Gillis has been the subject of a number of press articles, with The New York Times describing her as "the closest thing world music has to a doyenne".
[1] From 1972 to 1978, Gillis recorded traditional music in Afghanistan, Iran, Kashmir, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Surinam, and Ghana.
[2] From 1984, Gillis worked on career development with international musicians including Youssou N'dour from Senegal (The Guide (Wommat)), Yomo Toro from Puerto Rico; Salif Keita form Mali, and Carlinhos Brown from Brazil.
In 1996, she was hired as a consultant by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to accompany musicians on a trip to Angola, Liberia, Kenya and South African, to witness first hand the results of ethnic cleansing.
She has performed "sit down comedy" – and has a One Older Woman show Tales from Geriassic Park - On the Verge of Extinction which won Best Comedic Script in 2014 at the United Solo Theatre Festival in NYC> She has published three books, I Just Want to be Invited - I Promise Not to Come,I'll Never Know If I Would Have Gotten The Same Results if I'd Been Nice.