We recently connected with Katherine Parker and have shared our conversation below.

Katherine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I was standing in my kitchen—frustrated, crying, and broke. I had just been laid off from yet another job, one of several that couldn’t keep up with my bills or match my experience. I held a journalism degree, a solid GPA, and had worked for a mayor, a car dealership, and a creative agency. Still, doors kept closing.

That’s when God said, “You’re going to open your own business.”

I responded, “No, I’m not.”

God said, “Yes, you are.”

I argued… because that’s what I do. These days, I call myself Jonah—and yes, The Fish Stinks.

Six months earlier, I had registered a DBA with no clue what I was doing. That day in my kitchen, something shifted. I sat down, pulled up the Mississippi Secretary of State’s, website, moseyed around to figure out how to form my LLC, and about two hours later, filed it.
It was August 2016. I didn’t have a roadmap or funding, just faith and a fire in my bones. That moment marked the official start of KD Public Relations.

The seed had been planted long before. Years earlier, I was waiting tables after my divorce. I remember standing at the drink counter, praying and asking God what came next. I had left school where I was studying music education, due to my dad’s cancer diagnosis and everything falling apart. In the middle of that chaos, I heard God whisper: PR.

I said, “What the crap is PR?” Twice I asked this question, and twice I heard, “PR.” Asking a third time, I heard: “Public Relations.”

After my shift, I started researching. I remember saying, “Oh my God… that is so me!” I went back to Jones County Junior College, changed majors to journalism, started writing for The Radionian, started a religion column, won a few writing awards, then transferred to (and graduated from) The University of Southern Mississippi. I thought it would be a shoe-in to find work in the field. That didn’t happen.

Over time, I realized I wasn’t called to fit into broken systems. I was called to build something new—something rooted in truth and healing. That conviction led me to launch KD Public Relations. It started with a whisper, a lot of tears, and a very stubborn Jonah eventually saying yes.

Katherine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Katherine De’Na Parker, and I’m the founder and CEO of KD Public Relations, LLC—a trauma-informed Public Relations Agency rooted in photojournalism, mental health awareness, and authentic storytelling. I’m a Certified Peer Support Specialist for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, a journalist by training, and a southern woman with fire in her soul, faith in her core, and a camera always within reach.

I entered this industry by divine disruption. After a series of layoffs and a lot of closed doors, I followed a whisper from God into the world of public relations. It didn’t make sense at first, but the more I researched, studied, and leaned in, the more I realized it was exactly who I was built to be. Over time, I began to understand that communications could be more than branding—it could be a bridge between broken systems and the people they claim to serve.

KD Public Relations officially launched in 2016 and became a full-time agency in 2024. We specialize in PR strategy, brand storytelling, media campaigns, community engagement, visual storytelling (photography + videography), and public education. I also consult with nonprofits, city governments, mental health providers, and small business owners to help them find their voice and strengthen their impact. We help people and organizations clarify who they are—and communicate it with integrity.

What makes us different is the lens we work through. We blend traditional PR with trauma-informed practice, peer support principles, and mental health sensitivity. We believe the best PR doesn’t spin—it tells the truth, and it does so in a way that heals, empowers, and calls people into alignment.

I’m most proud of the people we’ve helped—those who felt unseen, unheard, or underestimated—and the way we’ve turned lived experience into leadership. I’ve worked with mayors, pastors, musicians, Nationally recognized journalists, advocates, entrepreneurs, and even children. Every client is a story waiting to bloom.

When people hear about KD Public Relations, I want them to know we’re not just here to “get you media.” We’re here to walk with you, to help you tell your truth, and to give your story the structure it deserves. Our tagline is “The Voices of Hope”—because hope isn’t fluff. It’s strategy, it’s sacred, and it’s how we build what’s next.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There was a season in my life when survival felt like a full-time job. I was a newly single mother, raising two children in a house with no insulation and no heat, during one of the coldest winters I can remember. We had to set out pots to catch rainwater from the leaking roof. At night, we’d pile into one bed under layers of blankets, trying to stay warm as temperatures dropped into the 20s.

One night, while we were huddled together in my bedroom, a stuffed bear fell onto the space heater. I woke up just in time to catch the smell of smoke and stop it before the house—and all of us in it—went up in flames.

In another moment I’ll never forget, I cooked the last few eggs we had over a campfire outside, because the power had been cut off and I had no way to make a meal indoors. Some nights, we’d sleep in my car in the driveway with the heat running just so my children wouldn’t freeze. In the morning, we’d go back into the ice-cold house to get ready for school and work like everything was fine.

That was the backdrop of my life before God told me I would start my own business. I was tired, discouraged, and certain I was unqualified. But through all of that—I never stopped believing that our story mattered. That I mattered. That somehow, it was all going to be used for something bigger than pain.

That’s what led to the birth of KD Public Relations. I didn’t launch a business from a place of comfort—I launched it from a place of survival. I had to rebuild from rock bottom. No capital. No cushion. Just faith, grit, and the determination to use my story to help others tell theirs.

Resilience isn’t just about “pushing through.” Sometimes, it looks like sleeping in your car so your kids can stay warm, then getting up the next day and choosing to build anyway. That’s the kind of resilience I carry into my business. It’s rooted in real life, held together by purpose, and powered by hope.

Can you imagine having to live on 12k a year while raising two special needs children, after leaving a domestically violent marriage? I do not have to imagine.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to unlearn is this: my financial status does not define my value as a human being.

That may sound simple, but when you’ve lived through poverty in a country that criminalizes it—when you’ve cooked eggs over a campfire because the power was off, or slept in your car with your children to stay warm—you begin to internalize the lie that you are broken. That struggling is shameful. That maybe you’re the problem.

It is a crime to be poor in America. I am still learning that I am not a criminal.

Even now, I’m running my business full-time, but I don’t have capital or backup plans. My children are grown, but money is still tight. KD Public Relations has made just under $15,000 this year, and that hasn’t been enough to consistently cover basic expenses. I’ve had days where I wasn’t sure how I’d eat lunch. I’ve driven on fumes. I’ve sat in silence, staring at my bank account, and asked God, “How?”

And yet—He answers. Every time.

Just yesterday, a friend sold me a 2014 MacBook Pro for $100. It came with a second charger that, miraculously, fits my original 2011 MacBook from college—my Lazarus. The one I couldn’t use because I didn’t have a charger. He also gave me a keyboard. (#MusicianFromBirth #JournalistByCalling) I’ve been praying for new keys, a computer, and a charger.

All three were handed to me in one moment. And when I picked them up, the location we met at had free food laid out—ribs, potato salad, dessert, all of it. I had gone there unsure what I’d eat that day, and left full, fed, and seen.

KD Public Relations is now a SAM.gov, Mississippi MAGIC System-recognized business and a SBA approved minority-owned small business. I have been silently fighting for my business, while trust-falling into the arms of God. I have a church family, my children are grown and both attending college, seeking higher education, and I have someone very special in my life, who reminds me ‘that we have to stay strong. We are going to make it.’

This time around, running my business is different. The numbers may not look “successful” on paper, but the narrative has changed. Why? Because I refuse to be a victim of my past—or a prisoner of poverty. I refuse to wear shame like a name tag. I choose faith, even on the days I feel fragile.

Our logo is a lion. Now you know why.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.KatThePRPrac.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kattheprprac/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatThePRPrac1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kattheprprac/
• Twitter: https://x.com/KDPRLLC
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KatThePRPrac78
• Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/biz_info/-gQvhqu3dKAAlFcmtmkq_w

Image Credits

The image of me, Katherine De’Na Parker, in the white suit was taken by Taylor Cooley of Taylor Cooley Photography. I replaced the background with KD Public Relations’ brand colors. Taylor did an outstanding job with this photo—please note her name is visible on the bottom of my pants leg.
Her website: https://www.taylorcooleyphotography.com/

All additional photos, images, and graphics were captured, designed, and fully created by Katherine De’Na Parker, PR, CPSS, of KD Public Relations.
Copyright © KD-PR, LLC, 2016; KD Public Relations, 2024.