For years, people have heard my story — the mistakes, the prison sentence, and the redemption that followed.

But today, we tell the story that is rarely heard.

The story of the mother.

In this deeply personal episode of the Break Phree Podcast, I sit down with the woman who stood by me during the darkest chapter of my life — my mother. While I served time behind bars, she carried a different kind of sentence: the pain, the shame, the judgment, and the prayers of a mother loving her child through incarceration.

This conversation is for every mother who has cried in silence, walked through prison doors, and held onto faith when the world said to let go.

Because sometimes the strongest person in the story… is the one waiting on the other side of the prison gate.

Four years ago, Paulette Smith came home to every parent’s worst nightmare. Her 22-year-old son was shot and killed — and to this day, she still doesn’t know who took his life. In this heartbreaking yet courageous conversation, Paulette opens up about living with unanswered questions, surviving grief without closure, and what it means to wake up every day carrying a loss that justice hasn’t resolved. This isn’t just a story about gun violence. It’s about the families left behind. It’s about a mother’s love. It’s about strength when you don’t have a choice. Some wounds don’t close — but purpose can still rise.

She was 17 when she became a mother.

She was 6 when her innocence was stolen.

She later stood in federal court facing an 89-million-dollar drug conspiracy case.

But none of that compares to the day she lost her 17-year-old son in a car accident.

In this deeply moving episode, Dr. Cynthia Williams shares her journey from trauma to transformation — from prison to purpose — and how the unimaginable loss of her son gave birth to P.A.D.D. and Love From Afar.

This conversation isn’t about staying stuck in grief.

It’s about breaking cycles.

It’s about constructive decisions over destructive ones.

It’s about healing mind, body, and soul.

Pain shaped her — but purpose defines her.