“It was really just a way to make me realize how much I had achieved,” Parrish said, daughter of Cece Parrish, St. Catherine’s director of dining. 

Growing up, Parrish, 20, struggled with weight and feeling uncomfortable in her own skin.  She credits the performing and visual arts teachers of St. Catherine’s for accepting and acknowledging her for who she was, but she always felt like a wallflower.  Visiting Richmond during her freshman year at James Madison University, Parrish “decided that (she) didn’t want to live (her) life on the sidelines anymore.”   She joined Weight Watchers Online in June 2009 and has never looked back.

Parrish submitted her story and a short video to Weight Watchers, and she was selected to audition for one of their commercials.  As the youngest spokes person representing the online program, Parrish joins the ranks of such celebrities at Jennifer Hudson, Jenny McCarthy, and Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson.  She was flown to LA for a week of filming, interviews and photo shoots.  Commenting on the “surreal” experience of filming, Parrish notes that “I was really involved in the theatre at St. Catherine’s so all things media fascinate me.  The director and producers of the commercial let me hang around and see how everything was done.”

Since her commercial began running nationally, eight of Parrish’s friends joined the online program at Weight Watchers, current members email her for advice and several of her St. Catherine’s classmates have contacted her with words of congratulations and support.  

“St. Catherine’s drove me to be successful in my weight loss journey and to prove that beneath my weight was an incredibly beautiful, strong, confident, fun and worthwhile person,” Parrish said.

See her video here!