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.”