KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Staying grounded isn’t just a job requirement, it’s the entire foundation of Parrish & Sons Construction, a woman and Black-owned construction company.
Fahteema Parrish is the founder, owner, president and CEO of Parrish & Sons Construction, which was founded in 2015.
The company’s name is a way to honor her family’s legacy: her husband, Clark, and her four sons.
The company specializes in ‘earth work,’ which includes excavating, water and storm utilities, grading, demolition, clearing and rock crushing.
“It’s been an interesting 10 years,” Parrish said while reflecting on a decade of work. She and her team celebrated the 10-year anniversary in January.
Parrish considers herself a ‘serial entrepreneur,’ having pursued multiple professions including barber and beauty services, lawn service, property management and property investment.
Before she founded Parrish & Sons, she was a software engineer.
“They’re like, ‘What? How, why did you go from technology to construction?’ In construction, there’s technology,” Parrish said.
Her entrepreneurial spirit isn’t out of nowhere.
“What really sparked that for me was growing up in a small business home,” Parrish said. “My dad owns and operates his own HVAC company to this day.”
Parrish says her organization’s key words are safety, quality and productivity, with safety always coming first.
“When you think about all of the things that we can’t control and so every single day, I’m confronted with obstacles,” Parrish said. “And it’s not just one obstacle, there are many obstacles.”
Throw in sexism, which Parrish isn’t new to.
“This is a tough industry to go from technology, which was a male-dominated field, and then to enter into construction, which was another male-dominated field, it’s very tough,” Parrish says.
But she keeps pushing, something she says wouldn’t be possible without her faith.
“I have to spend my time anchoring myself in my religion and being rooted in meditation and a lot of things that keep me going and say, ‘This too shall pass, but here’s what I’m learning while being tried in the fire,’” Parrish said.
None of her obstacles stopped her from achieving great levels of success and completing multiple projects in the Kansas City area, including work on the Three Light Tower, the KCI Airport, the Kansas City Street Car, the Kansas City Zoo, the MCC Engineering Technology Center and Regional Data Center Projects.
“I would say perseverance is what has led me to this phase in life,” Parrish said. “Success is a journey, and there are different things that we define, and we consider them our successes. I had to really pause and celebrate the small victories along the way.”
Parrish says she’s both a student and a teacher.
“Lifelong learner, no two projects are the same,” Parrish said.
She’s been able to mentor and offer internships with organizations like the Full Employment Council and Awesome Ambitions.
She also recently passed her National Standard General Building Contractor exam, which requires hours of training and further certifies a professional like Parrish beyond field experience alone.
Parrish doesn’t gate-keep her keys to success.
“When you’re growing, you’re flexing different muscles, and that’s okay,” Parrish said. “It’s what’s required in order for you to move to the next level.”
Lifting others up is a priority of hers.
“Being woman-owned, being minority-owned, that's huge for me going forward in where I want to go in my own business ventures,” said Paris Hollie, a newly-hired assistant project manager at Parrish & Sons.
Hollie says she was drawn to Parrish & Sons because of their model of inclusion, something she didn’t come across often in her 10 years in the construction industry.
“You don't see a lot of women,” Hollie said. “And when you do see a woman, you're like, 'Oh man, you can do that? You can be strong too.’”
Hollie said one of her goals is one day being a project manager, something she wouldn’t have known was possible without representation. She’s hoping the next generation can continue to see the progress in the industry she’s seen.
“We know there's always women who wanted to do it, now they know they can,” Hollie said.
Parrish’s advice for anyone pursuing a career comes from her robust, lived experience.
“Stay the course. Growth and comfort, they cannot coexist,” Parrish said. “Be okay trying, and be okay failing. But choosing to fail forward and learn from that.”
KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers neighborhoods in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.
