Jane Campbell Bannerman grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey. She attended the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (now Parsons The New School for Design), where she studied in the Graphic Advertising and Illustration Department (later named Communication Design). Bannerman began her education at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art's campus on West 80th Street, then spent the 1929 academic year studying at the school's Paris Ateliers before returning to New York for her third and final year. While in Europe, Bannerman studied illustration with Van Day Truex and was a classmate of interior design illustrator and "room portraitist" Elizabeth Hoopes. The two artists, who became lifelong friends, later found employment with the interior design firm McMillen, Inc., well known for hiring Parsons alumni.

Following graduation, Bannerman worked in a series of design-related positions. She was employed by the textile design studio Contempora and worked for The Delineator, a women's magazine. It was through one of these positions that Bannerman established a friendship with designer Cipe Pineles, who went on to become a noted art director. In 1932, Bannerman won an award from the Art Alliance of America, an organization promoting excellence in product design and advertising, for her textile designs. She worked for McMillen for approximately three years before leaving the professional sphere to raise a family. After her daughter was older, Bannerman started her own interior decorating business, building a strong clientele through word of mouth. She later returned to McMillen, but left after a year to pursue travel and artistic interests.