Gretta Jackson is making Black history and its not even February. Jackson has just become the first Black woman to own and operate an Outback Steakhouse location. Her first franchise now resides in her hometown state of Michigan.
“My roots definitely run deep in Detroit, 6 Mile, and Davison. Raised by my grandparents, raised in the church, and raised in love,” she said in a recent interview.
"[I] went to Detroit Public Schools and graduated from Detroit Northern in 1993.”
Jackson's story is nothing short of amazing. She rose through the ranks of Outback with years of hard work. Working, going to school and raising a family, Jackson still found a way to grind through the long hours of being a bartender at an Outback location and rise to the position of senior manager.
“I was working 30 hours a week, carrying 12 credit hours, and had a newborn baby. I got pregnant with her [during] my first semester of college. So, that made me have to work a little bit harder to do some of the things. Because I now had two people to provide for," she explained.
"After starting with [Outback], I quickly decided that this could possibly be a career choice. They create an environment where you don’t have to be afraid to be yourself. You don’t have to be afraid to grow and develop.”
Having dedicated nearly two decades to the business, Jackson is looking to empower and inspire other young, Black woman looking to enter the food industry,
“Literally 19 years in the making, no shortcuts, nothing was given to me. I literally worked my way through every position, came up in the ranks. When you’re so focused on you and what you’re trying to do, you don’t always take the time to realize or understand how it’s going to affect other people. And I did not and could not have imagined the impact that my success or my own personal success would have on others," she stated.