UA: What inspired you to pursue a political career?
Rep. Jill Schupp: When my kids were young I got involved in the parent’s association. I loved doing that and I was a co-president. But there were some things in the district that I felt needed changing and I wasn’t able to change them in my role as a president of the parent’s association. I decided to run for school board and really that’s what started this. Once you get in and see that you really make change I think it gives you the courage and the voice you need to move forward and see what you can do to change your small world or grow larger as I have in my work for the State of Missouri.
UA: Your kids motivated your start in public service. What are they doing now?
JS: They’re great kids. Brandon is the older one; he’s 25 and works for Price Waterhouse Cooper in consulting and in the healthcare field so he broke into a great field. He’s doing really well in his work. He travels all the time and we see him once every four or five weeks, so it’s really good. I just talked to someone at a dinner the other night who said they had met him and said they were so impressed with him and my kids talk easily to other people. I was always pretty shy, they are well mannered and respectful and I think it’s great. I think Alex, my younger son, has found his dream job. He’s at a startup social media company in Boston. This kid who is all about chatting and talking and being sociable is doing what he loves best. Actually, he just got a pretty significant promotion and is now a vice president of the company. He was made vice president at the age of 24, which is actually a bit younger than the age his mother became a vice president. They are great kids and they make me proud all the time.
UA: Why run for senate? Why now?
JS: That seat is up. I’m not termed out of the House, but I think it’s a good time for me. It’s a place where I believe I can have more of an impact. I look forward to working in an environment where there are fewer people so we know each other better and maybe delve more deeply into issues together. I think it’s a real opportunity and I think the people in my district are actually looking for somebody with common sense, somebody they can trust to represent them in Jefferson City.
UA: What do you hope your legacy in the General Assembly will be?
JS: I would hope that it would be that I brought to the table not only some good ideas but some questions that made us think about the long term ramifications of the policies we put into place. I think at the end of the day everyone comes here to do good for the state but sometimes, particularly in a term limited environment, we get focused on the short term and forget that there is a long term. I’m hopeful that people will see me as someone who is reasonable and wants to make good change that affects us in a positive way in the long term.
UA: We have a theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their favorite movie so what’s yours? What do you think it says about you?
JS: Oh gosh, this is so weird. I think I would call it my favorite movie, because I thought it was so interesting how it was crafted. So, you’re going to go yuck, but Pulp Fiction. I loved how it became this whole circle and how small actions and reactions created this interesting, scary, horrible story, but that they brought it back full circle. I saw how everything you do impacts something else but brought it back to where it started from. It was a movie that gave me this visual of a spiral and I love that about it. In terms of its content, I wouldn’t say that it makes me happy, there are other feel-good movies that I love. There was a movie years ago that I loved called A Little Romance. I just thought it was sweet and lovely and about young love and hope for the future, so I love movies that provide hopefulness.
