Paula Jane Meehan (formerly Kent; née Baer; August 9, 1931 – June 23, 2014) was an American businesswoman, executive and philanthropist.
[3] Paula dropped out of high school, married Donald Arlen Slocum at the age of fifteen, became a mother, and was divorced a year and a half later.
[3][6] While she acted mostly in TV commercials, she played Mary Lake in a 1955 episode of the series The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok titled Buckshot Comes Home.
[2] She played a minor bit part as Dino's Restaurant hat check girl on 77 Sunset Strip at Warner Bros.[2] On May 17, 1959, she was presented as the Queen of The Congress at the 23rd Annual Congress of Beauty, a costume ball in the Biltmore Hotel sponsored by the Hollywood Hair Design Council in conjunction with the California Cosmetologist Association, which had a circus theme and entertainment for thousands of beauty operators.
In 1960, she launched a business career, co-founding with Jheri Redding, husband of her friend, a Southern California based hair care products company, Redken, with an initial investment of $3,000 she received for a Hamm's beer commercial.
[9][10] In November 1972, John E. Meehan (born c. 1928 – died 2004), who had been with Redken since 1969 as executive vice-president, was elected president of the company, succeeding Kent, who became chairwoman and CEO.
[14] She was also a donor to Childhelp, a non-profit organization aimed at preventing child abuse, from which she received the "Angel Award" in 2003,[3] and donated to the Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
[19] During the ceremony, City Council member Nancy Krasne, who served as the mayor of Beverly Hills from 2009 to 2010, said a few words, and Ruta Lee, a lifelong friend of Meehan's, sang some of her favorite songs.