‘I failed forward.’ How KC woman made construction firm into first-of-kind award winner

Looking back, Kansas City native Fahteema Parrish can see the entrepreneurial thread woven into her life.

In college at Northwest Missouri State University, Parrish saw a gap in the market and became “one of the go-to hairstylists” for Black students. Later, she tried starting her own businesses: first a professional cleaning service and then a salon. Both failed.

But Parrish, who turns 42 this month, has chosen to see her mistakes as valuable lessons learned. Of the unsuccessful ventures, Parrish said, “I failed forward from them.”

Her hard earned wisdom is paying off. In June, the business she founded in 2015, Parrish & Sons Construction, won the KC Chamber Mr. K Small Business of the Year award. In the award’s 36-year existence, it’s the first time a Black woman-owned business has won.

This year, about 50 businesses competed for the award. The winner was chosen by a panel of judges that evaluated four categories: business growth, community involvement, employee relations and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Connie Zack, co-founder of Overland Park-based Sunlighten Saunas and a previous Small Business of the Year winner, was on the judging panel.

Zack told The Star that despite facing supply chain issues, labor shortages and a potential recession, Parrish & Sons still saw sustained growth over time.

“There’s a lot of potentially limiting factors that could be in her way and she has found a way to rise above everything and compete successfully,” Zack said.

Parrish & Sons Construction does excavation, land clearing and grading. It’s been part of big-name projects like the new KCI Airport terminal, Three Light luxury apartment tower, and Meta’s data center in Smithville.

Parrish, who has a master’s degree in IT management and worked as a software engineer, didn’t foresee running a construction company.

But that changed when she and her now-husband, Clark Parrish, were dating.

At the time, Clark was a construction worker and going through an apprenticeship with the operating engineers union. As Fahteema visited him on job sites and learned about his work, a new business idea occurred to her.

The idea was a construction company that would become Parrish & Sons. Fahteema would run the business drawing on her IT management and small business backgrounds, and Clark would oversee the field operations.

Talking with The Star, Clark Parrish lovingly described his wife as ambitious, hardworking and visionary and readily admitted that he wouldn’t have come up with the business idea.

“(She’s) probably been the best boss I’ve worked for,” he said.

Fahteema Parrish said her entrepreneurial drive and work ethic were instilled by her parents, who ran (and still run) a small HVAC business. She remembers going on service calls with her dad and learning math from her mom, who managed the company’s books while working full time.

Now Parrish is striving to pass on more than work ethic to her own children, four sons who range in age from 10 to 18. She hopes to one day hand off the business to them. That’s why it’s called Parrish & Sons.

Since she founded the company in 2015, she’s had a plan of creating “a legacy business for our sons to take over and pass on to future generations.” Right now, she’s focused on setting a solid foundation for them.

Part of that foundation is a plan for a new Kansas City headquarters. Parrish hopes to move in the next couple of years and is working on land acquisition and building design for a location that will serve as both a corporate office and equipment and maintenance facility.

While Parrish is proud of what she’s accomplished so far, she said “growth and comfort don’t coexist.”

“I’m in growth mode,” Parish said. “And so I’m gonna be constantly uncomfortable. But I’m OK with that.”

This story was originally published July 12, 2023 at 5:30 AM.