2025 S.M.I.L.E. AWARDS

Leigha Westover has been in the service of motherhood over 30 years, mothering eight incredible individuals and grandmothering five. She has been involved in home, private, charter, and public schooling, which provided her opportunities to serve in the capacity of Dean of Students, Events Coordinator, Acting Administrator, Community Council member chair, PTA and substitute teaching. She has served as self-reliance facilitator for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the areas of personal finance and Start & Grow your Business. She started her own business while still raising children. Her husband Wade has been at her side through it all!

In 2019, she co-founded Momivate with Regan Barnes and served diligently on the MotherBoard for 5 years, contributing her strengths which complemented Regan’s so that this nonprofit could be born. She left last year when she accepted a full-time position at the Red Cross.

After graduating with a BA in Music Education, Shelle taught voice and piano lessons in her private studio for 9 years. In 1997, with a 3 and a 1-year-old, she began looking for a children’s music curriculum that contained the philosophies and methods she had learned while in college, but there was not one that she felt taught music in the ‘right way’. 

She began constructing her own curriculum for children’s music lessons, which incorporates solfege, ear training, piano skills, note reading, and classical music study in a playful class setting. She then taught the first Let’s Play Music classes with her 4-year-old daughter Sydney, in 1998.

The popularity of the classes grew so much that she had to start training other teachers and by 2011, with 250 teachers using the curriculum, her husband Dave joined the company to run the executive operations. Their own 5 children have all developed musicianship through Let’s Play Music, and now their grandchildren are enjoying it too! They operate the business with sincere hope that it will be used to bring the joy of music into the lives of children and families.

Meg fell off a cliff and broke her neck in 2004 and spent four months in the hospital recovering from multiple injuries and returned home as a C-7 quadriplegic: without the use of her legs, back, stomach, or hands.

Wheelchair-bound but determined, Meg refuses to sit still. Since she was paralyzed, Meg played murderball, won the Spirit Award at the national Ms. Wheelchair America pageant; founded and directs Ms. Wheelchair Utah as well as the Princess Pageant to strengthen girls in wheelchairs; instituted a service outreach program; spoken at many events, authored several books, and given birth to three children with whom she her husband Whit have many tea parties.

Meg is dedicated to helping others recognize their purpose and potential, not in spite of personal disabilities, but because of them. 

You can learn more about her here: https://megjohnsonspeaks.com/

This year, we are thrilled to honor another mom who, in companionship with her husband, uses instagram as their platform to spread laughter about life as parents!

Kelsi Fullmer says, “Sometimes as moms we lose ourselves a little bit, because our kids are everything! I needed a hobby that would help me get back to my roots. I’ve always loved to make videos and so I do that @fullmhouse and bring happiness, laughter, and fun to a lot of people. And it’s brought all of those things back to me! I’m laughing more, I’m a happier mom, and I’m able to use my creative juices a little more to feel like myself. The biggest lesson I’ve learned by doing @fullmhouse, is that even though the world is trying to pull us apart in a million different ways, laughter brings people together. We all have so many things in common, so I love sharing relatable, hilarious things because laughter and happiness can connect people from all over the world and really make it a better place.”

Anna Robbins-Ek has made an outstanding impact on Utah’s child care community and is an unwavering advocate for working mothers and affordable, quality child care.

As the owner and director of a child care center, Anna creates a nurturing environment where children thrive, enabling parents to pursue their professional ambitions with peace of mind. She actively engages in initiatives to elevate the status of child care providers in the community, frequently organizes workshops, advocates for fair wages and tirelessly promotes the importance of early childhood education.

She coaches track and field for Hunter High School and is a working group leader for A Bolder Way Forward in the child care spoke. She is a mother of two and also a foster parent with her husband, Chris.

Learn more about here work here: https://mompodco.org/