Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelby Caswell.
Shelby, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Hi! My name is Shelby. I started my account, @SparkleGiggleSmile in February 2019, 7 1/2 months pregnant with my daughter! Looking for a way to connect with other moms and share the pregnancy and any tips/tricks I could with other moms! I started by sharing pregnancy updates and outfit ideas with my friends and family and the followers began to trickle in. I was put on restrictions at work and my maternity leave started earlier than expected due to signs of early labor! Meeting and connecting with moms online, who were home and isolated was such a relief. I was absolutely terrified I would be alone through the end of pregnancy and after delivery. Knowing I wasn’t alone was huge. Meeting and chatting with moms who dealt with exactly what I was going through was such a relief! Once baby girl arrived, healthy at 37 weeks, I was able to start sharing more lifestyle and our everyday life! I love getting dressed every day and it truly helped me feel more myself in the whirlwind of postpartum newborn life. Sharing beauty and style finds and deals began and has never quite stopped!
Fast forward to February 2020, I had grown our community to over 10,000 and connected with other moms sharing in the motherhood niche to collaborate and throw ideas around while I was still working behind the bar 4 days a week. After months of working on my platform nights after the baby was asleep and days off, with the amazing support of my husband, I was able to budget out to stay home with my sweet daughter. I left my bartending job of 6 years to focus solely on the community I had built and focus the best I could to continue to grow and reach other moms! More transparency in the social space was needed. I still had trouble finding huge presentation of “real mom life” stuck in-between all the perfect curated homes & posed feeds. I wanted to share that it’s ok not to have it all together and it’s ok not to have a perfectly curated home!
The pandemic hit weeks later, forcing everyone to stay home and turn to social media for most interaction and entertainment! I joined TikTok and began sharing our family and how we were keeping busy.
As summer was slowing down in 2020, we started trying for baby #2 and were pleasantly surprised to be expecting in the first month of trying! It was absolutely meant to be!
I continued to share with my audience of other moms and women and steadily grew to about 20k on Instagram and a few thousand on TikTok.
Sharing products and tips that helped me prepare for baby #2 was the highlight of our winter as we prepped for delivery in April.
Yet again, I had struggles with signs of early labor and a baby boy joined us just a few days past 34 weeks, healthy as could be!
As a new mom of 2, I continued to take our audience with us as we navigated toddlerhood with our daughter and newborn life yet again.
In the last 14 months, I’ve been blessed to grow our community even more and have multiple viral videos shared across Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok.
All in all, I’m thankful for the amazing group of moms I get to Hang out with every day and I’m grateful for the amazing brand partners I get to work alongside and create to share with my audience.
2 kids 23 months apart hasn’t been easy but I’ve done my best to be as transparent as possible. Knowing I’m not the only one going through the trenches of day-to-day mom life helped me as we navigated preterm labor 2x, speech delays in my oldest who was over 14 months delayed at 2 1/2 years old. While we struggled with colic and sleepless nights for the first 8 months of my son’s life. Through the loss of my biggest caretaker and supporter my grandmother and now as I navigate who I am outside of being “just a mom” I learn to” love” on myself again and encourage other moms to do the same!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Social media never ever sleeps, and it’s easy to get caught up in the comparison game but my goal has always been to be as transparent as possible to show other moms they aren’t alone. The laundry piles up, the dishes need to be run but the babies are hugged and kissed and loved on each and every night!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Sharing our life to connect with other moms and encourage while we’re surviving motherhood is the goal. I want other mamas to know they aren’t alone. That it’s ok to feel overwhelmed. It’s normal. That it’s ok to ask for help and it’s ok to feel like you don’t have it all together.
Anyone you see on socials who claim otherwise either isn’t honest or isn’t happy.
Finding a way to show up for my friends while also having a creative outlet wasn’t always easy. Sharing my outfits ideas and sale finds when super pregnant or newly postpartum while also figuring out who I am after having 2 babies in 2 years was tough. Sticking with it when the algorithms change and engagement lowers when I don’t feel like my content is being seen and IG is against me is tough!
I’m an active customer, supporter, and partner of my all-time favorite jewelry brand out of Texas, Sarah Briggs Jewelry. They’re USA-based, women-owned, and absolutely women supporting women always. I started as a customer in 2019 and have been blessed on multiple accounts to work directly with them again and again. Sarah is a GEM and I’m so thankful for the support and light she brings while inviting me to participate in the beauty & fun she brings to her community. I’m thankful for my SB VIP besties that have found me through her and so thankful for all the connections we make over hoops and chains every day!!!
I have been featured in over 15 different articles worldwide on a “mom hack” I shared about layering crib sheets & mattress pad covers like lasagna to make for easier clean-up in case of accidents overnight. Peel the soiled top layer off, clean the sheet below ready to go!
I also shared a review on the popular Baby Delight bassinet that continues to get thousands of views daily still.
Diaper bag & hospital bag packing tips & tricks.
Since having my son, I really started to embrace my hair’s naturally curly texture, and have shared the journey on my accounts as well! Being a “curly” mama isn’t always the best for the amount of time in the day, but I have never felt more myself than after a hair wash and style to really bring my natural curls!
Just in the last 6-8 months I have really started to share more in the curly hair space and hope to encourage other moms to take that time for themselves to feel put together and feel their absolute best! We don’t always get the time to spend on ourselves every day and taking that time is crucial for how I feel every day!
Curly hair, bright feed, and honest motherhood are the basis of where m content is at in the current moment, I am out of the baby days and doing my best every day to figure out who I am now. I’m known for my positivity, honesty and my handle, SparkleGiggleSmile, always brings a smile to someone’s face!
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Creativity in my content style, diligence on consistency in sharing on my platform, and vulnerability on the real aspects of motherhood most just choose never to mention!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SparkleGiggleSmile.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sparklegigglesmile/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sparklegigglesmile
Image Credits
Callie JC Photography
Caswell Studios
