Kayla Parker dubbed “Most Likely to Succeed” by Twelve Studios

When you’re in a creative industry it’s essential to have goals for yourself. That way you can drive and push yourself in the right direction, maintain a forward momentum. For Kayla Parker her goals are simple, so simple they can be described in one word: “Grammys.”

Kayla has been around music her whole life. Her aunt was a choir director in their church and her cousins were directors of music. When asked how long she’s wanted to be involved in music professionally, understandably, she says, “I always wrote music, since the age of 10.”

And Recording Connection, that was part of the goal for Kayla too, who says, “I actually wanted to do it when I was in high school. I really came into the Recording Connection initially to learn techniques, and to actually get hands-on work inside the music business that I wasn’t getting…I came into the Recording Connection to learn audio engineering from some of the music’s best.”

Kayla was paired with Christopher “Cat” Taylor of Twelve Studios. Through Cat she’s managed to gain a deeper understanding of the industry, made connections, and honed her skills in a real world environment. “I knew the basics just from working in the studio when I was younger, and [from] YouTube…But until you actually go in, and are actually doing it yourself in a setting like Twelve, you feel like you really didn’t know what you were doing before…Learning how to work the soundboards as well, as in working them on the computer in Pro Tools is very important, and I had no clue of how to do that before. I’d seen it done, but I didn’t know how to do it myself.”

When asked what it’s like being a woman in a male-dominated workforce Kayla keeps a cool head about it all: “The majority of the time, if you produce good work and focus on what you need to focus on, then you won’t have any trouble. They’ll treat you just like one of the guys. As long as your work ethic is great, you’ll get great results.”

So what’s on the horizon for Kayla? For now, she’s keeping it straightforward, saying, she says, “My main goal is to focus on producing my sound, as far as controlling my sound more and developing my sound. I would love to work with other artists as well. That way I can still do what I do as far as audio engineering, but also do it with other artists, more than just myself [and] just do as much as possible.”

That winning mindset has been apparent to the pros at Twelve. Kayla recently got quite the surpise when Cat Taylor, Kandice Knight, and Twelve’s owner, Dina Marto, presented her with the “Most Likely to Succeed” award. An honor that left Kayla, “in total awe.”

Kayla’s making it happen, day-by-day, and has enrolled in the Advanced Program which she’s due to start soon. “There’s a lot more to come. The Recording Connection, is really growing my knowledge, as far as producing for myself and producing other artists that I was most definitely not going to get on my own. There’s more to come, most definitely.”

We can’t wait to hear all about it!