Jill Pollack

Jill is co-founder of Story Mode, a unique program that trains, coaches, and advises business people and content creators to use the power of storytelling and to apply creativity to get things done at work.

A dramatic arts-trained refugee from the corporate world, Jill created StoryStudio Chicago—a creative writing school—in 2003 and began developing new approaches to teaching storytelling for business, for the page, for the screen, and for changing technology. Her credo? Don’t Be Boring.

In addition to teaching, writing, and forcing people to admit that they can’t live without great stories, Jill works with organizations to rethink their approach to marketing and stop writing content, and instead, start “conversations.”

Jill is a co-founder of Content Jam, Chicago’s largest content marketing conference. She co-founded the Chicago Literary Alliance, is on the Illinois B Corp Advisory Council, and is a member of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. She is a frequent speaker on the power of stories in our personal and professional lives.

A writer and author, Jill has published three books for young adults: Shirley Chisholm (named a Best Book by Science and Film Magazine), Lesbian and Gay Families: Redefining Parenting in America; and Women on the Hill, a history of women in Congress.

When she is able to hoard time for herself, Jill works on her own stories.