Matt Baker

All his life, Matt has been drawn to the city. In his youth, regular day trips into Chicago from the suburbs — as well as a stint living in Seoul, South Korea — solidified a love for the drama, activity and vibrancy of dense urban areas. Growing up in these cities, a hemisphere away from each other, provided a love of architecture and the built environment.

His other love from a young age was writing (he wrote his first short story — “Cacti Can Fly!” — at age 9). Matt attended Augustana College with an emphasis in English, but without much of a plan. Fortunately, he eventually landed a job that largely combined both loves: editing Chicago municipal code books such as the Chicago Building Code and Chicago Zoning Ordinance. Some years later, after identifying an editorial vacuum surrounding the then-burgeoning green building movement, Matt launched Sustainable Chicago magazine in 2007. During the 10-year stretch he managed this publication, Matt researched and wrote nearly every article. He also edited and laid out each issue and managed the publication’s social media accounts.

Taking this experience to REjournals, Matt covered commercial real estate news in Chicago as well as in Texas’ primary markets. For over three years, he wrote about notable transactions and emerging trends in every asset class. During this tenure as managing editor, he oversaw production of three print trade publications: Illinois Real Estate Journal, Chicago Industrial Properties and REDnews.

Matt joined Taylor Johnson in 2021 as a senior account manager. As storytelling is his greatest strength, he’s excited that he now gets to help a variety of real estate firms refine their brands and tell their stories in impactful ways.