Barbara Elaine Smith was born on Aug. 24, 1949, in Everson, Pa. Her father, William, was a steelworker. Her mother, Florence (Claybrook) Smith, was a part-time maid with a flair for interior decorating that she had once hoped to make her career.

From early childhood, Ms. Smith was a whirlwind. “I inherited a paper route, I sold magazines, had lemonade stands, I was a candy striper and into fund-raising,” she told The New York Times in 2011. “I’ve always enjoyed being busy.”

With her father, a Jehovah’s Witness, she went door to door distributing copies of the magazines The Watchtower and Awake! and learned valuable lessons along the way. “One thing about being a Jehovah’s Witness,” she often said, “you learn to talk to people.”

When she was barred from joining the Future Homemakers of America because of her race, she started her own home-economics club and named herself president.

In high school she saw an advertisement for the John Robert Powers modeling school and pestered her father to allow her to attend. When she convinced him that it was a finishing school, he relented. She raised the tuition money by babysitting.

After graduating from high school, Ms. Smith modeled for department stores in Pittsburgh and got a job as a ground hostess with TWA. Her first big break came in 1969, when she won a place at the Ebony Fashion Fair, a show that traveled to 77 cities across the United States. Along the way she shortened her first name to B.