2021 Annual Gala Honoree: Sabrina Kay
Dr. Sabrina Kay is the CEO of Fremont Private Investments. She is a veteran entrepreneur with diverse professional expertise in fashion, banking, technology, and education.
She started as an immigrant single mom from South Korea and established the first computer-aided fashion design college, Art Institute of Hollywood, out of her garage in LA’s Koreatown after dropping out of college. In less than a decade, she sold to a publicly-traded company (NASDAQ: EDMC) and retired in her 30’s as a philanthropist.
As a self-proclaimed recovering nonprofit junkie, Dr. Kay founded the Sabrina Kay Charitable Foundation and has served on more than thirty civic and charitable boards, as well as chairing After-School All-Stars Los Angeles since 2004 and being an active board member/chapter chair of YPO (Young Presidents' Organization).
She continued her entrepreneurial endeavors and founded six additional businesses: Premier Business Bank (sold to NASDAQ: FFWM), The Sabrina Kay Collection, LA Designs, and Fashion Umbrella. Her latest venture, Fremont College and Dale Carnegie of Southern LA, started as a laboratory of her doctoral dissertation to revolutionize the 21st-century workplace through innovative and collaborative learning models. She sold to Greybull Capital and Success Education in 2020. As CEO of Fremont Private Investments, Dr. Kay personally serves on the diverse boards of companies she has invested in as an effort to add value and inspire entrepreneurs to realize their full potential for growth.
She is a current board member of MannKind (NASDAQ: MKND), Yellowbrick, Bespoke Beauty Brand, Petersen Automotive Museum, LA Sports and Entertainment Commission, International Medical Corp., Portal Schools, and USC Marshall Board of Leaders.
Dr. Kay received numerous awards for her achievements, including Woman of the Year by California Senate and United Nations Global Goals Award in Education, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame by California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools. She is also a sought-after board member and keynote speaker on innovation and leadership.
Dr. Kay received her joint doctorate degree in work-based learning leadership at the Wharton School and Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds double master’s degrees: an MBA from USC and an MSc in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania, all with the highest honors. She is a lifetime member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society.