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Richelle Parham '86, Marketing

Richelle Parham ’86 has always been a trailblazer. At Bryn Mawr, she incorporated her love of fashion into a unique Senior Convocation, complete with a runway and models showing off the work of a local designer. As an undergraduate student at Drexel University, she was the first to graduate with dual degrees in Marketing, from the business school, and Design and Merchandising, from the school of design.
It makes sense then, that she would channel that same drive for innovation in her career. Parham spent thirteen years at Digitas, a global agency that provides integrated strategy, technology and marketing solutions to leading e-commerce companies, before moving on to executive positions at Visa, Inc., and eBay. She entered the digital world early, during the late nineties, and is now considered something of a pioneer in the industry. “I built world-class sites, like ShopIBM and ShopAT&T and all these incredible e-commerce sites that were the first of their kind,” she explains.

Parham broke barriers on her way up the ladder, becoming one of the youngest senior vice presidents at Digitas, and the youngest person to lead one of their satellite offices. In her subsequent position as Chief Marketing Officer at eBay, she managed online marketing, social media, display and digital advertising, and all of eBay’s global citizenship efforts. She continued to use innovative approaches, such as forging partnerships with high-end fashion designers and launching the eBay celebrity auction platform to raise money for charity.

According to Parham, attending Bryn Mawr taught her the value of being bold — something she thinks women, particularly women in the business world, often aren’t. “The school taught us to be risk takers, and to try new things,” she says.

She adds, “Bryn Mawr helps you to tap into your imagination and realize that anything is possible. I think that opportunity is a precursor to being a visionary or an innovator.”
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