Story by Mary Couch
Photos by Kalee Gapinski
WKU alumna Leslie Miller said she is a teacher in her 28th year as an educator. She said she’s currently the coordinator for Jackson Academy, a Warren County alternative school where she oversees students for grades fourth through 12th.
However, outside of her day job, Leslie Miller said she wants to give WKU students a sense of home while they are separated from family through her side business, A Hug From Home.
“That’s my real job,” Leslie Miller said. “This is the fun job.”
Leslie Miller spent the afternoon of Sunday, March 29, with her minivan parked in WKU’s Mimosa Lot. She propped her trunk open to display multiple rows of boxes tied up with colorful ribbon arranged on the floor of her car.
Leslie Miller said her holiday-themed boxes sell out very quickly because the parents know to watch out for them. Leslie Miller’s deliveries for the day were Easter boxes she put together that customers ordered for students as a special treat for the holiday.
For her Easter boxes, Leslie Miller divided them into boys and girls-themed boxes. She said boy boxes contained a Bluetooth speaker, and girl boxes contained a stuffed bunny with red and white ribbons on its ears that she added herself.
Leslie Miller said each box contained a magnet with a photo she took of the cherry blossoms on campus, unique bookmarks made by herself and students in the Kelly Autism Program and a variety of Easter candy and snacks.
Leslie Miller said she offers an array of services to connect WKU students back to their families, and to be there for students who need someone “when mom’s not there.”
She said she delivers care packages, cakes, specialty treats and more to celebrate birthdays, aid sick students or even to provide comfort after a breakup.
Senior sports management major from Nashville, James Stevens, said that he has gotten every single box from Leslie Miller since she started her company.
“I’m really grateful for her and doing this for all the college kids that might feel distanced and might feel a little bit homesick,” Stevens said.
Leslie Miller said she was inspired to begin her business a year and a half ago after her oldest son got sick at college and she had no way of getting to him or helping him. She said she just wished there was a mom she could ask about these things.
“I thought, well, I could be that mom for Western,” Leslie Miller said.
For larger numbers of deliveries like her Easter packages, Leslie Miller said she will offer various times and places to meet, but for birthdays, she delivers straight to the student’s dorm or apartment.
Leslie Miller said she photographs students with their packages to send to customers so that they can be involved.
“That’s the best part,” Leslie Miller said. “That’s what moms want to see. They can’t be here, but they want to be here, so it helps them to feel close.”
Leslie Miller said that since starting her business, she has gotten to do several things she never expected to. She said she started out thinking she would do something small, like finals treats.
“It just kept growing and growing and growing,” Leslie Miller said.
She said she and her husband got their business license, became classified as a Limited Liability Company and she obtained her cottage license. This license permits her to sell foods goods she makes herself.
Leslie Miller said she also got her Western license so she can sell products depicting Big Red, logos and other WKU-trademarked images.
“It’s very professional, even though we’re dealing out of the back of a minivan,” Leslie Miller said.
Leslie Miller does not set the boundary for her services to just deliveries. She said she has learned what she should provide as she finds more things students need.
“I have gotten to do all sorts of things I didn’t think I could do,” Leslie Miller said. “I’m a pet taxi; I’m a baker. I’m an Uber driver.”
Leslie Miller greeted most by name while delivering, seeming to pick up their conversations exactly where they left off. She checked in on each student who came by, asking how fraternity life was going or complimenting a new hairstyle.
“When I came here, I was like, ‘I’ve got to expand my wings,’” Stevens said. “I didn’t know if I would get the home feel every time. So this company has really embraced me being like their own kid.”
Leslie Miller said it feels like one of her kids is leaving her because Stevens is graduating this year. She said her favorite part of the job is the relationships she has been able to build.
“I have relationships with these kids now, and their mommas,” Miller said. “I feel like their moms are my friends, you know. We talk online.”
While Miller was set up for her deliveries, she was not only visited by students, but also her son. Teacher Hayden Miller said he was on a drive and wanted to come by to see how his mom was.
“Mom’s always been an excellent mom to me and my brother,” Hayden Miller said. “She’s always shown love through gifts. So that’s kind of cool seeing that translate to this business that she does now.”
Leslie Miller said that she believes hospitality is a gift. She said this is her way of showing hospitality, especially to students coming to WKU from other states.
“I want them to see that we’re friendly; Western’s friendly,” Leslie Miller said. “I’m just an extra, hopefully friendly face for them.”