Proud mom rents a billboard to celebrate daughter graduating with doctor of psychology degree

Kendra Busbee is so proud of her daughter that she wants the whole world to know just how incredible her offspring is. The New Jersey mom recently decided to celebrate her daughter's accomplishments on a large scale by renting a digital billboard to publicly recognize and honor her daughter, Dr. Kristine Smalls, for graduating with her doctor of psychology degree nearly two weeks ago. "I am the proudest mom knowing that I have the most awesome daughter. 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," Busbee told Good Morning America. "I wish nothing but the best for her." 

Smalls received her Psy.D from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on July 29. Busbee revealed that she was inspired to rent the billboard when her daughter mentioned a friend's mom had done something similar. Although the 52-year-old initially dismissed the idea, she eventually decided to go ahead with it and surprise Smalls with the billboard. "I got on the phone and I started making phone calls: 'You know where I can get a billboard and who I can reach out to?'" Busbee said. "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."

"I said, 'I already know what I want,'" she added. "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." Busbee kept everything a surprise from Smalls under the big day when the billboard went live. She arranged for friends and family to meet them at a parking lot by the billboard and asked her daughter to meet some friends with her at a pub nearby. "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 said. "I'm like, 'The billboard!' and she's like, 'Oh!'... It was awesome."

"She just stood there in shock," the proud mother continued. "So I hugged her. She hugged me back. And I said, 'We did it, baby. You did it.'" The billboard featured a large photo of Smalls in her graduation cap and tassel along with the words: "Let Me Re-Introduce Myself... Dr. Kristine S. Smalls -- Dr. Smiles -- Look what good came out of Camden!" Busbee revealed that after surprising her daughter with her wholesome gesture, she played "Jay-Z's 'let me reintroduce myself,'" referring to the rapper's 2003 song "Public Service Announcement (Interlude)."

The mother-of-two revealed that her daughter—whom she describes as "very determined [and] very dedicated"—has wanted to become a doctor since she was 5 years old. Although Smalls originally thought she'd be a pediatrician, she later switched to psychology in college. After completing a master's degree, the 30-year-old finished her five-year doctorate program this year, with a dissertation on "African American Women's Perspectives on Mental Health." She is set to begin a post-doctorate program with the Resilience, Empowerment, And Creating Hope (REACH) School Program, part of Springfield Psychological—a mental health practice based in Pennsylvania—in the fall.