Born a military brat in the Republic of Panama, Rachel grew to call Tennessee her home after her parents were reassigned to Ft. Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Division, and soon settled there permanently.

Being in close proximity to Nashville allowed Rachel the opportunity to pursue her interest in the entertainment industry at a young age. By the age of eight, she was performing in a live show at Opryland USA and participating in various recording sessions and modeling jobs.

As Rachel grew into a young adult, she combined her passion for entertaining and educating others to help determine her field of study in college-journalism.

In December 2006, Rachel graduated a semester early from Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. There she received a Bachelor of Science in Journalism while graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors. During Rachel's time at Belmont, she was awarded many honors and opportunities. Rachel received a full tuition scholarship to attend Belmont due to her community service activities and academic achievements throughout high school. She was on the Dean's List her entire collegiate career and was a member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society. In addition, Rachel served as an officer for an on campus organization that is dedicated to welcoming prospective students and their families to the campus. Rachel also served as managing editor for the student led campus newspaper, The Belmont Vision. When Rachel was not in class or in the newspaper office, she could be found volunteering at the Vine Hill Boys and Girls Club in Nashville.

During her time at Belmont, Rachel also completed two internships: one at a local level-market 30 station, News Channel 5, WTVF-Nashville-and the second on a national level-Harpo Productions, Inc. in Chicago.

The year of 2007 brought Rachel many exciting adventures. In January she had an exciting opportunity to travel to South Africa to volunteer at Oprah Winfrey's Leadership Academy for Girls. The Leadership Academy opened in January 2007 with 151 South African girls, ages seventh and eighth grade, from disadvantaged backgrounds. The first-class school offers academically talented girls an opportunity to develop their full potential and become the country's future leaders. Then on March 23, Rachel captured the title of Miss USA as Miss Tennessee USA at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, Ca. For the remainder of 2007 until April 2008, Rachel worked under the Miss Universe Organization, a Donald J. Trump and National Broadcasting Company, Inc (NBC) partnership, working with the official causes of Miss USA, which include breast and ovarian cancer education, research and legislation.

Now that Rachel's tenure as Miss USA has come to a close, she spends her time freelancing as an entertainment host for E! News Now and Radaronline.com. She also aspires to pursue a career in acting and, eventually, found her own philanthropic organization educating those in impoverished areas within our nation and beyond our country's borders.

In her spare time, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading, playing basketball, and spending time with her family, which includes her chocolate lab, Zoe, and her schnoodle, Spike.

Smith starred in Donald Trump's MTV reality show Pageant Place along with Riyo Mori (Miss Universe 2007), Tara Conner (former Miss USA 2006), Katie Blair (former Miss Teen USA 2006) and Hilary Cruz (Miss Teen USA 2007). The show was first broadcast on October 10, 2007. In August 2010, she appeared on a special "Girls of Summer" week airing of NBC's Minute to Win It on an episode called "Last Beauty Standing." The episode featured 10 beauty pageant winners competing for $100,000 towards their chosen charities along with a chance to win a $1,000,000 challenge.

She worked as a reporter for E!, but currently co-hosts ABC's nationally syndicated entertainment show OnTheRedCarpet. She is the "pop news" correspondent on the Saturday telecast of Good Morning America.

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