Shay Hammond brings passion project to life with WhimziWorks
Shay Hammond (Class of 2015) has an ambition and drive toward everything she does.
"It's always been in me," Hammond said. "It's…cool. It's tiring sometimes. I never feel like I'm done. I never feel like I can just…stop."
These characteristics served her well at Morehead State and later as a web designer and developer. It also led to her becoming the founder and co-owner of Morehead's new creative studio space, WhimziWorks.
Proof of Hammond's combination of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit goes back to middle school in Olive Hill. She started her first business in the eighth grade called Shay's Bones and Biscuits, selling homemade dog treats to local businesses with the help of her parents, Cindy Hammond (Class of 1990) and Bryan Keith Hammond (Class of 1998), and her younger sister, Jenna Hammond (Class of 2016). The family sent Hammond's business to the National Foundation of Young Entrepreneurs, which led to a $1,000 scholarship award, a paid trip to New York City, an ABC TV news appearance, and a TIME For Kids magazine cover with Hammond surrounded by dogs in Central Park.
"Shay has always been a determined young person. We always joked that she was always like the grown up of the family even when she was a kid," Cindy said of her daughter. "She just gets stuff done. She puts her mind to something, and she does it."
Hammond thought her big dreams required attending a big school for college, so she enrolled at the University of Kentucky (UK) but withdrew after one semester because the school felt too big and impersonal. Given her family's ties to MSU, she investigated transferring and received direction from Tim Creekmore (Class of 1991, 1993), a retired studio supervisor for MSU-TV.
"He basically convinced me that this was the place for me to go," Hammond said.
Hammond earned a Bachelor of Arts in multi-media production and art at MSU while gaining valuable experience. As an undergrad, she gained real-world experience in communication as the website developer for MSU-TV. She helped Professor of Mass Communication Jeffrey Hill edit video documentaries picked up by Kentucky Educational Television (KET). While her initial artistic interest was in graphic design, she said taking art classes in other creative media to earn an art degree proved to be a "breath of fresh air."
"It really does inform really all of the art things I do," Hammond said. "I'm good at web development because I have a visual eye and I have a visual eye because I went through all the different visual mediums for art."
Hammond also checked off a few life milestones while she was an Eagle, marrying her high school sweetheart D.J. Banks and giving birth to Hazel, 11, their first of three children (Olivia, 6, and Thea, 1, came later).
Before Hammond graduated from MSU, a classroom assignment – writing a cover letter for a company you would like to work for after college – became a reality when she submitted that cover letter, along with her resume and portfolio, to Big Ass Fans in Lexington and was hired as the company's web developer for five years while doing freelance web development for other clients. One of those clients, BuildWitt in Nashville, eventually offered Hammond her current full-time position as their director of web development.
Working remotely and living in Lexington, Hammond could have simply stopped there. However, she not only desired to return to Morehead but also wanted to do something impactful once she got there.
Shay and D.J. took the profits from selling their Lexington home to finance an idea that came to Hammond in a dream of opening a business where people could create and paint pottery. That eventually morphed into WhimziWorks, a creative studio space with drop-in activities in downtown Morehead that officially opened in June 2024. Kids can create everything from slime and suncatchers to papermaking and mosaics. Patrons of all ages can create pottery or rent the creative space to work on crafts or in various artistic media – all at affordable prices.
"Every inch of that place is my daughter. Every bit of it," Cindy said, who volunteers at WhimziWorks in retirement. "It's just so impressive. I'm so proud of her."
Hammonds knows Morehead State heavily fostered her entrepreneurial spirit and creative ambitions. Now, she's excited to use what she's learned and experienced to enrich her community and help its young people unlock their creative and personal potential.
"I've always sort of wanted to give back, both to MSU and Morehead. It got me to where I am," Hammond said. "This studio is truly a passion project and something I want people in Morehead to have."
Learn more about programs in the Department of Communication, Media, Art & Design by emailing cmad@moreheadstate.edu or calling 606-783-2766.
