A native of Fort Scott, Kansas, Lillis Werder attended Georgetown University in Washington, DC graduating from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service majoring in International Politics, with a fluency in the Spanish language. Since college, Lillis has remained in DC working in the stock brokerage and foreign exchange businesses, information technology and education fields. After a long career at IBM, she went on to fulfill her creative goal and studied to become a photographer. Now, a fine art and event photographer, she heads her own business, Lillis Photography. She exhibits her work in several art galleries and juried art shows in the DC area.


Lillis is the primary photographer for a nonprofit organization, American Friends of the Czech Republic (AFoCR), whose mission is to promote ties and relations between the United States and the Czech Republic. In this capacity, Lillis covers gala dinners in the United States and the Czech Republic, as well as Embassy events, often photographing world leaders.


Lillis travels frequently to Europe and other foreign locations for images which are sold worldwide to newspapers, magazines, books, catalogs, calendar and post card companies and web sites for advertising purposes through internet stock photography sales on Getty Images- owned istockphoto.com. Her stock photography sales have reached nearly 30,000 images. Lillis also provides architectural photographs of home interiors for various Virginia realtors through web sites and written publications.


Lillis sells her art year-round at the Art League in Alexandria located in the Torpedo Factory, Mill Street Gallery in Occoquan, through public exhibits with the F11 Women's Photography Collective, historic homes, and specialty shops. Her images have been featured on web sites such as National Geographic, RedBook Magazine, The Lancet, AFoCR.org, etc., and publications such as the Washington Post, Manassas Journal Messenger, Elan Magazine, the quarterly AFoCR Newsletter, numerous local business brochures, and has graced the covers of regional Yellow Pages books. She has self-published over 20 photography books available for purchase at www.blurb.com and prints of her images can be purchased online at various web stores such as imagekind.com, finartamerica.com, and etsy.com. Lillis resides in Northern Virginia and is a member of the Prince William County Chamber of Commerce.