The Brightside: Gertha ‘Gigi’ Jean, BLB Global, the American dream

SEAFORD, Del. – Gertha Jean, better known as Gigi, has become a true leader in her community as she started up a business with her husband, One Way Insurance LLC, many got to know Gigi, but not her story.

Gigi tells us, she never let her upbringing keep her back. “Growing up in the Bahamas, we did not have a lot. I remember some of our friends would have running water and electricity, we didn’t have those things.” She adds, “All through summer since I was 13, we worked so we could buy our school supplies, we can buy our material, we worked on the weekends so we could get lunch money.”

She tells us, that although her parents didn’t have any education, their work ethic and push for Gigi and her siblings to do better, ignited her passion. “I remember my mom working so hard, just to put food on the table, to give us things that we wanted.” Gigi adds, “She would walk around the island, from Sunday she would leave at seven in the morning, and come back seven or eight o’clock that night and she would just walk around the island, and she would sell these things.” If a woman like that who doesn’t speak English, who doesn’t know how to read, who never went to school, can do it, what’s my excuse?”

After graduating high school, Gigi came across a program giving away two scholarships to attend a discipleship program called masters commission in the United States. “I remember sitting there thinking this is my opportunity to get off this island! I just felt like going to the States would be a perfect opportunity.” It’s an opportunity that has changed Gigi’s life for the better.

“I remember driving and just looking out the window and seeing all the buildings, and seeing everyone and everything was so face paced and I remember thinking wow, like I made it!” That was a little over 20 years ago for Gigi. Now, her insurance business has captured the attention of multiple state leaders, community partners, and news outlets across the region and country.

Now she’s launching her next mission, BLB Global, named after her mother, and dedicated to helping businesses tell their story. “When it comes to personal branding, every branding, every company has a story, and what I realize with different businesses is that a lot of businesses weren’t telling their true story. They weren’t being authentic, they weren’t being their true selves,” says Gigi.

We’re told she’s been holding onto this idea since she was 14 years old. Although she had to put it on the back burner while building her life here in the States, and creating One Way Insurance, Gigi knew it was time to continue building her dream. “It takes a lot of hard work, it takes a lot of collaboration, and you have to have the heart to want to help people or whatever business that you’re in, you have to have the heart for it.”

Gigi tells us, she hopes her success can be a testament for her children, especially her daughter. “I want to tell my daughter, she can do anything she puts her mind to. That this society that we live in may look at her gender, they may look at her skin color, they may look at her ethnicity, but if her mom, if her grandmother can do it, she can do it too.”

You can stay up to date with Gigi, One Way Insurance, and BLB Global by visiting Facebook.