Ally Shapiro has always had an artistic eye. When she was still in high school, she told Intelligencer that fans were already purchasing some of her photography, adding, "One of my dreams is to own a gallery with my photographs in it!"
Jill Zarin told The Daily Dish that Shapiro attended Vanderbilt University, but at some point after she graduated, Shapiro had a heart-to-heart with her mom about what she really wanted to do with her life. She decided to turn her love of art into a career by getting her Master's degree at Sotheby's Institute of Art in London, and she graduated in 2019. "When she becomes an art dealer, check her out," Zarin said.
Shapiro landed a job at an auction house, but she found herself without work not long after the pandemic hit. Then a friend's mother taught her how to tie-dye plain white face masks, and a trying time became the opportunity of a lifetime. "I casually posted them to my IG stories and you guys went WILD. In a few hours I created a Google doc and started taking Venmo's of $85-$100 for a pack of tie dye masks," Shapiro wrote on Instagram. Her mom helped her turn her pandemic pastime into a fully realized business, Jill + Ally, and by May 2022, the mother-daughter team was profiled by Forbes. "I wouldn't trade this adventure and learning experience for anything," Shapiro said.
