If you remember Michael Parker (whom most of us simply referred to as "Parker") at all from Whitman, then it may come as something of a shock that his biggest regret from high school was a lack of confidence. "I wish so much that I had the courage to do more creative things in high school, I didn't have the confidence to do music, theatre, acting, etc. I didn't have the courage!! To this day I wish I played at least a single coffeehouse or acted in one play." Although one might wonder when he would have found the time. Despite the fact that Parker self-defines as "a horrible horrible student [who] barely graduated," he was an over-achiever when it came to extracurriculars, joining Model UN, Wild Things, Amnesty International, the rock climbing club, Hiking Vikings, and Young Democrats (he was voted the class of 2003's "most liberal" student).
But perhaps it's not so shocking that Parker gravitated toward group activities that put a sense of community front-and-center. He explains, "Home life was really unstable, and honestly school was a great escape! I will say that waking up early was so tough. The only reason I made it to school at all was that Nikhil Teja or Danny McGee would take turns to make sure I went to school. The two of them would coordinate to pick me up and make sure I didn't skip class. I wouldn't have graduated without them! I am super grateful! Thanks Nikhil & Danny!!"
(Parker and Nikhil "rock climbing" circa 2003)
Question: Despite being a self-defined "terrible student," did you end up going to college?
Answer: I went to [The University of] Maryland and studied Philosophy and later did my MBA at Columbia University in New York... It wasn't until college that I found out I liked school!
Question: What are you doing today? Is it what you imagined for yourself back then?
Answer: I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I'd become an entrepreneur. I didn't even know what that was! But in 2007 my mom had a horrible experience at work. She had been one of the top sales execs at Northrup Grumman and won the largest contract in their public health divisions history. The next morning her boss invited her into the office, and introduced her to the man who would be taking over for her, and then her boss asked her to go make them coffee while they planned the transition! She quit, called me, explained what had happened and that she wanted to start her own business. We started a company the next day! It was super super tough, but that company, DSFederal wound up becoming one of the fastest growing companies in the nation. We went back and won the work that she won for Northrup a few years afterwards. It's amazing to think that one single event could cause so much change in both my mother and my own life. To think we started a company when she was 50 and when I was 21! All because an asshole told my mom to make him coffee...
I later started my own company, Illumen in 2016, and have run that one ever since. I am proud of the work I'm doing [there]. We are currently on course to provide half of the world's ocean climate data. We are combining ocean tech (satellites and ocean buoys) with machine learning to help provide a clearer picture of the state of our oceans. Maybe in a few years we'll even launch our own satellites into space.
[Editor's Note: You can check out Parker's work here: michaeljangparker.com]
Question: Speaking of faraway oceans, we hear you're living near one.
Answer: [I'm] currently in Ibiza, Spain, but en route back Stateside, hopefully in the DC Area!
Question: Do you have a partner or kids?
Answer: I have a lovely girlfriend named Linda who is from Berlin, Germany. Linda is a model and actress with dreams of making films, her first short film she wrote, acted and co-directed was just accepted into Cannes next year. As for kids, none yet, but I cant wait to have a LOT of them. I super admire parents and I'm really excited to become one.
As idyllic as Parker's life may seem today, it hasn't always been that way. In fact, in 2019, he suffered an episode of extreme burnout and wound up in the hospital for 3 months. "I had to learn how to love myself and value myself, and to heal myself. But it was actually a friend from high school, Teresa Yung (from Whitman '04) that was one of the people who helped save my life! She introduced me to a lot of alternative healing modalities that I never would have found if not for her. I wound up living in Peru for a bit, with a magical medicine woman in the mountains near Cusco. She helped heal me and I owe her my life! It's been an amazing healing journey, and I wouldn't have made it without Teresa! So thanks, Whitman!"
Parker grows perhaps unsurprisingly reflective when asked about his favorite high school memories: "I am still close to so many of my friends from Whitman. We have a group chat called Bethesda Boyz and honestly It's probably less mature than a group chat would have been in 2003. I have so many happy and precious memories of long drives in a car crammed full of the guys. The soundtrack to my childhood is punk rock on the radio punctuated by nonstop laughter in the station wagons and minivans of my childhood friends. I am so blessed to have had that childhood experience. I hope my future kids get to experience that level of brotherhood."
Thanks, Whitman, indeed.
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