1980
Born in a tiny town in NW Iowa; a member of the Xennial microgeneration
Grew up on what you might call a farm
Childhood free of technology
1995
One of DirecTVs 1st customers; the first time with cable TV at home
2000
Kicked off Napster, and one of approximately 300,000 people individually named in the Metallica v. Napster, Inc Lawsuit
Switched to Limewire
ICQ was my preferred method of communication
2001
Taught archery at a girl scout camp in North Carolina
RA for Renee Martin, a social psychologist at UIowa
Worked as a dispatcher at the University of Iowa Police
2002
RA for Irwin Levin, a social-cognitive psychologist at UIowa
RA for Susan Zickmund, a social-health psychologist at UIowa
Got cable internet (high-speed internet) with a wireless router
Bought an iBook laptop
Bought the first gen iPod, one of only approximately 125,000 sold
Graduated from UIowa a semester early, in December 2002
2004
Graduate Assistant for Chris Parker, an IO psychologist
Used Match.com for the first time
2008
Moved to Chicago
Got offered a job at the National Council of State Boards of Nursing the same week the stock market crashed; luckily in the healthcare sector
2010
Joined Twitter
Invited to Oprah’s Book Club from an essay I wrote about “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen
Featured on Oprah’s mobile app
Stayed in a Riad in the Fez, Morocco’s medina where I was inadvertently part of an anthropologist’s ethnographic study (work for her dissertation)
2012
Switched from iTunes to Spotify
2013
Joined Instagram
Took first Coursera course; Intro to Interactive Programming in Python (Rice University)
Used the first generation of Tinder (I was probably the oldest person on it)
2014
Started taking Uber over cabs
2015
Selected by the American Psychological Association to lobby in DC and educate congressional staffers on the value of psychological science
Cancelled cable TV, switched to appleTV, HBO NOW & Netflix
2016
Stayed at first Airbnb in Havana, Cuba
2018
Moved to Boulder, CO
2017
Quit the job I had for too long
Started a masters program in CS at The University of Chicago
Quit said program
Decided to focus on experience research & design
1996
16 years old; first cell phone shared with my parents
BMG music service 12-for-1 CDs
1999
Graduated high school
Started college at The University of Iowa
Bought my own cell phone; you were able to pick your number on Suncom (later acquired by ATT) , my # was 400 - Jill
Bought my first computer; an all-in-one Gateway
2003
In-between undergrad and grad I worked 2 waitress jobs
Started my PhD at Northern Illinois University
Taught Intro to Psych to 2 undergrad classes, 55 students each
Bought 1st digital camera
Dropped land-line phone; solely using mobile phone
2005
Teaching Assistant for 2 graduate-level statistics classes
Defended masters thesis & received masters degree
2006
Switched from Yahoo to Gmail
Research analyst for SRI International
2007
Put finishing touches on dissertation while on a road trip to a poker tournament in Tunica, MS
Joined Facebook
Received PhD
Moved to Pittsburgh
Started job at Development Dimensions International (DDI)
Bought first generation iPhone, I still have it
Bought the last car I owned, a 2005 Audi TT; the last year of the original body design, which is still perfect
2020
Covid-19
2021
Started working at Experian as a Lead UX Researcher
Started a 9-month contract position with Pearson as a Quantitative UX Researcher
After 3 months, converted to a full-time position with Pearson as a Senior Data Scientist (focusing on AI research and design)
Minted my first NFT on OpenSea
2022
One of the first 100,000 users of OpenAI's DALL-E 2 in alpha testing; see my 1st human + AI art creation
2023
I still don't use TikTok
2025
Used Cursor to vibe code for the first time