Photo: Karen Santos Photography

 
 

Rooted in passion.

About

Jillian Knox is an interdisciplinary polymath artist who hails from Washington, DC and is based in San Francisco, California. Although she has a BFA in photography (Savannah College of Art and Design) and spent ten years selling vintage goods, she works primarily as a stylist in food, fashion and prop styling. Jillian’s greatest joy is telling cultural stories; honoring food, lifestyle, and history through visual media is important to her, as it creates permanence and artifacts for future generations.

Jillian is also the founder of The Astute Agency, an artist community platform that embraces the philosophy of Human Agency; the ability to control your own destiny. Her co-founder is photographer Karen Santos. It was founded in 2020 during lock-down in efforts to keep artist communities afloat by facilitating live conversations about current events alongside artist informational interviews.

When she is not working, you can find her exploring the world with her film camera(s)— documenting people, places, and things. But most importantly, she can be found celebrating life.

To see links, click HERE.

2023

  • Judge for Dine Diaspora Black Women in Food 2023

  • Diasporican (Illyanna Maisonet/Ten Speed Press) recipient of Emerging Voice Award 2023 James Beard Foundation

  • The Sweetest Harvest (Kayla Stewart/ Food & Wine Magazine) winner Profile 2023 James Beard Foundation

2022

  • Honoree for Dine Diaspora Black Women in Food 2022 (Creator category)

  • Black Food (Bryant Terry/4color Books) nominated for 2022 James Beard Media award (U.S. Foodways)

  • Black Food winner for Art of Eating Prize 2022

Honors | Press | Clients

  • Alexa Stark, Apostrophe, BRYR Clogs, CNET, Consistency Project, Curator SF, Evgenia Lingerie, Facebook, Fluevog Shoes, Gravel & Gold, Hadjio, Ilano Design, J'AMY TARR, Kim + Ono, Land Rover, Levis, Mi Cocina/Ubi Ind., Mohinder Shoes, Our Place, Our Second Nature, Pink Dolphin Clothing, Willow Pump, Xfinity, Zelma Rose

  • Bryant Terry, CUESA, Diaspora Co., Fauna Restaurante, MIXT, Split, Muffin Revolution, Nuthouse Granola, Odd Bagel, Peet’s Coffee, PieTisserie, Popoca, Ramen Hero, Reem's California, Rombauer Vineyards, Voila! Juice, Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen

  • Amy Dabalos, Daghe, Julia Harriman, KIN, Zyles Music

  • Arthur Martinot, Bone & Gold, Caruso Co., CBS Interactive, French Press Films, Jo Ko, Lockbox Productions, Matatu, McCalman Co.

  • Americanized (film short), Made From Scratch (Fuse TV), Paper Birds (film short)

  • Anastasiia Sapon, Andria Lo, Aubrie Pick, Aya Watada, Daniel Dent, Erica Eng, Karen Santos, Kelly Marshall, Maren Caruso, Maria Del Rio, Nader Khouri, Nicole Morrison, Oriana Koren, Peggy Peralta, Sana Javeri Kadri

  • Biased Cuts: S1 E11 (podcast), Creative Mean, Going Legit (podcast), In_ Conversation (Podcast - South Africa), Focus On Women (Podcast), Pineapple Collaborative, The Ruby, Transterritorial Citizenship special guest (Mexico City).

    • 2020 Recipient of San Francisco Arts and Artists Relief Fund grant from Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), made possible by the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), and Grants for the Arts (GFTA) under the direction of Mayor London Breed.

    • 2016 Accepted to fill 1/200 slots in Fashion Styling: Mastered accelerator for the class of 2017

    • 2012 Worked with Intuit Inc. on product testing for new iPhone app, was featured in online commercials, and several on-camera interviews; including an interview with Valerie Coleman Morris, former CNN anchor.

    • 2011 Honored as one of Chicago's newest female entrepreneurs on the rise during the Diva “Artista” Series event by Maven Chicago and Today's Chicago Woman Magazine.

    • 2010 Featured in Time Out Chicago Magazine as a vintage vendor on the rise for Joules Jewels Vintage.