From the AES Campus to the Ocean’s Edge–Kabir Parker

By Chad Laws (AES Communications Specialist)

When he arrived at the American Embassy School in 2005, he was seven years old, newly arrived in Delhi from Greenwich, Connecticut. A few weeks late to the school year, he remembers a small but memorable moment: former AES Director Robert Hetzel personally walking him to his first second-grade classroom.

It was a gentle introduction to a school—and a worldview—that would shape the next decade of his life.

His parents had moved the family to New Delhi to launch Karma Capital Management, a hedge fund focused on Indian capital markets. But the move wasn’t only about business. They wanted their children to grow up in an environment that cultivated a global mindset, and AES delivered exactly that.

“I still remember how easy it was to make friends,” he says. “Everyone was from everywhere. We were all third culture kids—cut from the same cloth, but with completely different stories.”

He spent the next eleven years at AES, from second grade through graduation in 2016. His sister followed closely behind, starting in kindergarten, graduating two years later, and then heading to Tulane University. After leaving Delhi, he enrolled at the University of Miami to study marine science and microbiology—fields that felt like a natural fit for someone drawn to the ocean.

Today, that passion has turned into both a career and a mission.

Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, he is the founder of Ocean’s Bounty, a seaweed fertilizer company that bridges ecosystems, economies, and continents. The company sources seaweed farmed along the coast of South India by village women—many of whom previously depended on fishing for their livelihoods. Seaweed farming provides them with a more sustainable income, and once harvested, the crop is processed into organic fertilizer and shipped to Florida.

From there, he takes on the role of road warrior entrepreneur.

“I spend most of my time driving around the southeastern U.S. getting our seaweed fertilizer into the hands of large commercial farms,” he explains. “It’s 100% organic and helps reduce farmers’ reliance on chemical fertilizers.”

The business model reflects something he traces directly back to AES: a comfort with crossing cultures and building relationships across borders. Running an international supply chain—linking coastal communities in India with American agriculture—requires exactly the kind of global perspective he developed growing up at an international school.

“AES equipped me with a global understanding of people and cultures,” he says. “You could drop me anywhere in the world, and I could hold my own.”

When he’s not building Ocean’s Bounty, you’re most likely to find him underwater.

A dedicated freediver and spearfisher, he spends much of his free time exploring the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Freediving—the art of descending underwater on a single breath—demands both discipline and calm. It also delivers adventure in abundance.

“We’ll sometimes take the boat 100 miles offshore to dive shipwrecks and reefs,” he says. “I dive over 100 feet, targeting snapper and grouper while dealing with sharks, massive goliath grouper, and whatever ocean conditions show up that day.”

The reward? Bringing home wild-caught seafood to share with friends and family at large gatherings, where the catch becomes the centerpiece of the meal.

For him, those shared meals echo something deeper about how he approaches life: community, curiosity, and joy in the process.

It’s an approach that resonates strongly with AES’s mission of the joyful pursuit of excellence.

“That phrase really stuck with me,” he says. “AES taught me to work hard while enjoying the ride. The journey is the reward.”

Looking back, he sees the influence of AES everywhere—from his ability to strike up conversations with strangers across cultures to the confidence required to build a global business.

And occasionally, he still experiences the unmistakable spark of the international school connection.

“Whenever I meet someone who grew up abroad—even if they went to a different international school—we instantly click,” he says. “There’s just a shared understanding.”

From the hallways of AES to coral reefs and commercial farms thousands of miles apart, his story is proof that the global mindset nurtured in Delhi can travel far—sometimes a shipwreck 100 feet below the surface, a seaweed farm along the Indian coast, or a sun-soaked highway somewhere in the American Southeast.

Wherever the journey leads next, one thing is certain: he’s pursuing it with curiosity, purpose—and a little saltwater along the way.