Lorina Marshall-Blake is working to get health care to all
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Rev. Dr. Lorina Marshall-Blake is a woman who wears many hats, including ensuring all communities have access to and understand health care resources. As CBS News Philadelphia continues to celebrate Women's History Month, we turn the spotlight on Marshall-Blake.
"When I walk into a room, people [say], 'Who is that lady? Who is that woman?'" Marshall-Blake said, "and that hat becomes a conversation piece."
Marshall-Blake wears many hats -- both literally and figuratively.
Marshall-Blake was recently named one of Pennsylvania's most influential women in politics.
We've seen the reverend, philanthropist and activist in action delivering a Sunday school sermon and speaking at charitable events like CBS News Philadelphia's Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation and addressing nurses at Girard College.
"If I had a mantra for Lorina Marshall-Blake," she said, "it's, 'I will always serve."
Marshall-Blake never lost sight of humor. She served 12 years as president of the Independence Blue Cross Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising millions of dollars to help provide access to affordable health care in underserved communities.
"The reality of it is, there are the haves and have-nots," Marshall-Blake said. "There's folks that do have it and there's folks that don't."
It's a mission for her that's personal.
"I grew up in West Philly," she said. "Four-room house. Five brothers and sisters, a mom and a dad. But there was the village."
Growing up with humble means sparked her drive to help others.
"My joke is we didn't know we were poor and until someone told me I was poor," Marshall-Blake said.
But she always remained rich in faith.
"I've been teaching Sunday school since I was 14," Marshall-Blake said.
Marshall-Blake became an ordained minister 25 years ago and serves at Vine Memorial Baptist Church in West Philadelphia.
"What God does, he does on purpose, with purpose, for his purpose," Marshall-Blake said. "Purposefully."
Little did she know her purpose started as a little girl wearing a hat on the church stairs to a leading woman in health care. Her most recent initiative is raising awareness of mental health among young people.
"Those communities, they don't get the breaks," Marshall-Blake said. "I call it leveling the playing field."
So for Marshall-Blake, there's no coincidence that her ministry and work go hand in hand.
"Whether I'm at Independence Blue Cross, or I'm in the pulpit at Vine Memorial Baptist Church or I am in the supermarket," she said, "Lorina Marshall-Blake is Lorina Marshall-Blake. She doesn't switch up."
The only switch? Her hats.
"A hat is like a crown," Marshall-Blake said. "I say to people not that I'm rushing out of here but make sure I have a hat on and my pearls, and I'm good to go."
