Second birthday: Capelli and Co owner Mikayla Palmer (left) recently celebrated her second year in business at the Moore St hair salon, where her best friend from high school is her third year apprentice, Gabby McCaig.
As Rochester High School teenagers Mikayla Palmer and Gabby McCaig poured hours in hair and make-up preparation and application — time well spent now that they are working together at Capelli and Co in Moore St.
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Mikayla has just just celebrated the second anniversary of reopening the salon which was run for many years prior to her taking the lead by Cathy Elmes.
Not long after Mikayla had negotiated the difficult COVID pandemic period that came with her first step into small business ownership, she took on her high school best friend Gabby in an apprentice role.
While several of Mikayla’s other school friends are at university, she has dedicated herself — now with the support of Gabby — to building her business.
“Gabby and I have been best friends since Year 7. We both had a goal of working in the hair and beauty industry,’’ Mikayla said.
“When I left school Gabby followed the a similar path,’’ she said.
"She did the first year of an apprenticeship at a Kyabram salon, then her second year was as COVID-interrupted one in Melbourne.
“She decided to move home and work here for the third year of her apprenticeship.”
Capelli and Co is named in honour of Mikayla’s Italian heritage, her grandmother is Janis Tamburini — one of her many regular clients — a long-time Rochester family.
“Capelli means hair in italian,” she said
Mikayla’s parents, Michael and Deanne Palmer, are both born and bred in Rochester.
She has spent her whole life in Rochester, a product of St Joseph’s Primary School and Rochester high — until year 10 — when she started an apprenticeship at a Kyabram boutique in 2016.
Success story: Mikayla Palmer became a hair salon owner as a 20-year-old mid-way through the COVID pandemic and has come out the other side stronger than ever.
Photo by
Rohan Aldous
She became a qualified hairdresser while in Kyabram, and also attending Bendigo TAFE, before making the brave and daunting decision to tackle salon ownership in late-2020.
“Opening a salon wasn’t something I was thinking of doing. When COVID started I went to work with dad, at Ward Brothers earthmoving doing some odd jobs.
“That was mainly painting marker posts and a couple of weeks later I told him I couldn’t do it any more,” she said.
A timely approach by Cathy Elmes, who reached out to the family explaining that she was looking at selling, resulted in the then 20-year-old taking on the challenge.
Cathy now works four days a week at the salon.
"Her partner was working for dad at the time, so we sat down and had a meeting and agreed to the sale.
“I was very lucky to have such supportive parents,” Mikayla said.
Mikayla, already with a strong following from her three years of work at Kyabram, hit the ground running and now draws clients from Bendigo, Shepparton, Echuca and a few from Melbourne.
“I knew owning a salon was a long-term goal, but I didn’t think it would happen this early.
"But I’d encourage people to go down the road of business ownership,“ she said.
A strong Instagram and social media presence has allowed the hairdresser to showcase her work and continue to build on her clientele.
"I am lucky that between Cathy, myself and Gabby we do lots of different things. Cath is a cut and colour specialist and I like to do blonde work,“ she said.
For Mikayla it wasn’t just a case of walking in and hitting the ground running.
Apart from intermittent lockdowns she closed the salon for three weeks, painting and re-fitting the salon.
"I had some savings, but I’m very lucky I have supportive parents. I do mum’s hair at a heavy discount.
“And dad has never paid for a haircut,” she said.
Mikayla’s three sisters are also lined up at the door at regular intervals, although none of them are interested in hair.
