Palm Beach resident Katherine Parr’s career has been anything but conventional. A former fashion model turned educator, entrepreneur, and Fulbright Specialist recognized for her work supporting women’s economic empowerment in the Middle East, she has built a career that spans the fashion industry, public education, nonprofit advisory, and international development, along with an artistic jewelry practice shown internationally. PALMER sat down with her fresh off a month in Jordan.
You have a unique background, having begun your career as a model with Elite Models in New York after graduating from Villanova University. In what ways did that experience shape the direction of your career?
I have been lucky to fulfill childhood dreams working as a fashion and beauty model, discovered by the incredible Patrick Demarchelier, mobilizing my business education toward the entrepreneurial demands of working in the global fashion industry. My first job was a luxury fashion advertising campaign feature in Elle magazine, from which I maximized my position to gather experience and insight about the inner workings of the fashion industry. To name one example, I was hired to walk in a runway show for Diane von Furstenberg, a dynamic industry leader who has used her platform to encourage and empower women, from which I was able to secure work in creative and business roles inside her fashion house.
After years in the fashion industry, you left the private sector to serve the community, teaching and developing programs in a Title I (low-income) district in New Jersey. What inspired such a dramatic shift from the glamorous world of fashion to education?
My social conscience seems to be from both nature and nurture: I was raised in a family of public-school educators with a great deal of community service. My father is a retired, award-winning school system administrator, and I have had inherent instincts to help others since childhood when I established programs for migrant workers and their families at my local church. After several years of intensive fashion work and global travel, purely focused on the superficial nature of my “product,” my private sector engagement left me longing for more substantive work and personal fulfillment, the priceless intangible rewards from helping others, versus private sector high paychecks. The opportunity arose for me to teach during the day and study for my government certification at night, and with the stars in alignment, I took the plunge, in a six-year-long chapter before I launched my socially conscious jewelry brand.
Photo: Evgenia Sizanyuk
You just returned from a month abroad in the Middle East executing a Fulbright Program. What is the difference between the Fulbright Specialist Program Award you received and the Fulbright Scholarship Program?
The overarching bridge-building goals of the Fulbright Program are toward international education and cross-cultural dialogue. Perhaps the most well-known Fulbright Program is the Scholars Program, more of an academic, long-term program, whereas my Specialist Program is an advisory program designed mostly for professional experts to analyze and design solutions to organizational and systemic problems in other countries: advising government ministries, universities, cultural and nonprofit organizations, and medical institutions.
Your Fulbright Specialist Program assignment was in the country of Jordan, advising university leadership, faculty, and teaching students in a program titled “Entrepreneurship and Fashion Design in Higher Education.” Why were you assigned to that region, and how did you apply your professional expertise as an advisor?
According to the United Nations, the World Bank, and governments, women’s labor participation is seen as a critical area to improve the economic future of the Middle East region and the world. Despite many cultural, environmental, and societal barriers to entry, fashion design has grown to be an attractive field since self-employment can often be done at home for many women whose roles in the family and society put constraints on their ability to work outside the home. I was happy to design and push through approvals for a program to provide practical business solutions in entrepreneurship to undergraduate fashion design university students. It included everything to bring the designer’s inspiration and design skills to viable product development, market analysis, branding, marketing, and accounting. In addition, I conducted executive meetings to design a workforce development program to bridge the gap between academia and the practical job market, spoke at industry conferences, and hosted a final “Shark Tank-esque” Fashion Brand Pitch Competition at the university.
How successful did you find this experience?
Since childhood, I have had an interest in global culture and have seen the world through the lens of shared humanity. I believe it is critical we look beyond our differences to focus on the common factors that make us all human, regardless of nationality, race, or creed. As with most social impact work, we get more than we give, and this program was no different. I was happy to share my practical American know-how from global industry and American higher education, and my efforts in Jordan were received with wonderful gratitude and hospitality. This one short program has subsequently turned into more invitations to speak at global conferences, meet with high-level figures, and engage in further advisory work to design strategic partnerships, programs, and entire ecosystems for economic development. It has truly been an honor to serve as a Fulbrighter and I highly recommend the experience to anyone who, like me, had to swallow her own self-doubt to apply and contribute as she is able. I always say, “No one person can do everything, but everyone can do something.”
Courtesy of Katherine Parr