SDSU alumnus Johnathan Parker follows his passion and balances a successful career

Johnathan Parker discusses how he remained committed to his passion project, the novel “Them That Are Called,” while working at Meta.

By Athena Millman

Johnathan Parker graduated from San Diego State University in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and religion. He currently works as a senior recruiting partner at well-known technology company, Meta. Parker is also the founder and managing director of Looking Lion Books, a California-based independent publishing house under which he released his first novel last year titled “Them That Are Called” — an epic science fiction and fantasy exploration of African American culture and theology.

After beginning his education with SDSU in 2006 as an electrical engineering major, Parker came to the first of many crossroads in his life where he chose to follow his passion. Dissuaded by the engineering field's climate at the time, he started exploring what felt more in line with his interests. “I was really just generally interested in what makes human beings move,” Parker said. 

Parker found particular inspiration in College of Arts and Letters philosophy and English courses, where he fell in love with the art of storytelling. This love can be traced back to a seventh-grade assignment in which Parker became so engrossed in retelling the ending of “Arabian Nights” that he far exceeded the required length and forwent all punctuation. This passion for a good story, even over everything else, laid the groundwork for “Them That Are Called.” 

The idea for the novel began during a chapter of his life where all of his academic interests and personal circumstances seemed to coalesce at once. Parker attended Comic-Con with a friend in 2009 while his mother was sick in the hospital a month before her passing. In reflecting on his memories of his mother and what life might be like without her, he understood the depth of his passion for storytelling. 

“I realized that a lot of the nostalgia of our happiest moments together came from narratives that we would be consumed by together. That's when I realized that it was something that I was always passionate about; I just was doing it without noticing,” Parker said.

Surrounded by a world of speculative fiction at Comic-Con, Parker’s novel began to take shape in his mind. For the next 16 years, he planned, drew, wrote, and rewrote until the themes and storylines became a published work. 

Parker values the complexity and deeper meaning of thoughtfully constructed literature, making the reader think and reflect on both the characters and themselves. Hence, he was committed to taking his time writing “Them That Are Called,” even if it required more than a decade to complete. 

“There's always the morals and the warring philosophies of the story itself. It took a lot of the 16 years to ask compelling, or I would say difficult questions about what is right, what is your calling, what is the thing that you owe the world, and what is the thing you owe yourself?” 

Parker found his passion, not only in the novel creation process itself but in the act of balancing it alongside his work at Meta. “This is what I want to do with my life. I have a full-time job that I'm really good at, and I'll keep that. That's what I've been doing for Meta, just to continue to pay for life while I do the thing I love with [writing],” Parker said. Now, Parker is working on an animated five-minute pilot adaptation of his 545-page book.

He credits his professional success to the time he spent at SDSU prioritizing connection. Parker attended office hours and participated in community-building organizations like the Student African American Brotherhood, in which he was president for multiple years. The people he met both inspired his writing and acted as the necessary support system to continue his education after his mom passed.

However, beyond his career, Parker cites adventure and exploration as crucial ingredients to his overall success and happiness. Connection ensured he had the support to find his passion, but it was his passion that led him to find himself: “Follow the passion, not just the career focus. Follow the passion. And the rest of it just… uniquely lines up.”