Meet Sara

Sara A. Crawford is the Director of The Women’s Business Center (WBC) at True Access Capital (TAC), an entrepreneur, fashion stylist, author, connector, and curator.  With a BFA in Fashion Design and Marketing from the International Academy of Design and Technology, and over 15 years in the fashion industry, Sara truly lives by her own quote: “Fashion isn’t just a career, it’s a lifestyle!”  She lives life with a flair and energy that inspires not only the numerous female business owners she mentors on a daily basis, but all who have worked with her. 

Since taking the role of Director in 2017, Sara has expanded the reach, programming and services offered at the WBC. Under her leadership and guidance, the WBC has been recognized as one of the nations premiere centers, and is the top WBC nationally for the highest number of business owners completing business plans through their Passport to Business Success class.  she has been able to assist over 10,000 individuals in training and counseling, she has helped secure over $5M in loan capital, Creating opportunities for economic development with over 4,000 jobs, and curated /hosted over 1000 business related trainings, programs, and events.  During the pandemic Sara Created specific programming hosted online to keep entrepreneurs engage and thinking outside of the box with The Holiday Crawl, a QVC style concept of shopping and promoting small businesses and taking a huge focus on E-commerce with e-commerce and Shopify boot camps as well as offering one year Shopify platforms at completion. These programs allowed an opportunity for business owners to engage with new and old clients and generate revenue to stay afloat. Lastly, the H.E.R (Helping Entrepreneur Rise) business plan competition, Sara created in partnership with Citizens bank during the pandemic.  The Competition is a way for an existing or start up business to receive and win money for their business. The prizes go up to $10,000.

Sara’s dedication for helping entrepreneurs came naturally when she started her own business, Anara Original in 2004. Her designs convey the idea that fashion is “wearable art” specializing in custom tutus and sportswear. Anara Original has been featured in LA Fashion Week, Philadelphia Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week and major publications such as Lucky Magazine and Teen Vogue. Black Celebrity Giving named her a “Change Maker and Young Philanthropist”. Sara was named one of the most influential people in Delaware for 2022 by Delaware Online, named one of Technical.ly’s list of REALlist Connecters 2022, Delaware Business Times 40 Under 40, named a 2019 Women in Business Honoree by Delaware Today Magazine and received the next generation award from the national coalition of a 100 black women.

Living as an Albino African-American woman who has a slight visual impairment, Sara is passionate about sharing her story. In 2016, Sara wrote her book, The Playbook to Essential Style- Learn, Build and Explore Your Style. She shares with her readers her style story and provides the basic styling techniques to build a stylish and chic wardrobe.  In 2018, she gave a powerful and moving TEDxWilmington talk, A Signature Pigment, recounting her experience in fashion and life as an Albino African-American woman. 

Sara is a member of For(bes) The Culture the official culture division of Forbes.  Sara is also the former board Treasurer for The Association of Women’s Business Centers.  Sara enjoys participating in various community and nonprofit organizations like The Division for the Visually Impaired and The National Diabetes Association. She believes that fashion can be used as a platform and a form of expression to provide awareness to social topics and issues and is committed to setting a higher bar for small businesses in Delaware by creating programming to educate and inspire entrepreneurs in her community. 

During the COVID-19 Pandemic Sara Co-found The Original Coloure Collective. The Original Collective was created to highlight, engage, and promote black creatives and minority-owned businesses through artistic editorial shoots and art showings. In less than a year The Collective was able to increase visibility for local solopreneurs and business owners by 40%. And lastly, Sara is Curator of The MKT Place Gallery in Wilmington, De where she is able to curate artist exhibition and special experience events for the community. Sara walks in purpose understanding the assignment and is always willing to serve effortlessly.