In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large (and cartoonist) Marshall Ramsey sits down with Paige Braddock. Braddock tells how she decided at the age of 7 that she wanted to be a cartoonist.
Paige attended elementary school in Wiggins, Mississippi. After moving around the country and attending 17 schools (!), she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1985. Early in her career, she worked as an illustrator for several newspapers, including The Orlando Sentinel, The Chicago Tribune, and The Atlanta Constitution. Braddock began crafting her long-standing comic, Jane’s World, in 1991.
After a 20-year run, Braddock stepped away and decided to end the strip. Her book Love Letters to Jane’s World recently won her the Mississippi Library Association’s Mississippi Writer’s Fiction Award.
In 1999, Braddock assumed the position of Chief Creative Officer and in this role is charged with overseeing the visual and editorial direction for all Peanuts licensed products worldwide. The Schulz studio works in tandem with the licensing office in New York, Peanuts Worldwide. As a professional cartoonist, she has illustrated several Peanuts children’s books. The Snoopy U.S. postage stamp issued in April 2001 was designed by Braddock.