Helen Smolinski was appointed to the Mayor's Disability Council by Mayor Ed Lee in 2017.  She was also reappointed to the council by Mayor London Breed in 2019. She served on the Family Advisory Council at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and has been a member since 2012 of the Support for Families of Children with Disabilities Parents’ Group.

Helen is a lawyer, and prior to having children, was the Managing Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, a national non-profit civil rights law firm.