Mother rents billboard to celebrate her daughter becoming a doctor: ‘I am the proudest mom’

A proud New Jersey-based mother gifted her daughter with her own billboard to celebrate her child graduating with a doctorate degree.

During an interview with Good Morning America this week, Kendra Busbee said she rented a digital billboard to show off her daughter Kristine Smalls’ latest achievement. Smalls received her Psy.D from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine at the end of July.

The 52-year-old noted that after “making phone calls” about renting the billboard, she found one for a great “price” and already had her “vision” for what it would look like.

“I reached out to someone that just opened up a bakery and she directed me to someone that she used for her billboard and they gave me an amazing price,” she said. “I said, ‘I already know what I want. I’m up late at night and I’m like, drawing my vision in my little notebook and what I want it to say, and [I was] so excited.”

The billboard includes a photo of Smalls in her graduation cap and tassel, next to the words: “Let Me Re-Introduce Myself... Dr. Kristine S. Smalls, Dr. Smiles, Look what good came out of Camden!”

Busbee said she surprised her daughter with the billboard by asking her to bring her friends to a parking lot nearby. She also noted how “shocked” Smalls was, as the new doctor originally thought that she was simply having a graduation party.

“I said, ‘Oh I moved the car,’ and we’re walking to the car and she’s like, ‘OK, I don’t know what’s going on.’ And she sees everybody outside of their car standing there, waiting. So she’s thinking that I’m giving her a COVID party [for her graduation],” Busbee explained. “I’m like, ‘The billboard!’ and she’s like, ‘Oh!’ ... It was awesome.”

The mother continued: “She just stood there in shock. So I hugged her. She hugged me back. And I said, ‘We did it, baby. You did it.’ ... And then I played Jay-Z’s ‘let me reintroduce myself.’” The lyric Busbee referenced is from the rapper’s 2003 song, “Public Service Announcement (Interlude).”

Elsewhere in the interview, Busbee emphasised how proud she is of her daughter and everything that she has accomplished.

“I am the proudest mom knowing that I have the most awesome daughter,” she said. “I can’t even explain the feeling that I have right now. She has done everything that a mother could wish their child could do. I wish nothing but the best for her.”

Smalls also reposted a photo of herself with her gift onto her Facebook account. In the caption, she wrote: “I got a whole billboard!!! Allow me to Reintroduce myself! Dr. Kristine S. Smalls! Nothing average over here!”