Spencer has worked for 30 years with not-for-profit cultural programs, including Museum and Public Programs (Director), Folger Shakespeare Library (founder of Folger Consort & Washington Poetry Committee, Poetry Clearinghouse, and the award-winning series "Midday Muse"), Academy of American Poets (Executive Director), Martha’s Vineyard Poetry Workshop (founder), Concert Royal Baroque Orchestra and New York Baroque Dance Company (Executive Director), Mayor’s Advisory Council for Cultural Affairs under Henry Geldzahler and Bess Myerson (Executive Assistant), and Public Schools Research Project (Director), where her efforts in certifying Art Program Days achieved higher student school attendence.

Spencer has served on the Boards of Trustees of Episcopal School for Children in Washington D.C. (1976-1980), Creative Alternatives in New York (1983-1987), and has been a founding member of the Chamber Chorus of the Russian Musical Arts Association of America since 1990. She has also served on the Advisory Council for the Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange since 1990.

Spencer earned her A.A. at Santa Rosa College in California and has attended the University of California at Berkeley and the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C.