Jill volunteers on Palo Alto's Human Relations Commission, a public advisory body that helps shape city policy on local food banks, senior services, subsidized childcare and low-cost housing, among other issues. An effective ombudsman, she always evaluates challenges within a larger context.
Jill O'Nan
In a world where the quantity of mediocre writing grows every day, Jill O'Nan considers herself a guardian of grammar, punctuation and clarity of thought. "Pressing the send button doesn't make someone a writer," she said. "Becoming a good writer takes a lot of practice."
Jill has been writing and editing for more than 20 years, producing everything from award-winning fiction to corporate web content, magazines, white papers and marketing collateral. In 2009-2010, she served as a writing coach at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, helping students rework their papers and presentations for maximum impact.
"There were some excellent writers and published authors," Jill said. "There were also students for whom English was a second language. With early intervention, my coaching really made a difference."
Jill traces her interest in writing to her early childhood, in Cincinnati. Her grandparents were published poets, and one was a librarian. Even before Jill knew how to write, she was dictating stories to her mother. As a young adult, she graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Philosophy from Wittenberg University, and later earned an MA in East Asian Studies and a JD, both from Stanford University. Over the years, she has done freelance writing and editing for many Fortune 500 companies, worked as a technical editor and production coordinator for the Siemens' subsidiary ROLM, and served as a senior marketing writer for Centigram Communications Corporation. She joined the ROI Communication team in 2011.
When she's not writing and editing, Jill enjoys reading, biking, hiking and swimming. She also serves on the board of a local theater company that's focused on producing avant-garde works by new playwrights.