Elizabeth Spiers (born December 11, 1976) is an American web publisher and journalist, the founding editor of '' Gawker'', a media gossip

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

. From February 2011 until August 2012, she was the editor of ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper established in 1987. In 2016, it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment ...

''.

Early life and education

Spiers was born in Wetumpka, Alabama. She attended Edgewood Academy, which she later characterized as a

segregation academy Segregation academies are private schools in the Southern United States that were founded in the mid-20th century by white parents to avoid having their children attend Racial segregation in the United States, desegregated public schools. They ...

. Spiers has written that she was “raped in college by an ostensibly nice guy who was not a stranger to me.” After graduating from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

in 1999 with a degree in

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

, Spiers headed to

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

to work in finance, but soon became involved in the fast-growing blog industry.

Career

Spiers began in journalism as the founding editor of Gawker.com and later became a contributing writer and editor at '' New York'' magazine. She has written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

'', ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

'', ''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

'' and ''The New York Post'', among other publications, and was an early blogger at GNXP. She worked briefly after that as the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of mediabistro.com, a site offering resources for media professionals. Since then, Spiers has founded a number of blog sites through her company, Dead Horse Media (as in the proverb "don't beat a dead horse"). ''The New York Times'' DealBook wrote of her in 2006: "It is clear that an online empire is on Elizabeth Spiers's mind." Dead Horse Media has produced ''Dealbreaker'', a gossip website about Wall Street; '' AbovetheLaw'', a blog about law; '' Fashionista'', a gossip site about fashion; and Supermogul, a now defunct business management site. Spiers left Dead Horse Media abruptly on April 19, 2007, citing differences with her partners over launching new properties, according to ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

''. Jared Kushner hired Spiers as the editor of ''The New York Observer'' in February 2011. She resigned from the paper in August 2012. Spiers was the editorial director of '' Flavorwire'' from 2012 to 2016.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spiers, Elizabeth 1976 births 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers American bloggers American online publication editors American women bloggers American women newspaper editors Editors of New York City newspapers Journalists from Alabama Journalists from New York City Living people People from Wetumpka, Alabama Sanford School of Public Policy alumni