Born in LA and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Jillian is committed to ensuring all students have access to a quality education. She earned a BA in Sociology with a focus in Mathematics from the University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign. While there, she developed a passion for working with youth as a tutor through America Reads America Counts and mentor though the Boys and Girls Club. This newly found passion led her to apply for (and eventually be accepted into) the 2007 Teach for America corps where she was given the opportunity to teach 3rd grade and earn a MA in Curriculum and Instruction from UNLV. Excited about the impact she made, she returned back to Chicago with high hopes of teaching in the community from whence she came. Upon her return, she accepted a position with Noble Network Charter School as a Founding 9th Grade Algebra Teacher. While at Noble, she spent five years teaching 9th and 11th grade math; served as a teacher leader in several capacities; and served as a Dean between both the Muchin and Johnson campuses. From there, Jillian served as the Assistant Director at the University of Chicago Charter School – Donoghue campus where she helped secure a $280,000 grant from LEAP Innovations to personalize learning for her students through a school redesign process. Currently, as the campus Director at CICS Wrightwood, Jillian has been awarded a three-year $250,000 grant to partner with The Accelerate Institute as she and her team works to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline by creating a pathway to college for all kids. Her passion for the work can be best summarized by a quote from Marian Wright Edelman: “The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every child; it is whether we can afford not to.” Jillian is committed to changing the narrative and proving what is possible for Black kids on the South Side.