Jill started her unexpected journey to the Wade Center as an undergraduate student at Wheaton College majoring in foreign languages and working for the student newspaper. After graduation, she went to culinary school and worked as a pastry chef for several years before her love of literature and academics won out. She returned to graduate school for dual masters degrees in library science and public history at Dominican University and Loyola University Chicago, respectively. Having interned at such places as the Chicago History Museum, Wheaton College Library Special Collections, Evanston Historical Society, the Newberry Library, and the Oak Park Public Library while also still working as a chef and subsequently as a copy cataloger at a public library, Jill finally returned to the site of her very first library internship, the Wade Center, but this time in the role of catalog librarian. In addition to her work for the Wade Center, Jill works as an adjunct catalog librarian for Moraine Valley Community College and has also done contract cataloging for the Library of Congress.
When Jill is not working, she is at home with her posse of fluffy and extremely spoiled dogs or building and rebuilding her comprehensive collection of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter LEGOs. She still enjoys baking in her free time, as well as reading, coloring, and the occasional foray into video games with her fellow Wheatie husband.