
Courtney Smith
What do you want the world to know you for? I want to be remembered as someone who worked really hard, was always honest and there for everyone she cared about. I would also love to be remembered as someone who was loving, caring, passionate, chased her dreams, learned from all of her experiences, and definitely left the world a better place than she found it.
What problem are you passionate about solving? I'm passionate about trying to help women and girls. I feel like I have a lot more learning to do but I know that I have strengths that allow me to help girls in sports right now.
I was an athlete growing up and in college and when I was growing up, my dad saw a lot of inequality between the girls' facilities and boys' facilities in my home town. He decided to do something about it and he built an entire non-profit organization and facility surrounding softball that was just for girls. I didn't realize how rare having a sports facility just for boys (in a sport that has a male version as well) was until I moved to Indy and started trying to give softball lessons in baseball facilities that claimed to be for softball players too.
I hope to continue the non-profit on after my dad retires to help get girls from all over Alabama (a lot of girls are from more rural areas) seen by some of the best collegiate coaches in the world and going to college on scholarship. More importantly, I want to give girls role models to look up to so they can gain confidence through sports regardless if they play in college or not. I believe you learn so much through sports, so I hope to gain professional success to finance our non-profit in the future. Right now, I am working on taking a percentage of my profit from my photography work to save for our non-profit and I am giving lessons to young girls in Indianapolis so I can have 1:1 time with young female athletes and hopefully give back to the sport that gave me so much.
How do you define success? I define success by having the freedom to do what you love everyday, surrounded by the people that you love, the people who love you and support your dreams, all while living in a comfortable and safe environment.
Your greatest piece of advice? Don't be afraid to admit that you don't know it all. The older I get, the more I realize that I don't have all of the answers. Also, just go for it. Whatever you dream about, just go for it because you will regret it every day that you don't.
Most impactful quote? “Failure is success if we learn from it.” - Malcolm Forbes, coupled with, “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.” - Colin Powell
What is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal? I want to help bridge the gap between women's and men's athletics.
On a professional note, I want to create a full-service, creative studio team of photographers, videographers, wedding planners, and designers under one name that create luxury, destination weddings, but specialize in *humbly* serving and prioritizes our clients, while working as a full team for a majority of our events.
Courtney Smith Information
- Website URL:
- https://creativeninetythree.com
- Phone Number:
- 2057469451
- Email Address:
- courtney@creativeninetythree.com
- Position:
- Owner/Lead Photographer at Ninety Three Creative