An American designer, entrepreneur, advisor, philanthropist, and fashion model, Katherine has built a career based on the marriage of creativity and charity.
She has received a Fulbright Specialist Program Award, advising university leadership on business education advisory work for women in the Middle East.
Background: Her background includes private and public sector work: discovered as a fashion model by Patrick Demarchelier after university graduation, she spent years in the international fashion industry, working with top global brands including Diane Von Furstenberg and model agencies including Elite Model Management.
Education: CNN World News dubbed her the “Model-Teacher” when she left her fashion career to spend over five years working in a Title One School District in New Jersey.
Creativity: Katherine has been a designer and artist, who now solely works on special design projects and collaborations after building and operating a global brand for 15 years.
Katherine Parr Jewelry and her artworks have been exhibited at Clarence House in London for HM King Charles III, The Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. exhibited at galleries in Europe and sold at museums, including the Morgan Library and Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Her jewelry has been owned and worn by Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, Maya Angelou, CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward, violinist Joshua Bell, and Rafael Nadal, and featured on magazine covers, including Elle and L’Officiel.
Katherine was commissioned to design a collection of carpets, handmade by talented female weavers in Afghanistan, by Turquoise Mountain non-profit charity and supported by the Qatar Fund for Development.
Non-Profit Advisory: Katherine advises charities and private foundations focused on education and workforce development, including Education for Employment, Custom Collaborative, and the Town of Palm Beach United Way and has represented UNICEF in its education programs for global citizenship.
Her TEDx Talk "The Road to Economic Empowerment is Conscious Consumerism," is featured on TED.com and was translated into eleven languages. It was removed from TED.com at the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021 and has since been reinstated.