Meet Jodi Jill | Professional Puzzle Maker | Founder of National Puzzle Day – January 29

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jodi Jill and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jodi, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
Quote; “It’s not about where you have come from, it’s about where you are going to.”

Reason: As a kid, I was locked up in a storage unit for over 10 years, I didn’t go to school, I don’t have any childhood friends and I had many issues because I couldn’t read, write and my world was in the size of a garage that was dark and locked from the outside. That’s where I came from. And it lasted for years.

Out of all of that, in my heart I had hope and faith. I wanted to be someone who made a different in our world. It was a flicker of a hope. It was my strength of faith. It kept me going when things were bad. Very bad.

While we never really know where we are going, as the future is the biggest puzzle of them all, we can make choices. Good choices. One after another. Small choices, big choices and choices that define us in the present. Each time we do we are moving forward. Which will allow us to grow, live and experience things beyond our wildest dreams. And ultimately be the best of who we are today.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m the founder of National Puzzle Day and a puzzle creator. For over 22 years I’ve had a syndicated puzzle in print called Brain Baffler and I’ve created thousands of puzzles over the years. While I started my desire to make and share puzzles on paper, years ago I transferred my love of puzzles and games online with new puzzles added to my daily collection of thousands of puzzles on my Puzzles to Play website. I also make digital content for educators, teachers and schools.

My love of puzzles is more than a passion or brand, it’s who I am. Sitting down to compose a puzzle is wonderful work but so is sharing the joy of puzzles with others. My desire to celebrate puzzles has turned into an exciting yearly tradition as National Puzzle Day is on January 29.

Every year I encourage people from every walk of life to sit down and share a puzzle they love on National Puzzle Day. It could be a jigsaw puzzle, a crossword puzzle, playing Wordle, word search puzzle or even a favorite moment from an escape room. No matter what puzzle they love, people get online and share it on this special day.

Last year over 5 million people took to social media to talk puzzles. It’s quite humbling to see how people in our world can come together and celebrate puzzles without any hot button topics. We all just share a little puzzle joy that’s universal and special. When i started the National Puzzle Day over 20 years ago, I did it as a gift to me and frankly with all the millions of people who join my on my special day, I couldn’t be more humbled and happy.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The beauty of Los Angeles is the people moving within the community. It’s sort of like, well….a puzzle. LOL So whenever I have pals come by I want to show them the people, the hustle and the best side of our city. Which means forgoing most of the traditional spots and taking them to really see the beauty of Los Angeles in one place.

I’d take them to the corner of Vista del Mar Lane and Rindge. At this corner there is a stop sign which looks like nothing at first glance. However, if you look beyond it is the beauty of our city. On one side you will see the Hollywood Sign nestled against the hills and the skyscrapers standing downtown in all their glory. Turn your head again and the sights of Santa Monica come into view with the wheel slowly turning in the distance. And finally, shifting once again the Pacific shimmers to the west as the view of the Catalina Island come into vision with ships peacefully gliding across the water. If this isn’t enough, synchronized machines rumble across the skies full of passengers departing to destinations unknown.

And then I’d take them to In and Out for an amazing burger and hand them a map with places they should check out. With so many things to explore, guests will have a great time checking out the best city in the world.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shout out would be to librarians. They are the unsung heroes of our community, knowledge and world. Not only do they share the words, they also offer perspective and help our culture bring out the best. From the children’s librarian to the librarian who keeps an eye on the technology, they really our heroes. While many assume librarians are all about keeping the knowledge collected, they actually are one of the many reasons people learn more….they get to know their patrons and feed our curiosity. Once we get started looking for details and information, we never stop. It’s why librarians are so important in our world today.

For me personally, I learned to read later on in life. It was a librarian (in fact several) who pointed out simple books, offered books on tape and helped with my first discovery of the world. I will never forget the moment I was handed a coffee book with skyscrapers by a librarian. I had never seen such amazing buildings and felt an overwhelming need to see more. I know my passion for words and knowledge started with librarians.

Website: www.puzzlestoplay.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/jodijillinLA

Twitter: twitter.com/Jodijill

Facebook: facebook.com/jodijillinla