Since graduating, Deborah Parker has been involved in numerous groups and organizations.
16 Facts About Deborah Parker
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From 2005 to 2012, Deborah Parker served as the Legislative Policy Analyst in the Office of Governmental Affairs for the Tulalip Tribes; and, in March 2012, she began serving as vice-chairwoman of the Tulalip Tribes, becoming its only woman board member and its youngest member.
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Deborah Parker later was promoted to its board of directors as the president.
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In 2007, Deborah Parker starred as Aunt Fran in Shadow of the Salmon, a docudrama about the significance of salmon among the Northwest Native peoples that was nominated for multiple awards.
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Deborah Parker was initially drawn to the organization because of the work it did and the dedication of its founder.
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From 2014 to 2017, Deborah Parker served as a trustee board member for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.
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Deborah Parker lives in Tulalip, Washington, where she is a mother to three children and two stepchildren was married to documentary filmmaker Myron Dewey until his death in 2021.
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Deborah Parker describes her activism and resilience to resist despite hardships as "warrior status".
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Deborah Parker was the keynote speaker at the second annual Faith and Action Climate Team Conference in October 2017.
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Deborah Parker began to aggressively lobby in favor of the reauthorization and sought to convince members of Congress to support both it and its tribal provisions, so much so that then-president Obama got to know her by her native name and her "toes bled" from all the walking.
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Deborah Parker attended national cable news programs and provided interviews to newspapers across the country in support of the legislation.
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In June 2016, on the first day of the platform drafting hearing in St Louis, Deborah Parker proposed a substitution amendment that replaced and strengthened the language in the section on honoring tribal nations.
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Shortly after Our Revolution formed in August 2016, Deborah Parker joined it as a member of its board of directors.
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Deborah Parker joined other indigenous leaders and groups in January 2017 for the 2017 Women's March and marched in the Women's March on Washington.
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Deborah Parker censured Donald Trump's usage of "Pocahontas" as a nickname for Elizabeth Warren, which she described as "very insulting"; and Trump's past treatment of tribal nations and their sovereignty more generally.
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Deborah Parker is critical of the US government's current and historic treatment of indigenous populations, comparing Native American reservations to "concentration camps".