She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Los Angeles in 2010, and studied at The New School in New York City, where in 2014 she earned a B.S.

[5] In 2013 her older brother Louis, dying of kidney failure, urged her to further pursue her dreams of becoming a professional full-time singer.

Jetlagger was released on 29 September 2017 on Big Legal Mess Records[10] (a subsidiary of Fat Possum).

[11] In 2018, WNYC Studios' Radiolab invited her to contribute an original song to its compilation project called 27: The Most Perfect Album, with each track inspired by one of the 27 U.S.

Produced by Drive-By Truckers’ Matt Patton and engineer Bronson Tew, The Good, the Bad and the Bette included three songs co-written by Smith[22] and includes contributions from Luther Dickinson from North Mississippi Allstars and Patterson Hood from Drive-By Truckers.

[27] Her studio collaborations in 2020 and 2021 included tracks with Joe Louis Walker, Larry Brown, Fabrizio Grossi & Soul Garage Experience, and others.

On 25 February 2022 she and Kirk Fletcher released another single on Cleopatra Records, a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar.

In 2023 she released two more singles with Cleopatra Records – "Tennessee Whiskey" with guitarist Harvey Mandel[31] and "Sign Your Name" with guitarist Arthur Adams[32] – and was invited to perform at several festivals, including the Holland International Blues Festival,[33] Harvest Music Festival[34] and, in early 2024, on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise with Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo', Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Shemekia Copeland and Christone "Kingfish" Ingram.

[36] The title track was public radio station KCRW's "Today's Top Tune" on May 8, the day it was released as a single.