Why We Love Living and Working in Northern Kentucky

Nick Lyktey is Chief of Lab Operations for Gravity Diagnostics.

I’m from Long Island, New York, and I went to grad school. When I was in grad school, I was out here, like in the Midwest. I applied to a bunch of different jobs in this region. There’s a bunch of different, like, science and technology jobs. And when I was interviewing for this particular startup that I work at now, Gravity Diagnostics, it was just kind of like a cool environment. I feel like we could do a lot of different things. And I was like, all right, I’ll work here for a year, and then I’ll probably leave. 

That one year has turned into five years. For somebody who plans everything in their life, this is the one thing that threw off my plan in a good way. People keep investing in this area, and it keeps growing, and it keeps getting better. You know, there are more and more opportunities. Our company, for example, when I first started, we were a 30-person company, and now we’re over 300 people. 

There is a really big sense of community, right? That’s something that is really interesting to me and isn’t everywhere. Like, there’s a really collaborative approach, and if you’re in that, like, science, biotech arena, I think this is a good place for you.

My parents were a little surprised and had no idea what Kentucky meant. They knew horse racing, right, and bourbon. But honestly, I would say my parents are actually some of the biggest recruiters for the area. They flew out here and helped me move in, and they’ve come here a bunch of times. And my mom used to stand in my backyard, and she’d be like, “This place is like an oasis.” She’s like, “It’s so quiet and it’s so nice.”

My fiancée and I, we’re at Devou Park all the time because we’re in Northern Kentucky, and I love it there. That’s like our little happy place, and there’s a bunch of different brunch spots around here, and a lot of different types of food places that we go downtown in Covington or in the Fort Wright, Fort Mitchell area. 

We’ve gone to Reds games, Bengals games, we’ve gone downtown by The Banks. There’s a ton of different sports if you’re into that, a lot of different arts and theater-related things if you’re interested in that. Every time my friends come here, we do something different. My dad would be like, “It takes eight minutes from your house to go to a Reds game.” He’s like, “That’s insane.” 

The accessibility is a huge perk of this area. It takes us a couple of minutes to get to the airport. I mean, you know, everything’s efficient. You get through, and it’s like it literally is a huge advantage. My parents are kind of like, let us, you know, let us know when you find your forever home here, because we want to move here too.