After several years as a freelance writer, brown became a columnist at Cleveland's daily newspaper, The Plain Dealer, a role she held from 1993 to 2011, winning the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary[6] for "her pungent columns that provided a voice for the underdog and underprivileged".

Connie Brown was born to Alvina Jane (née BeBout)[1] and Charles Craig Schultz.

[11] Brown started her career as a freelance writer (from 1978 to 1993)[11] and then became a columnist for The Plain Dealer in 1993, a role she held until 2011.

[12] On September 19, 2011, Brown again resigned from the paper, having written in a note to colleagues that "in recent weeks, it has become painfully clear that my independence, professionally and personally, is possible only if I'm no longer writing for the newspaper that covers my husband's Senate race on a daily basis".

[17] Schultz is a frequent guest on various cable news programs, including on C-SPAN (see "External Links" below).

[18] Brown’s first book, Life Happens: And Other Unavoidable Truths, a collection of her previously published columns, was printed in 2006.

Her second book, ... and His Lovely Wife: A Memoir from the Woman Beside the Man, a journal of her experiences on the campaign trail, was released in 2007.