Community Member Spotlight: Meet

Sharmele West-Smith

By Tana Poncsak

Sharmele West-Smith, also fondly known as Smiley, has been a licensed hair stylist since she was seventeen years old. With her first salon in Providence, Rhode Island, Sharmele has also owned salons in Florida and Georgia. Her latest venture is a hair clinic located in Tucker. And while the clinic is all about helping people improve their appearance, the journey to open the clinic was all heart.

Sharmele lost her mother, Juanita West, in June 2013 to colon cancer, but not before Juanita helped her daughter find a way to help others. And now Sharmele, along with her siblings and her grandchildren, are honoring Juanita for the kind and loving person she was.

Growing up in her parents’ house, Sharmele remembers it as a place where everyone was welcome.

“We never had an empty house,” Sharmele recalls. “We always had people staying with us.”

Her father, James West, was a prominent Bostonian, and Juanita was a nurse.

After all the kids were grown and on their own, Juanita visited the Atlanta area and decided she liked the vibe. So in 1998, Juanita, along with one of her five sisters, loaded a truck and left Boston headed south to Atlanta, where Juanita continued to work as a nurse helping cancer patients.

Sharmele wasn’t far behind. In 2006, Sharmele moved from her home in Florida to join her mother in the Atlanta area and opened her first hair salon in Georgia. This was also around the time when Sharmele first noticed that hair loss was becoming an issue for many.

“I was getting more and more black women coming in, looking for black stylists to help them figure it out,” she said.

In fact, Juanita started to have her own hair loss issues around this time. Sharmele noticed that Juanita was losing not only her hair, but also her self-esteem and her confidence.

With the encouragement from her mother, Sharmele researched hair loss and started to learn more about what she could do to help. After the research, classes, and shopping the competition, Sharmele realized she could make a real difference and even offer her help at a better price.

It wasn’t until after Juanita’s colon cancer diagnosis in 2011 that Sharmele decided to change the format and the name of her salon and rebrand it into a hair clinic. Unfortunately, Juanita never saw the plan come to fruition. When Juanita was diagnosed, she was given twenty-three months to live. She passed away twenty-two months later.

It took Sharmele some time to work through her grief, find the right location, and get the hair clinic up and running. Finally, about four years after Juanita’s death, Sharmele opened Smiley’s Hair Clinic. And with her family’s help and the help of others, the hair clinic is thriving. The staff of five are confidently helping people with hair loss from age-related conditions to genetics, to stress, to cancer treatment, and more. Sharmele says they focus on the scalp and finding the right treatment.

Her clients come from near and far, including those who live in the area, those who drive a few hundred miles, and those who board a plane for their visit.

“It’s very private,” Sharmele said of her consultations. “People can be very emotional about hair loss.” She stressed that’s it’s important to have an in-depth consultation to pinpoint the right technique and solution for each client.

And what would her mother, Juanita, think about the clinic?

“She was my biggest cheerleader,” Sharmele said. “She was so amazing, and if she was alive, she would be sitting at the front desk. Trust me, she’d love to greet the people. She loved to hug on people, and she loved to make people feel good about themselves. That’s what I think she would love the most about this – that it makes people feel good about themselves again.”

In Juanita’s honor, Sharmele and the family started the Smile 4 New Life Colon Cancer Foundation. While during her illness, Juanita showed no outward signs of being sick before or after her diagnosis. Had the family been more aware of the signs and symptoms of colon cancer, and with some changes in lifestyle and eating habits, perhaps the ending to Continued on page 22

Glorious Gibbs Gardens

By Victoria R. Crosby

I first visited Gibbs Gardens last autumn when the leaves on the trees were beginning to turn to shades of red and gold, and the flowers were at their peak of blooming. I visited again in spring when thousands of bulbs were in bloom.

Gibbs Gardens, founded by Jim Gibbs, began in 1980 as a private family estate on 300 acres of property. It took thirty years to create this magical place, which is now open to the public and was increased to 376 acres of landscaped garden beds, with spring fed ponds, streams, and waterfalls.

In the welcome brochure guests receive, Gibbs wrote, “With this magnificent scenery as my canvas, I’ve been committed to achieving a balance between natural and man-made elements to create a harmony and nature throughout Gibbs Gardens. I hope you enjoy visiting the gardens as much as I have enjoyed developing them.”

Gibbs’ bestselling book on how he created the gardens is available at the gift shop, which also has many lovely garden-related items. Unfortunately, they don’t have a garden shop, but you can order daffodils via the internet.

There are twenty-one garden venues, with five feature gardens. In the spring there are millions of daffodils in bloom on fifty acres from March to April. Some are early bloomers, others later, so you will always find some daffodils blooming during those months. There are also large beds of tulips which bloom in the spring.

Throughout the garden there are wonderful statues of children play- ing and interacting with animals; children sitting on the back of a large tortoise, a boy chasing geese, a girl with a butterfly, a boy playing the flute, and a boy on a bench reading a book. and anyone who needs our help,” said Pastor Rodrigo. “When we all work together, we do better together.”

The Inspiration Garden features over seven acres of Encore and Native Azaleas, Knock Out Roses, and dwarf conifers. The daylilies bloom in June and July. There are benches and gazebos if you are tired or just want to take in the surrounding beauty of the gardens.

A favorite part of the garden is the replica of Monet’s bridge and waterlily garden, which feature one hundred and forty varieties of waterlilies that bloom from late spring until the autumn.

There is also a Japanese garden with statues of Buddha and other Asian statuary, and over one thousand Japanese Maple trees. People have placed pennies on the statues of Buddha for good luck and into some of the ponds.

There is a wildflower meadow, and butterfly gardens, crepe myrtles, flowering cherry trees, a rose arbor, and over one thousand hydrangeas. The Manor House has seven terrace levels of gardens.

The Arbor Café serves sandwiches, wraps, coffee, and soft drinks. There are tables and chairs to sit and eat. No outside food or drinks, except water, are allowed.

Gibbs Gardens is about an hour from Atlanta and is a popular destination for outings with garden clubs and other groups. The gardens are open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from March until early December. Annual membership gives unlimited visits per year. I have been twice and still haven’t seen everything, so membership is the best value.

More information at www.gibsgardens.com, or call 770-893-1880.

If this church sounds like the kind of place you have been looking for, rest assured you are welcome. With a more traditional service at 9:30 a.m. on the Lawrenceville campus, a more modern service at 11:00 a.m. on the Lilburn campus, or another one geared towards young adults at 5:00 p.m. on the Norcross campus, you can choose the atmosphere that suits you best and join The NETT for worship any time. Bring your whole family or come on your own. Whatever your circumstances, you are certain to find a faith-centered community waiting for you.

“We are here to stand in the gap for each other,” said Pastor Cruz. “More than anything, we are so thankful, because none of us are perfect, but we can share a perfect Savior.”

More information at thenettchurch.com or 770-923-1403 gressive loss of function and sensation in the hands, arms, legs, and feet. This disease has allowed Chris to identify with and practice patience and compassion with the students who have special needs.

“He’s so good with the kids and makes them feel relaxed and excited to learn,” Megan shared.

Now that Chris and Megan have made their passion into an LLC, they plan to continue mentoring new coaches or hiring experienced ones to grow and offer locations anywhere students don’t have the opportunity to learn the game of chess.

“I love how kids learn from their mistakes, learn to think ahead and analyze, learn patience, and learn good sportsmanship,” Megan stated. “These are all good life skills.”

More information at https://www.facebook.com/klumz.rex, or Instagram #ChessforChamps