PROFILE

By Glenda Graves | Portrait photo by Keith Branch

Esther Silver-Parker

Investing in Others

Esther Silver-Parker has spent a lifetime building bridges. In Northwest Arkansas, she has become a trusted voice at the intersection of corporate leadership, philanthropy and cultural stewardship, helping shape a region that is still defining what it wants to be as it grows.

But long before boardrooms, foundations and national stages, Esther’s understanding of leadership was shaped in the tobacco fields of eastern North Carolina.

“I grew up poor,” Esther said plainly. “We didn’t have many material things, but that lack was overshadowed by love.”

Her mother worked the evening shift at a tobacco factory. Her father was a janitor and handyman. When they were at work, Grandma Silver, who lived next door, took care of Esther and her six siblings. When they were old enough, the children joined their parents in the fields, working weekends and school holidays.

“Although my parents were not formally educated, they were smart, resilient and caring people,” Esther said. “They shaped my values and how I live my life today.”

Excuses were not allowed. “My dad would say, ‘You have a brain, eyes, two hands and two feet. Figure it out,’” she recalled. “He didn’t want to hear what we couldn’t do. He wanted us to find the solution.”

There were many opportunities for valuable lessons in Esther’s childhood. One Saturday afternoon, after a long day in the fields, the neighborhood girls gathered at the Silver home to play basketball. Esther’s father had nailed a fruit basket to a pecan tree to create a makeshift hoop. Teams were chosen. Some girls, those who could not shoot, were left sitting on the steps.

“My mother noticed,” Esther said. “She asked why they weren’t playing. I told her they couldn’t put the ball in the basket.” Her mother’s response was swift and firm. “She said, ‘I’m sure there’s something they can do. Figure it out or you can join them on the steps.’”

Esther learned that day that everyone has value and deserves an opportunity, a lesson that would quietly guide her leadership for decades.

Education was nonnegotiable in the Silver household. Esther’s father surrounded his children with books and took them to the library on Friday nights. “He told us we were going to college so that we could have a better life,” Esther said.

The night before Esther left for college, she packed her belongings into Piggly Wiggly paper bags. Her parents could not afford luggage. Then, there was a knock at the door.

Four women from the neighborhood arrived carrying a set of blue Samsonite suitcases. They had raised money through fish fries, church donations and borrowed credit from a local shop owner. “They said, ‘We want our girl to go off to college looking like somebody,’” Esther said. “Not Joel and Augusta Silver’s girl. Our girl. They took ownership of me. They sacrificed so that I could walk into the world with dignity.”

At North Carolina Central University, that sense of communal investment deepened. Professors Violet Wufel and Russell Adams recognized Esther’s potential and opened doors she had not known existed, securing internships at The New York Times and placing her in an intensive study program at Yale. “They believed in me when I had self-doubt,” Esther said. “That belief defined my career.”

Esther Silver-Parker, past global president of the International Women's Forum, speaking at its 50th anniversary celebration in 2024 (Photo courtesy of the International Women's Forum)

Esther’s professional path spans journalism, corporate leadership and consulting, including senior leadership roles at AT&T and Walmart, where she led corporate affairs, diversity relations and corporate responsibility initiatives. Those experiences have created opportunities for her voice to carry weight in Northwest Arkansas, a region navigating rapid growth, national attention and the complicated work of building trust across communities.

“Corporations are microcosms of the larger community,” Esther explained. “The same complex dances you do in communities to get things done, you do them in corporate America.”

Too often, she said, leaders misunderstand how fragile trust really is.

“Reputation can erode with a single misstep,” Esther said. “Some leaders assume they know what’s best and issue directives without ever engaging the community. They say they’re too busy to be visible. But people can’t trust leaders they don’t know or see. Trust is earned continuously. Communities are watching, evaluating whether you are consistent, honest and transparent, especially when no one is watching.”

Ester Silver-Parker receiving the Arts Advocate Award at the TheatreSquared Gala for Education and Access on May 12, 2022, with Tony Walter and Martin Miller (Photo by Wesley Hitt)

After retiring from Walmart, Esther launched The SilverParker Group with a clear mission. She wanted to challenge the idea that corporations exist solely for shareholders. “Society gives companies license to operate,” she said. “In return, they have a responsibility to invest in the communities where they do business.”

Esther is candid about her disagreement with economist Milton Friedman’s doctrine that corporations have no social responsibility beyond profit. “I was determined to dispel that notion,” she said. “Companies must be accountable to all the people affected by their decisions.”

That philosophy also shapes her personal giving. As former president of the AT&T Foundation, Esther learned early that even the most generous organizations must make intentional choices. “You cannot support everything,” she said. “You find the sweet spot between your values and the community’s need.”

Her giving focuses on her church, higher education for first-generation students, women’s equity, and arts and culture institutions that provide access to underserved communities. She supports historically Black colleges and universities in particular, a deeply personal commitment. “My siblings and I were first-generation college students,” she said. “North Carolina Central University prepared me for life. Other HBCUs prepared my siblings, nieces and nephews for success. Today, those institutions are preparing my great-nieces and -nephews.”

In Northwest Arkansas, Esther’s influence is felt most visibly through her board service, mentorship and advocacy for arts organizations that prioritize access and education. She serves on the board of TheatreSquared, drawn to its belief that theater should function as a civic space. “The Commons feels like a town square,” she said. “It’s a place where everyone belongs.”

She is particularly passionate about TheatreSquared’s statewide outreach, education programs, and free and reduced-price tickets for young audiences. “People underestimate the role theater plays,” Esther said. “It’s not just entertainment. Theaters are our storytellers. They preserve our history.”

As the region grows into a national arts destination, Esther believes Northwest Arkansas must protect its mid- and small-sized organizations. “They preserve local legacies and take creative risks,” she said. “Without them, we cannot truly call ourselves an arts destination.”

Ronald Parker and Esther Silver-Parker with their grandchildren, Sophia and Ella

Her love of the arts extends beyond governance and into art collecting. Rooted in storytelling and lived experience, her collection centers on African American and African diaspora artists, particularly figurative works by Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett and Bisa Butler, alongside abstract and landscape artists such as Alma Thomas and Sam Gilliam.

Her first major purchase came in graduate school — two Jacob Lawrence silkscreen prints from The Legend of John Brown series. “I still have one,” she said. “The other was destroyed in a move. But that work shaped how I see collecting, as living with art that tells a story.”

For Esther, leadership is not about your resume or personal accolades. “Build your significance,” she said she tells young women. “Your significance is the contributions you make to the success of others.”

That belief drives her mentorship, where she spends much of her time guiding emerging leaders through workplace expectations and the integration of professional and personal life. She also mentors young artists, helping them understand how to manage their studios as businesses, not just creative outlets.

Today, Esther describes herself as being in the season of a professional grandma. “I am erasing the guilt of time my career took from my son by being fully present for his daughters,” she said, smiling.

Granddaughters Sophia and Ella are her priority. “I say no to anything scheduled between the time they come home from school and the time they leave,” Esther said. “And I say yes to improving the quality of life for underserved children.”

Esther is adamant that she is not self-made. “I could have become a negative statistic,” she said. “But because of generosity and because people invested in me, I am able to invest in others.”

In Northwest Arkansas, Esther Silver-Parker is not simply a board member, advisor or donor. She is a bridge between access and excellence and between what the region has been and what it has the potential to become. Her legacy is built on shared ownership and the enduring belief, passed down from her parents, that everyone deserves to get in the game.