Back in the Bluegrass

It turns out—Thomas Wolfe’s famous novel notwithstanding—that it is possible to go home again. Sometimes it’s the pull of family or simply the comfortable pace of life and lower cost

of living in Kentucky that draws natives back. Others see business or professional opportunities here that can’t be matched elsewhere. Here, five Kentuckians share why they believe coming home is one of the best career decisions they’ve ever made.

Dr. Mark Newman

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Owensboro native Dr. Mark Newman, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and the University of Louisville Medical School, returned to Kentucky in 2017—after service in the Air Force and a distinguished 25-year career at Duke University Medical Center—to take on the role of executive vice president for health affairs at UK HealthCare.

“I had thought about coming back before,” said Newman, a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist who still has family in Owensboro, including his 98-year-old mother. But the opportunity to help oversee and advance operations and research at UK’s clinics and College of Medicine, Newman felt, was too good to pass up.

“Two things struck me about this particular position,” he said. “No. 1 was the great trajectory that UK HealthCare was on, with the potential for even more growth on both the clinical and academic fronts. The second thing was the health care of the state, where we are faced with high rates of cancer and heart disease and other things. To me, this was an opportunity to come in and work with a team to make a real difference in the lives of patients here.”

"To me, this was an opportunity to come in and work with a team to make a real difference in the lives of patients here.” —Dr. Mark Newman

Newman pointed to recent innovations—including UK’s new medical campuses in Bowling Green and Northern Kentucky—to illustrate UK HealthCare’s commitment to serving Kentuckians. “We have a shortage of physicians and health care providers in general in Kentucky, and these campuses have allowed us to increase by almost 50 percent the number of medical students we can train,” he said. “It will help us put more people where we need them.”

Kristen Pflum

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Kristen Pflum is a familiar face to Lexington TV viewers, thanks to more than a decade of on-air reporting and anchoring at WLEX-TV 18. Though she’s not technically a Kentucky native—she grew up in central Indiana—she grew to consider Central Kentucky home and even enticed many of her extended family members to move here.

In 2016, Pflum left Lexington to become an anchor at FOX 32 in Chicago, where she covered dozens of high-profile stories, including the Jussie Smollett case, a Chicago police officer’s trial for the murder of teenager Laquan McDonald, and the station’s hours-long live coverage of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.

“It was definitely a huge career move for me and so eye opening to see how those bigger markets operate,” Pflum said. “You always had to be on top of your game. It challenged me, and I knew that it was making me a better journalist.”

At the same time, though, she felt the challenge of parenting her small children in a large city with no relatives nearby.

“When we got pregnant with Cruz [her now nearly 6-month-old son], we really started to get the itch to come back,” said Pflum, who also has two older sons: Colton, 11, and Enzo, 2. “My husband was traveling for work five days a week, and I was constantly juggling schedules, working the night shift. We had no lifelines up there.”

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Chris Bailey

Coming back in October to join Marvin Bartlett as a 10 p.m. weeknight anchor at Lexington’s FOX 56 has been the right decision for the family-career balance she and her husband were seeking, she said.

"I feel a real connection here, and I had missed that. It’s been such a feeling of comfort being back.” —Kristen Pflum

“I took that [professional] leap. I proved to myself that I could do it. But there was this constant pull to be at home,” Pflum said. “I’ve sat on so many couches across Central Kentucky helping tell people’s stories. I feel a real connection here, and I had missed that. It’s been such a feeling of comfort being back.”

Larry Jackson

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Though his extended family hails from Alabama, Larry Jackson grew up in Hardin County, where his dad was stationed at Fort Knox and his parents still live. He first came to Lexington to pursue a degree in kinesiology and health promotion at UK in 2003. While working toward a second degree in athletic training at EKU, he had opportunities to intern with the New England Patriots in 2006 and with the Indianapolis Colts in 2008.

But when it came time to decide on a career path, Jackson passed on the NFL in favor of opening Synergy Coach, a training and rehabilitation gym in Lexington. “I knew I wanted to bring rehab concepts to the gym space,” said Jackson, who in addition to being a trainer is also a licensed massage therapist.

Synergy Coach differs from a traditional gym in its ability to offer customized rehabilitation services to help address clients’ stability and mobility issues, Jackson said.

“I do believe small businesses can grow and thrive in this area.” —Larry Jackson

Since opening in 2012, Jackson’s business at Synergy Coach has been thriving. In the past three years, he’s twice won Commerce Lexington’s Minority Business of the Year award. Networking with other entrepreneurs and leaders—including through programs like Leadership Lexington—has been a key tool to Jackson’s success. “I do believe small businesses can grow and thrive in this area,” he said.

Now, to pay things forward, Jackson has launched a nonprofit called Resolve Fitness and Wellness to help support marginalized aspiring entrepreneurs who are interested in wellness and to provide personalized training to groups that have been impacted by drug abuse or sexual abuse. “We hope to reach out to other young entrepreneurs to help them develop their business plans,” Jackson said.

Shayne Brakefield

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After living and studying in the bustle of New York City, actor and massage therapist Shayne Brakefield decided to return home to Lexington—a move that’s been a boon to his dual professional careers and his quality of life.

Recognizable to local theater fans for his frequent roles with AthensWest Theatre, Pandora Productions, Actors Guild of Lexington, and many other regional troupes, Brakefield returned to Kentucky in 2014, following seven years in New York—a period during which he studied acting full-time at the prestigious William Esper Studio, did some off-Broadway productions, waited tables and completed massage therapy training at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences.

“I was making good money in New York as a massage therapist, but I was getting tired of schlepping my table around. And as much as I love the city and love going back to visit, it was getting too loud, too crowded and too expensive,” Brakefield said.

"As much as I love the city and love going back to visit, it was getting too loud, too crowded and too expensive.” —Shayne Brakefield

Brakefield—who spent his childhood in Corbin and London before moving to Lexington in his early 20s—was also feeling the pull of home. Moving back has allowed him to be closer to his parents, sister and young nephew, as well as his many friends in the theater community here.

“The seven years that I was in New York were very life changing, but I got what I needed there, and it was time to come home. I just wanted to get back to a simpler way of life,” he said.

In Lexington, Brakefield has been able to pursue an active regional theater career as well as a booming massage therapy practice. “I consider myself very lucky to have both my passions thriving in a place I call home,” he said.

Daniel Harrison

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Country Boy Brewing co-founder Daniel “DH” Harrison is doing exactly what he wants to be doing—in exactly the place he wants to be.

Harrison, a native of Scott County, had ample opportunities to travel the world after graduating from Georgetown College and UK’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce. For a time, he even taught English in Japan—a job that would change the trajectory of his life twice, since it was there he met his wife and was first introduced to craft brewing.

“I had a blog about Japanese craft beer and started homebrewing in Japan. I met Bryan Baird, an expat from Ohio who was brewing in Japan. That relationship also gave us the confidence that we could start a brewery when we came back to Kentucky,” explained Harrison, referring to his friend and fellow Georgetown College graduate Nate Coppage, who was placed as an English teacher in Japan through the same program.

Fast forward to February 2012, and Harrison and Coppage—along with Coppage’s brother, Evan, and a fourth partner, Jeff Beagle—were cutting the ribbon on Country Boy Brewing in Lexington. “There were no taprooms in Lexington at the time, and we felt the city was ripe for the picking,” Harrison said. (Country Boy opened just a few months before West Sixth Brewing, and together they helped spearhead the city’s craft beverage boom.)

In 2017, once the company was ready to grow, Harrison and his partners intentionally chose to position their new taproom and production facility in Georgetown. “It came full circle, and I was able to expand my business right in my hometown,” Harrison said. “Honestly, it was a dream come true.”

“It came full circle, and I was able to expand my business right in my hometown. Honestly, it was a dream come true.” —Daniel Harrison

Being at home suits Harrison, and he relishes the thought that Country Boy’s success might inspire others to launch their businesses here, too.

“I was never one of those kids who was ashamed of where I came from or couldn’t wait to leave,” he said. “I was always super proud to be from here. I love it here. This is my home. I want people to look at Country Boy and think, if a simple farm kid from Sadieville can do it, think what you can do.