She obtained her bachelor's degree, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, from the University of Washington.
She and colleague John R. Emshwiller shared responsibility for the unfolding Enron scandal in 2001, scoring many journalistic coups in the process.
[1] In 1996 Smith shared a Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished financial and economics reporting, while at the San Jose Mercury News, for stories about big utility PG&E Corp.[citation needed] In 2001 she won a Gerald Loeb Award for beat writing at The Wall Street Journal for coverage of the California energy crisis.
[2] She shared a third Gerald Loeb Award with John Emshwiller in 2002 for stories in The Wall Street Journal about the unfolding Enron scandal.
[3] Smith shared another Gerald Loeb Award in 2020 and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her contributions to "How PG&E Burned California".