Her Story
About Jillian
Jillian Krebsbach is a Product Strategist and UX Designer with over 20 years of experience spanning fashion, ecommerce, and digital product — and she's mid-leap into what's next. Currently enrolled in Pursuit's AI Native Builder accelerator, she's building AI-powered workflows and automation systems while sharpening the technical skills that complement her strategic and design background.
Her career has always lived at the intersection of user insight and business execution. At TKO Evolution Apparel, she spent a decade translating complex product requirements into systems that worked — reducing development cycles, improving data integrity, and increasing reorders. As a freelance UX designer and researcher, she brought that same rigor to ecommerce experiences, conducting usability testing, redesigning information architecture, and delivering measurable results including a 112% increase in pages viewed for one client. Most recently, she co-led product strategy for a nonprofit health platform at Tech Fleet and completed a Wayfair externship building multi-agent AI tools for competitive market analysis.
She holds a Product Management certification from eCornell and was recognized in the 2026 Influential Women Feature. Outside work, Jillian runs marathons, guides running tours around New York City, and finds that the best product thinking happens somewhere between mile 10 and mile 18.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jillian
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute my success to perseverance, especially going through the challenges of making a career pivot later in life. I've been applying for roles for the last 3 years while trying to transition into product management and UX, and I've stuck with it even when it would have been easy to give up. Having mentorship meetings a few times a month kept me still in the process, because it's very easy to give up if you don't find a role 6 months or a year after you've done something, and most people just go back to what they're doing. But I've stuck with it. I go to a lot of in-person and online networking events, and I'm in a lot of different communities like Retail Women in Tech and TechFleet. I think those groups are really important, because if you don't have that, then you're kind of on an island, and it's easy to get off track or feel less motivated. I'd also say curiosity has been key, along with having challenges and variety in my work. For me, as somebody from a creative background, having that consistently in the work that I do is important.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Something I might have done differently is if something doesn't work for you, move out of it pretty quick, because then you might get kind of stuck in that area and see fewer opportunities. That was just something I noticed in my role specifically, because I did try to make a pivot out probably about halfway through, and it was very, very hard, even at a bigger company. Don't stay in a position that isn't working for you, because it can limit your future opportunities.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Outdated thinking and siloed decision-making are the challenges that frustrate me most. Specifically being handed decisions instead of shaping them. At my last company, the pattern was hard to ignore: the doers were women, the decision-makers were men.
But the opportunity right now is real. AI lets me learn faster, solve harder problems, and move without waiting for permission. I'm in an AI Native Builder accelerator now — because if the tools are changing the game, I want to already be playing.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Curiosity, creativity, perseverance and collaboration. Fitness and cooking are long-standing personal passions that complement her professional life.
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