Kristi Smith

Women’s Clothing Store Entrepreneur

– Tribute to Moms –

By Kristi Smith

I never received the calling to be a “stay at home mom”. My mother worked full time as I was growing up and she was a terrific mother. She was not only a loving and supportive mom, but she taught me an incredible work ethic. Fortunately, she is still all of these things to me, and I am positive I inherited her same genes. Work was not a choice for my family and continues to be a necessity. I am fortunate that I love what I do. When you enjoy your work, it all falls into place even being a good mom. Mom guilt is real, but my kids know that I love them. I have always made time for them. After getting home from work, dinner together is always a must. When they were younger, I was there to kiss their boo boo’s, sing silly songs with them, and read them bedtime stories. As they got older, helping them with homework was an every day occurrence. Extra curricular activities was harder to attend, but it didn’t stop me. You work it out with carpooling, attending soccer games before work, and possibly showing up late to a game after work.

Owning Sweet William is not only something that I treasure and love doing, it has proven to my girls that you can still be both a successful working mother, and a loving and supportive mom. Surviving this pandemic has probably been one of my biggest challenges and accomplishments I have ever faced. After such a challenging time, Sweet William is still here and my daughters are both excelling in school and in their lives. I am blessed to have such a strong support system through my Sweet William family and customers. Having this has also proved to my daughters that when you work hard for the people you love, you will most always succeed. My daughters are both young adults now at 17 and 21, and have made me extremely proud. Alex is a junior studying biology, health and sciences at SMU and Averie will be attending Savannah College of Art and Design in the fall majoring in fashion merchandising. They now support me with words of encouragement and expressing how proud they are for me to be their mom. Wow! There is no other feeling as good as that in an entire lifetime. I must add that they both love Sweet William as much as I do!