The Integrity Title founder who inspired Black women to enter the real estate industry

When the business phone rang, Shina Parker answered with a grin: “It’s a great day to settle with Integrity Title.”

People can hear the difference when you smile, she’d say. There’s a lot of stress and stigma involved in buying property. She wanted clients to “feel the joy,” said her business partner, Monzella Saunders Owings.

Parker certainly felt it. She entered the Baltimore real estate business with enthusiasm and a dream — to establish a woman- and minority-owned title company that served people she felt had been overlooked, especially Black residents. She built a small business into a multimillion-dollar company that secured some of the most sought-after deals in the state, including the upcoming redevelopment of the Inner Harbor.

“This was a woman of so much light and energy, just someone who could enter a room and you just knew something was different about her,” Saunders Owings said. “But more than that, just passionate about what she did, whether it’s a small deal or a multimillion-dollar deal, making the client feel that they are heard, that they are understood, and that they just weren’t another transaction.”

In her absence, the Integrity staff will keep smiling on the phone and internalizing Parker’s regular reminders that working with integrity is a choice.

Parker, a devoted mother who enjoyed dancing and volunteering, died May 28. She was 63.

She was born March 11, 1963, and grew up in the Cherry Hill and Park Heights neighborhoods with her mother and four siblings. She was a “girly girl” who always hung out with the boys, said her daughter, Destiny Parker. She was always a big fan of music and, in her teenage years, was a regular at Odell’s Nightclub.

But for the most part, “her younger years were kind of like a blur to her,” Destiny said. She was in survival mode for much of her early life as she navigated poverty, her daughter said. She dreamed of ways to find success in business and buy a large house.

“It was survival, and then it just became who she was — the drive that she had to inspire people, and to inspire especially Black women, to just be better,” Destiny said.

After high school, she started working in sales and marketing. She met her first husband after graduation but still called him her “high school sweetheart.” They split after a few years of marriage. After the divorce, Parker delved deeper into her faith, becoming a devout Christian and eventually a pastor.

She then met her second husband, Destiny’s father, to whom she was married for about a year. They broke up when Destiny was three months old. The baby was everything to Parker — “she hustled for me, she sacrificed for me, she made sure that I had the best” — and the catalyst to start her own business.

Parker saw gaps in representation in the real estate industry and wanted to inspire other women of color. Integrity Title was her second child, born in 1999.

“What she was really able to do was use an organic talent she had for sales and marketing and bridge that with title in a way that hadn’t been done before,” Saunders Owings said.

Parker’s first client was U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who was in the market for a house.

“Shina was a strong woman and loving mother,” Mfume said in a text. “She was resilient, determined, and not easily influenced or discouraged. Her positive persona, exceptional business acumen, and keen sense of people would prove to serve her well throughout her life.”

Saunders Owings met Parker in 2001 when she became a settlement officer for Integrity. Their differences in personality and upbringing were complementary. By December of that year, Saunders Owings became vice president and Parker’s “right hand.”

Their business relationship turned into a 25-plus-year friendship filled with dinner dates and girls’ trips, but with Integrity always top of mind. They focused on personalized customer service. At the beginning of every month, Parker called and thanked every client who’d worked with Integrity the previous month.

For three years, Parker also hosted a radio show on WOLB called “Real Talk with Shina Parker,” where she taught listeners about the homebuying process and reminded them they could choose their own title company.

“She was overly concerned with helping people, and you just knew her from her professional reputation, she was one tough cookie,” said industry colleague Mark Fuller. “A lot of duality there.”

Marvin James, the former chief of staff for Mayor Brandon Scott, grew up thinking of Parker as his “first example of a titan business woman.” His mother and Parker were childhood friends and saw each other frequently.

Parker always gave the best gifts, he said, and the best advice: center your community, always be true to yourself, don’t be afraid to try new things.

“Baltimore, being the birthplace of redlining, birthplace of blockbusting — all of those things are ingratiated into our psyche as a people, and more importantly, as a culture and as an industry,” James said. “Her being there, she stood as a trusted voice, as someone who was considered an adviser and counselor to so many people.”

But at home, Destiny knew her as her goofy, fun-loving mother who loved throwing extravagant birthday parties, going to back-to-back movie matinees and volunteering with Meals on Wheels. The mom who taught her to ride a bike — and how to get up when she fell.

Destiny said her mother was a “trailblazer” who laid the groundwork for the next generation of women, particularly Black women, to start their own real estate businesses.

“Her legacy is Integrity Title and who she was in real estate, but to me, as a mom, she was my anchor,” Destiny said.

A homegoing celebration is scheduled for 9 a.m. on June 27 at Faith City Central on Briarclift Road.

In true fashion, Parker organized most of her own funeral. The day will go as she planned, Destiny said. Her mother promised to haunt her otherwise.

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