Sunday, Feb. 24, when I’m watching the Oscars it will be hard for me not to think that instead of watching Ryan Seacrest interview Jennifer Lawrence that one day it could be Idaho State’s own Joey Parker interviewing A-list celebrities.
Parker, a mass communication major at Idaho State University, is looking to graduate from ISU, and leave the bitter cold for the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to make a career covering pop culture.
“I’m a pop culture freak,” said Parker. “So it’s really the only profession I could see myself going into. I’ve always been intrigued by Hollywood, so hopefully when I graduate I will head in that direction.”
He has already completed two internships: one with LeAnn Rimes’ record label and the other with a website in Los Angeles called Celebuzz, which ran all the Kardashians’ blogs.
This January, MTV had Parker head down to Park City, Utah, to cover the Sundance Film Festival, one of the largest independent film festivals in the country.
“I did a lot of red carpets which was my favorite part,” said Parker.
“My number one moment of the festival was interviewing Jessica Alba. As she walked up and shook my hand she recognized me,” he said. “As I nearly fainted I composed myself to conduct the interview. She follows me on Twitter but I didn’t think she would recognize me. Hands down the best moment of the festival.”
I’m willing to bet he is the only student on our campus that Jessica Alba has recognized.
Parker writes about the positive in pop culture for MTV’s website called MTV Act, which is their pro-social blog that features young writers who want to bring about change in the world.
“It’s pretty cool, I can work for them all the way from Poky,” said Parker.
Parker is currently working on a book with which he hopes to inspire the up-and-coming generation.
“So many kids are suffering and I hope by sharing my journey others will feel a bit better,” said Parker. “I struggled immensely in ‘coming out’ to my family so in the book I open up and share my process with that time in my life.”
Each chapter will be about a different life lesson that Parker has learned growing up. In true pop culture fashion, each of these chapters will open with a celebrity introduction. Parker already has celebrities such as Russell Simmons, Paris Hilton, Denise Richards, Lisa Rinna, Ian Somerhalder, Aviva Drescher, Scout Masterson, Howard Bragman, Dina Manzo and Mike C. Manning committed to contributing to his book.
“It’s a huge challenge,” said Parker. “I’m a very driven person so I make time for it. It’s a lot of late nights and coffee.”
