DANVILLE — Janet Alexander knew early on her daughter was meant for great things.

“She always had the propensity to do something different,” she said.

Janet, a retired Danville District 118 principal, always knew Monica to be a hard-working, creative kid growing up.

Monica Williams, a medical doctor, can now add to her accomplishments a pending patent for an invention called Pacimals — stuffed animals with built-in pacifiers.

Her determination to succeed in the working world started showing itself when she was a young teenager.

On top of getting good grades and becoming an accomplished cellist, Williams got her first job on a whim.

“I was surprised when at 15, on a very rainy day, she had on a pair of sweats and got her first job. She just came home and said, ‘I got a job.’ I knew she’d be a hard worker,” said Janet.

The now-CEO of her company, Love Kub, began her foray into the working world at the Village Mall Cinnabon.

Her blooming sense of independence also came in handy soon after that.

She was just a sophomore at Danville High School when Sybil Mervis asked Janet if she knew any young people who might benefit from attending prep school.

Janet admitted her own daughter might be a good candidate.

Mervis helped Monica and Janet through the application process, and eventually Monica won scholarships to attend The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.

Sending Monica away wasn’t an easy choice for Janet, because she knew her daughter was getting a good education in Danville schools, but it was obvious that Monica would flourish anywhere she went.

“It was the best decision at the time but difficult,” Janet said. “She worked hard and was the president of her house her senior year and first cello chair in the orchestra among other things.”

Her academic success followed her all the way through medical school.

She graduated from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., in 2001.

Her invention came about less than two years ago, when her then-2-month-old daughter, Mackenzie Smith, gave her an idea.

Monica had first noticed in the hospital that nurses would tape a pacifier to a small thin blanket that sat on babies’ chests in the nursery.

Monica tried sewing a pacifier onto plush toys, and Mackenzie decided she liked it.

“It anatomically laid on the chest well,” she said.

The idea has become Pacimals, an invention whose patent is set to publish in October.

Initially, Monica had no idea her pacifier solution would become something marketable.

People would stop her in grocery stores or at the mall to ask where she got her stuffed animal/pacifier combo.

Her pediatrician even suggested she try to patent her invention.

“That was how I started thinking maybe I could do this for someone other than myself,” she said.

The process proved long, but eventually, Monica wrote her own provisional, which is a placeholder document filed with the U.S. Patent Office before an actual patent is published.

She researched similar inventions to make sure her idea was unique.

“I wrote my patent based on what I read and saw,” she said.

Over the next year, she did work in project development, marketing and sales.

She attended trade shows to find manufacturers for the plush toys, which can be purchased in 10 different characters, and the silicone components of the Pacimals, which are manufactured in Anaheim, Calif.

The product is assembled in Monica’s “warehouse” — she and her husband Dallas Smith’s garage.

“The assembly is done here in Atlanta (Ga.). We package them and do on-site inspections to verify that what we want is being sent out,” she said.

The product is sold in several states including Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas.

The company also has an international customer base.

A trade show in September helped spur distribution to countries including the United Kingdom and Ecuador.

Pacimals will be represented again at the 2008 ABC Kids Expo, held in Las Vegas, Nev.

Pacimals won an Honors Award in the 2008 National Parenting Publications Awards competition.

Although she may not have initially anticipated where her professional life has gone, she’d enjoyed the journey.

“This has been my full-time job for a year and a half now,” she said.

She doesn’t currently practice medicine, but she did use her background to research the benefits of Pacimals, which include decreasing the likelihood of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, boosting infant motor skills, helping the weaning process and easy cleaning.

“I feel like this is my purpose,” she said.

“I’m so happy that I’ve pursued this … I’m happier doing this than any of the other things I’ve done.”

She remembers several other jobs she had in Danville, including the one at Cinnabon. She also worked at a movie theater and as an administrative assistant at an insurance company in Danville.

For now, Pacimals are available at a select few locations around Danville, including Queen Anne’s Boutique, Reflections salon and California Catering & Restaurant.

Big-box retail sales may be imminent, however.

“The way our marketing forecast is designed, we want to be independent for at least 18 months, because it’s a new product and there’s nothing else like it out there,” she said.

ON THE NET

For more information about former Danville resident Monica Williams’ invention, visit http://www.pacimals.com.