Carol Perkins
Encyclopedia
Carol Perkins is an American business owner, fashion model
and pet
product designer who started her own company, Harry Barker, Inc., in 1997. The success of Harry Barker (company sales doubled between 2006 and 2009) has garnered Perkins national media coverage from CNBC
business shows and USA Today
to Ladies' Home Journal
and O magazines. Perkins had been a Ford Model in the 1980s who went on to star with Penn & Teller
in their 1990-91 Broadway hit, “Penn & Teller’s Refrigerator Tour.” An ordeal with a brain tumor
and Cushing’s Disease
forced her to change direction. Perkins recovered and moved south to start her own pet products company, Harry Barker, named for her Shetland Sheepdog
. Perkins is still represented by the Eileen Ford
Modeling Agency, but spends most of her time running her multi-million pet products company in Charleston, South Carolina
, where her father was a high school principal and her mother was a painter. She spent weeks on end at the winter home of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
, tumbling and playing with the children of Emmett Kelly
and flying Wallendas
. Perkins moved to New York City
when she was sixteen, having graduated from high school a year early.
A statuesque brunette with blue eyes, Perkins was signed immediately by Eileen Ford
of the Ford Modeling Agency. She appeared on the cover of the Victoria's Secret
catalog, as well as in the pages of Vogue
, Harper's Bazaar
and dozens of fashion magazines. Perkins lived in Paris
and London
for several years, traveling the world on modeling assignments.
In 1990, she met performer Penn Jillette
while he was preparing a “Penn & Teller” event for NBC
-TV, and appeared in the special “Don’t Try This at Home.” She then was recruited to star in a fire eating segment of their first Broadway production, “The Refrigerator Tour.” The New York Times
hailed it as an “incendiary performance," although it wasn’t without risk for someone whose career was based on her good looks.
It wasn’t the fire-eating that ended her modeling career, however, but a near-fatal bout with brain cancer and Cushing’s Disease. In the mid 1990s, Perkins gained 70 pounds, developed a hump on her back and a round face. She went to scores of doctors over the course of nearly two years, to no avail.
“I was disfigured and unemployable,” said Perkins who went from jet-setter to shut-in. She started walking dogs and sewing dog beds for friends. Visiting an acupuncturist in Chinatown
, he told her she had Cushing’s Disease, a rare syndrome caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland
. She had brain surgery to remove the tumor, during which she had a dream about starting a company for animals. As she recovered from the surgery and regained a normal hormone equilibrium, an editor friend featured one of Perkins’ hand-crafted dog beds in a woman’s magazine and Perkins was overwhelmed with orders from around the nation. It was May, 1997, and Perkins knew what her next career move would be.
, that sold bedding, treats and toys for dog
s and cat
s. After she met and married David Rawle, she moved her business to Charleston, South Carolina and focused on selling products through wholesale
distribution and over the internet at HarryBarker.com
From the start, Perkins used recycled products in the manufacture of her pet beds, toys, collars and leash
es. Each bed is fluffed with a special material that is made from 30 recycled plastic bottles. Perkins’ designs have been acclaimed by consumers and media alike: Harry Barker products are regularly featured in magazines such as "In Style, Coastal Living, O, Real Simple," and "Martha Stewart Living
." Because they are made with recycled products, Harry Barker frequently wins industry acclaim from sustainability groups and manufacturers’ groups such as TreeHugger
.com and Pet Product News.
Harry Barker is a privately-owned company and does not reveal sales figures, but revenues have doubled in the last five years. The company’s products are sold through more than 3,000 retailers around the world. Website sales at HarryBarker.com have doubled every year since 2006. The company also garners attention for its policy in employing adult workers from the Hope Disabilities Center, a community partnership that benefits many in the Charleston area. Every year the New York International Gift Show names Harry Barker or one of its products as “Most Sustainable Products and Practices.”
The product line is regularly expanding, and company sales are expected to keep growing for years to come.
, such as donating a portion of company proceeds to the Children’s Hospital. She also raises money to fund the hospital’s program for therapy dog
s. Perkins has served on the board of the local no-kill animal shelter, Pet Helpers. She is still represented by Ford Models
and will travel on assignment from time to time. Her husband, David Rawle, owns a large marketing communications
agency in Charleston, Rawle-Murdy Associates. They have two dogs: Harry Barker, of course (Perkins’ beloved Shetland sheepdog) and Josephine, an elegant briard.
Carol Perkins has also appeared on Paula Deen
’s TV cooking show (the two became friends in Savannah years ago) as well as countless local TV and newspaper interviews around the country.
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
and pet
Pet
A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
product designer who started her own company, Harry Barker, Inc., in 1997. The success of Harry Barker (company sales doubled between 2006 and 2009) has garnered Perkins national media coverage from CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
business shows and USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
to Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal is an American magazine which first appeared on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States...
and O magazines. Perkins had been a Ford Model in the 1980s who went on to star with Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller are Las Vegas headliners whose act is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is a raconteur; Teller generally uses mime while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard during their performance...
in their 1990-91 Broadway hit, “Penn & Teller’s Refrigerator Tour.” An ordeal with a brain tumor
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
and Cushing’s Disease
Cushing's syndrome
Cushing's syndrome is a hormone disorder caused by high levels of cortisol in the blood. This can be caused by taking glucocorticoid drugs, or by tumors that produce cortisol or adrenocorticotropic hormone or CRH...
forced her to change direction. Perkins recovered and moved south to start her own pet products company, Harry Barker, named for her Shetland Sheepdog
Shetland Sheepdog
The Shetland Sheepdog, often known as the Sheltie, is a breed of herding dog.They are small to medium dogs, and come in a variety of colors, such as sable/white, tri-color, and blue merle. They are vocal, excitable, energetic dogs who are always willing to please and work hard...
. Perkins is still represented by the Eileen Ford
Eileen Ford
Eileen Ford is a model agency executive and co-founder, in 1946, with her late husband Gerard William "Jerry" Ford, of Ford Models, one of the earliest and internationally best known modelling agencies in the world.-Early life:...
Modeling Agency, but spends most of her time running her multi-million pet products company in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
Early life, Ford Model
Perkins was born and raised in Sarasota, FloridaSarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
, where her father was a high school principal and her mother was a painter. She spent weeks on end at the winter home of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
, tumbling and playing with the children of Emmett Kelly
Emmett Kelly
Emmett Leo Kelly , a native of Sedan, Kansas, was an American circus performer, who created the memorable clown figure "Weary Willie", based on the hobos of the Depression era.- Career development :...
and flying Wallendas
The Flying Wallendas
The Flying Wallendas is the name of a circus act and daredevil stunt performers, most known for performing highwire acts without a safety net. They were first known as The Great Wallendas, but the current name was coined by the press in the 40s and has stayed since...
. Perkins moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
when she was sixteen, having graduated from high school a year early.
A statuesque brunette with blue eyes, Perkins was signed immediately by Eileen Ford
Eileen Ford
Eileen Ford is a model agency executive and co-founder, in 1946, with her late husband Gerard William "Jerry" Ford, of Ford Models, one of the earliest and internationally best known modelling agencies in the world.-Early life:...
of the Ford Modeling Agency. She appeared on the cover of the Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
catalog, as well as in the pages of Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, Harper's Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
and dozens of fashion magazines. Perkins lived in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for several years, traveling the world on modeling assignments.
In 1990, she met performer Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette
Penn Fraser Jillette is an American magician, comedian, illusionist, juggler, bassist and a best-selling author known for his work with fellow illusionist Teller in the team Penn & Teller, and advocacy of atheism, libertarian philosophy, free-market economics, and scientific skepticism.-Early...
while he was preparing a “Penn & Teller” event for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-TV, and appeared in the special “Don’t Try This at Home.” She then was recruited to star in a fire eating segment of their first Broadway production, “The Refrigerator Tour.” The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
hailed it as an “incendiary performance," although it wasn’t without risk for someone whose career was based on her good looks.
It wasn’t the fire-eating that ended her modeling career, however, but a near-fatal bout with brain cancer and Cushing’s Disease. In the mid 1990s, Perkins gained 70 pounds, developed a hump on her back and a round face. She went to scores of doctors over the course of nearly two years, to no avail.
“I was disfigured and unemployable,” said Perkins who went from jet-setter to shut-in. She started walking dogs and sewing dog beds for friends. Visiting an acupuncturist in Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
, he told her she had Cushing’s Disease, a rare syndrome caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland
Pituitary gland
In vertebrate anatomy the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland about the size of a pea and weighing 0.5 g , in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, and rests in a small, bony cavity covered by a dural fold...
. She had brain surgery to remove the tumor, during which she had a dream about starting a company for animals. As she recovered from the surgery and regained a normal hormone equilibrium, an editor friend featured one of Perkins’ hand-crafted dog beds in a woman’s magazine and Perkins was overwhelmed with orders from around the nation. It was May, 1997, and Perkins knew what her next career move would be.
Moving South to Start Harry Barker
Perkins sold everything she owned and left New York City, opening the “Harry Barker” retail shop in Savannah, GeorgiaSavannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, that sold bedding, treats and toys for dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s and cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s. After she met and married David Rawle, she moved her business to Charleston, South Carolina and focused on selling products through wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
distribution and over the internet at HarryBarker.com
From the start, Perkins used recycled products in the manufacture of her pet beds, toys, collars and leash
Leash
A leash is a rope or similar material attached to the neck or head of an animal for restraint or control...
es. Each bed is fluffed with a special material that is made from 30 recycled plastic bottles. Perkins’ designs have been acclaimed by consumers and media alike: Harry Barker products are regularly featured in magazines such as "In Style, Coastal Living, O, Real Simple," and "Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living is a magazine and a television show featuring entertaining and home decorating guru Martha Stewart. Both the magazine and the television program focus on the domestic arts. Martha Stewart Living began as a quarterly magazine in 1990, published by Time Inc..and is currently...
." Because they are made with recycled products, Harry Barker frequently wins industry acclaim from sustainability groups and manufacturers’ groups such as TreeHugger
TreeHugger
TreeHugger is a prominent sustainability website. It was rated the top sustainability blog of 2007 by Nielsen Netratings,and was included in Time Magazine's 2009 blog index as one of the top twenty-five blogs....
.com and Pet Product News.
Harry Barker is a privately-owned company and does not reveal sales figures, but revenues have doubled in the last five years. The company’s products are sold through more than 3,000 retailers around the world. Website sales at HarryBarker.com have doubled every year since 2006. The company also garners attention for its policy in employing adult workers from the Hope Disabilities Center, a community partnership that benefits many in the Charleston area. Every year the New York International Gift Show names Harry Barker or one of its products as “Most Sustainable Products and Practices.”
The product line is regularly expanding, and company sales are expected to keep growing for years to come.
Personal life
Perkins dedicates many resources to benefit the Medical University of South CarolinaMedical University of South Carolina
The Medical University of South Carolina opened in Charleston, South Carolina in 1824 as a small private college for the training of physicians. It is one of the oldest continually operating school of medicine in the United States and the oldest in the Deep South...
, such as donating a portion of company proceeds to the Children’s Hospital. She also raises money to fund the hospital’s program for therapy dog
Therapy dog
A therapy dog is a dog trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, people with learning difficulties, and stressful situations, such as disaster areas....
s. Perkins has served on the board of the local no-kill animal shelter, Pet Helpers. She is still represented by Ford Models
Ford Models
The Ford Modeling Agency, or as it is known today Ford Models, is a modeling agency in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen and the late Gerard W. Ford.-Company:...
and will travel on assignment from time to time. Her husband, David Rawle, owns a large marketing communications
Marketing communications
Marketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market...
agency in Charleston, Rawle-Murdy Associates. They have two dogs: Harry Barker, of course (Perkins’ beloved Shetland sheepdog) and Josephine, an elegant briard.
Media Appearances
Women’s magazines and home magazines have long raved about Harry Barker and its products. In 2008 and 2009, the business media started catching up. Perkins appeared on multiple segments of CNBC’s “Big Idea”with Donny Deutsch (who reprised what has become a sort of media sobriquet: “Model Gets New Leash on Life”). She also appeared in the business pages of "USAToday" and newspapers coast to coast through regular Associated Press wire stories on the status of the pet product industry.Carol Perkins has also appeared on Paula Deen
Paula Deen
Paula Deen American cook, cooking show host, restaurateur, author, actress and Emmy Award-winning television personality.Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates...
’s TV cooking show (the two became friends in Savannah years ago) as well as countless local TV and newspaper interviews around the country.