Board member template is a strategist and social entrepreneur whose work focuses on rural communities. Pilar returned to her hometown of Perry, New York, in Wyoming County, where she works on Shake on the Lake professional theatre company (co-founder) and Silver Lake Brewing Project (co-owner). 

She studied Rural Sociology and Applied Economics & Management at Cornell University and received a Ph.D. in Social Research Methodology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She taught public and strategic communication at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, American University, and the College at Brockport. She has spoken about her community development through rural arts at the Smithsonian Institution, National Rural Assembly, and the New York Statewide Preservation Conference.