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

Books

Her first novel, ''Hunger Point'', was published by ReganBooks in 1997, and became the basis for an original Lifetime movie, starring Barbara Hershey and Christina Hendricks of

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

, 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 a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

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 Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

. 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 List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. She has a BA from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

class of 1985 and a Master of Fine Arts from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. She has studied under the direction of Mona Simpson, Jonathan Dee,

Robert Coover Robert Lowell Coover (February 4, 1932 – October 5, 2024) was an American novelist, Short story, short story writer, and T. B. Stowell Professor Emeritus in Literary Arts at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation ...

, 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 and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

, and Grace Paley. She is a former fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Blue Mountain Center, VCCA and Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain. She briefly taught at New York University and the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

. 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 consultant ...

and

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

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

Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

, Aon, Revlon, Max Factor 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, 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