Meet Salvonjia Smith | Daycare owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Salvonjia Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Salvonjia, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought process behind starting my own business was that I wanted to be the beginning foundation for my daughter’s education. I wanted to be apart of her early learning. Also I wanted more control over my income, schedule and decisions. I wanted to pursue a long term commitment of wealth for my family.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a daycare owner. I absolutely love what I do. I have always loved kids and from a child I have always worked with kids. So my goal growing up was to have an impact in their lives in some way. I begin working in a daycare for many many years and it taught me so much about children and their needs. So learning that, I wanted to be the foundation in helping them grow and learn.
What sets me apart from others is my clarity, knowing what I value and what I’m aiming for. My consistency even when I don’t have all the motivation I need. My judgement to make the best decision that fits the child needs. My self-awareness, knowing a child’s strength and weaknesses. My initiative, taking those necessary steps without being told. My resilience, being able to bounce back from a setback. My communication. But most importantly, my authenticity, having my own identity and making it mine.
Getting to where I am today was most certainly not easy. I went from working a full time job as an educator with benefits to starting a business with nothing but the knowledge that I’ve gained.
I’ve learned many lessons in this line of work. But one that stands out the most is never let anyone make you believe you are crazy for leaving job security to starting a business in this economy. Always stand on what you believe in and are passionate about. You will always succeed.
What I would want the world to know about having a business is not just being your own boss but about becoming the kind of person who can carry responsibility, uncertainty, and pressure without quitting.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I had to recommend anything, I would definitely suggest hanging around the centennial park area. That area is kid friendly as well as adult friendly. My family and I went to bubble planet and it was a lot of fun. As far as food, breakfast at Barney’s is a really good brunch spot. For lunch, places near pounce city market has great spots with good food. For dinner, any steak spots would be a fav for me.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to shoutout my husband Carnilius Smith, owner of Operation DEFROST and Dirt trap Atl. He was my number one inspiration. I saw first hand how to start a business from the ground up and really put your all into something that is yours. He motivated me to start my own and guided me along the way and just encouraged me to stand firm on what I wanted and how to make it happen.

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