[4] After college, Smith worked as a journalist for over 20 years, where she was based in Africa and wrote for publications like BBC News and the Financial Times.

[6] From 1994 to 1998, Smith served as Senior Advisor to the Administrator and Chief of Staff for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

[6] From 1998 to 2001, she was Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton and Senior Director for African Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council.

On April 30, 2015, President Obama announced his nomination of Smith to be the new administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),[9] to succeed Dr. Rajiv Shah, who resigned the post in February 2015.

[18] This biography of a person who has held a non-elected position in the federal government of the United States is a stub.