Jillian Medoff is an American writer of literary fiction and a strategic communications specialist.

Books

Her first novel, ''Hunger Point'', was published by

ReganBooks ReganBooks was an American bestselling imprint or division of HarperCollins book publishing house (parent company is News Corporation), headed by editor and publisher Judith Regan, started in 1994 and ended in late 2006. During its existence, Rega ...

in 1997, and became the basis for an original Lifetime movie, starring

Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...

and

Christina Hendricks Christina Rene Hendricks (born May 3, 1975) is an American actress and former model. With an extensive career on screen and stage, she has received various accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Award nominations, two Screen Actors Guild Awar ...

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...

, which first aired in 2003. ''Hunger Point'' has been translated into a number of foreign languages, including French, Spanish, Hebrew, among others. Medoff's second novel, ''Good Girls Gone Bad'', was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

in 2002, and translated into a number of foreign languages as well. Her third novel, ''I Couldn't Love You More'', was published in May 2012 by

Grand Central Publishing Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hache ...

. Her fourth novel, ''This Could Hurt'', was published by

in 2018. Medoff's fifth novel, ''When We Were Bright and Beautiful'', also published by

, is available for purchase on August 2, 2022. ''When We Were Bright and Beautiful'' follows twenty-three-year-old Cassie Quinn as she and her family navigate the legal system and the unrelenting media attention after her younger brother is accused of sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Described as, "a dazzling novel that asks: who will pay the price when the truth is revealed?" ''When We Were Bright and Beautiful'' has a pre-release average rating of 4.74 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

Education and personal life

The eldest daughter of a traveling salesman, Jillian moved 17 times by age 17, ultimately settling in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. She has a BA from

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

class of 1985 and a Master of Fine Arts from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. She has studied under the direction of

Mona Simpson Mona Simpson (née Jandali; June 14, 1957) is an American novelist. She has written six novels and studied English at the University of California, Berkeley and Languages and Literature at Columbia University. She won a Whiting Award for her fir ...

Jonathan Dee Jonathan Dee (born May 19, 1962) is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. His fifth novel, ''The Privileges'', was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Early life Dee was born in New York City. He graduated from Yale Unive ...

Robert Coover Robert Lowell Coover (born February 4, 1932) is an American novelist, short story writer, and T.B. Stowell Professor Emeritus in Literary Arts at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation and metafiction. Background ...

, and

Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awa ...

. She also attended Master Classes with

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...

, Joyce Carol Oates, and

Grace Paley Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 – August 22, 2007) was an American short story author, poet, teacher, and political activist. Paley wrote three critically acclaimed collections of short stories, which were compiled in the Pulitzer Prize and Na ...

. She is a former fellow at the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowel ...

, Blue Mountain Center, VCCA and Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain. She briefly taught at New York University and the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. Medoff and her husband, Keith Dawson, live in Montclair, New Jersey. Together, they have three adult daughters: Sarah, Olivia and Mollie.

Corporate career

Along with writing novels, Jillian also has a career in

management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultan ...

and

corporate communication Corporate communication is a set of activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external communications aimed at creating favourable point of view among stakeholders on which the company depends. Riel, Cees B.M. van; Fombru ...

s. She's worked for a wide range of employers across multiple industries, including

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

, Aon,

Revlon Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it still remains. Revlon was founded by brother ...

Max Factor Max Factor is a line of cosmetics from Coty, Inc. It was founded in 1909 as Max Factor & Company by Maksymilian Faktorowicz. Max Factor specialized in movie make-up. Until its 1973 sale for US$500 million (approximately $ billion in 2017 dolla ...

and Medco. Medoff attributes her success as a novelist to her corporate career, "Having steady, stable employment (i.e., a corporate job) not only offered edofffinancial security, it also ensured she’d never be forced to write solely as a means to pay rent." Now, as a Senior Consultant wit
SegalBenz
a division of

The Segal Group Segal (formerly Segal Rogercasey prior to 2017) is a benefits and human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, with more than 1,000 employees throughout the U.S. and Canada. It is the parent of Segal Marco Advisors and Segal Ben ...

, she advises clients on communication strategies for all aspects of the employee experience, such as workforce engagement, performance management and professional development. She's fluent in HR practices and procedures, and has deep subject matter expertise in benefits and pay programs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medoff, Jillian 1963 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Barnard College alumni New York University alumni