While Kayla Morgan was a marketing student at Southeastern Louisiana University in the early 1990s, long before she worked for Paris Parker, she knew of our owners. Edwin and Debra Neill were local celebrities in Hammond, where the Neill Corporation consistently ranks among the biggest employers. Kayla was volunteering with her sorority sisters at a gala fundraiser when she caught sight of the power couple.
“The Neills had this glamourous look, but they were very personable—Debra just had this cool factor,” Kayla says. “I thought, ‘I’m going to work for them some day.’”
Debra and Edwin, Kayla’s idolized “power couple”, with Aveda founder Horst Rechelbacher at the opening of the first Aveda lifestyle store in NYC, 1988. This is just a few years before she met them. Kayla would later travel the country with them on trips like this. | Source: Neill archives
Moving on up
That hunch turned out to be correct, and it came to pass almost as if preordained. Kayla’s colorist, Dawnel Paris-Wall (who is Debra’s sister), recruited Kayla to apply for a front desk position at the Hammond location. Kayla started working for Paris Parker in 1994, hoping to get her foot in the door with the marketing department—and that’s exactly what ended up happening. But shortly after moving into marketing for the salon, Edwin and Debra tapped Kayla to serve as their personal assistant.
“There’s a lot of personal development that I experienced, having worked with Paris Parker and in the corporate office, with Debra and Edwin,” she says. “If you are even slightly open to it, you’ll find opportunities to grow.”
During Kayla’s time as personal assistant, Paris Parker underwent a tremendous amount of expansion. Kayla helped open our Mandeville location, Jefferson location, and the salons at the Country Club of Louisiana and Mall of Louisiana. She also worked to convert Lockworks into a Paris Parker location after Neill Corporation purchased that salon.
“I helped Neill Corporation open multiple locations,” she says.
Source: Kayla Morgan
The more things change, the more they stay the same
Kayla had come full circle from her first sighting of the Neills to achieving her goal of working in marketing. But it wasn’t the last time she’d experience this uncanny continuity in her career. “This whole industry is cosmic, and I’m pretty intuitive as well,” she says.
During her time as personal assistant, she assisted with the hiring of Kathleen Turpel, who ran Neill Corporation’s marketing department before launching her own salon marketing company, Imaginal. Imaginal handles marketing for Paris Parker as well as many other salons nationwide. Kayla counts many former Paris Parker stylists among her marketing clients. Wendy Daly and Billy Turner are among the alums who have gone on to launch successful salon chains of their own.
“I have these personal connections with all my clients,” Kayla says, but the relationships she developed at Paris Parker are extra special.
Source: Kayla Morgan
Seasons of love
Kayla has come a long way from her entry-level position at the front desk, but even today, that experience guides her marketing strategies. “Having customer service and operation experience helps me troubleshoot and gives me a lot of insight on how a team works in the moment,” she says. “So many things have changed in 20 years, but the basics are the same, and I bring that knowledge to the salons we work with throughout the country.”
Another thing that’s remained the same over the decades? Paris Parker’s core values.
“Paris Parker is still a family—a caring and giving company,” Kayla says. “Even though Paris Parker has evolved in all these different directions, whether in branding or the types of services offered, to me, it’s still about going above and beyond to make people feel special.”
