BY EILEEN GORDON
Behind this perfectly beautiful young woman is a great life with all the right stuff. This Louisiana native is happily married to NBA star Steve Smith and they have two terrific kids. Besides being a stunning fashionista, Millie is smart, savvy and utterly charming. The Smiths have called Atlanta home for the past seven years and have become active philanthropists who are taking their blessings in life and paying it forward.
At first glance, Millie and Steve Smith are a very glamorous couple best known for Steve’s amazing career achievements. Millie’s top priority: Steve and their boys, Brayden and Davis. When Millie showed up for our photo shoot, she was checking her watch. She was not rushing to a fabulous luncheon or fashion show, but to pick up the kids from school to fly them to watch a Michigan State football game! She admits to having classic values, being incredibly normal, grounded and a true homebody. She even admits to loving cheeseburgers – although her perfect size 4 figure doesn’t show it!
Millie and Steve met at a charity tennis tournament in Detroit. They had a long-distance relationship for more than a year before Steve popped the question. They married in 1996.
“She’s definitely a level-headed person,” Steve says of Millie, who attended Georgia State University. “She’s a Southern girl. That’s attractive to me. She has Southern ways. She does things slow. I try to live life slow, not fast.”
Family always comes first for this devoted mother. “In recent years, my life has been all about my two sons. From the time they were born, they needed me and being a full-time mom has been my passion and a lot of fun,” Millie said. “Steve and I have always agreed to limit our social commitments to allow as much family time as possible. Now that our boys are older, we’re getting more involved in worthy causes.”
That includes the nsoro Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to meeting the educational needs of students who have emancipated from foster care and want to attend college or trade school. “The mission of the foundation has touched us both deeply and we have been honored to support this wonderful entity since its inception,” she said, adding that Steve is vice chairman of the nsoro Board.
Millie herself will serve as “Queen of Mardi Gras” at this year’s Starfish Ball to benefit nsoro. The festive celebration will be held Jan. 7 at The St. Regis, with a formal dinner and silent auction. Funds raised support academic scholarships and mentoring programs to help ensure educational success for foster children. In the United States, only 2% of foster children attend college.
Millie and Steve are also benefactors to the Steve Smith Scholarship for Academic Achievement, which provides scholarships to students at Michigan State University from Detroit Pershing High School, Steve’s hometown high school.
Millie understands the value of education and hard work. She serves as the chair of the Children’s Literature Outreach Program at Scott Elementary School, facilitated through the West-minster Schools, where her sons are enrolled. She also supports programs serving seniors, the arts and adolescent girls, including a prom dress drive she initiated in 2009.
Steve and Millie are members of Children’s Hospital Circle of Care and have designated an emergency care treatment room in the names of their sons.
Millie says she couldn’t have found a better match in Steve, whose community commitment nearly rivals his super star stats from an incredible 14-season NBA career, playing with Miami Heat, the Atlanta Hawks, the Portland Trail Blazers, the San Antonio Spurs, the New Orleans Hornets and the Charlotte Bobcats.
Steve has always been compassionate about helping the community, Millie said. His parents instilled in him the importance of giving back.
In 1997, Steve donated $2.5 million to Michigan State University – the largest single donation ever made by a professional athlete to an alma mater. The contribution helped construct the state-of-the-art Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center, in honor of his late mother.
“I have had great coaches, but none greater than my mother. I have had great role models, but none greater than my mom. I have had great teammates and fans, but none greater than Clara Bell Smith,” Steve said in a delivery address announcing the donation.
He was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame in 2006. Now an NBA TV analyst, Steve supports Reading is Fundamental, a non-profit organization created to eradicate illiteracy in urban public schools, and Special Olympics of Georgia. Steve also serves on the Woodruff Roundtable and the Hughes Spalding Community Board.
Millie sums up her and Steve’s most heartfelt goals: “The most important aspects of our philanthropic endeavors have to do with the education and healthcare of children, with whom all of our futures lie.”