Smith played the bulk of her career for the Sacramento Monarchs and the Phoenix Mercury where she won two WNBA Championships.

Smith competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 1997 Jones Cup Team that won the silver medal in Taipei.

In the WNBA offseason in 1998–99, Smith was a professional basketball player in Italy, Israel, South Korea and Turkey.

Tangela Smith began her coaching career in 2014 at Western Michigan University on Shane Clipfell's staff.

On July 6, 2018, it was announced that Smith was hired as an assistant coach and would join Joe McKeown's staff at Northwestern University.