Who Is Akita Parmer? Rockdale School Board Leader

TL;DR

Akita Parmer is an elected member of the Rockdale County Board of Education in Georgia, an Auditor III with the Georgia Department of Revenue, a retired AT&T leader, and an executive board member of the JJG STEaM Scholarship Foundation.

She began in her daughter’s schools as a Band Booster President and PTA volunteer, and now advocates for students across the county. Her core belief: success has many valid paths, and every child deserves someone who believes in them before they believe in themselves.

Who Is Akita Parmer?

Akita Parmer is an elected member of the Rockdale County Board of Education in metro Atlanta, Georgia. Alongside that public role, she works as an Auditor III with the Georgia Department of Revenue, serves on the executive board of the JJG STEaM Scholarship Foundation, and previously spent a corporate career at AT&T leading teams and managing technical projects before retiring.

Her volunteer service has been recognized with multiple Presidential Volunteer Service Awards signed by former President Barack Obama.

Across all of it, Akita Parmer describes one consistent mission: helping people reach their fullest potential.

Akita Parmer at a Glance

For Akita Parmer, leadership has never been about recognition. It has been about responsibility: advocating for children, strengthening communities, and building pathways that let others succeed long after she is gone.

At the center of it sits one belief. Every child deserves the chance to dream boldly, discover their gifts, and build a future filled with possibility.

A Life Rooted in Service, Long Before the Title

Before board meetings and community recognition, Akita Parmer was a working mother trying to make a difference in one school building at a time.

She balanced career demands while staying present for her family as a wife, mother, daughter, and aunt, working from the belief that success starts at home. In her daughter’s schools she served as Band Booster President, PTA member, class mom, chaperone, and student advocate, years before she ever considered running for public office.

Those years gave Akita Parmer something no appointment could hand her: firsthand knowledge of the partnership required between families, educators, and communities before a child can thrive. She had watched the system from the parking lot, the band room, and the volunteer table, not from a dais.

What began as supporting one child became a calling to support thousands.

That trajectory places her among a broader group of Georgia women who moved from community volunteering into formal civic power, a pattern Real Women Atlanta Magazine has traced in the influence of Black women in politics and activism.

What Leadership Looks Like Beyond the Title

Akita Parmer’s professional record spans corporate leadership and public service.

At AT&T she led teams, managed complex technical projects, and mentored people who would go on to lead themselves. After retiring, she moved into state government while widening her reach through education advocacy, scholarships, and community work.

Her service extends into organizations built to lift others: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, NewRock Top Ladies of Distinction, and the National Council of Negro Women. Anyone who has experienced the power of sisterhood inside organizations like these understands why she keeps showing up for them.

Still, she resists the idea that leadership lives in a position.

“It’s about influence. It’s about creating solutions, opening doors, and advocating for people whose voices may not always be heard.”

She is not the only Rockdale County leader working from that definition. Her board colleague Janie Jones, Vice Chair of the Rockdale County Board of Education, has built a parallel body of work in STEM access and student support, and Rockdale County CEO and Chairman Oz Nesbitt has spoken with this magazine about the same tension between public office and public service.

How Akita Parmer Found Courage Through Self-Doubt

Every meaningful path includes uncertainty. Akita Parmer will tell you about hers.

Like many women stepping toward purpose, she questioned whether she was prepared enough, qualified enough, or ready enough. During her first campaign for the Rockdale County Board of Education, that self-doubt reached a breaking point during a phone call with a trusted spiritual mentor. She was in tears.

The advice she received reframed the whole thing:

Trust God. Trust yourself. Trust the work you’ve already done.

That last line did the heavy lifting. She was not being asked to become someone new. She was being asked to count what she had already built.

Courage, she learned, is not the absence of fear. It is moving forward while the fear is still there. Today she does not wait for confidence to arrive before she acts. She leads, and the confidence catches up.

Readers working through the same hesitation will recognize the pattern in choosing faith over fear and in cultivating self-worth as a Black woman.

The Sacrifices Behind the Success

People celebrate leadership without pricing it.

Behind the accomplishments sit the evenings away from family, the hard decisions made privately, and the honest late-night question of whether the trade was worth it. Akita Parmer knows that arithmetic. Holding the roles of wife, mother, public servant, professional, mentor, and community leader at once has meant working long after the workday ended.

Leadership has also meant unpopular decisions. She has learned that integrity sometimes means standing alone, that authenticity will occasionally disappoint people, and that purpose regularly asks for conviction instead of comfort.

Those moments did not weaken her position. They clarified it.

The Woman Beyond the Leadership

Away from boardrooms, Akita Parmer keeps her joys small and specific.

She shops with her daughter. She spends unhurried time with her husband. She reads. She unwinds with a Netflix series, and she has fallen into the world of Korean dramas.

These are not footnotes to the leadership story. They are the fuel supply. Life gets measured in relationships, laughter, and shared memories, and those hours are what make the service sustainable.

How Akita Parmer Protects Her Peace

For years, Akita Parmer lived a pattern that will sound familiar to a lot of women. Family, career, community, and leadership came first. Her own needs came last.

Then a realization landed:

“You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

Protecting her peace stopped being optional. She now practices what she calls “daily mental hygiene,” deliberately guarding what she allows into her mind, her spirit, and her life. Prayer. Reflection. Rest. Healthy boundaries. Supportive relationships.

She also learned that saying no does not shrink her capacity to serve. It protects it. That is the same conclusion behind the power of saying no without explaining and setting healthy boundaries, and it is why so many women eventually discover that real restoration looks like self-care beyond spa days rather than an occasional treat.

Leaders who care for themselves are better equipped to care for everyone else.

Why She Believes Every Path to Success Counts

Ask Akita Parmer what she wants students to understand, and she does not start with college.

She starts with options. College. Trade school. Entrepreneurship. Military service. Professional careers.

Her position is that success has many legitimate paths, and that the job of adults is to widen the map rather than narrow it. Through her work with the JJG STEaM Scholarship Foundation, that conviction turns into scholarship access and exposure for students who might otherwise never see certain careers as available to them.

It matters who students get to see. Representation in technical and creative fields shifts what young people believe is possible for themselves, which is part of why coverage of Black women innovators in Atlanta’s tech scene belongs in the same conversation as scholarship funding. And for the students already stepping into the workforce, the practical groundwork looks a lot like these success tips for young professionals.

Every dream matters. Every child matters. And every young person deserves someone who believes in their potential before they fully believe in it themselves.

The Legacy Akita Parmer Is Building

Ask her what she hopes people remember, and titles do not come up.

She hopes they remember someone who opened doors. Someone who told young people to believe in themselves. Someone who served with compassion and integrity. Someone who helped others dream past their current circumstances.

She also hopes her daughter sees a working model of leadership grounded in humility, faith, perseverance, and service, the kind that outlasts any résumé. That is the same quiet, durable influence Real Women Atlanta Magazine documented in the enduring impact of Dr. Josephine Bradley and in Keisha Lance Bottoms’ legacy of courage and service.

What Comes Next for Akita Parmer

After decades of building a career, serving a county, and pouring into other people, Akita Parmer is holding the future more loosely than she used to.

“I’ve learned not to plan too far ahead. I’m always open to opportunities to serve.”

Service will stay in the picture. She intends to keep advocating for students, families, and the value of public education while staying available to whatever comes.

She also names something women in her position often defer: rest. She can picture retirement, time to finally write a book about her journey, and more than a few unhurried days on a beach. If that sounds indulgent, it is worth reading why Black women must reclaim the right to pause.

Purpose does not always require another position. Sometimes it looks like passing on what you learned. Sometimes it means serving again when called. Sometimes it means being grateful for a life built on faith, family, service, and purpose.

Whatever arrives next, she plans to meet it the way she met everything before it: open-hearted, willing to serve, and trusting that God will direct the path. That posture starts with knowing who God has ordained you to be.

Five Leadership Lessons from Akita Parmer

1. Start where you already are. She began as a Band Booster President and PTA volunteer. The credential came after the service, not before it.
2. Count the work you have already done. When self-doubt hit during her first campaign, the antidote was not new qualifications. It was recognizing existing ones.
3. Expect integrity to be lonely sometimes. Standing alone on a decision is a cost of principle, not a sign of error.
4. Guard the inputs. Her “daily mental hygiene” treats attention and peace as resources with a limit.
5. Widen the map for young people. College, trade school, entrepreneurship, military service, and professional careers all count as success.

Why Akita Parmer Is a Woman2Watch

For Akita Parmer, being named a Woman2Watch is not about the spotlight.

It is about staying faithful to her purpose. It is about telling the next generation to lead with courage. It is about reminding women that they belong in every room they are called into. And it is about proving that success gets measured in lives touched, not titles collected.

Guided by Jeremiah 29:11, she keeps trusting the plan through each season.

Her story makes a useful point about leadership: it was never about having every answer. It is about the faith to keep moving, the courage to serve, and the intent to leave every place and every person better than you found them.

That is the mark of a true Woman2Watch. You can read more of these profiles in the Woman2Watch series, including LaShawnda Jones, who is building legacies and Toshia Ferguson-Fogle’s story of service and success.

Connect with Akita Parmer

Akita Parmer’s work centers on educational excellence, servant leadership, scholarship opportunities, and community engagement. Through education, public service, and nonprofit leadership, she continues to advocate for students, families, and future generations.

Facebook: facebook.com/electakitaparmer
Email: akitaparmer@bellsouth.net

“Success is measured not only by what we achieve for ourselves, but by the opportunities we create for others.” — Akita Parmer

Written by Real Women Atlanta Magazine.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Akita Parmer?
Akita Parmer is an elected member of the Rockdale County Board of Education in Georgia, an Auditor III with the Georgia Department of Revenue, a retired AT&T leader, and an executive board member of the JJG STEaM Scholarship Foundation.

What board does Akita Parmer serve on?
Akita Parmer serves as an elected member of the Rockdale County Board of Education in Rockdale County, Georgia, part of the metro Atlanta area.

What did Akita Parmer do before public office?
Before public office, Akita Parmer had a corporate career at AT&T, where she led teams, managed complex technical projects, and mentored emerging leaders. She retired from AT&T and later joined the Georgia Department of Revenue as an Auditor III. She also volunteered extensively in her daughter’s schools as Band Booster President, PTA member, class mom, and chaperone.

What organizations is Akita Parmer involved with?
Akita Parmer serves on the executive board of the JJG STEaM Scholarship Foundation and is involved with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, NewRock Top Ladies of Distinction, and the National Council of Negro Women.

Has Akita Parmer received any awards?
Akita Parmer has received multiple Presidential Volunteer Service Awards, signed by former President Barack Obama, in recognition of her community volunteer service.

What does Akita Parmer believe about paths to success for students?
Akita Parmer believes success has many valid paths, specifically naming college, trade school, entrepreneurship, military service, and professional careers. Her position is that adults should widen students’ sense of what is possible rather than push a single route.

What is “daily mental hygiene”?
“Daily mental hygiene” is Akita Parmer’s term for deliberately guarding what she allows into her mind, spirit, and life. Her practices include prayer, reflection, rest, healthy boundaries, and supportive relationships.

What is the Woman2Watch series?
Woman2Watch is a Real Women Atlanta Magazine feature series profiling women whose leadership creates opportunity for others, with an emphasis on service, community impact, and legacy.