Kelly McCorkle Parkison is a native of Greenville, South Carolina. She graduated from Eastside High School and Greenville’s Fine Arts Center (1996) and later studied dance in New York City with Joffrey Ballet and Alvin Ailey Summer Programs.. She also was a Cum Laude graduate at North Greenville University earning a degree in Mass Communications (2001).
Kelly competed in the Miss South Carolina Pageant as Miss Greenville 1998, Miss Lowerstate Carolina 2001, and Miss Golden Corner 2002; which led to the title of Miss South Carolina 2002. Kelly went on to compete in Miss America and placed in the Top 15.
In addition to pageant experience, Kelly has five years professional experience teaching manners, social graces, and modeling at Millie Lewis Studio in Greenville, SC. She has modeled professionally in runway, television commercials and print ads.
As Miss South Carolina 2002, Kelly was an ambassador for her state and served as a spokesperson for Learning Disabilities Awareness. She spoke on various topics over 450 times in one year with schools, churches, and civic organizations, mainly sharing her inspirational story of overcoming obstacles in her life due to her learning disabilities in dyslexia and auditory processing deficits.
After her duties as Miss South Carolina were completed, Kelly moved to Washington, DC to work as a Legislative Correspondent for Congressman Jim DeMint. After living in DC for almost one year, Kelly applied for one of her favorite reality TV shows., CBS’s “The Amazing Race”, in which she and her race partner made it to the final round and placed third.
Kelly returned to Greenville, and worked for her alma mater North Greenville University. She began dating the love of her life, now husband, Dr. Scott. Parkison. They have been married 10 years and have five precious children, one in which they adopted from India.
During their adoption process, Scott and Kelly felt moved to do more than just adopt a child from India. They started a non-profit called LOFT 218: Rise Up and Build. A ministry that will take care of the Least of These (LOFT) in India. They plan to build an orphanage in Rajasthan and a women’s center for victims of sex trafficking.
Kelly and her large family reside in Tennessee where her husband Scott serves as a Senior Pastor. Kelly loves her role as Pastor’s Wife and stays quite busy serving in her church and local community. She has also written a book about their family’s adoption experience that is being published in 2016 entitled “He Knows Her Name”. All proceeds from the book sales, go to support their LOFT 218 ministry.
Kelly would love to come and share at your event or with you organization. Contact her here for more information.