Layla Craft

Layla Craft, Hair Stylist & Model, Jenkins, Kentucky:

"When I was in high school I was dead set on moving as far from the mountains as possible. As f@#&*d up as it sounds I've never felt like a country girl, and that there was nothing for me down here. So naturally I moved. I only moved to Morehead, but to me that was fine because it wasn't Letcher County and there were so many new and different types of people. I would go to Florence, (KY), Lexington, (KY), Cincinnati, (OH) etc. I was loving life. Then on summer break I came back home to work at the pool as I did every summer since I was 15. It was getting close time to going back and I was ready for it. But something insane happened. I was on my way home from work and I was passing by Fleming-Neon school. I looked over at their peewee football practice and saw coal miner men sittin’ in the back of their trucks. I thought 'only here'. But as I kept driving I looked around at the mountains, trees, flowers, creeks, everything and then thought again, 'only here' but in a beautiful 'only here' kinda way. I still can't explain to this day my exact thoughts on everything, but the next week I drove to Morehead, dropped all my classes and decided I wanted to be HOME. That was 11 years ago…

So here I am!! I've realized this is my home! I absolutely love to visit cities and stay weekends in bigger 'better' places, but as far as every day life this is where my heart is!"