February Board Member Spotlight: Jillian Kyde

Jillian Kyde

“What is put in the mind of a child is most definitely what comes out in the life of an adult.”

This is what drives Jillian Kyde daily and led her to join CASA of Lexington’s Board in 2018, where she chairs Bourbon and the Bayou, CASA of Lexington’s largest fundraiser. This will be Jillian’s third year helping with this incredible event. Last year, Bourbon and the Bayou reached new heights, raising over $200,000, which provided for 200 CASA advocates. This year, she is coordinating a virtual version of the event and raising as much money as possible for the essential CASA advocates helping the vulnerable children in Fayette, Bourbon, Woodford and Scott counties.

Delivering exceptional service and one-of-a-kind experiences is in Jillian’s blood. Due to this, Jillian traveled the world professionally as a corporate event planner, planning high-end corporate incentives, events and meetings in places such as Tuscany, Barbados, Pebble Beach and Scotland. Jillian also specialized in corporate compassion events and team builds benefiting small grassroots charities such as Project Shero. Her work caught the attention of hotel executives for the City Center complex in Las Vegas, where she had them build custom bicycles for children in their community who had never owned their own bicycle.

Prior to moving to Kentucky, Jillian also worked as Director of Sales for the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Las Vegas, and opened Park MGM and NoMad Las Vegas as their Executive Director of Sales, helping shape their team culture of giving back.

Three years ago Jillian left her home state and moved to her husband’s home state of Kentucky with their two sons. Jillian volunteered with CASA of Las Vegas for over a decade, along with many other philanthropic efforts near and dear to her heart. As a freelance hotel consultant, she stepped into temporary Director of Sales roles so New York City hoteliers could take maternity leaves. She is passionate about keeping mothers in the workforce and ensuring they can feel confident their work will be handled while they enjoy bonding time with their babies.

Jillian began working with CASA of Lexington after hearing Executive Director Melynda Jamison speak at a conference in Florida.

Hard work, drive, perseverance, innovation and creativity have always been who Jillian is. While her professional experiences have been incredible and plentiful, her family has always been top of her inspiration and priority lists. In 2020, Jillian and her husband welcomed their third son while helping their elementary aged sons navigate virtual learning. The hardest part of COVID beyond the devastation to the world and her beloved hospitality industry has been worrying about the children who are not in safe homes and where the gap in education and mental health is taking place at unprecedented levels.

Jillian’s goal with her CASA work has always been to help as many children as possible break cycles of abuse and neglect and find loving and stable environments that are not only permanent but will help them thrive.

Beyond CASA, Jillian also serves as the Advisory Board Chairman for the Kappa Alpha Theta Chapter at University of Kentucky. As the national philanthropy for Theta, it was actually Theta that led Jillian to learn about CASA over 20 years ago, and led her to something she feels extremely passionate about to this day. Jillian also loves mentoring college women and seeing their dreams become reality. Multiple Theta women have become CASA advocates and volunteers each year, and Jillian feels strongly that her volunteer time is best spent helping the youth in any community that she finds herself in.