She brings her extensive experience in early childhood development and education, which includes teaching, professional development, and education management. She has held senior positions in central government leading early childhood policy implementation in education and health.

Before joining the Talking Matters as CE, Jilly worked on data-driven social innovation projects with Ko Awatea, Two Tales, Toha and others.

Jilly was the early years voice on the working group to develop a Common Practice Model for the teaching of Literacy and Communication in 2022-2023.