2025 40 Under 40 Winners

Under Parker’s leadership, the Phoebe Foundation raised 4.8 million dollars in one year, which was 2 million dollars more than the previous fiscal year, significantly benefiting trauma and critical care services in Southwest Georgia. 

She led six classes of Phoebe 101/ Earn Your Scrubs, helping over 50 participants become ambassadors for the health system and deepening community connections. Additionally, Parker was selected for the Leadership Albany Class of 2024, reflecting her commitment to civic engagement and leadership development. 

She contributes actively to the Phoebe Women’s Network, helping promote leadership opportunities for women across the health system. 

I happened upon my career in philanthropy in general! I was a volunteer for many organizations in my hometown and a board member for our local art museum. After many committee meetings and events, people started to figure out that I had no problem asking people to have a conversation about giving. So one day I was asked to be the director of philanthropy for Artesian Alliance, our local zoo, aquarium, and historical museum. After two years there, a position opened up at Phoebe and I jumped at the chance to help my community!

In 2015 I was at a local CrossFit class when, after a push press, my vertebral artery tore and a blood clot caused a stroke. I went to our emergency room, but wasn’t diagnosed correctly—I needed an MRI, not just a CT scan. I was sent home and dismissed by a neurologist. A week later, my chiropractor told me I had likely suffered a stroke. I returned to the hospital, got the MRI, and began treatment.

It dawned on me later—if our ER had more resources or wasn’t so stressed, would they have caught it? I’ll never know. But I do know that after having my stroke and going to the hospital where I was born, it became my job to do everything I could to ensure this healthcare system would be there for everyone in Southwest Georgia. Now I work at Phoebe, and it’s more than a job—it’s my life’s work.

When I came to the Phoebe Foundation, I was the Children’s Miracle Network coordinator—a role at the bottom of the totem pole, so to speak. But I knew if I wanted to make change in Albany and in my hospital, I had to work for the foundation. After just a year, our leader was let go and they began looking for a new one. With confidence and not much experience, I walked into my supervisor’s office and asked for the job. I became the interim director, and eight months later, I was hired permanently.

My greatest passion in life is my faith. I believe in the charge that God has given us to love each other as we would want to be loved. Philanthropy is exactly that—it is showing the love of humankind.

I would tell anyone coming into healthcare philanthropy to build relationships with your clinical providers! They help you better understand their struggles and needs. They are boots on the ground, and you need to understand everything about what they do so you can support them effectively.