Michael Embry
1998-2006
My memories of Kentucky Monthly go back to the very beginning, when Steve Vest and I met every few weeks at a Pizza Hut on Versailles Road in Lexington and discussed what would become the foundation for the magazine.
It is difficult to highlight any one specific happening during my eight years as editor. I can say there were long hours, especially the few days before taking the product on tape to Publisher’s Press in Lebanon Junction. It was certainly a labor of love.
Another remembrance was waiting for Vince Staten to finish writing his cover story for the debut issue about George Clooney. It was finally in the eleventh hour that George returned Vince’s call for an interview. Vince was on I-64 heading back to his home in La Grange when he got the call from George and had to pull off on the side of the road. When that issue came off the presses and was delivered to our office, we loaded our cars and drove across the state, giving the magazines to bookstores, libraries, supermarkets and other places to spread the word about this new and exciting magazine—all about Kentucky!
The Clooney cover on that first issue set the standard for several years as the magazine’s signature element. We featured celebrities such as Billy Ray Cyrus, Ashley Judd, Barbara Kingsolver, Patty Loveless, Sue Grafton, John Michael Montgomery, Kentucky Headhunters and many others. The magazine has grown and evolved to reflect the diverse interests of Kentuckians.
It goes without saying that Kentucky Monthly has been blessed by the talents of many wonderful people who have been involved through the years: writers, editors, photographers, advertising reps and artists—plus the advertisers and subscribers who provided financial support.
Here’s to another 25 years!
Jackie Hollenkamp Bentley
2000-Present
I can’t say I’ve been with Kentucky Monthly magazine from the beginning, but it’s pretty close. I’ve known Steve Vest since I was a child pestering my older siblings (he and my siblings went to Doss High School at the same time). Years later, in 1999, we ran into each other, and he recognized me—rather, he recognized the family resemblance.
“Which Hollenkamp are you?” he asked.
The rest is history. My first cover story, on Louisville sculptor Ed Hamilton, was published in February 2000, and I have written for the magazine basically every single month since then.
For one crazy, whirlwind year (July 2006-August 2007), I had the honor of being the magazine’s associate editor. I tried my hand at writing columns, posted assignments, proofread, all while letting my three small children bug the heck out of everyone in the Frankfort office.
Do I have a favorite story? Well, you never forget your first—especially when the subject (Hamilton) personally calls you after reading your work and admits that it brought them to tears.
While I was associate editor, I agonized over my monthly column highlighting each issue’s theme with a personal connection. Relating the October 2006 Breast Cancer Awareness Issue to my mother-in-law’s battle with the stupid disease will always be special for me. Then there’s the November 2007 column featuring my Hollenkamp family’s “normal” Thanksgiving antics. I don’t think they appreciated it, but it sure was fun to giggle as I was writing.
It’s difficult to accept that I’m a “veteran,” but, looking back on the last 24 years, I have had an amazing experience that has taken me to every corner of the Commonwealth and allowed me to write about the fascinating people, places and things Kentucky has to offer.
Here’s to continuing on to the 50th anniversary!
Deborah Kohl Kremer
August 2001-Present
I was a freelance writer from Kenton County and an early subscriber to and fan of Kentucky Monthly. My first story for the magazine appeared in the August 2001 issue. It was a historical piece explaining why the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport—originally named the Greater Cincinnati Airport—is in Kentucky. After that, whenever there was a story pertaining to my part of the state, I usually got the assignment. Eventually, the staff jokingly called my home office Kentucky Monthly’s Northern Kentucky Bureau.
One memorable early assignment was to write about a Cincinnati Reds player who was from Lexington. I’ve never been a sports reporter, but there I was, the only woman in the Reds locker room interviewing the young rookie as the other players were in various stages of undress. My face was probably beet red, and I was extremely uncomfortable. But I knew women reporters had been fighting for the opportunity to be in the locker rooms of major men’s sports teams for ages, and I wasn’t going to be the one to say, “Can we do this interview outside?” Over the next several years, I picked up a few assignments per year and stayed in touch.
In 2015, Steve Vest asked if I wanted to take on some regular duties at the magazine, and I could still work from home. It sounded perfect to me. I thought I was going to help temporarily through a busy time, but eight years later, I’m still here.
Over the years, I have enjoyed writing feature stories about people, places and events in a state that I love as much as I love my family! I’ve had the opportunity to write regular columns such as “24 Hours In …” and “Oddities at the Museum.” Since 2021, I have had the huge honor of writing and editing Kentucky Explorer, the history magazine inside Kentucky Monthly.
Cheers to 25 years! I’m so grateful to be a part of it.
Amanda Stiltner
2006-2011
Nearly 20 years ago, I arrived an hour early at the original Kentucky Monthly office on St. Clair Street in Frankfort for my first day as an intern. This was the first and last time I was very early for anything.
I spent that first summer editing the Dining Guide, sweating over new ways to describe a Hot Brown, and tagging along with the staff to their favorite downtown lunch spots. We’d linger around the table, joking and telling stories over steaming plates of pad thai.
Steve Vest always made time for one more story—a trait I’ve carried through my career. He taught me many things but, first and foremost, that work should be playful, joyful and storied.
I started working on the Kentucky A to Z series the day after my 24th birthday. I think back on that season often, in awe of how—without knowing at the time—I was getting the pleasure of traveling and writing in the spirit of the great American road trip before everything changed. I didn’t have a smartphone, I didn’t stop to “Google” anything, and the moments shared at the dining tables of strangers were captured only by memory and what I wrote and published in these pages. There have been times I’ve looked back and cringed re-reading those stories—I was so young and had so few miles on my own heart—but my goodness, the gift that series was to me. I’ll be forever grateful for the freedom and the two pages the staff trusted me with every month.
My daughter, little “Ada-Z” as Steve nicknamed her, is a vibrant, soulful 12-year-old now. I traveled during that pregnancy right up until the week before she was born and decorated her nursery with treasures gifted to us along the way.
I have a 9-year-old son, Elijah Finn, who walked me down the aisle to “Here Comes the Sun” when I married Mickey Stiltner in 2019 in the courtyard of our favorite pub, Slainte in Georgetown. We live just off Main Street and own Colorspell Creative Studio, where I paint, write and teach workshops.
It’s a love and a life I came to a little late, but like I said: There’s always time for another story.
Patricia Ranft
2009-Present
“Why aren’t you at work today?” Steve Vest asked in his typical deadpan manner when I answered my phone. It was August 2009, and I was working a temporary gig at the University of Kentucky. A few weeks earlier, I had called Steve, a co-worker of mine at another publication in the mid-1990s, about possibly working for Kentucky Monthly. During that second call, he hired me as a part-time contributing editor, a position I held until becoming associate editor in April 2010.
Over the years, I’ve learned more about our fascinating Commonwealth than I could have imagined. Researching feature stories, including many pitched by writers, is one of the best parts of my job. It seems I learn something new weekly.
I don’t write many feature stories, but among those that I remember fondly are a nostalgic article about my grandmother’s house and other houses in my hometown of Stanford that are now beautifully renovated guesthouses and a story on Georgetown-based milliner extraordinaire Polly Singer and her line of artisan teas.
We have a talented pool of contributors, who are great to work with, and my co-workers are awesome. In fact, some have become good friends. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my dear, departed four-legged co-worker Toby Vest. Steve and Kay’s beloved pooch was a staff member here for years. (He was security chief, a job he took seriously, especially when the delivery guys came calling.) Since his passing in October 2022, I’ve missed him. He always greeted me with a cheerful bark, a “smiling” doggie face and a happily swaying plumed tail. Toby’s memory holds a special place in my heart.
I probably could fill a book with the great memories I have of working here. One in particular stands out. On a press day a few years ago, we lost electricity at the office. To finish the issue, Creative Director Rebecca Redding, Editor-in-Chief Steve and I relocated to the local Starbucks. There, we were able to finish making corrections and upload the pages to the printer. It was a tad inconvenient to lug my 27-inch iMac to a coffee shop, but with it and Rebecca’s more-portable laptop and ultra-efficient skills, we were able to get the issue out the door—and enjoy some lattes and Frappuccinos.
Happy anniversary to Kentucky Monthly! And to our treasured readers, a sincere thank you. We wouldn’t still be here without you.
Kim Butterweck
2011-2015
I reflect on my tenure as executive editor for Kentucky Monthly with rosy retrospection for a time that seems much longer past. The role afforded me a lifetime’s worth of unique opportunities.
I trekked through the lush flora of old-growth forests in Letcher County’s Lilley Cornett Woods (“Conserving Beauty,” March 2012). I researched odd occurrences, from the 1876 Bath County meat shower to the 1955 Christian County alien invasion, for our “Curiosities” column. While working on our December 2011/January 2012 cover shoot, I enjoyed a delightful sugar-and-butter overload of Morehead’s Root A Bakers cookies. I stretched with yogis from Paducah to Louisville (“Yoga in the Bluegrass,” February 2012). And year after year, I was wowed by my fellow Kentuckians’ passion and artistry while compiling the magazine’s annual reader recipe contests, literary issues and holiday gift guides.
One of my favorite projects was the 2013 collaboration between Kentucky Monthly, the Owensboro Daviess County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the International Bluegrass Music Museum, the ROMP music festival and internationally recognized Owensboro artist Aaron Kizer. The June/July issue featured stories about the museum and Kizer, who created a portrait of Bill Monroe for the cover, and we gave away limited-edition, signed and numbered prints of the cover artwork to attendees of the three-day ROMP festival. This experience was a true coming together to commemorate a culture and community unlike any other on the planet.
My perspective was shaped by my interactions with people like the hospitable innkeeper Barbara Napier (“Simple Gifts from Snug Hollow Farm,” December 2014/January 2015), the infinitely energetic Bob Schneider from Sweet Tooth Candies (“Candy Men,” February 2014), and the dozens of contributors who showcased their talents to bring our fellow Kentuckians’ stories to life.
It was a privilege to celebrate the people who infuse life and meaning into this place we collectively call home.