He served in the United States Marine Corps, which led him to reside in Memphis, Tennessee.

While living in Memphis, Parkinson joined the Shelby County Fire Department and rose to the ranks of Lieutenant before retiring.

Prior to becoming owner, he served on the board of directors of ABetterMemphis.com, which created a vehicle for citizens of Memphis and Shelby County to voice their likes, dislikes, opinions and solutions for issues and opportunities within the city and county.

Antonio Parkinson won a special election on March 8, 2011, in the 98th Legislative District of Tennessee following the death of Representative Ulysses Jones, Jr. Parkinson won 3,811 votes (nearly 100%) against write-in candidate Artie Smith.

Some of the more noteworthy legislation that Parkinson has passed is: The Healthy Workplace Act to eliminate workplace bullying in Tennessee; Kimberlee's Law to ensure that criminals convicted of aggravated rape serve 100% of their sentence (Tennessee is the first state in the union to pass Kimberlee type of legislation); The Neighborhood Protection Act to standing Neighborhood Associations, watch groups and others to file restraining orders for relief from criminals that target their neighborhoods; TN House of Representatives Cosmetology law, that created apprenticeships for cosmetology students and allows for free standing schools of natural hair, aesthetics and manicuring in the state of Tennessee.