Bailey is active in the arts and garden communities and is on the University of Tennessee Development Council and the vestry of St. John's Episcopal Cathedral. Bailey's husband, Steve is owner of Volunteer Lumber Sales, a wholesale distributing company.

She's a graduate of Webb School, attended the University of Tennessee where she studied education, and has taught at the Knoxville Adaptive Center.

She has three step-children, Whitfield Bailey, Knoxville; Bryan Bailey, New Orleans; and Ann Clarke, Atlanta.