Meet Parish James: Select & Wilhelmina Model

We had the good fortune of connecting with Parish James and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Parish, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
There’s a strict mental and physical limit on how many hours I can work in a day, but none for how many sales can be made in a night. Why not be courageous enough to take the risk without fear of failure? I am not a person who can commit to anything that I’m not passionate about. I will not be able to display my best qualities if I am not doing what I am passionate about every single day. So no matter whether I fail or succeed, I will be content with knowing that I always did what I cared about. In that alone I will have succeeded.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve done it all. At thirteen, I was working as an editor for True Star magazine, a for teens by teens organization in a way. At fifteen, I was intending for a bankruptcy law firm by the name of Geraci Law. Worked there as a paralegal up until late 2019. That same year I started working as a server at an IHOP in boystown and got signed to Wilhelmina models. You couldn’t write a better inspiration, my apologies if that sounds corny but hey- that was my life. I’m a chameleon and that’s part of what makes me comfortable with my main path at the moment… modeling.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There are honestly a million different places I could take them. However, if I had to choose a few… I’d definitely start with millennium park and go down the lakefront to the pier and experience the shore for the day. I’ve never seen such a calming view in my life, that paired with the view of the skyline from the lake shore is unmatched. Then I’d take them to go get some Italian fiesta because everyone thinks deep dish is our best pizza and it really isn’t, at least not in my community. I would make them take the train almost everywhere because that is an experience within itself, seriously. Then I’d take them to the John Hancock center because tourists get high off of that for whatever reason.

Most important of all, I’d take them to Hyde park. It’s almost like a city within a city here and it’s beautiful.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family. My sisters, my aunts, my grandmother, and most importantly my beautiful parents. Although I’ve had my fits of rage with them, through almost every hardship in my life I could rely on my parents to make a way if I needed but they always taught me how to do it myself. They raised me not to just exist but to thrive. I grew up on 67th and Rhodes on the south side of Chicago and I was old enough to see that we weren’t the type of family who could miss a paycheck. They didn’t have it easy, ever. They didn’t allow that to overcome them though, they prospered. My father encourages me to be better than him everyday. He wants me to be better, it makes him happy. My mother just wants to see me happy. Yes I have had a lot of issues as any teenager does but my parents are my rock.

Instagram: @theparishjames

Twitter: @parishjames6