After a summer internship at The Richmond Times-Dispatch, Paige Mudd (’99) imagined herself returning there for a long career as a metro reporter.

But she never imagined that, at age 37, she would become the youngest editor of the paper 一 and the first female editor 一 in its 165-year history.

Mudd joined the Times-Dispatch in 2000 and her career quickly took off, surpassing her original goal as a metro reporter. She covered breaking news, education and the courts. In 2008, she was promoted to managing editor. But this advancement didn’t come without doubts or hesitation, she said.

“As opportunities arose for me to take on bigger jobs with more responsibility, I sometimes hesitated and wondered if I was ready,” she said. “But like any job in journalism, a lot of the learning is done on the fly.”

Now, as editor, Mudd makes important decisions in all aspects of the print and online newspaper business. Ultimately, it’s up to her whether to hold or kill a story, to pick which stories are on the front page, how to market the paper to the community and to hire new reporters, she said.

She said her time at The Daily Orange, especially as its managing editor, prepared her for the high-pressure job.

“I think about my time at The D.O. frequently,” said Mudd, who began the job July 1. “Whether I’m working with a crime reporter on access to a police report or coordinating with designers on A1 packages, the work I do now is reminiscent of my time as managing editor at The D.O.”

She is always working and fine-tuning stories for the next day’s paper 一 even after a long day at the office and eating dinner with her husband and three children.

“My favorite part as editor is that I have my hand in all parts of our business,” Mudd said. “I get to do it all.”

Published on September 10, 2015 at 3:30 pm

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