By Harper Aulick West Virginia Creative Network
For HDMedia
This February saw the publication of YNST Magazine’s 10th issue, “The Future of Appalachia.” YNST (You’re Not Seeing Things) is a print- and digital-media company dedicated to amplifying Appalachian arts and culture.
We had the pleasure of sitting down with Editor-in-Chief Adam Payne and Executive Director Kasey Lettrich in the wake of this milestone edition to reflect on the magazine’s formation, the importance of creative entrepreneurship, what it means to make space for contemporary Appalachian voices, and their hopes for the future of You’re Not Seeing Things.
The magazine was born from the passion of a group of six college students working on West Virginia University’s student publication, Mirage Magazine. There, they learned all about crafting a magazine and built a strong collaborative relationship. As the group geared up to graduate, they realized that they didn’t want to stop working together. And so, six months after graduating, Payne, Lettrich and four other former Mirage collaborators asked: “Well, why does it have to die?”
And so began YNST. The core editorial team started with the name, “You’re Not Seeing Things,” coming from a short-lived tagline for Mirage. Though the magazine is now well-established as a platform centering Appalachian creatives, that wasn’t what the team initially planned for it.
“I think we were all just happy to be creating again,” Lettrich said. But as the group started brainstorming the magazine’s content, it quickly became clear that there was a huge blind spot in media that the YNST crew was equipped to fill: Appalachian voices.
The national media perception of Appalachia is not often reflective of lived experiences, either focusing on outdoor recreation and tourism or negative depictions of the region. Payne and Lettrich recognized the need for a media platform that was, as Payne puts it, “optimistic but truthful; editorializing, but not turning it into fluff; and at the same time, helped other creative entrepreneurs, artists and young people who want to fight for this region.”
They wanted to highlight the authentic grit of working artists across Appalachia.
Business startup, and funding
With a name and mission decided on, the next step to getting YNST published was the daunting task of acquiring funding. Luckily, the team was uniquely prepared for this task: While working on Mirage, Payne also worked at the LaunchLab at WVU, which helped students interested in starting their own businesses learn the steps of entrepreneurship. That experience gave Payne the confidence and skills to fully commit to legitimizing YNST as a business.
Pitch competitions were a major factor in this journey. The team competed against other startups for funding, winning a handful of contests before even launching the issue. Payne said he felt both his experience with the LaunchLab and his background in speech and debate and theatre contributed to YNST’s success in representing themselves in these competitions.
“The pitch-competition world can oftentimes feel like it isn’t for creative businesses. And I’m here to debunk that myth, because not only are they for creative businesses, but creative entrepreneurs thrive in those environments because we are storytellers.”
Their preparedness for the pitch competitions, aided by their creative perspectives, also set the magazine up for success by ensuring they had a solid business plan, financial projections and an established LLC before even starting the project, according to Lettrich.
From the beginning, YNST has been bridging the gap between the creative and entrepreneurial world. One of the magazine’s core values is helping artists early in their careers get their work seen in a legit published platform: through the magazine, through galleries, and through constantly expanding in and beyond the region, YNST fights for narrative change for both folks in the region and outside of it.
YNST’s mission
For those within the region, the magazine seeks to prove that you can be a successful artist in Appalachia and that there are opportunities for growth and professional success. To audiences outside the region, the magazine is a display of Appalachia’s unique culture and its wealth of incredible creatives that are not often made visible outside of the region’s artistic bubbles.
Lettrich, who is originally from southwestern Pennsylvania and attended college in West Virginia, has lived in New York City for the past three years and has seen firsthand how the magazine resonates beyond Appalachia. Anyone skeptical about what the region and its people have to offer quickly gains an appreciation for it after reading through the magazine.
YNST’s presence outside of the region in places like New York also gives other Appalachian ex-pats a vehicle to stay connected to the region after moving away.
“If you’re from Appalachia, you have an appreciation for it, and you want to read something like this,” said Lettrich.
In its strong regional pride, the magazine celebrates and strengthens the thread that connects us all.
“Appalachia has a way of burrowing under your skin,” Payne said.
The future of YNST includes expanding further within and beyond the region. Since launching, the team has been able to add on more editors with new perspectives, collaborate with bigger names like Andi Marie Tillman and Indigo de Souza, and are working toward full-time positions.
The explosive success of YNST requires lots of heavy lifting, but Payne, Lettrich, and the rest of the team make it look easy. Though the magazine has experienced tremendous growth over the course of its 10 issues, the team stays rooted in that initial optimism that started it all, driven by a desire to help uplift other creatives and celebrate Appalachia.
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The West Virginia Creative Network (formerly Tamarack Foundation for the Arts) has worked since 2001 to uplift artists and creative entrepreneurs across the Mountain State — “helping them build thriving careers, expand opportunities, and connect with one another,” according to the WVCN website. “We believe creativity is at the heart of community, culture, and economic vitality.”
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