Ana Parra (Entrepreneur-In-Residence)
Program Director, Women’s Business Center at Community Works
Ana Parra is an incoming Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) with Furman Innovation & Entrepreneurship. In her new role, she will be leveraging her expertise in marketing and non-profit work to mentor Furman students who are working on developing their own ventures.
Currently, Parra also serves as the Program Director for the Women’s Business Center at Community Works where she helps women with everything from new business ideas and business planning to personal finance and administration. The end goal of the center is to create a network of female entrepreneurs. Parra’s path to such an important role in Greenville’s non-profit landscape, however, was far from linear. After growing up in Travelers Rest with Furman in her backyard, Parra studied journalism at the University of South Carolina.
With aspirations of becoming a journalist, Parra initially worked in Philadelphia but soon returned home to work at the Greenville News in their young readers’ section. After working as a reporter for several years and writing hundreds of profiles on people, Parra realized that “the people I really admired worked in the non-profit world. I didn’t just want to report on them, I wanted to be them.”
She got her start in the non-profit world at the Hub City Farmer’s Market, a producer-only farmers market in Spartanburg, SC that supports local farmers and educates the community on seasonal produce and nutrition. By the time she was 26, Parra was the Executive Director of the market, a role which she called “her grad school experience” for all that it taught her about being on the edge of public policy and community.
Reflecting on her work experience, Parra said, “The work FU I&E is doing is so important because it builds confidence. Being confident in an idea takes a lot out of you. It’s not just a matter of looking at a business model, but it takes putting in a little bit of everything of who you are. In the business world, it’s great to learn all sorts of different techniques, but also you need confidence in who you are and what you bring to the table. You have to understand that your unique experience can translate into real value.”