She worked for nine years for the BBC World Service, and has a diploma from the London School of Public Relations. Widespread experience in use of the media for education and awareness-raising includes work for the World Bank, the EU and the British government in aid projects across the former Soviet bloc and beyond.

Lily worked as reporter/presenter, senior producer, media consultant and trainer on a range of topics from agriculture and environment to small business and civil society. Fluent in English, Russian and Ukrainian, with some French and Polish, she left the BBC World Service Trust in 2001 to become an independent consultant.

She has since worked on a variety of projects across Europe and Asia, both for public and private clients, including training the staff of the Georgian parliament in presentation skills for Transparency International. Among her proudest achievements was directing a British government project to support the independence of the media in her native Ukraine prior to the Orange Revolution of 2005.