Founded by local Furman University graduates and still owned today by passionate locals, Smart Sitters was born from a desire to take the headache out of finding child care. We’re obsessed with safety, convenience, and professionalism. Basically, we take care of the kids, so you can have all the fun.

Get to know a little more about our staff.

Erika BaldwinOwner/Operator

My family moved to Upstate South Carolina when I was three years old. And by the time I was seven – thanks to my Great Aunt Lou – I had a comprehensive education in fine jewelry, salting melons, and Old Testament politics (amongst other particulars that every southern lady should know, of course).

I split my teenage years between Walhalla and Travelers Rest high schools, where I discovered my passion for cheerleading after becoming captain of one varsity squad and spending my Friday nights cheering for not one – but two – losing football teams. In 2008, I graduated top three in my class from TR with an International Baccalaureate Diploma. (But truth be told, I had way more fun at Walhalla, where I got my first speeding ticket driving a two-wheel drive Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck with a six-inch lift kit and mudding tires.)

When I took a part-time waitressing job at Green Valley Country Club at age sixteen, I really started to appreciate being a “Greenville Native.” Yet, for some reason unbeknownst to me anymore, I still had my heart set on attending Emory University. As it would be, though, I never made it off that waitlist and instead, made the best decision of my life so far choosing Furman. As a double-major in Political Science and Earth and Environmental Sciences, I had the opportunity to co-author and publish my thesis research in Resources, Conservation and Recycling Journal with my favorite professor, Weston Dripps, and integrate the data collected into our campus waste management protocol. In May 2012, I graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree. To this day, some of my fondest memories are as a Furman cheerleader, a Delta Gamma, and a two-time sweetheart of Sigma Chi.

That fall, I moved to Charlottesville and started law school at the University of Virginia. The day before my first day of classes, I competed in my first powerlifting meet and took home the Virginia state record for the women’s biceps curl. Between 2014 and 2016, I competed on four national pageant stages, including Miss Earth United States as Miss Virginia. During my third year of law school, I moved to Washington, DC, to work at the Department of Justice prosecuting violations of federal environmental laws. Much to my surprise and disappointment, environmental enforcement was nothing like I had expected. Fortunately, I spent every other waking moment that semester drafting a criminal appeal for my childhood friend who had been sentenced to thirty years in state prison. Defending the constitutional rights of indigent persons accused of crimes gave me a new means to bring justice to fruition, and it gave me new life. For the rest of law school, I did just that through my pro bono work with the Virginia Innocence Project Student Group and the local state public defender’s office.

After graduation, I became licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia and completed a criminal defense fellowship at the federal public defender’s office in Charlottesville. There, I won a four-year sentence reduction for a man who was unjustly incarcerated for over a decade. I also drafted seven petitions for clemency – three of which were granted by President Barack Obama. That year, I also worked part-time as a commercial print model with MMG – Model Management Group USA & Canada in New York. In January 2017, one month before sitting for the South Carolina Bar Exam, I purchased Smart Sitters, LLC, from former owner, Ashley Adams. In June 2018, I became a criminal defense attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office in Pickens County.

Opiate addiction awareness and crisis intervention is the cause most near to my heart. As Jan Rader, Fire Chief in Huntington, WV, has said, “I don’t care if I have to save somebody fifty times; that’s fifty chances to get into long-term recovery.” And though my time is few, my creative outlets are many – playing the piano, writing short stories and abstract poetry, (day)dreaming, and pretending to be good at adulthood. Though I wouldn’t really consider myself a dog person (and most definitely not a cat person), my favorite person is my black Labrador, Sadie (a close tie with my baby niece, Leighton). I’m an avid believer in the Zodiac (I’m a textbook Cancer through and through) and in Galatians 6:9. I prefer Coke (Diet) to Pepsi, and I love yoga, opals, classic rock and gospel hymns, leopard print, thrift shopping, lawyer jokes, Thai food (and sushi, and Italian food, and Mexican food, and really all food as long as I don’t have to prepare it myself). In fact, I hate cooking (and cleaning) with a passion and am on the market for a husband who can do both.

I became a Smart Sitter in 2012 under original owners and co-founders, Mary Lucy Reid and Eliza Wolff Bostian, and since then, I’ve gained experience with infants and children of all ages. In the coming years, I hope to coach high school cheerleading, become a licensed foster parent, and open a Smart Sitters franchise in Washington, DC.

And – if I haven’t babysat your kids yet, I probably will!