About Suzy Spafford, the Creator of Suzy’s Zoo

For over 43 years, Suzy’s Zoo Studio’s founder and CEO, Suzy Spafford, has been doing what she loves – drawing and laughing. Suzy says her life’s purpose is to make people happy, and to share the joy experienced when one remembers what it is like to be a child.

When Suzy was about three years old, she started drawing pictures with pencils and coloring them in with crayons. She learned her artistic skill from an expert, her four-year-old sister, Sally. Suzy’s childhood memories were forged in the 1950’s while growing up in San Diego, California, a time of peanut-butter-and-jelly picnic lunches, backyard explorations with Sally and little brother Johnny, and forts made out of freshly dried laundry on the clothesline.

Approached in 1967 with the idea of creating a line of greeting cards, Suzy began her greeting card company, Suzy’s Zoo, the following year. The endearing animal characters in Suzy’s Zoo have attracted a large and loyal following of fans the world over, with the company selling both everyday and seasonal selections of cards, stationery, arts and crafts projects and other paper and gift items. Since 1986, Suzy’s art has been licensed into a wide range of products in the U.S. and abroad. Many of the original licensees are still with us today.