Mariah Parker took expressing issues in her music to a more professional platform through her county commissioner campaign. She vows to use both these positions to make a difference in this community. She is famous for her hip-hop, but now, she's well known with a whole new generation. Despite feeling like one can't do everything, Parker is proving she can do it all.

Parker has no time. She spends her mornings as a student pursuing a doctorate at the University of Georgia in linguistics. She works through her afternoons as Athens-Clarke County's youngest commissioner. When the sun goes down, she unites the music scene as hip hop artist "Linqua Franqa" is one of the city's newest sensations. Her involvement with local issues reaches outside her political career and pushes against racism and classism present in downtown Athens. Taking her oath into office on the Malcolm X autobiography, she promises to pursue a similar passion for activism and to create a better community in her new city.

Parker considers herself a "moral minority" in the community. She quotes Malcolm X's statement that black women are the most unprotected and neglected group of people. Inspired, motivated, and nostalgic, she swears on his book to continue fighting for those of all colors and class. When offered a bible to take her oath into office, she refused. Her mother suggested a copy of the Constitution, but Mariah insisted on Malcolm X's book- and no one was surprised. She walked into office ready to run with her ideas- promising to fight against discrimination and confront community norms through her policies and her performance.

Her direct interaction with discrimination in the modern day that she experienced in her small town in Kentucky, she almost instantly began to get involved. Using these experiences to drive her, she desired change. She began getting involved with politics from an early age as she campaigned to be Athens-Clarke County Commissioner to represent and support the entire community during her political career. Jerry Nesmith, fellow commissioner representing District 6, when discussing his interactions with Mariah said, "Communicating with Mariah is very easy to do. No doubt she has an agenda that is important to her, including equity across all races and socioeconomic strata, and I expect her to work hard toward achieving her goals." She wants to push conversations of race in a radical way and in support of positive transformation from low socio-economic areas and this agenda is made clear to her co-commissioners as well as her district.

With her passion for activism, Athens is the prime location for her to relate her ideas across multiple platforms of music, politics, and education. For one of the poorest cities in the state, Athens is rich with southern rock, classic alternative, local legacies such as R.E.M and the B-52s, and a newly founded hip-hop culture on "Hot Corner". Many venue owners were opposed to letting blacks perform in their venues- fearful of the type of fans these artists would attract. Within her first few years here, Parker took this area known for danger, poverty, and risk, and invested her talent both as a musician and an activist to develop this hip-hop hub of Athens. As a well-educated, light skinned woman, Parker admits to feeling "more approachable" than others in her industry. Admiring Malcolm X's open activism across his platform, Parker brings this same energy to her music. "Malcolm's willingness to openly speak about black people at large are qualities that I want to embody." Parker said. She uses her music to discuss political issues, her activist approach, and calls out radical racism through her hip hop albums and stage performances to audiences who may not be involved in such topics to develop awareness and support in social activism.

Mariah embodies her personal experiences and uses them to promote policies that work toward transformative change. Like Malcolm X, she strives to eliminate status and socioeconomic discrimination and racism. However, Malcolm X was overcome with controversy; her activism is also not always seen in brilliant light. She creates a conversation of controversial topics to continue the discussion of age-long issues. She affects Athens one policy and one song download at a time.