Photo By Michael Creagh
Katherine Parr left a successful international modeling career to become a teacher at an inner-city school in New Jersey. While she enjoyed the glamorous lifestyle she left behind, it was the opportunity to make a daily difference in the world that drew her to teaching. “It was a place where my heart and brain mattered more than what I looked like,” says the 45-year-old Manalapan resident.
Growing up in a family of educators in Sea Girt, N.J., Parr had a deep-seated value of service instilled in her from a young age.
She eventually switched her focus to create Katherine Parr Jewelry, with design collections inspired by global heritage. Driven by her lifelong interest in international cultures, she began collaborating in 2016 with jewelry artisans in Afghanistan and Jordan through Turquoise Mountain Foundation, an NGO (an independent, nonprofit organization addressing social, environmental or humanitarian issues) founded by King Charles III to foster economic development in the region.
A 2001 graduate of Villanova School of Business, Parr’s career interests in fashion, education and business innovation have come together in the Fulbright Specialist Program where she will empower women by teaching entrepreneurship and job skills at a university in Jordan. Part of the U.S. Department of State’s larger Fulbright Program, the Specialist Program sponsors project-based exchanges at host institutions worldwide. Although she planned to travel to Amman last spring, political instability in the region caused a postponement. Currently, she conducts her workshops remotely.
“In a lot of places around the world women having their own businesses is not only a good path, it might be the only path to employment,” Parr says.
Parr stopped making jewelry in 2021 to concentrate on special projects. She currently serves on the Education Committee of the Kravis Center and on the board of the Town of Palm Beach United Way.
Emulating the sustainable practices of her jewelry business, Parr, along with her husband, Gary, a senior executive at Apollo Global Management in Palm Beach, co-founded Parré Chocolat, a premium chocolate brand with ethically sourced cacao from Latin America.
Parr’s next project, supported by the Qatar Fund for Development through Turquoise Mountain, involves designing carpets to be handwoven by Afghan women.
“It makes me happy to help women, especially in a place where women have no rights,” Parr says.