January was born and raised in San Antonio, TX, graduating from Alamo Heights High School in 2010. After receiving his BS in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2014, he began his eight year career in engineering alongside his wife, Ellen. This experience would take them to Virginia, Tennessee, and finally back home to San Antonio. January's engineering projects ranged from ballistic missile re-entry to nuclear power generation.
In 2022, January made a career change into personal financial planning after completing the Certified Financial Planning education. He briefly worked as a Financial Analyst with Rudd & Wisdom, where, after passing the Certified Financial Planning Exam, he launched Janus Financial Planning, LLC as an independent Registered Investment Advisor.
While January and Ellen's careers diverged in 2022, they had already started their joint life-long project of raising their son, January Smith V ("J"), in 2019. J proudly marks the fifth generation January Haden Smith.