Finding Support in the Postpartum Experience with Kristen Smith

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In this episode of The Art of Imperfect Adulting, Amy Stone speaks with Kristin Smith about the power of hard-won resilience, career pivots, and building a family-focused business from personal struggle. Kristin, based in Western Massachusetts, shares her journey from becoming a mother at age 19 in New York City to founding a nationwide postpartum care company. Listeners will take away insights on early motherhood, overcoming isolation, and the steps to turning life’s hardest moments into entrepreneurial fuel.

About Kristin Smith:

Kristin Smith is the founder of Well Supported Family, a newborn care and postpartum support agency with a national presence that connects families with experienced caregivers during the early stages of parenthood. She began her career as a professional nanny, and in 2008, she was named Nanny of the Year by Family Helpers, and the following year she was selected as a finalist for ABC’s America’s Supernanny.

Main Topics Covered:

The profound impact of becoming a mother at a young age, and how it changed Kristin’s life trajectoryExperiences of postpartum isolation—even in the middle of a big city and while working in childcareThe practical and emotional micro-decisions involved in leaving an unsupportive relationship and starting overTurning personal challenges in early motherhood into a meaningful, sustainable career as a doula and eventually entrepreneurBuilding and scaling a postpartum support business (now Well Supported Family) from solo practice to a national team serving diverse familiesThe logistics and realities of growing a service business as a single mother, with the help of family and later, a supportive partnerEmbracing bold choices, learning from mistakes, and cultivating confidence as a self-taught business ownerEncouragement that it’s possible to find joy and purpose in work, and that past choices don’t define one’s future potential

Quote from the Episode:

"I just always had the mentality of go big or go home... I have to have the ability to kind of sit back within my own company and hand off all the tasks that I don't want to do so I can enjoy life. Because I've worked so hard and so long and put so many blood, sweat, and tears into this that I gotta make this bigger than it is." — Kristin Smith

Timestamps:

[00:00:19] Kristin’s introduction and life in Western Massachusetts

[00:01:38] Identifying as a Millennial and early life plans

[00:02:35] Nearly joining the military and pivoting to nanny work in NYC