go
have fun
And... REUNITE WITH AN OLD FRIEND DISCOVER KENTUCKY DREAM UP A CRAZY PLAN
By Carrie Vittitoe
More often than not, the friends you have in middle school are not the friends you have in adulthood. You develop different interests and then follow different paths in life’s grand journey. Longtime friends Leigh Roach and Tamara Schneider, however, are like school girls having the time of their lives. Together, they created a lifestyle blog called Kentucky Taste Buds (kytastebuds.com), launched a podcast based on their blog, and now have a radio show on Lexington, Kentucky’s KISS 96.9. To be clear, Leigh and Tamara’s friendship was not without its challenges. “We were inseparable all through middle school and high school. We went off to roommate together in college, and we lasted six weeks. We had a huge falling out and did not talk for 10 years,” Leigh says. When Tamara offered an olive branch, Leigh accepted, and their friendship was renewed. Over the years, their friendship has seen them through job changes, raising children, and divorces. Both women experienced what amounted to mid-life crises of sorts, but Leigh found inspiration from her love of reality shows. In May 2017, Leigh called Tamara and said: “I have this fantastic idea. We’re gonna have a little fun. We’re gonna get out, go explore Kentucky, do all these
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free things, blog about it, and rediscover ourselves.’ I thought I was really going to have to sell Tamara on this because I’m known for my crazy ideas.” Tamara’s reply was: “OK.” Leigh owns a graphic design company, so she created a website and a brand, while Tamara did the writing for the blog. They started small, going to restaurants and events, and their experiences have evolved over time. “We suffer from the same affliction that a lot of native Kentuckians suffer from, and that’s thinking you have to go outside the state to have a vacation or experience something. We had just barely scratched the surface of all there is to see and do in our own backyard,” Tamara says. “We have this quest to become ambassadors for the state, so to speak.” After launching Kentucky Taste Buds, Leigh and Tamara were noticed by local radio shows and invited to talk about their blog. In early 2018, their connections with people in radio soon led them into starting their podcast, Brunch With the Buds, because they had access to a recording studio and professional producer.