Carol Perkins

Carol Perkins, born December 29, 1957, in Sarasota, Florida, is an American model, Broadway performer, and pet product entrepreneur. Her father served as a high school principal and her mother worked as a painter. Growing up in Sarasota, Perkins spent considerable time at the winter home of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, where she tumbled and played alongside the children of Emmett Kelly and the Flying Wallendas. She graduated from high school a year ahead of schedule and relocated to New York City at sixteen.

Upon arriving in New York, Perkins was signed by Eileen Ford of the Ford Modeling Agency. Her modeling work included a cover appearance on the Victoria's Secret catalog and editorial features in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, among dozens of other fashion publications. She lived in Paris and London for several years while traveling internationally on modeling assignments.

In 1990, Perkins met Penn Jillette while he was preparing a Penn & Teller event for NBC-TV, and she appeared in the television special Don't Try This at Home. She was subsequently recruited to perform a fire-eating segment in Penn & Teller's Broadway production, Penn & Teller: The Refrigerator Tour, which ran during the 1990–91 season. The New York Times described her work in the show as an incendiary performance.

In the mid-1990s, Perkins experienced a serious health crisis involving a brain tumor and Cushing's Disease, a rare syndrome caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland. Over the course of nearly two years, she consulted numerous doctors before an acupuncturist identified her condition. She underwent brain surgery to remove the tumor and, during her recovery, regained a normal hormonal equilibrium. While recuperating, she had begun walking dogs and sewing dog beds for friends, and an editor acquaintance featured one of her handcrafted dog beds in a women's magazine, generating orders from across the country. In May 1997, Perkins founded Harry Barker, Inc., naming the company after her Shetland Sheepdog.

To launch the business, Perkins sold her possessions and left New York City, opening a Harry Barker retail shop in Savannah, Georgia, that sold bedding, treats, and toys for dogs and cats. After marrying David Rawle, she relocated the company to Charleston, South Carolina, shifting its focus to wholesale distribution and internet sales through HarryBarker.com. From the outset, Perkins incorporated recycled materials into her products, including a filling for pet beds derived from 30 recycled plastic bottles per unit. Harry Barker products have been featured in publications such as InStyle, Coastal Living, O, Real Simple, and Martha Stewart Living, and the company has received sustainability recognition from organizations including TreeHugger.com and Pet Product News. The New York International Gift Show has named Harry Barker or one of its products Most Sustainable Products and Practices annually. The company's products are sold through more than 3,000 retailers worldwide, and website sales doubled each year from 2006 onward. Harry Barker also maintains a community partnership with the Hope Disabilities Center in Charleston, employing adult workers from that organization.

Perkins received national media attention for her business in 2008 and 2009, appearing on multiple segments of CNBC's Big Idea with Donny Deutsch and in the business pages of USA Today, as well as in Associated Press wire stories distributed to newspapers nationally. She also appeared on Paula Deen's television cooking show, having become acquainted with Deen during her years in Savannah.

In her personal life, Perkins dedicates resources to the Medical University of South Carolina, including donating a portion of company proceeds to its Children's Hospital and raising funds for the hospital's therapy dog program. She has served on the board of Pet Helpers, a local no-kill animal shelter in Charleston. Perkins has remained represented by Ford Models and continues to take assignments periodically. She and her husband David Rawle, who formerly owned the Charleston marketing communications agency Rawle-Murdy Associates, have two dogs: Harry Barker, the Shetland Sheepdog for whom the company is named, and Josephine, a Briard.