Jill was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Her family was a successful one in most traditional senses of the word; rich, prosperous, influential, and generally well-perceived and upstanding among their class of peers — a specific crowd, given their high tier. Phillip Vaughn, a man in the business of oil who retired young into high end real estate, was her father; Naomi, editor-in-chief to a local fashion magazine called Fix, her mother.
The only daughter of the Vaughns, cultured, educated, and primped to the max, Jill resented her family's position from a young age, though in that regard she was a young hypocrite of sorts; she liked aspects of the lifestyle, having things at her disposal, the money, the clothes bought with it especially, but it was what "success" seemed to do to her parents that made her resent it. She didn't spend much time with them, all told, not when their focus was business and their image more than it was her. That's how it seemed to Jill, anyway. Her best friend in the world was her great aunt Audrey — sister to Naomi's mother, rarely invited, but Jill would find every excuse to sneak over. To Jill, Nana A was a kindred spirit, and like the grandmother she never had (she had a grandmother, she was just a lot like Naomi).
As a child, Jill found her peace and considerably blazing creative outlet in drawing or dancing at one of her overpriced dance classes, or running around outside in a world of imaginary in a dress meant for a ball. Sometimes with friends, sometimes not. She got these escapes from the reality of much academics and private school in her childhood, but as she grew a bit older, her mother was bound and determined to influence her daughter's future even more.
Despite frequent parental absenteeism, Jill's mother was nevertheless a driving force, even if she wasn't aimed toward Jill's best interests, and her machinations were against her daughter's will. Jill was a pretty little thing, all blonde and blue-eyed and all smiles — only not so little, when she started to grow tall. Naomi had it in her head that her daughter needed to make a fabulous impression on the world, and pushed her to model when she was sixteen.
With Philip declaring their move to Los Angeles for his business purposes, it was the perfect opportunity, she insisted. Jill fought it at first, but it wasn't the first time it had come up and she eventually conceded for a few reasons — she wanted to please her mother, even if she didn't want to admit it. On the other hand, it was a chance to be able to travel and be away from her family. On top of that, it was a love of fashion that led her to the runway. It was her secret aspiration to design the kinds of clothes she instead found herself displaying.
Pushing Jill into the model lifestyle — she had no trouble charming the agencies — was maybe the worst thing her mother could have done if she wanted something to be proud of and tell her friends about. Jill was expected to keep up with her studies during this time, but her free spirit found partying and she fell into it hard just as she was starting to get a little success. She missed school, she refused homework and any form of home study. She was a smart girl, but slightly too easy going at that age and well, the chance to rebel didn't hurt. Drinking, drugs, and more "friends" than she knew what to do with… Or knew at all, really; it was fun, until the downward spiral started and she didn't know how to get out of it. She gained a reputation as a party girl and it wasn't a good one.
Jill's career was thus ripped away and she was thrown into one of California's reform school for misbehaving girls when she was seventeen.
It may have been hellish and made her resent her parents even more, seeing as them fixing their own mistake, but Jill actually came out for the better. She was a much calmer and centered individual — like her old self, but wiser, and with a clearer perspective and a new burst of optimism. Like she cut off her parents, she cut off toxic old friends and kept only those from her younger days. With her fresh start and a dream, she was making plans to go to school for fashion design and become the designer she originally wanted to be — and why shouldn't she? She had learned a lot from her stint in the industry, and she was good.
It was 2003 and the news about the reality of vampires was just hitting the news then; like many, Jill was unnerved by the shift in worldview, but another deliverance of news was more important to her and infinitely more close to home. Her great aunt Audrey was sick back in Dallas and her only remaining family — Jill's parents — were refusing to support the sweet, if sharp-tongued old lady, through whatever asinine family feud. Audrey had long since been cut off from any family money she once had, and when Jill set aside her dreams to go take care of the woman who was like a grandmother to her, so was she.
It wasn't Jill's care of Nana A that cut her trust fund (which she planned to use to go to design school) off, but her total shunning of her parents and the way in which she chose to support herself once she moved back to Dallas. She moved in with her great aunt in a tiny apartment and after several failed attempts at the jobs people usually get when they're just starting out and broke — retail, call center, secretarial work — Jill realized she just wasn't meant to be like everyone else. That was okay by her. That free spirit of hers took her to an exotic dance club. The truth always comes out and so of course her family found out, but the news has yet to reach scandal status; the Vaughns are likely covering it up, or maybe it's enough that their only child was already denounced.
Jill's life is far from perfect or ideal, but it's a work-in-progress. She takes care of Nana A whom she adores and who doesn't judge her as she works as a stripper under the stage name "Robyn". She spends most of her money on making sure her aunt is taken care of and on fabric to work on her designs. Even though she's not so good at saving money, her biggest wish is to become a designer and if she has to make it happen sans training and by sheer purpose, talent and wishes, that's what she'll do.
