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She was audacious and energetic, nervy enough to launch an organic children鈥檚 clothing line at age 23, despite having zero business experience, and driven enough to do it simultaneously with starting law school.

Then Kyle Smitley 鈥�07, inspired by service trips to Haiti in high school and El Salvador and Belize in college, earmarked half her profits for charitable causes, and the world went crazy.

Mom bloggers raved, and celebrity mothers outfitted their children in Barley & Birch attire. Inc. magazine listed her among its 30 鈥渃oolest entrepreneurs under 30.鈥� Forbes called her a top 10 entrepreneur to watch. Huffington Post named her its 鈥淕reatest Person of the Day.鈥� She lunched with President Obama and had dinner with Steve Jobs.

It wasn鈥檛 enough.

鈥淚 wanted to feel so enthusiastic to be alive every single morning,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd it wasn鈥檛 there in the strictly for-profit. 鈥� At the time, I was like, it doesn鈥檛 feel good. I don鈥檛 feel excited.鈥�

Smitley said that work with a story coach 鈥� 鈥渁lmost more of a therapist鈥� 鈥� caused her to realize that 鈥渕y entire life is about the next adventure. 鈥� I'm not summiting Everest, right? It means, to me, more like every single day being a very exciting adventure.鈥�

She sold the company, mindful that 鈥淚 had some dues to pay. I wanted to do my part to give back to a world that I felt had given a lot to me.鈥� Then living in San Francisco, Smitley determined that she should move to Detroit 鈥� just 90 minutes from her hometown of Defiance, Ohio 鈥� and volunteer at a public school. Unable to identify one where she might fit in and buoyed by her public persona, she decided she鈥檇 open a charter school.

She got a rude awakening. A comeuppance, really. 鈥淥ver the next three months, I proceeded to get nine rejection letters,鈥� Smitley said. 鈥溾�� Give Michigan a little bit of credit because, at the time, I (said) I鈥檒l open a school and Michigan was like, 鈥榶ou鈥檙e not qualified to teach a bunch of our kids. Good try.鈥欌��

She buckled down, researched, talked to people who had started schools, recruited veteran educators, learned 鈥渉ow to play the game a little bit better鈥� and finally secured approval from the state to open nonprofit Detroit Achievement Academy, a K-8 charter school, in 2013. Detroit Prep, which serves K-6 pupils and where the older of Smitley鈥檚 two daughters attends, followed, opening in a 100-year-old renovated school building where whimsy met historic preservation sufficiently to merit a story in Architectural Digest.

The schools focus on helping students decide 鈥渨hat kind of a person do you want to be? And what kind of person are you? We have habits of character and they drive every single thing we do,鈥� she said. Teaching soft skills such as self-awareness, self-reflection, compassion, cooperation and grit 鈥渃an lead to more productive and successful people.鈥�

She handles external matters 鈥� budgets, partnerships, fundraising and public relations 鈥� and leaves the education to the educators. And she has found contentment.

鈥淎 couple of years ago, I would have said I鈥檓 really good at starting something but I don鈥檛 have the tenacity and attention span to really stay in the details and focus,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow I鈥檝e been doing the same job for nine years. So maybe I鈥檓 better at it. But I think it鈥檚 because I have a really good team that does a lot of that here. So I鈥檓 essentially still in the startup and entrepreneur mode. And I have a lot of people who clean up my mess behind me, who button things up.鈥�

Not that contentment equates to slowing down. With time on her hands during the pandemic, when the school buildings were vacated, Smitley 鈥� in what she called 鈥渁 pandemic, nervous-energy project鈥� 鈥� designed a cookware line, started a company called Louis (pronounced LOU ee) and has begun to sell the cookware nationwide in popup stores.

鈥淐apitalism is only exciting to me if I can be proving that it can be done in a more unique way,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t takes a deep well of confidence and a sense of adventure.鈥�

And earlier this year, she applied to become a volunteer police officer in Detroit.

鈥淚 want to see if I鈥檓 strong enough,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 want to see what it鈥檚 like. I want to see what I can do. I want to see if I have any value to add,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 ever really fallen on my face in a big way, and I think that I鈥檓 a better person for trying new things and pushing myself.鈥�

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