

Alongside her husband, she began to lay that foundation by launching multiple businesses of their community, but perhaps she’s now best known for co-developing the Sherman Phoenix, an entrepreneurial and wellness hub that opened in 2018. 

The constructing itself has a story that ties into Sabir’s mission of spiritual and economic revitalization. The house for the hub was previously damaged by fire in 2016 during a civil unrest demonstration prompted by the fatal shooting of a young man by a neighborhood police officer. Sabir and Kaufmann decided to make use of the constructing as an emblem of transformation—it now houses nearly 30 Black-owned businesses. 

Moreover, Sabir is working as a strategic advisor with American Family Insurance to assist small business owners grow. 

“American Family Insurance has an investment arm and I manage our portfolio of social and company impact,” she explained. I joined them because we were speaking the proper language of ensuring there was a holistic approach to creating critical investments in the neighborhood.”

For the past two years, Sabir has worked to expand their investment portfolio to funnel funds and opportunities to small businesses that probably would’ve been missed otherwise. She says that’s all a component of her divine plan. 

“It’s about reconciliation and community empowerment for me–without that, what do we actually have?”