Star Parker's Biography
Star Parker is the founder and president of CURE, the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education, a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides national dialogue on issues of race and poverty in the media, inner city neighborhoods, and public policy. She also writes a nationally syndicated column through the Scripps Howard News Service.
Prior to her involvement in social activism, Star Parker was a single welfare mother in Los Angeles, California. After receiving Christ, Star returned to college, received a BS degree in marketing, and launched an urban Christian magazine.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots destroyed her business, yet served as a springboard for her focus on faith-based and free market alternatives to empower the lives of the poor. As a social policy consultant, Star Parker gives regular testimony before the U.S. Congress, and is a national expert on major television and radio shows across the country.
Currently, Star is a regular commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News. She debated Jesse Jackson on BET; fought for school choice on Larry King Live; and defended welfare reform on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Nationwide, Star shares her story and policy suggestions through college and church lectures, community outreaches, and empowerment conferences for inner city pastors. She has hosted radio talk shows in Christian and secular markets, and currently is a regular guest editorialist for USA Today.
Major accomplishments include speaking at the 1996 Republican National Convention and co-producing a documentary on welfare reform with the BBC in London. Star Parker's personal transformation from welfare fraud to conservative crusader has been chronicled by ABC's 20/20; Rush Limbaugh; Readers Digest; Dr. James Dobson; The 700 Club; Dr. George Grant; the Washington Times; Christianity Today; Charisma, and World Magazine.
Articles and quotes by Star have appeared in major publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. Her autobiography Pimps, Whores & Welfare Brats was released in 1997 by Pocket Books, and Uncle Sam's Plantation was released by Thomas Nelson in the fall of 2003.
Star resides in Southern California.