Jill is a seasoned communications professional with over 25 years’ experience in public, media, and community relations, social media strategy, advertising campaigns, and strategic planning. She has worked for agencies, startups, and political campaigns in a wide range of verticals and roles.
After attending Sarah Lawrence and Warren Wilson Colleges to earn her bachelor’s degree, she went on to receive her master’s from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From there she began her career at Erwin Penland, a full-service advertising agency in Greenville, South Carolina, where she worked with clients such as the Greenville Hospital System and Verizon Wireless. The excitement of the first iteration of dot com startups led her to Atlanta, Georgia, where she worked with several then-burgeoning companies, including Sapient and Google.
Although she was born in Georgia, Jill grew up in Western North Carolina and considers herself a native. She returned to Asheville in 2004 to work for what was then Clear Channel Media and later took over the role of director of the western office for then North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue. In 2013, she and a partner founded their own firm, Adapt Public Relations. Additionally, she has volunteered for a range of local non-profit organizations, including MANNA Food Bank, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Asheville GreenWorks. She served on the board of the Asheville Museum of Science for six years and is currently in her second term on the board of the Asheville Downtown Association.
Jill lives in the middle of downtown Asheville, and you can often find her there walking her dog, Bodhi. She and Bodhi also love to hike the area trails and frequent any restaurant with a dog-friendly patio. Jill is a lifelong avid reader who does own a Kindle but still prefers a physical book. On any given day you may find her sweating it out at hot yoga or curled up on the sofa watching the latest buzzed about streaming series. She plays the New York Times word games every morning and is a vehement devotee of Tar Heel basketball.
