Q & A with Jill Guth on Coaches vs. Cancer Downtown Throwdown

Posted in CULTURE by Seth Fein on Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 9:00 am

Jill Guth knows a thing or two about what it means to be resilient. As the parent of a pediatric cancer survivor, and the pimary leasing agent for a commercial property company, it’s the name of the game.

America is still in a recession, and part of her job at JSM Properties is figuring out ways to encourage commerce while keeping the community in mind. Clothing fiends and hipsters give thanks: she is person responsible for bringing the likes of Urban Outfitters to Champaign-Urbana, which gave campustown it’s first all inclusive clothing store in decades.

And as a parent, she knows all too well what it means to be living in uncertainty. She took a moment to answer a few questions for us about the big Coaches vs. Cancer Downtown Throwdown event happening this weekend in conjunction with the arrival of the College GameDay crew for the Illinois Michigan State game on Saturday.

Smile Politely: How did you get involved with a project like this? Was this your idea? How have you been personally affected by cancer?

Jill Guth: Susan Toalson, TJ Blakeman, and Amy George met for coffee one morning with the goal of finding a way to do an event that will bring the “downtown districts” together. By downtown districts we mean, Campustown, Krannert Center District, Downtown Champaign, and Downtown Urbana. We felt there was a need for the districts to work together on an event and working on being one unit as opposed to three or four. I actually sit on the Coaches vs. Cancer committee of the American Cancer Society and we came up with the idea of creating this event. We checked with Bruce Weber and he loved the idea — and very quickly this all came together.

Personally, our son Nick is a cancer survivor. He was diagnosed at age 5 with a rare kidney tumor and endured 4 surgeries, 6 months of chemo and radiation. He is now a senior in high school and a member of the Mahomet golf team (going to play golf in college) and co-captain of the Mahomet Varsity Boys Basketball team.

SP: How long have you been with JSM? What is your role with the company?

JG: I have been with JSM since August 2004. I have a multi-faceted role. My primary role is commercial development/leasing. I manage all of JSM’s commercial properties and recruit tenants to lease space in one of our commercial properties. I also look for new development opportunities and all of our marketing efforts (both commercial and residential) for JSM. Finally, I manage JSM’s front office (residential leasing) operations and I manage our human resources issues.

SP: Is this something that JSM has been involved with for a while? What other causes does the company get behind?

JG: JSM has never been involved in Coaches vs Cancer. This has resulted from my involvement in the American Cancer Society and Coaches vs Cancer. JSM is involved in several initiatives: Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, the Boneyard Arts Festival, Pygmalion, USTA Tennis Challenger, and we are one of the six companies funding the SPLASH Grant Program.

SP: How do you see this event growing? Is it specific to the weekend with the Illini playing nationally televised sports, or could this be something that could become annual no matter what?

JG: Bruce and I have briefly discussed some opportunities to grow this event. Nothing is set in stone. We would like to do this annually and coincide with an Illini home basketball game. We feel Illini basketball is a huge draw in the community and brings many visitors to the [area]. Cancer has touched almost everyone and we feel bringing these two things together is going to be a positive. I already have retailer calling me with ideas and talking about having coordinated t-shirts for their employees.

SP: What ways can people get involved, and in what ways does the event need the most service?

JG: We need to get the word out to the community that they can participate on February 6th by just showing up at the participating retailers and enjoying the day. Visit your favorite restaurant or store and spend a few dollars to support this initiative.

The Downtown Throwdown takes place this Saturday February 6, 2010 in all major downtown shopping districts. The list of participating businesses is extensive — you can see them here.