When You Dare to Say Yes: Jill Derby and Nevada Activism

In 1973, a radical choice that Jill Derby made while under pressure changed the trajectory of her career from a potential profession in academia to that of a lifelong political activist. When You Dare to Say Yes is a decades-spanning account of how a conservative and conventional upbringing, which began in rural Nevada, evolved into progressive political activism that influenced the course of the state’s education system and advanced women’s gender equality in public life.

Derby’s account of the awakening of her post-college experience living abroad and stories of her global travels infuse this memoir with an international perspective and entertaining vignettes. Ultimately, Derby shares her personal understanding of the transformative power of living among different cultures.

Jill Derby grew up in Los Gatos, California, but spent her early childhood on the family Flying Flapjack Ranch near Lovelock, Nevada, and every summer through college on the shores of Lake Tahoe in Glenbrook. She earned a BS from the University of California, San Francisco, and after living abroad and traveling widely, returned to Nevada to earn her BA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and both her MA and PhD from the University of California, Davis. Her political activism started in the mid-1970s with her involvement in Nevada’s effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1988, she was elected to the first of three six-year terms on the Nevada Board of Regents. She was the Democratic candidate for Congress in Nevada’s Second Congressional District in both 2006 and 2008. Derby is currently a Senior Fellow with the Association of Governing Board of Universities and Colleges, and Chairs the Board of the American University in Sulaimani, Iraqi Kurdistan.