In Phenix City, Alabama, Dr. Kendyl Tarver has created a life that moves comfortably between leadership and livestock, business decisions and barnyard chores, polished moments and muddy boots.
By profession, Kendyl is an educator, entrepreneur, and the owner and director of Kreative Learning Academy. She holds a doctorate in education and has spent much of her professional life dedicated to children, families, learning, and leadership.
But when the responsibilities of running a childcare business are finished for the day, Kendyl often steps into an entirely different world.
There are goats waiting for attention, chickens roaming nearby, a garden that always seems to need something, and another outdoor project waiting to be tackled.
For Kendyl, these two worlds are not as different as they may appear.
Both require patience.
Both require problem-solving.
Both require commitment.
And both have become an important part of the woman she continues to become.
Building Something of Her Own
Education has long been at the center of Kendyl’s professional journey.
After years of working in the field, she earned her doctorate in education and eventually turned her experience, knowledge, and vision into something of her own: Kreative Learning Academy.
As owner and director, Kendyl’s role reaches far beyond the classroom.
Her days involve leading employees, supporting families, making decisions for the program, overseeing curriculum and operations, meeting licensing and quality standards, managing the business side of childcare, and making sure the children entrusted to her center are learning and being cared for in an environment designed for them to thrive.
Owning a business also means there is rarely a true “off” switch.
There is always something to plan, improve, solve, organize, or prepare for next.
That responsibility has taught Kendyl how to lead, but it has also shown her the importance of having parts of life that allow her to simply enjoy the moment.
For her, that is often found outside.
Then Come the Goats, Chickens and Garden
Away from the daily responsibilities of her childcare center, Kendyl has embraced hobby farming.
Her property has become home to goats and chickens, while gardening and hands-on outdoor projects have become part of her normal routine.
She did not need to grow up knowing how to do everything.
Part of the appeal has been learning along the way.
A chicken enclosure may need to be repaired.
A goat may discover an escape route that no one knew existed.
A garden may need watering, pruning, planting, or starting over.
Some days call for work gloves.
Others call for power tools.
And sometimes a project simply requires standing there for a moment and figuring out, Now how am I going to fix this?
Kendyl has discovered that she enjoys that challenge.
The same woman who can research curriculum, manage a business, lead a staff, and make professional decisions is also perfectly capable of rolling up her sleeves and figuring out how to make something work around the property.
She may start a project without having every answer, but she is willing to learn.
That willingness has become one of the most defining parts of her farm journey.
Pretty Doesn’t Mean Helpless
Perhaps one of the most striking things about Kendyl’s lifestyle is the ease with which she moves between the different sides of herself.
She loves being polished.
She enjoys fashion, beautiful photographs, getting dressed up, and embracing her femininity.
She also does not mind getting dirty.
There is no contradiction in that for her.
A woman can enjoy looking beautiful and still know how to work with her hands.
She can wear a great outfit and feed goats.
She can appreciate a fresh manicure and still tend to chickens.
She can hold a doctorate and still find herself outside repairing something that absolutely refuses to cooperate.
She can own a business and still come home and work the land.
For Kendyl, femininity has never required fragility.
And accomplishment has never meant separating herself from the simple pleasures of working outdoors.
She has learned that she does not have to choose between being polished and being practical.
She can be both.
When the Farm Became the Photo Set
That balance was captured beautifully during a recent professional photo session on her property.
There was no need to create the illusion of farm life.
The goats were hers.
The chickens were hers.
The surroundings were familiar.
And Kendyl was completely comfortable in the environment.
In one photograph, she smiles while holding a chicken against her chest.
In another, she is crouched among her goats.
Other images capture her feeding the animals and standing confidently in the spaces that are part of her everyday life.
The resulting photographs have the polished quality of commercial lifestyle imagery, but their authenticity is what makes them stand out.
Kendyl was not playing the role of a farmer for the camera.
The camera was simply documenting something she already does.
And that realization has opened her eyes to another possibility: sharing this side of herself through editorial, commercial, farm, home, outdoor, and lifestyle opportunities.
Because the woman in those photographs is not a character.
She is Kendyl.
More Than a Degree or a Job Title
Kendyl is proud of her education.
She is proud of the business she owns.
She is proud of the years she has invested in serving children and families.
But she also understands that no degree, career, or title can completely define a person.
There are lessons she has learned through formal education, and there are lessons that have come from standing outside surrounded by animals and realizing that nature has its own curriculum.
Farm life has taught patience in a different way.
It has taught her to observe.
To adjust.
To try again.
To laugh when things do not go according to plan.
And to appreciate the satisfaction that comes from accomplishing something with her own hands.
There is something grounding about caring for an animal that depends on you.
Something rewarding about watching something grow.
Something peaceful about stepping away from a busy professional day and focusing on a simple task right in front of you.
Feed the chickens.
Check the goats.
Water the garden.
Fix what needs fixing.
Then come back tomorrow and do it again.
Defining Her Own Southern Life
Kendyl does not pretend to know everything about farming.
She is still learning, still experimenting, and still deciding what she wants her hobby farm to become.
And that may be one of the things she enjoys most.
There is freedom in allowing yourself to become interested in something simply because it brings you joy.
There is freedom in trying something new without worrying whether other people think it fits the image they have of you.
Kendyl’s life is proof that women do not have to live inside one carefully defined category.
She is an educator with a doctorate.
She is an entrepreneur.
She is the owner and director of a childcare business.
She is a mother.
She is a wife.
She is a hobby farmer.
She enjoys beautiful things.
She enjoys working with her hands.
She can lead a business and care for livestock.
She can be refined without being afraid of a little dirt.
And in the space where all of those parts of her life meet, Kendyl has found a version of Southern living that belongs entirely to her.
For Dr. Kendyl Tarver, business and barnyard are not competing worlds. Together, they tell the story of a woman who is educated, entrepreneurial, feminine, hands-on, curious, and completely comfortable defining life on her own terms.
