Today we’d like to introduce you to Erika Parham-Cormier.
Hi Erika, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I always had a passion for hairstyling, even as a young child. All of my Barbies had a different hairstyle or haircut. In middle and high school, I would style my mom’s hair and a few of my friends. My senior year of high school, I had neighbor that was a hairstylist. She gave me my first job in a salon as her shampoo assistant. After graduating high school in 1995, I went straight to Cosmetology school, Capelli Learning center in Buckhead. I worked with a great stylist for two years after finishing cosmetology school before going on my own. I worked in Buckhead for about year then met my now husband and we opened a salon in Buckhead (Salon Cormier) on Pharr Rd. After having my second child, we sold the salon and I moved to Snellville/Lilburn area. I pretty much started over building new clientele. Since 2009 I have worked in the Decatur/Tucker area. In 2018 I opened Erika Cormier Hair in downtown Tucker. I’ve been in this industry for over twenty years now. In order for me to stay relevant in this industry, I continue to be a student not afraid to grow and learn. There is always something new to learn in this business. I would normally attend hair shows and classes on a regular but covid has stopped a lot of things. So the beauty industry has put together shows and classes online. My clients like to hear about what classes I’ve taken or what new hair cuts or color techniques I’ve learned. I’d like to say I try to stay fashion-forward or on trend for my clients because no matter their age they want to look current. I enjoy making women feel good about themselves. I can actually say I love my job! They say” when you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life”!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When I think about my career…I feel that my journey had a few obstacles. My first struggle was building a clientele. Back in the 90s, we passed out cards to people. For me, that was challenging because I was so shy. So it was so uncomfortable to just go up to strangers and offer my services and hand out a card. Thank God I did good work, so most of my clients have come from referrals. Fast forward to today, thanks to social media, I have gotten many clients from Facebook, Instagram and Styleseat. My main obstacle since starting a family was balancing work and home. Raising three high-achieving student-athletes, balancing time to nurture their goals and dreams while being a wife and managing my career as a stylist is a lot. Trying to take time for myself, self-care is very important! Sometimes as women, we think we are superwoman.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am lucky to have a wide variety of clients aging from four to eighty-four. I work on pretty much all textures of hair. I have natural hair clients that get silk pressed out or may wear a natural style. I still do relaxers. I do a lot of hair color and haircuts. My favorite thing to do is haircutting. I’ve taken several haircutting classes from Bronner Brothers Hair Show, Patric Bradley, Paul Mitchell and Vidal Sassoon. I’ve had my work published in Black Hair Sophisticates magazine and online via Latest Hairstyles.com. In 2020,2021 and 2022 Erika Cormier Hair was awarded Best of Decatur for a local business. A lot of my clients come to me because my main focus is to maintain and keep their hair healthy. I’m always completely honest with my clients about what we can do with their hair and what their hair can do style-wise. If they are asking for a service that I don’t offer, I will find the proper stylist to service them.
What are your plans for the future?
This year look forward to some cosmetic changes to the salon. In the future, I plan on buying a building to move my salon into. I would like to grow my business into a full-service salon, having a nail technician and an esthetician on board. I’m also working on a candle line. I plan to have three signature scents out by winter 2022.
Contact Info:
- Email: e.cormierhair@gmail.com
- Instagram: erikacormierhair
- Facebook: erikacormierhair
- Twitter: erikacormier
