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JILL ROACH BROWN

HI!! Thank you so much for viewing my site....Here is a little bit about myself....ENJOY!

Believe it or not I'm originally a Mid-westerner, born in Waterloo, Iowa in the early 1960's, the first girl finally born in a long line of men. It was my duty to add "fashion" into the family but I was known in my childhood years as "JILL BOB" because it was my belief that "boys got to do everything" so I insisted that my name was BOB (along with my "bob haircut" to keep everyone confused). My tomboy nature helped me in competing with boys in sports and pursuing my early business interests, my own neighborhood newspaper " The People's Paper" and my trading post paper route of 270 papers in Muscatine, Iowa. Sports were my thing though I played the "Suzuki "violin for five years but my older brother, John was more talented and took more from the musical gene pool.

At fourteen, I started to comb my hair, found a new interest in clothes and makeup and learned that it was okay to be a "girl". I gave my brother, John, back most of his boyish clothes and began enjoying "Girlie" things and shopping. My whole world changed when my dad took a Chief Engineering job with Ingersoll Rand and our family moved a thousand miles and started a new life in Shippensburg, PA. I kind of stood out at 5' 9"in a small town where everyone was related but excelled at swimming where I earned five high school swim records in 9th grade and a school track record in the 880 relay in high school. Cheerleading also captured my interest along with a knack for sewing clothes and I still managed at least two jobs as waitress to support my shopping habit. My glamour life was also picking up and it was very meaningful as the former "new girl" when I was crowned high school Homecoming queen and Shippensburg Fair Queen in my last year of high school.

I have always had an eye for fashion and the love for helping people look their best. I guess you could say it all started when I won the Home Economics Award in high school because everyone else seemed impressed with my sewing skills and the way I could put outfits together. I set my sights on Fashion Merchandising as a career and found the perfect place to study fashion merchandising and marketing at Eastern Kentucky University. Pretty daring for a young lady to move 500 miles away with no car, no relative just a dream in my pocket...EKU met all of my requirements...it was affordable, conservative and a great place to start my life...it also was in the most beautiful state with the friendliest people...Okay, I love that southern charm and hospitality so in 1978 I began my life in Richmond, Kentucky. Not certain that I was total college material, I decided to earn my Associates degree in Retailing to have one in the bag...hey I graduated with "Distinction" so I worked in a clothing store, modeled and graduated in 3 1/2 years with my Bachelors degree in Retailing.

My sales career began as an account executive at NCR (National Cash Register) where I handled major accounts in consumable business forms and supplies division. I loved reaching my sales goals and enjoyed trips all over the world for my sales achievements. Always a strong believer in education, I took advantage of the tuition reimbursement plan with NCR, took evening classes and earned my Masters degree in Marketing from Xavier University in 1987. Probably my proudest achievement since I never felt "smart enough" as many young ladies who like to look good behold that insecurity...

Still missing glamour, excitement and truly dreaming of being a National spokesperson, I decided with encouragement from the prior year winner to enter the Mrs. Kentucky pageant in 1988. With a lot of preparation since I was not a pageant pro, I was selected "Most Photogenic" and Mrs. Kentucky 1988. The best year to win, since the Mrs. America pageant was only that year, nationally televised on the ABC network from Hawaii. It was a tremendous experience to compete for two weeks in Hawaii and to chosen Most Photogenic and to place in the "Top 10" in the Mrs. America pageant even though I was traumatized by really "bad hair" and actually being a little too thin, the only time in my life, 122 lbs. at 5"9". Only wishes now...

Okay, so I settled back down in married life and started my family... God gave me "Girls" which I have always been so thankful until they both became teenagers in the last year...I had my first daughter, Christina, in December of 1991 and then my second daughter, Jessica, in Dec of 1992. Thank heavens for little girls...love pink, bows, and baby pictures when they were too cute for words. Both girls are uniquely beautiful and talented, Christina is a vocal major at SCAPA and Jessica is my little entrepreneur, attending LCA. My favorite treasure from my marriage was this beautiful painting (right) of my daughters and me, "A Mother's Joy" painted by Ralph Wolfe Cowan which he has highlighted in a national advertisement. My true joy is how he captured the essence of my daughters and me in 1998

My love life took a major turn in 1998, the year of my own middle age crisis...when I do things, I go for the gusto...after almost 12 years of marriage, I got divorced with two little girls, at that time five and six years old. I made a lot of changes that year, filed for divorce, moved out of our home, got engaged, divorced, remarried as the "third wife" of the former governor, John Y. Brown, Jr. ..Not the best way to do things, but what the heck was life ever exciting...though it caught up with me later...I think I may eventually write a book, "The Little Brown Book", the Ten "Never Agains" of life of love, what you can learn from my mistakes and how to be better because of your mistakes...it's all about the learning...

Life was quite an adventure with "The Governor"...for a little girl from Iowa...getting married on the steps of "Cave Hill" mansion with my girls and John's family giving me away...meeting President Clinton on five occasions, honeymooning in Greece, private planes, celebrity dinners and being a part of Kentucky royalty...it was fascinating but fleeting without being honored as "The Real Wife". I never felt at home...Number 1 on my lists of "Never Again "...never move into another wife's home with her children...it will always be her home and never your home.

Anyways, the last thing I wanted was two divorces but it was for the best for my sanity and for my girls. The hardest thing has been getting my life and career back together. That's were Brown Etc. Inc. got started...it is my dream to have my own company, work and welcome people in my home, make people look and feel good and be the creator of my own destiny. Thank you for letting me share my life story with you...I hope to make you feel better and look better. Please come see me at "The Chick House" Please call me at 321-4414 or 268-1455 to set up time for a private appointment to go over your shopping needs...I always have clothes at my home and can order from past seasons along with the current collection. I look so forward to learning about you.

Remember...my slogan..."It's not what you have but what you wear"

Jill "Bob" Brown