We caught up with the brilliant and insightful April Rose Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

April Rose, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

Yes. There was a defining moment that completely shifted the trajectory of my career and how I define my purpose.

It didn’t happen in a boardroom or during a formal career milestone. It happened in the lived reality of hearing the stories of women—domestic violence survivors like myself, who were tasked with rebuilding their lives and their families, but were doing so with limited resources and very little support for what comes next.

I understood that experience personally. As a domestic violence survivor restarting my own career, I knew what it felt like to be focused on survival, but still needing to rebuild identity, confidence, and stability at the same time. What changed everything for me was realizing I was not alone in that gap between survival and full restoration.

The defining moment came when I began to truly listen—not just to the fact that women were rebuilding, but to what they were missing while doing it. They had strength, resilience, and determination, but often lacked access to the tools that help translate those qualities into opportunity—things like workforce readiness, professional presentation, and confidence in how they show up in the world again.

That is when the connection became clear for me.

My advocacy began to take shape through that understanding, and I became intentional about aligning with organizations like Dress for Success, which supports women entering or reentering the workforce by helping them rebuild confidence and professional identity. I also began exploring partnerships with brands like Kendra Scott as a way to create community-centered engagement that could support awareness, empowerment, and access in a different but meaningful way.

From there, my work expanded beyond personal advocacy into structured platforms—projects like “The Dress Code” and my broader vision of “Crowns Across America,” which use visibility, conversation, and pageantry as tools to highlight the journey of women rebuilding their lives.

Even my upcoming journey in Salt Lake City represents that evolution. It is not just a competition; it is part of a larger mission to bring awareness to what it truly takes for women to move from surviving to thriving.

The lesson I took from that defining moment is this: survival is only the beginning. The real work, and the real opportunity, comes in what we build after survival, when women are given not just hope, but access, structure, and visibility.

That realization is what transformed me from someone simply rebuilding her own life into someone committed to helping build systems that support the rebuilding of others.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a domestic violence survivor turned advocate, pageant competitor, and community builder focused on helping women rebuild confidence, identity, and economic stability after crisis.

My work began from my own experience restarting my life and career after domestic violence. In that process, I realized how many women are strong in survival but often lack support in what comes next, rebuilding confidence, professional identity, and access to opportunity.

That realization led me into advocacy and into creating platforms that connect empowerment with visibility and action. Through initiatives like The Dress Code and Crowns Across America, I use storytelling and pageantry as tools to highlight women’s journeys from survival to stability and into thriving.

I also align with organizations like Dress for Success to support workforce readiness and explore community partnerships with brands like Kendra Scott to expand empowerment focused engagement and visibility.

What I believe I am solving for is the gap between survival and full restoration. My work is centered on helping women rebuild not just emotionally, but practically, so they can step back into life with confidence and access.

What sets me apart is that this is lived experience for me, not just advocacy. I understand the rebuilding process personally, and that shapes how I build every platform and partnership.

At the core, my mission is simple. To help women move from surviving to rebuilding and from rebuilding to thriving with dignity, confidence, and visibility.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I had to unlearn is what people assume domestic violence survivors look like, and what advocacy is supposed to look like.

For a long time, I think there was an unspoken expectation that survivors fit a certain image or come from a specific economic background. I had to unlearn that completely. Domestic violence does not have a look, and it does not discriminate by class, education, or visibility. Once I fully understood that, it changed how I saw both myself and the women I serve.

I also had to unlearn the idea that advocacy has to look loud in order to be impactful. Early on, I believed I had to be a visible, outspoken force at all times to create change. Over time, I learned that advocacy shows up in many forms. Sometimes it is speaking on a stage, and other times it is building systems, creating partnerships, and supporting women in ways that allow them to be seen, heard, and equipped.

That shift changed my role from being a loud crusader to becoming someone who is intentional about support, structure, and sustainability. It also influenced how I approach my platforms like The Dress Code and Crowns Across America, where visibility is not just about being seen, but about changing the narrative around who survivors are and what rebuilding looks like.

What I now understand is that impact is not defined by volume. It is defined by consistency, clarity, and how effectively you help people move from survival into stability.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After I leaving my abusive relationship,
I was in a season where everything felt like it had to be rebuilt at once. Identity, confidence, stability, and direction. I remember sitting in spaces where I was no longer surviving the situation, but still learning how to exist in the aftermath of it. That part is often overlooked, but it is one of the hardest stages of rebuilding.

At the same time, I began engaging more deeply with women who had similar experiences. Some were in shelters, some were transitioning out, and others were quietly trying to rebuild their lives without much support. Hearing their stories mirrored my own in ways I was not expecting. We were all strong in survival, but navigating what comes after without a clear roadmap.

There was a moment when I realized I had two choices. I could stay focused only on rebuilding myself, or I could begin turning that experience into something that supported other women walking the same path. That shift did not happen overnight, but it marked the beginning of how I now approach my work.

That is when advocacy became more intentional for me. It led me to align with organizations like Dress for Success, which focuses on helping women reenter the workforce with confidence and resources, and to explore community partnerships with brands like Kendra Scott to expand visibility and empowerment efforts.

It also shaped how I built platforms like The Dress Code and Crowns Across America, where I use storytelling and pageantry as tools to highlight women’s resilience and the reality that rebuilding is not linear.

What makes this a story of resilience for me is not just that I rebuilt, but that I chose not to isolate my experience. I chose to turn it into connection, structure, and purpose for others.

Even today, as I prepare for my journey in Salt Lake City, I carry that same lesson with me. Resilience is not just about surviving what happened. It is about what you build from it, and who you help along the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aprilrosesmith@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authentically_aprilrosesmith
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authentically_aprilrose
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/aprilrosesmith