Nominally, she's not without grey matter (5)
I believe the answer is:
'grey matter' is the definition.
'pearl' can be an answer for 'grey' (thesaurus). I'm unsure of the 'matter' bit.
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pearl that I've seen before include "Object of great worth" , "something highly valued" , "Drop" , "finest example" , "Gem; size of type" .)