Kayla Boyd is on a journey that has become a labor of love.
Hers is a love story, really, shared with millions of people she’s never met.
The Washington native is a salon owner. She is a wife. She is a sister and a daughter. And she is an emerging social influencer as she tries to become a mother.
She has about 74,000 followers on her Instagram handle, Kaylaboyd__ (two underscores at the end). She tells stories of faith, fitness and her battle with infertility as she embraces in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments with her husband, Jeremiah, at her side.
“We knew each other as kids in our youth group,” said Boyd, 33. “He was two years older and he chased me throughout high school and I didn’t give in. He joined the Army and was deployed in my senior year. Then he came home and swept me off my feet.”
The 2011 Washington High School graduate went on to Oehrlein School of Cosmetology and started up her own place, Charlie + Co. Salon, 419 N. Cummings, Washington.
“I was looking for a shop name, something unique and tied to family,” Boyd said.
She picked a word play on Charlie Company, the military unit her husband served in. He embraced it.
“I’ve always believed that the best content comes from simply being my authentic self,” she said. “So whether I’m talking about keeping my mind and body healthy, opening up about our IVF journey, sharing life as a salon owner, or just finding joy in all the little moments in between, I hope people leave my page feeling a little more seen, encouraged and understood.”
A collision of joy and heartache
But that IVF journey is what put her on the map in the social media world.
Her breakout video has drawn 12 million views across multiple platforms, mostly Instagram.
“I struggled with infertility for eight years, saw doctors, was told there was not much else they could do for me,” Boyd said. “I wanted to get my body healthy, do everything in my power I could. So I started making videos showing what I was doing, working out, eating carefully, keeping a journal. Social media is throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.”
That big moment for her as an influencer arrived around last Labor Day when her sister announced she was pregnant. The family members’ reactions were recorded.
“It rocked my world,” Boyd said. “My baby sister had gotten pregnant. I was so happy for her. And yet my heart was shattered. I took that video from her and put it out there as a journal entry from my heart. It has generated 12 million hits.
“Up until that point I didn’t even know overwhelming joy and earth-shattering heartache could co-exist in the same moment.”
And everything changed for Kayla Boyd. The viral video showed she connected on common ground with a lot of people.
“I just started realizing how big the infertility world was,” she said. “You feel so alone going through it. But there are so many women struggling with this. I can’t tell you how many messages I got.
“I just did my first round of IVF in July of this year. Been documenting that, the heartache of not having a child.”
She lifted that barbecue grill
Boyd’s platform includes a video on a baked cottage cheese wrap that has drawn 4.3 million views. And there is one showing her helping her husband lift a barbecue grill onto the bed of a pickup truck that now stands at 23.7 million views.
There is video of cutting her hair. She takes followers on views of her salon. Family trips. Family gathering moments. Her platform is a ride-along to her life.
She has arrived as an influencer.
“I don’t take this platform for granted and honestly believe God has given me the opportunity to use it for something bigger than myself,” she said. “My content is inspired by the life I’m living right now, and I never want it to feel filtered or perfect. More than anything, I want the person you meet in real life to be the exact same girl you know on Instagram.”
Hope and inspiration from a tackle box
A big moment in Kayla Boyd’s journey arrived when she received her first IVF treatment.
“I’ve been documenting that, the heartache of not having a child,” Boyd said. “There are so many women struggling with this. I can’t tell you how many messages I got. I am sharing the hope God has given us in this.”
At one point, she was enduring five shots each day in her stomach. It was an emotional grind, a challenge.But she has this fishing tackle box. It keeps her hooked on her mission.
“I had read you should get a tackle box and put all your meds in it,” Boyd said. “So I got one. I printed ‘Baby Boyd’ on it. Then I took that box around to our friends and family, and they wrote messages, prayers, encouraging words on it.
“Every time I take a shot from that box, we pray over it.”
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star senior writer and sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ‘Rocked my world’: How an Illinois woman’s IVF journey sparked her rise as influencer
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star | USA TODAY Network
