Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Smile Mom a 'comfort place' for parents
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Smile Family CEO Kim Dong-shin
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Smile Mom is a mobile app for mothers who want to be part of an online community with other mothers in their neighborhood. They can also post their baby photos and exchange information about feeding.
“Smile Mom is the perfect place for mothers to overcome isolation after giving birth,” said Smile Family CEO Kim Dong-shin. “It’s ideal for busy working moms to exchange tips on parenting, and to make friends for mothers as well as their babies.”
Kim has decided to settle in California’s Silicon Valley instead of staying in Korea to focus on Korean users.
“More than 90 percent of Smile Mom users are Americans living in the U.S.,” Kim said. “I don’t think it’s because mothers in the U.S. are more interested in parenting than Koreans, but I think American mothers have been looking for this kind of mobile app.”
In Korea, Kakao Story, a photo-sharing social network service (SNS) and Kakao Talk, a mobile messenger provided by Daum Kakao, are the most popular mobile apps among mothers.
“In the U.S., Smile Mom plays a similar role to Kakao Story or Kakao Talk among mothers,” Kim said.
Kim said he used to dream of being a professional gamer. When he was a student, he finished third in a global tournament playing Unreal, a first-shooter video game.
“I was good at the game, but after I finished third I realized I had to bet everything to win first-place,” Kim said.
He then decided to do something more useful than just wasting his youth.
After a few years, he decided to open his own business.
“All the people I gathered as business partners to open the start-up were coincidently parents and we all had some difficulties as inexperienced parents,” Kim said.
He and his business partners came up with the idea of Smile Mom, a site where parents could share their experiences and make communities in their vicinity.
“Nurturing is definitely the joy of life, but at the same time it is one of the most difficult jobs, we thought,” Kim said. “My business partners and I thought it would be nice if we made a comfort place on the Internet for parents just like us.”
The CEO said he would now focus on establishing his Korean start-up in the U.S.
“I hope the Smile Family will be a good example for many start-up CEOs who dream of entering the global market,” Kim said.