After she graduated high school, Smith attended St. John's University in Queens, N.Y., where she became the manager of the men's basketball team for four years while studying sports management.
She used that job to get a connection to an internship with the New York Jets. At first, her role was minimal. She was a gameday intern in 2003, her freshman year at St. John's. Two years later, Smith became a college scouting intern while still in school. When she graduated from St. John's in 2007, the Jets hired her full time as a player personnel assistant.
Smith's next break came when the Jets hired Rex Ryan to be their head coach in 2009. He was impressed enough with Smith to make her assistant to the head coach in 2014. When the Jets fired Ryan in 2014, he told Smith he wanted her to come with him wherever he got his next job. She agreed.
"They get along famously," Robert Smith said. "She likes him, he likes her. The fact that he asked her to go wherever he ended up is a big vote of confidence for her. She enjoys working for him very much."
The Bills hired Ryan shortly after he was fired, and Smith followed with the title of administrative assistant to the head coach. Shortly after the 2015 season, the Bills fired special teams quality control coach Michael Hamlin, a former NFL safety. A few weeks later, Ryan approached Smith about the opening, and that's how she and the Bills made history.