Couple helps each other make dreams come true

Richard Smith and Jakki Jeffries-Smith live with their son, Corey, in Georgia.

Richard Smith (B.S. '86/B) and Jakki Jeffries-Smith (B.S. '86/MC; M.D. '96/M) have been a team for more than 20 years. The two met as undergraduates at Virginia Commonwealth University in a classic "meet-cute" scenario.

It was January 1984 and the University Student Commons was celebrating its grand opening with a party hosted by the radio station Magic 99. The crowd had spilled into the building's lobby where Smith was standing with his fraternity buddies. He casually looked up to scan the crowd and immediately picked out Jakki Jeffries and a friend up on the balcony.

"It was hard not to notice those two," Smith says.

He and Jeffries exchanged several back-and-forth glances until he admits, "I was blushing. Even my fraternity brothers noticed the reaction."

Later that evening, the two ran into each other again and a conversation began over a game of Pac-Man.

"We went to a doughnut shop and had a banana milkshake," Smith says. "And the rest is history."

The couple married in August 1988, two years after graduating from VCU. After working in advertising for a few years, Jeffries-Smith came to a crossroads.

"Jakki was very frustrated in her career and I knew that," her husband remembers. "When you're frustrated in your career, you have to do something about it. You have to move on."

At the kitchen table one night, Jeffries-Smith announced that she wanted to become a doctor.

"I wanted to do something of substance," she says.

After her husband's initial surprise and disbelief, he got behind her 100 percent.

"You've got to go through life not looking in the rearview mirror," Smith says.

That's not to say that the transition from advertising to medicine was an easy one. Jeffries-Smith worked full-time while taking the necessary prerequisite courses at VCU at night, so the only time she could study was on the weekends.

"I didn't have the science background, so it was hard," she admits.

Richard Smith and Jakki Jeffries-Smith met while undergraduates at VCU. Jakki eventually earned a medical degree from the VCU School of Medicine.

"I had to attend a lot of events without my wife," Smith says. "I had people ask me if I even had a wife."

Before embarking on her career switch, Jeffries-Smith had read a lot about how going to medical school can take its toll on a marriage. The couple did not dwell on that.

"I viewed it as a challenge," Smith says. "I've always emphasized chasing your dreams. When you focus on the dream, you can make it happen."

Together, the couple turned the dream into a reality. After two years of night classes, Jeffries-Smith entered the VCU School of Medicine. In 1996, she became Dr. Jeffries-Smith, earning her medical degree and continuing with her residency in radiology. Today, she is a partner in a private practice who loves what she does.

"VCU's School of Medicine was awesome," Jeffries-Smith says. "It definitely trained me for what I'm doing now."

Now that Jeffries-Smith is content in her true calling, the family is putting its full support behind Smith's entrepreneurial efforts. Smith, who has worked for companies and nonprofit organizations as varied as UPS and the American Cancer Society, is launching his own recruiting firm. He also credits VCU with helping him reach his goals.

"The things that I've been successful at in life, I can attribute to my education at VCU," he says. "My confidence grew at VCU. I learned to be organized, to be diligent."

Despite having spent time in Milwaukee and now living in Thomasville, Ga., with their five-year-old son, Corey, the Smiths still try to get back to VCU and connect with friends as often as they can. They attend the African-American Alumni Council Reunion nearly every year.

"We are a fixture there, part of the furniture," Smith says. "We love to meet and visit with our friends when we come back. The VCU experience is so near and dear to us."