An award-winning journalist and author of two books, Smith won a Sports Emmy in 1997 for her segment on Magic Johnson as part of an ESPN production on AIDS and Athletes. Previously, she was a writer/reporter for Sports Illustrated (1989–1997), Pacific Stars and Stripes in Tokyo, Japan (1987) and The San Francisco Examiner (1984-1987) where she won a William Randolph Hearst Award in 1986 for her series on Title IX in the Bay Area. Smith has also worked for the Associated Press.