For two decades, Jill Buckley was considered one of the top media consultants in the country, operating a national firm based in Washington DC.  She shared her expertise in training sessions around the country for Democratic candidates, including being a catalyst for one of the first DNC candidate schools.  Throughout her career, she had a special passion for training and coaching women considering a run for office.

As one the first women to craft and produce political advertising, Jill Buckley was a role model for the dozens of women who followed in her footsteps. As she noted in interviews, she was frequently the only woman in the room at campaign strategy meetings.  She also broke down consulting business barriers as one of the first women to run her own national media firm. 

Buckley teamed up with Joe Rothstein in 1972 to form the Rothstein/Buckley media consulting firm, one of the first media consulting firms co-owned by a woman. From 1982 – 1992, she was a partner at the FMR Group and also ran her own public affairs firm, Jill Buckley & Associates.

In 1997, Jill Buckley was the only woman chosen to participate when the AAPC decided to interview 18 prominent and pioneering political consultants for an archive project in collaboration with George Washington University.  The other consultants interviewed were: Charlie Black, Joe Cerrell, Wally Clinton, Walter DeVries, Bob Goodman, Charles Guggenheim, Bill Hamilton, Peter Hart, Joe Napolitan, Matt Reese, Stuart Spencer, Ray Strother, Robert M. Teeter, Richard Wirthlin, Jim Innocenzi, Michael Rowan, and Paul O. Wilson, many of whom are now in the AAPC Hall of Fame or have been honored in other ways.

Buckley created advertising for Senators Tom Daschle, Quentin Burdick, Floyd Haskell, Pat Leahy, Ed Muskie and George McGovern, among others.  Buckley also consulted for the National Committee for an Effective Congress on targeted races around the country and for many state Democratic parties.

Jill Buckley left consulting in 1993 and accepted a full time job at USAID as Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs during the Clinton Administration.