We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tiombé O’Rourke. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tiombé below.

Hi Tiombé, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

We provide direct aid to students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Tiombé Nucklos O’Rourke and I am the Founder and CEO of True Blue 1881, Inc (TB1881) a nonprofit that provides direct aid to students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). We strive to eliminate food, shelter and financial insecurities among HBCU students. In 2017, with the help of Joy Smith, I began feeding the students of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) who couldn’t afford to go home for Thanksgiving. As the dinner grew, and the items and scholarships we gave away increased, I formed 1881 True Blue LLC in an effort to get more donations to help with costs. In 2019, we began paying off balances of students in the AUC, in addition to the Thanksgiving dinner. In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic we became a nonprofit, True Blue 1881, Inc allowing tax write-offs for our sponsors and corporate donors.

Our goal is to eliminate any obstacle that would prevent a student from graduating. TB1881 strives to make receiving aid as easy and quick as possible, which is often not the case when one needs to seek assistance. Additionally, when students are suffering from food, shelter and/or financial insecurities, it can have a negative impact on their studies, and mental and physical well-being. Because of this, less than 95% of our assistance is attached to a minimum GPA. The student just needs to be enrolled full time and in good standing.

We did a lot of great things in 2022! We raised over $50,000 to pay off balances of graduating Seniors at Spelman and Morehouse. We gave away over $12,000 to members of Morehouse’s Moot Court team, directed by Judge Winfield Ward Murray. This was extremely exciting because they are the ONLY HBCU with a Moot Court Team. They consistently advance to the Nationals, they won Nationals in 2015 (Only two years after their debut) and are currently ranked #5 in the country after winning the Texas Tech Law School Regional Moot Court Competition.

TB1881 also partnered with ECOFIT H2O to sponsor Morehouse’s House of Funk. This entailed ECOFIT H2O providing Fitness and Wellness water for the entire Band, Auxilliary teams and staff for the season in addition to two scholarships. While TB1881 awarded multiple scholarships and threw a cookout for them on their last day of Band Camp. Thanks to Chad Hughes and Edward Platenburg for making this partnership possible.

Most recently, TB1881 was able to award a scholarship to Zyia Coleman who is a member of the history making Fisk Gymnastics team. Fisk University is the first HBCU to have gymnasts competing on the NCAA level! Thank you to Coach Corrine Tarver for allowing us to present Zyia with the scholarship. Thank you to the Greater Atlanta Fisk Club for making the connection with Fisk’s Gymnastics team and TB1881.

Finally, we are in full planning and fundraising mode for our 2023 Save Our Seniors Soirée. Again, this is where we raise money to pay off the balances of graduating seniors at Spelman and Morehouse. Often times it is less than $1000 preventing students from receiving their degrees. We are hoping to surpass the $50,000 we raised last year with the help of individual and corporate donors.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Recently TB1881 had a Board Meeting in which Kanika Sloan Williams, Esq so lovingly told me to “STAY IN MY LANE!” I was raised to jump in if there was an issue and handle it. However, Kanika told me to focus on CEO things because I am surrounded by PROS! This is ABSOLUTELY the truth but I have always had an issue with delegating. I never wanted any of these ladies to feel as though I was being “bossy” or unreasonable in my requests because I always want to be a team player. I am definitely a person who has the tendency to lead from behind. Kanika directed me to ask Kimberly Sanders Bryant, MBA our Corporate Secretary to handle administrative things. “You are the face of TB1881, focus on that!” Then Kenya Thacker Pierre, Esq chimed in and said, “Continue to be the connector!”

My gifts are definitely rooted in connecting with the students, finding the need, coming up with scholarships, events, methods to help these students, etc. and I need to “live” there. My passion is to help others, those pesky little details drive me nuts, so this last item on our agenda was quite freeing. I can be comfortable in knowing I have a Dream Team of Black Girl Magic!

I now start a request for assistance with: “In an effort to stay in my lane, can you ________?”

How’d you meet your business partner?

Joy Smith and I are both graduates of Spelman College. She is the Class of 1988 and, I am 1999. One day we discovered we were from the same hometown, attended the same elementary school, high school, AND college. I unknowingly followed her around my entire life! We instantly clicked, as we have similar personalities and quite different strengths. She started “Say Yes to the White Dress” in 2016 which was an event that gave away free white dresses, nude pantyhose, accessories, and black shoes to students at Spelman College. A space on campus is set up like a boutique and students select their white attire and accessories, with alums acting as personal stylists. I volunteered and had an amazing time helping young ladies select the perfect white dress, free of charge! I don’t know what it is, but in my experience when you need a white dress, you can never find one. The White Dress Tradition is part of Spelman College’s history and is the required dress code for Freshman week, Founders Day and Commencement.

A few years later, I asked Joy to join me in getting 1881 True Blue LLC off the ground. The question was really a formality, as I already knew the answer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.trueblue1881.org/support-us
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trueblue1881/
• Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/trueblue1881/