Calendar of Events

Presented by Jill Donovan
Founder and CEO, Rustic Cuff

In November, Jill Donovan, CEO and Founder of Rustic Cuff will help members find our purpose. Jill has turned humility into an incredible company and Rustic Cuff has grown from a grassroots beginning into a booming business. She has gone from giving away bracelets and cuffs made in her garage to 6 locations (7th coming next year) and a staff of 260. At this program, Jill will share what she has learned through her time as an attorney and then later as a successful entrepreneur running a growing company to teach others the valuable lessons she has learned along the way. Cleverly using technology and obsessive creativity, Jill gives customers and employees a unique experience to keep her business up-to-date and on trend. At this program, you will learn effective strategies to keep employees engaged and vested in the company and how to manage by talking less and listening more. Jill will use her personal experiences to offer you an edge in business and be the boss that you always wanted.

Jill Donovan's need for a creative outlet and lifelong obsession with cuffs turned into more than she could have ever dreamed.  But not before being humiliated in front of 20 million people. 

A self-proclaimed "regifter", Jill was once a guest on Oprah and unexpectedly embarrassed by a panel of "etiquette experts" who labeled her as rude and tacky on air. Devastated and dejected, she turned tragedy into triumph. Jill taught herself how to make cuffs and gifted them to friends and family. Soon she was persuaded to sell her beautiful bracelets, and in three short years Jill’s grassroots beginning turned into a booming business with celebrities such as Miranda Lambert, Giuliana Rancic and Kristin Chenoweth sporting her designs. In March 2015, a Rustic Cuff bracelet that Jill gave to Gayle King was featured on the cover of Oprah’s O Magazine, worn by Oprah herself. A "regift" from Gayle to Oprah?  For Jill it was the best full circle moment.  

Known for her big heart and generous spirit, Jill's favorite thing is to inspire these traits in others. She has inadvertently started an epidemic of RC gift-givers and daily she hears new stories from women who are moved to gift the cuff off their own wrist. For Jill that is what it's all about. Not the bracelet, but the connection that is made between two people, often strangers, in that moment. Spontaneous moments.  Full of hope, love, tears and laughter. This organic movement has become part of the company's mission. `The birth of Rustic Cuff stemmed from regifting gone wrong, but the ripple effect is regifting gone right.

Jill was born in Baltimore, raised in Pensacola and graduated from ORU where she met her husband Terry. She went on to get her law degree at the University of Tulsa, and was a practicing attorney and adjunct law professor at TU when Rustic Cuff was born.