Danyel is culture lead at ESPN's The Undefeated. Danyel was a 2014 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. The former editor of Billboard magazine, Smith is also the former editor-in-chief of VIBE. Danyel’s written for NPR, ESPN the Magazine, Elle, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times. Danyel is working on a history of African-American women in pop music.