By Steve Flairty
Special to NKyTribune
After Katie Thompson graduated from Paul Dunbar High School eight years ago, she set off from her hometown of Lexington and lived in a couple of Kentucky’s finest small towns.
Katie spent four years in Danville, graduating from Centre College with a degree in history and international relations. From there, she moved to Bardstown to take her first full-time position, working as a Bourbon specialist at Maker’s Mark Distillery and led tours for visitors.
Katie Thompson
She liked both communities, but in time, realized she missed Lexington, both for what it meant to her as a child and more recently, how her town has progressed economically and culturally since those days of her youth.
Recently, Katie moved back home, and with the move, carried with her a plan to take on the scary responsibility of starting a business. The plan had much to do with her passion for Lexington, and she wanted to share that adoration with others through a unique tourist agency for Lexington and the surrounding central Kentucky area. It would have a few pre-packaged tours from which to choose, but the emphasis would be on a more customized tour, using the consumer’s specific interests to design an enjoyable experience.
First, though, she decided to throw out a feeler to see if there was interest. In early May, she unveiled Commonwealth Custom Experiences via her website, www.commonwealthexperiences.com. The results were quite encouraging.
“It took off way faster than I thought it was going to,” she said. “People wanted to book trips for the rest of the summer…(and) after a month I saw that to be successful, I was going to have to do it full-time. I didn’t want to be ‘half in and half out’ with it.”
In short, she wanted to make sure she was fully invested. Katie proved she was serious when she resigned her job at Maker’s Mark, effective July first. She’d worked there four years, enjoyed it and learned how, she said, “to connect with people.”
Her parents, said the 25-year-old, were a little “surprised and nervous,” but they seem to be onboard now, figuring that it’s “better to take a risk now at 25 when I don’t have a family.”
Though a high achiever and involved with extra activities throughout her academic life, she was considered shy by many of her classmates and teachers. One might wonder how that might translate into a career where active social engagement is crucial.
Agreeing with others’ perception, she confronted her natural disposition toward quietness. “I worked in retail all through high school,” she explained, “and that started to teach me that I was good at connecting and talking with people. When I got a job with Maker’s Mark, I started liking speaking in front of people. I never thought I’d like that (before).”
As the owner of Commonwealth Custom Experiences, her most immediate background strength begins with a solid understanding of the workings of the bourbon distillery industry, and client exposure in that realm will be featured. But her plans include much more. ”Having four years of experience doing Bourbon Trail tours, I think that there’s so much knowledge that I got in doing that,” she said. “I still want to make sure I’m branching out and taking people other places.”
Bourbon wagon display (From Katie Thompson)
Those other places include Keeneland (including their morning tours), breweries, restaurants, horse farms, and historic sites such as The Mary Todd Lincoln House and Shakertown, in Harrodsburg. She has plans to embrace the downtown Lexington social and arts life for her tourists and would like to develop “custom cocktail and dinner” tours as part of the experience.
And with all those activities in mind, Katie hopes to eventually serve more than the visitors coming from outside central Kentucky. “I’d like to get to the point I could plan local business outings or events for people,” she said. “I want to get engrained in the Lexington small culture, so I don’t just want people to think of me as: ‘Oh, people are traveling from out of town and they should book Commonwealth Custom Experiences.’”
Katie gives much credit for her drive to excel and handle the challenges of a new business to her grandfather, Bernie Thompson, of Lexington. “He was in the FBI and he taught history for a long time,” she noted. “He has a lot of courage, knows what he wants, and goes after it. I see him and the way he’s lived his life…and that kind of got me to the point of saying: ‘Well, might as well do it.’”
Don’t bet against this fine young woman. She’s off to a good start.
Katie and Commonwealth Custom Experiences can be reached through the website or on her Facebook page, or email her at Katie@commonwealthexperiences.com
Steve Flairty is a teacher, public speaker and an author of six books: a biography of Kentucky Afield host Tim Farmer and five in the Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes series, including a kids’ version. Steve’s “Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes #4,” was released in 2015. Steve is a senior correspondent for Kentucky Monthly, a weekly KyForward and NKyTribune columnist and a member of the Kentucky Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. Contact him at sflairty2001@yahoo.com or visit his Facebook page, “Kentucky in Common: Word Sketches in Tribute.” (Steve’s photo by Connie McDonald)
