The 32-year-old is graduating from the University of Otago today with a master’s degree in sustainable business, and has already started her own company, which aims to show businesses the benefits of incorporating sustainable practices.
In a former life, Ms Parker was one of New Zealand’s highest-ranked tennis players and represented New Zealand at international tournaments.
On that basis, she won a sports scholarship to study accounting at the University of South Florida, Tampa, while playing elite division 1 tennis.
While she loved it, she quickly realised other players were more invested in a professional tennis career than she was, so she decided to focus more on her studies.
After graduating, she spent about a decade working as an accountant in New Zealand and Australia.
But after having her first child, Lucy, she discovered a passion for sustainability, which prompted her to enrol in a master’s of sustainable business degree at the University of Otago.
"I was on maternity leave and I was actually thinking about things a bit more.
"With a baby, I was really seeing all the waste with the diapers and thinking, ‘Where does all this stuff go?’
"I started to research how to be more sustainable, just in my own daily life.
"And then when I started studying for my master’s, I started thinking, ‘How do you do it in business as well’?
"I became more impact-focused in businesses, where you’re driven by purpose, not profit."
Ms Parker completed her master’s degree online from her Hawke’s Bay home, while juggling solo motherhood and a job as chief financial officer at Te Mata Exports.
She became so passionate about sustainability, three months ago she started her own business — Sustainable CFO Ltd.
She said her new company aimed to convince business owners and investors to go down the sustainability route.
"So you have to be able to show them from a finance perspective that the numbers make sense, and then there’s got to be an impact from a sustainability perspective.
"If you can convince them for both of those two things, then you’ve got a strong case to persuade them to do it.
"All the CFOs, they’re making the financial decisions, and so they need to be the ones that are understanding sustainability issues ... and actually looking at what is the best for the planet.
"I truly believe that finance isn’t just about numbers — it’s about making smart decisions for our future generations."
Although she has already graduated with an accounting degree, she said graduating from Otago today felt different.
"It actually feels really good because, for one, it was a lot of hard work, but also, it’s a lot more rewarding because this degree has the potential to change the world."
While it was still very early days for her new business, she was "pretty happy" with how it was going.
"I just need to trust the process, take my time, and not expect things to move too quickly."
