Back in July, Sage Kohler moved her State Farm Insurance Agency office into an 1870s farmhouse on Hardin Valley Road. Her restoration of the property was extensive.
“I spent six months and a ton of money refurbishing this,” Kohler said. “There’s plenty of artisan hours poured into it.”
Sage Kohler’s new office on Hardin Valley Road
If that doesn’t say “plans to stick around awhile” nothing much else will. Kohler has lived in Knox County for 11 years, and said it’s the longest she has lived anywhere her entire life. As a self-proclaimed “Army brat,” her family moved often growing up. That trend continued when she went to work for State Farm at the corporate level. She moved here to assume the book of State Farm business managed by the much beloved Andy Anderson, who passed away unexpectedly in 2010.
“A wonderful opportunity for me was born out of sadness,” she said. “I had been with corporate for years, and with that moved around a lot. I had requested to step back into agency to find a place to stop and settle.”
While Knoxville wasn’t the place she was expecting to land, after the company brought her and her husband, Louis, here to consider it, it only took three days for them to be ready to make the move. She’s now established State Farm’s Hardin Valley business.
“I honestly wasn’t expecting to love it here,” she said. “But this is such a great area. East Tennessee is so beautiful, there’s the wonderful outdoor activities, the lakes, the music, the restaurants. It has everything.”
After moving here, she not only took over the Anderson book of business but also served a term as the president of the Powell Business and Professional Association.
“That is one of the most successful and energetic BPAs in the county, it has done a lot of great things to enhance that community,” she said. “I wanted to replicate that kind of community care and action in Hardin Valley.”
Kohler came up with the idea of the Hardin Valley Business and Community Alliance back in 2018, but at the time it didn’t quite get off the ground. The Covid pandemic, to a degree, provided the opportunity for her to get serious about it, put a board together, write some by-laws and otherwise get it together. The organization became official in January of this year. The meetings started on Zoom with about 25-35 participants. May saw the beginning of meeting in-person, and the group now has about 40 members. They meet regularly at The Orange Hat Brewery.
“We have people from all walks of life participating who want to enhance the Hardin Valley community,” she said. “It’s people gathering to make things happen.”
Kohler has a wish list for what she’d like to see. It includes a community park, a Christmas event and a Fourth of July parade.
“These are the kinds of things we want to do,” she said. And while there are already a good number of businesses in Hardin Valley, Kohler said she hopes to attract new businesses that are different from what’s already there and that can draw customers from outside the community. She’s also especially happy to have the participation of all the community’s churches, because it isn’t just about growing business opportunities.
“I moved here, knowing no one, to take over an agency that was 31 years old,” she said. “God knew this was where I needed to be.”
To learn more about the HVBCA and its volunteer opportunities, go here.
Beth Kinnane is the community news editor for KnoxTNToday.com