Jill Hopkins

Bitter Jester Music Festival Judge

Jill Hopkins is the Director of New Media and Civic Events at Metro Chicago and Gman Tavern in Chicago, where she is a lifelong native. She is a radio personality with shows on CHIRP and Vocalo Radio, and the host of the Making Beyonce, Opus, and Have You Met podcasts.

She can be seen during pledge drives on WTTW-TV, and her writing read on pop culture websites like the AV Club, and the Chicago Reader Consequence of Sound, Riot Fest’s blog, Noisey, and more.

Jill is a storyteller and stand-up comedian at several local venues. A comedic essayist, she makes regular appearances at The Paper Machete and is a live event host for The Moth and Write Club. She has also interviewed and moderated panels and conversations for the Chicago Humanities Festival, Chicago Ideas Week, and WBEZ.

Jill is also a proud Whitney Young Dolphin, and credits her music teacher and orchestra conductor Martha Murphy and her drama teacher and Company director David Canepa for instilling a passion for performance and a love of live music and the people who make it.

Jill is a music lover through and through, and you can find her in her element as a club DJ as well. She's warmed up crowds for Shamir, Big Freedia, Har Mar Superstar, High on Fire, Michael Shannon, ESG, and many more.

In the time between, Jill loves to collect vinyl albums, and has been a percussionist and vocalists in rock bands in Chicago since she was 16. She's been a member of Cooler by the Lake, Girl Group Chicago, Hole Lotta Love, and Mystik Spiral to name a few.

NewCity Magazine named her as one of 2019’s “Music 45: Who Keeps Chicago In Tune.” Check out this 2018 article from NewCity entitled “Power Chords: A Conversation with Women in Chicago Music.”