Spencer Bailey

In 2009 and 2010, Bailey interned in the editorial departments at Esquire and Vanity Fair.[6]

From 2010 to 2013, Bailey was a frequent contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek, and from 2011 to 2014, The New York Times Magazine.[6]

For his first assignment for The New York Times Magazine, in October 2011, he spent a night at Zucotti Park and a nearby McDonald's during the Occupy Wall Street movement.[7][8] Over the next three years, he interviewed authors, celebrities, politicians, and cultural figures such as Al Sharpton,[9] Tony Hawk,[10] Rodney King,[11] and Cyndi Lauper[12] for a "How To ..." column.[1] Bailey's interview with Rodney King was one of King's last before his fiancée found him dead at the bottom of a swimming pool.[13]

From May to August 2010, Bailey worked at The Daily Beast, and in September 2010 he was hired as assistant editor at Surface magazine.[6]

In June 2013, at age 27, Bailey became editor-in-chief of Surface.[6] With the July/August 2013 issue—Bailey’s first as editor—the magazine unveiled a major design overhaul created with the consultancy Noë & Associates.[14] At Surface, Bailey interviewed hundreds of leading architects, artists, designers, and cultural figures, including David Adjaye,[15] Tadao Ando,[16] Zaha Hadid,[17] Ian Schrager,[18] and Kanye West,[19] and helped launch the Design Dialogues conversation series.[20] Bailey's interview with Kanye West, published in the December 2016/January 2017 issue, was covered internationally. Page Six described the conversation between Bailey and West "strange";[21] Billboard called it "thoughtful."[22]

In November 2016, Pointed Leaf Press published the book Tham ma da: The Adventurous Interiors of Paola Navone, which Bailey wrote and edited.[23]

In January 2017, Bailey was named editorial director of Surface Media.[24] In May 2018, Bailey announced he was leaving Surface Media.[25][26]

In 2018, Bailey was named a contributing editor at Town & Country, where he covers architecture and design,[27] and joined the book publisher Phaidon as editor-at-large.[28]

In May 2019, Bailey co-founded and launched the media company The Slowdown with filmmaker, photographer, and creative director Andrew Zuckerman.[29][30] He and Zuckerman co-host two podcasts, Time Sensitive[31] and At a Distance.[32]

In October 2020, Phaidon published Bailey’s book In Memory Of: Designing Contemporary Memorials,[33] which features more than 60 memorials commemorating some of the most destructive events of the 20th and 21st centuries, including war, genocide, massacre, terrorism, famine, and slavery.