Tarsha Works knew she would become a businesswoman even when she was a little girl, selling freeze cups and cupcakes — even pickles — from her family’s home on Casimir Street in the city’s northeast corner.
Instead of looking to Atlanta or Dallas, or even to a Saginaw suburb, Tarsha Works Consulting has opened Ashrat Company within a mile of her old stomping grounds. She is located at 1315 North Fifth, just off of North Washington.
The former credit union most recently was home to the Juneteenth Cultural Center. Tarsha, with her trademark optimism, won’t hear any talk of the First Ward dying and becoming a “green zone.”
“My business plan was in place,” she says, “and this is ideal, 2,500 square feet, plenty of good parking, and it allows me to give back to the same part of the city where I grew up.”
Lula Briggs Galloway attained grant funding to open the Juneteenth Cultural Center in 2003, but she passed away in 2008 and the museum was shuttered soon afterward. A curbside granite marker remains at the site of Stevie Wonder’s birth home.
Tarsha inherited her business instincts from her parents. Jerry Blakely is a self-employed provider of services that range from lawn care to snow removal. Her mother, Sarah, was a seamstress until she passed away two years ago. Their prized only child did not take up dress-making, but she spent plenty of time behind a lawnmower and a paint brush while she was growing up.
Her father taught her about how to bargain, playfully allowing her to bid up the price of a 25-cent freeze cup.
“I would charge him a dollar,” she says with a laugh, looking him in the face.
He responds with pride, “She has a business mind. She would help me with everything, even cleaning up a rental house.”
Best friend Erika Brown-Hinds was a Saginaw High sophomore when Works was a senior on the ’93 homecoming court, a friend to a newcomer two whole entire years younger.
Popular and stuck up? Even three decades later, Erika takes offense to any sort of suggestion.
“Tarsha has always been helpful to me, from the start when she helped me find my way around Saginaw High,” she testifies, “and now she’s helping my daughter (Kendell) at Heritage High School, everything from helping her choose her classes to lining up the paperwork so she could be in the homecoming parade.”
She now boasts that her best buddy “can do anything she sets her mind to.”
The fact that they are Zetas only adds to the bond.
Works describes herself more often as a “coach” than as a consultant. She guides, teaches and inspires her clients toward their goals, sometimes for personal and professional development, or on occasion to start or straighten the paths of their enterprises or nonprofits.
“I am energetic, motivated and self-disciplined, and I enjoy helping people,” she says.
The difference between Tarsha and motivational speakers in popular media is that she backs her words with specific tools for taking action. After graduating from Saginaw High School in 1993, she moved onward to Michigan State University, where she attained a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She then undertook the extra effort toward a master’s in industrial relations and human resources. She followed up during the pandemic shutdown with an online Ph.D in organizational development.
“With my consulting partners and agencies, we help you to establish measurable goals and timelines,” Tarsha explains.
In her bid last fall for a Saginaw County Board of Commissioners seat, Works fell a narrow 116 votes shy out of more than 8.000 cast, She ran as a mainstream Democrat in southwest Saginaw Township’s District 3, always a challenge for a Dem.
“Not bad for my first time in politics, while running my own business,” she wrote in a thank-you note to supporters, promising to pursue a rematch in 2024.
Works is receiving support from OPRA, not the famous TV motivator but the state’s Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act, to encourage development in hard-pressed areas, both urban and rural. Saginaw City Council members voted with unanimous approval at their Jan. 23 meeting, with support from Tom Miller, Saginaw Future vice-president, who explained that Works will pay property levies on the existing structure, but “won’t be penalized” with increased taxes for making repairs and upgrades.
Coincidence? Long before Works knew of OPRA tax abatements, she admired Ms. Winfrey for spelling her first name backward to create the Harpo. Likewise, in the same way, Tarsha is reversing for Ahsrat.
“The whole object is to rebuild the north side of town,” she told the City Council during a presentation that begins near the 11-minute mark on the online video replay. “It will be beneficial not only for that area, but for the entire city of Saginaw by adding to the tax base.” Tarsha also is the author of two books, “Are You Practicing What You Preach?” and “17 Strategies on Becoming a Better You.” They are available for purchase on her website, tarshaworks.net, which also includes info on her various consulting and coaching services.
