E264: Ronda Parker-Taylor - Redefining your Life

https://rhondaparkertaylor.com/


 


Rhonda Parker Taylor wanted to write a book to prove to herself
that she could. For many, like Parker Taylor, writing is a
difficult task. Growing up, she wasn’t a good student in English,
reading or writing. She struggled with McGuffey Readers. And the
phonetic concepts escaped her as a child. But she was still drawn
to books, mostly encyclopedias, where she could read about the
world, daring young women and journeys away from her small
hometown of Noblesville. So, writing became about telling a story
that was within her. And that’s what she did in her book,
“Crossroads,” a suspense novel set in Indianapolis in the early
2000s and released earlier this year. The story is a journey into
the life of fictional character, Paris Pennington, a powerhouse
in the financial community who is forced to fulfill her civic
duty and be a juror in a murder trial involving the death of a
15-year-old. But when Pennington takes the job as the jury
foreman, whose name is mistakenly made public, her life begins to
be picked apart as people around her start dying. Parker Taylor
said she had an idea for the plot before she started writing, and
she chose the scene of the crime, too. “I had Chapter One
ingrained in my head. All I had to do was write it down. I worry
about the mechanics after I get the story and dialogue crafted,”
she said. Parker Taylor, whose book is endorsed by Golden
Globe-nominated actress Mariel Hemingway, will sign copies this
Saturday in Chicago and locally, on June 24, at the Barnes and
Noble at River Crossing in Indianapolis. The book is the product
of “passion, determination and commitment,” she said. “It took me
a year to write and 20 years to introduce it.” Yes, she wrote the
book in 2000 but finally got it published this year. She was born
in Noblesville in 1964 and will turn 59 this fall. She is the
second youngest of five children, the daughter of the late
William and Anita Parker, who founded a steel manufacturing
company that we know today as Noble Industries. Her sister,
Brenda Parker, her best friend, is executive vice president of
Noble Industries. Her brother, Gary Parker, is executive
consultant of manufacturing. And her brother, Greg Parker, is
president of Noble Industries. Parker Taylor spent her childhood
in a two-story home surrounded by cornfields and cows in the
Craig Highlands neighborhood, attended Prairie Baptist Church and
Heritage Christian School, from where she graduated in 1983.
Through Noble Industries and her parents’ entrepreneurial spirit,
the Parkers learned to dedicate themselves to work, family and
community. All of the Parker children, she said, were taught to
work hard. Most of the kids gained their job experience by
working at Noble Industries or for grandparents, Kenneth and
Louis (Marrow) Hanna’s Ken-Lo Cafeteria (839 Conner St.,
according to Hamilton County historian David Heighway). Parker
Taylor’s first job was bagging plastic furniture feet while
watching TV and bending steel and working a punch press at Noble
Industries (which was started in 1968, making metal aquarium
stands part time in a 300-square-foot barn, founded in 1969 and
incorporated in 1970, and has since grown to 60 employees and a
110,000-square-foot facility). During high school, she worked at
Payless Shoes and Arby’s in Noblesville. After graduating high
school, she earned a certification in 1984 in Fashion
Merchandising in Bauder College, Arlington, Texas. Then, she
returned to Indiana. Then several years later, she decided to go
back to school. In 2000, she earned a bachelor’s degree in
Business Science Management; in 2004, a master’s of Business
Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University; and in 2010, a
doctorate in Management and Leadership from University of
Phoenix. (In her career, she has mentored students and young
professionals, was a National College campus director and
professor, co-director of an advertising agency and worked for a
student loan management company. In between, she worked in the
human resources department of Noble Industries. Currently, she is
director of operations for Intelligent Solutions training,
developing, academic research and business writing services) Her
writing started through academics. “I was a business student who
had to write paper after paper.” After writing her book, a
publisher in 2000 backed out of a deal with her because she
wasn’t interested in the business part of the industry. Brenda
Parker asked her sister: “What are you afraid of?” Her sister
said, “For it to succeed, you must make yourself vulnerable to
disappointment.” So Parker Taylor started looking for another
publisher who also assisted with the marketing. MindStir and
Seacoast walked her through much of the process. Her two family
mottos: “If it is meant to be, it is up to me,” and “Every day is
great.” She has stuck with those mottos. Writing, for Parker
Taylor, is about telling a story with a lesson learned. In
“Crossroads,” she used Proverbs’ lessons on anger, fury and envy
as the motivations for the crime. After her book was finally
published, her first book signing couldn’t have gone better. “I
was blessed by so many people coming out to support me and the
book,” she said. “I can’t wait to host another one. What I loved
about the book signing was it was a time to socialize and
fellowship with like-minded people.” Her next signing is at
Barnes and Noble Evansville, IN on 9/12 and Barnes and Noble
Carmel, IN on October 20. In addition, Parker has done the Fox
Indy Now show and approximately 10 Podcasts. While she loves to
travel, to cook and all things outdoors, writing a book has
always been on her bucket list. What makes her smile is “life and
people.” She is inspired by her family and good friends, creating
characters like them in her book. “I’ve been lucky to have
lifelong friends that push me to be a better person and to live
to my full potential,” Parker Taylor said. She has great support
from her spouse, Dana Taylor. “My husband assists me in staying
in balance because, much like the main protagonist in
‘Crossroads,’ I tend to be a workaholic.” Remember when Parker
Taylor shared how she struggled academically in school? Well, she
had a special Heritage Christian School teacher, Mrs. Donley, who
offered to tutor her over the summer between her junior and
senior years. “At the end of the summer, I offered to pay her for
the tutoring from the money I made working at Arby’s. She would
not take a dime. I passed the test. Without her, none of this
would have ever happened to me.”


Please leave a review or send us a Voice note letting us know
what you enjoyed at:


Back2Basics reconnecting to the essence of YOU (podpage.com)


Follow us on IG and FB @Back2BasicsPodcast