Janay Smith - Legacy, Laughter, and a Lasting Impact
“I gained my new normal at 41 years old. Which, by many on-lookers, is when stuff gets sweet.”
Janay Smith is a force of nature, a modern polymath whose life story weaves together threads of engineering, design, law, entrepreneurship, comedy, and curation. However, despite her multifaceted career, an unexpected personal tragedy emerged that shaped what is now a powerful platform that blends strategic thinking, immense passion, and insightful cultural commentary. Her journey showcases how profound personal experiences can forge unique professional pathways, resulting in undertakings that speak to broader societal truths.
Life, Interrupted: An Unforeseen Challenge
Janay's life, meticulously planned and energetically lived, took a seismic turn in January 2012. Her father – a highly accomplished lawyer and founding partner of the celebrated Cochran Firm – died suddenly of a massive heart attack while watching a football game at home. The shock of this loss, though profound, was just the beginning of an unforeseen, overwhelming challenge.
Within 90 days of her father's passing, Janay noticed alarming changes in her mother – changes that went beyond typical grief. Despite skepticism from family members and medical professionals who initially dismissed her concerns, Janay's sharp intuition signaled something more serious. "What I do know is my mom," Janay recalls, dismissing the initial disbelief. "The way she's responding is not grief. This is something else." Janay's instincts proved tragically accurate. Her mother was soon diagnosed with two forms of dementia and required brain surgery within six months of her father's death. Janay later learned that a traumatic event, like the sudden loss of a spouse, can indeed trigger or accelerate the onset of dementia.
Suddenly, Janay, an only child, found herself navigating a whirlwind of responsibilities. She became the primary caregiver for her ailing mother – a role she has now held for 13 years and counting. Beyond caregiving, Janay had to assume administration of her father's complex estate, manage both her parents' professional offices, and safeguard their various holdings, including properties, partnerships, and entrepreneurial ventures. Simultaneously, she faced external threats, including people attempting to exploit the situation and even lawsuits.
"It was sheer chaos," Janay states directly. "I had to put up a big old moat around me, my mama, and all my parents' stuff and all my stuff, and just keep everybody out." Despite having her own thriving career — as a mechanical engineer from Howard University who had worked for Ford Motor Company in Detroit and Spain, a product designer from Stanford University who worked for Gillette in Boston, and a lawyer who briefly envisioned a "Jock, Johnnie, and Janay Show" with her father and Johnnie L., Jr. — Janay put everything on hold to manage these crises.
Unfortunately, the immense pressure took a severe toll on Janay's health. She candidly shares that the stress led her to make "really bad decisions" for her well-being, reaching a point where her primary care physician warned her she was at risk of a heart attack or stroke. Adding to the stress, Janay and her family faced repeated investigations from the IRS, who, in a bizarre twist, even incorrectly declared her mother deceased twice due to the sudden end of her income. These ongoing legal and financial battles were a significant reason Janay chose to remain out of the public eye for years, prioritizing her family's protection and legacy over personal visibility.
A Pivot to Purpose: Comedy and Caregiving
Before these profound changes, Janay had been deeply engaged in a social entrepreneurship project, aiming to develop sustainable menstrual hygiene solutions for women and girls in Africa. This initiative, a blend of her engineering, design, and legal skills, embodied her belief in using diverse talents for global impact. The project’s postponement, while necessary, highlighted her innate drive to address "bullshit inequality" that could be fixed.
As the intensity of caregiving mounted, Janay desperately sought an outlet. Her initial escape came in the form of buying a cigarette boat, a way to quickly find tranquility on the water. But seeking a "benign" hobby completely unrelated to her real-life challenges, where "nobody would know me," Janay enrolled in a stand-up comedy class. What began as a six-week experiment unexpectedly blossomed into a sincere passion.
This newfound love for comedy gave birth to her comedic persona, "J Smiles." Much like Beyoncé's “Sasha Fierce,” “J Smiles” allowed Janay to navigate sensitive, often humorous, aspects of her caregiving journey in public. This persona became the foundation for her globally award-winning podcast, Parenting Up! Caregiving Adventures with Comedian J Smiles. The podcast merges hardship with humor, providing a vital resource for caregivers who often feel isolated and unseen. Its success has led to partnerships with prominent organizations such as Seth and Lauren Miller Rogen's HFC (Hilarity For Charity), the Alzheimer’s Association, NPR, NIH, American Heart Association, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP), NBC Universal, and Caring Across Generations, among many others.
As "J Smiles," Janay has transformed her coping mechanism into a formidable brand. Her career as a stand-up comedian has flourished, marked by a sold-out USA tour and international performances in the Bahamas, Italy, and South Korea. She's graced the stages of renowned comedy clubs like the Atlanta Comedy Theater and The Punchline in addition to The J Spot Comedy Club in Los Angeles.
Janay's comedic talent has also been recognized across various media, with features on Fox, Fox Soul, CBS, and NBC, including a full episode showcasing her comedy on The Portia Show in 2022. She has also shared stages with comedy legends such as George Wallace, Luenell, Chris Spencer, Kim Coles, Kim Whitley, and has performed on prestigious platforms like Tom Joyner's Fantastic Voyage.
Her comedic chops have also opened doors for several brand partnerships including AARP, Carnival, Delta Sigma Theta, Omega Psi Phi, Howard University, The Links Incorporated, Jack and Jill of America, The Heart and Warmth Fund, The National Medical Association, and Yacht Week.
THE Jock Michael Smith Collection: A Legacy Unveiled
At the heart of Janay's family legacy lies THE Jock Michael Smith Collection, a sports memorabilia collection meticulously amassed by her father. For him, collecting was more than a hobby; it was a profound coping mechanism and a way to navigate the stresses of being a Black man in America. Further, collecting was a way to connect with the ghost of his own father, a New York lawyer murdered when Janay’s father was just eight years old.
Janay formally named and established the collection as a legal entity after her father's death. It began humbly with a $5 plastic bronze bust of Hank Aaron, a gift from Janay’s mother that sparked immense joy and connected her father to a clandestine subculture of adult men passionate about childhood baseball nostalgia. Janay describes her father's collecting as a unique, almost obsession-like passion, fueled by an intense focus on statistics, player history, and even minute details like jersey changes between seasons.
THE Jock Michael Smith Collection is distinct because Janay’s father never sold anything for profit. He was a pure collector, driven by the "thrill of the chase." Unlike most deep-diving collectors who specialize in a single sport, her father amassed the largest private collection of authentic, game-worn sports memorabilia across multiple sports. This includes items from baseball, basketball, football, hockey, golf, soccer, track and field, tennis, boxing, and NASCAR.
For her father, a lawyer, historian, and civil rights activist, sports served as a lens through which American history and social change could be understood. He often stated that "sports was the microcosm of American history" and usually a "precursor to any change in America." Janay points to examples like Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier almost a decade before the Brown v. Board of Education ruling was actively upheld, and the Special Olympics existing long before widespread ADA accessibility. This profound perspective elevates the collection from mere relics to historical artifacts reflecting broader societal shifts.
Key highlights of the collection include Jesse Owens' track cleats from the 1936 Berlin Olympics (purchased by her mother), boxing gloves from Jack Johnson and Joe Louis, an extensive array of Muhammad Ali memorabilia, Joe Namath’s Super Bowl III championship ring, a Billie Jean King tennis racquet, Babe Ruth’s jersey, and autographed Kobe Bryant jerseys (including both his "8" and "24" jerseys), with Janay having met Bryant and discussed a potential collaboration before his passing. Beyond sports, the collection also boasts a range of non-sports historical artifacts, such as original signatures from every U.S. President from George Washington to Barack Obama, a lock of Alexander Hamilton's hair, a signature of Gandhi, Marilyn Monroe's fur coat, and Jimi Hendrix's fur vest (from Elvis's estate), along with an original printing of Alex Haley's "Roots" autographed by the author.
From Private Passion to Public Impact: The Smithsonian Journey
After finishing law school and facing the dissolution of her planned legal partnership with her father and “Uncle Johnnie,” Janay recognized the unparalleled potential of the collection. "We are currently sinning," she told her father, "by keeping all of these artifacts just to ourselves." Inspired by her travels and witnessing the transformative power of museums, she envisioned sharing the collection with a wider audience.
Her initial ambitious targets were ESPN, Disney World, or the Smithsonian. While her father was initially skeptical, he agreed to the idea with the stipulation that he would retain ownership and access to his most cherished items. This vision first materialized with the SCORE! Las Vegas interactive sports exhibit at the Luxor Hotel, a venture that made Janay and her family the first Black individuals with equity ownership on the Las Vegas Strip. Though the exhibit eventually closed after two years due to financial challenges and a partner's bankruptcy, Janay had personally committed to its success, overseeing aspects of its development while simultaneously managing her mother's ongoing health crisis.
Undeterred by the Las Vegas experience, Janay relentlessly pursued a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. She employed a "guerilla and C-suite" approach, cold-calling and emailing, networking through her Howard and Stanford connections, and even attending the massive American Association of Museums annual conference without any official credentials. Her persistence led her to a pivotal encounter with a Black zoologist from Wisconsin who, after some good-natured negotiating, introduced her to the "Oprah of museums," a high-ranking official soon to be second-in-command at the nascent National Museum of African American History and Culture.
"I got down on my knees and put my hand on the corner of her chair," Janay recounts, describing her direct and passionate pitch. "How are you doing? This is my name. This is what I have. And, I only want to work with the Smithsonian." The official, impressed by Janay's directness and shared Howard University background, gave her the opportunity.
This unwavering focus yielded remarkable results. Janay's partnership led to the establishment of the first and only sports gallery at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C – and is the only sports gallery at any Smithsonian. The museum's founding director, Dr. Lonnie Bunch (now Secretary of the Smithsonian, the first Black person to hold that position), personally acknowledged that the gallery would not exist without Janay's contribution. Her father's picture and a quote are prominently featured in the gallery, a testament to Janay’s dedication to honoring his legacy. As a founding contributor, Janay helped shape the very content of the gallery, ensuring it told the layered stories of "triumph over tragedy" that permeated her family's life and the history embodied by the collection.
Janay's Evolving Platform and Enduring Philosophy
Today, Janay balances her career as a stand-up comedian and podcast host with the ongoing management and public sharing of THE Jock Michael Smith Collection. Her primary goal for the collection, and indeed for all her endeavors, is to use them as tools to "change the world" by telling powerful stories of triumph over adversity. She envisions various avenues for the collection's reach, including tours, feature films, documentaries, limited series, and speaking engagements, all guided by a philosophy of "significance over success."
This theme of triumph over tragedy resonates deeply in every aspect of her work. She highlights it in the stories of athletes who overcame immense challenges, in her father's parallel excellence as both a leading lawyer and a top-tier collector, and in her own journey of navigating personal crises to build a unique platform for advocacy and humor. She observes her father's rare feat of excelling at the top of two unrelated fields simultaneously, noting, "My daddy, he didn't retire from law and then become the biggest, baddest collector. He was parallel living."
Janay is also developing a sitcom centered on a successful adult child who becomes a caregiver, aiming for a humorous rather than overly dramatic portrayal. This project is another intentional step in using her personal experiences to create relatable and impactful content for a wider audience.
Now, with personal and legal challenges resolved, Janay is ready to embrace greater public visibility. She emphasizes the importance of her own counseling, therapy, and healing process in reaching a point where she feels comfortable sharing her experiences.
Her core life lessons, which she readily shares as mentorship advice, highlight the importance of intentionality and prioritizing one's health. She urges others not to wait to pursue their passions, recounting how her own "calculated risks" in her 20s and 30s — traveling, pursuing multiple degrees, experiencing different cultures — provided the resilience and perspective needed to navigate the challenges of her 40s without resentment. "If Steve Jobs couldn't buy his, you can't buy yours," she states, offering a direct reminder of health's ultimate value.
Janay Smith’s journey is a powerful testament to the unexpected paths life can take, and the transformative power of purpose-driven resilience. Through her humor, her advocacy, and her curation of history, she continues to inspire and redefine what it means to build a truly impactful legacy. She is, as she now proclaims, "ready to be found."