Name: Kaliv Parker
Profession: Sales Activation Lead for Google
Age: 25
I have contributed to the tech world as a Google Genius by: Changing the way people watch and distribute media content through our digital platform.
Growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, Kaliv Parker didn’t think a website he started back in college would catapult his career with tech giant Google.
Attending the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Parker and his business partner started a website called HowsTheLiving.com, which he calls “the Yelp.com for college students”. With the tagline “No more surprises,” Parker and his business partner’s main goal was to provide college students the opportunity to not only rate their housing but help students make conscious living decisions. “A lot of students go to college and the experience is not what it’s portrayed to be,” Parker tells BE Modern Man. “We wanted to provide a level of transparency to the housing process. We wanted the students to have the opportunity to make decisions on where to stay in college.”
From programmer to marketer, the experience gained building the How’s the Living brand gave Parker just the right amount of exposure to plunge into his career in tech. Parker then applied for the much coveted Google internship. Competing with 30,000 plus applicants, Parker says the key to landing and sustaining an internship at Google is passion, being permeable, and making sure you’re adding value. “I regret the day that I have to get up and don’t enjoy the work that I’m doing,” Parker tells BE Modern Man
. “You want to do work that lines up with your passion. You want to make sure you differentiate yourself and do the very best work that you can do.”This year makes two years that the intern-turned-employee has been working for Google and Parker has big goals as the sales activation lead. “We have a huge opportunity in front of us to really position YouTube as the destination where people go, engage, and indulge their passions with premium content,” Parker tells BE Modern Man. “Being part of this digital movement is convincing traditional TV buyers that YouTube would be a better investment for their dollars and [a better strategy for] reaching the demographic they actually want to reach.”
And while Parker is revolutionizing the way YouTubers integrate the video-sharing website into their everyday lives, he’s actually an avid YouTuber himself. “I love a lot of the educational talks [and] TED is a really big one for me,” Parker tells BE Modern Man exclusively. “There are John Maxwell leadership talks as well as our interview channel.”
When it comes to Parker’s passions outside of work, it’s all about paying it forward and investing in others. He’s involved with nonprofits like 100 Black Man of New York and The Gifted Foundation based in Atlanta. And if you ask him the last song he listened to, he’s likely to tell you, “30-something,” by Jay-Z. But his playlist is a mélange of Ella Fitzgerald, Prince and, surprisingly, Taylor Swift.
The BE Modern Man team congratulates Parker for beginning small but always dreaming big. Adding value to the lives of individuals across the world through premium content is his focus but his passion is the driver. We are honored to shine the spotlight on Parker and look forward to seeing him revolutionize the way YouTubers integrate all of the tools available into their everyday lives.
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-written by Paula Lamonier