Pulse: Character: Jill Scott


“My personal life is a mess,” Scott says, and while it’s true — she’s been abroad for months, her grandma (“My sweetheart”) is sick, friends just threw a surprise shower for the baby boy she and fiancé Lil’ Jon Roberts will welcome next month — she sounds so tranquil that you wish the mess would rub off on you. How does someone so busy — three-time-Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, actress, poet, lingerie designer — stay centered? Maybe Scott’s taking cues from her star role as Precious Ramotswe in the new HBO series The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, filmed in Botswana and debuting March 29th. The Girls’ High grad, ex-Temple student and Northern Liberties resident, 36, says Precious has a message for America at its current crossroads: Do your part. “She’s kind and gentle, but she wants to ensure that her country is taken care of, that the unjust come to justice. Imagine if everyone was like that.”