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Parker's introduction to Philadelphia city politics came when she was a teenager. As a senior at Parkway High School in 1990, Parker won a citywide oratorical contest that came with a $1,000 cash prize and trip to Senegal and Morocco. As the contest winner, she was introduced to then-city council member Marian Tasco, who hired Parker as an intern.

Parker attended Lincoln University, a small private college in Philadelphia, where she graduated in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in English education. She later earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

She briefly worked as a high school English teacher in Pleasantville, New Jersey, before returning to Philadelphia to work as a full-time staffer for Tasco. When Tasco decided in 2015 not to seek reelection to the Philadelphia City Council, Parker launched a successful campaign to succeed her old boss.

During her stint on the city council, Parker helped establish the \"Philly First Home\" program in 2019, which provided financial assistance to help first-time homeowners.

Parker first ran for public office, however, ten years earlier, in 2005 when she was 32 years old, becoming the youngest African American woman to win a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. During her decade as a state representative for Northwest Philadelphia's 200th District, Parker initiated the Philadelphia Tax Fairness Act, a measure to collect delinquent property taxes that subsequently generated millions of dollars in funding for public schools. Additionally, Parker worked to pass a $2-per-pack cigarette tax that also generated more funding for Philadelphia public schools.

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