How Jill Scott’s family albums ended up in a Nashville thrift store and are finding their way back to her
Following a three-part TikTok saga, a young woman with a kind heart and a social media following united Jilly from Philly with her childhood memories.
Last weekend, a Nashville-based TikToker posted a 10- second clip of an unknown family’s photos she found at a thrift store. Her caption read, “the saddest thing i’ve ever seen at goodwill [sic].”
Then the internet rallied.
Social media users — not just on TikTok, but Instagram, X, and Facebook —helped recognize one of the smiling people in the wedding, family, and graduation photos. It was Philly’s own songstress Jill Scott.
Within hours, they were posting and reposting the images, messaging and tagging Scott, eager to connect the soulful singer and the young woman — who goes by Hannah and uses the TikTok handle @whatshannahinto.
A People report identified her as Hannah Peters.
Peters had no idea who Scott was at first. But when she learned who the Philadelphia-born actress and Grammy-winning artist was, she realized she recognized two of her songs. Scott’s most recent album, To Whom This May Concern debuted in the top 10 on seven Billboard charts last month.
Peters went back to the Goodwill a few days later to see if the photos were still there.
“Thankfully most of them were, including her school pictures” she said in the second video in the Scott saga. “Some of these photos were not of her, but since they were all placed together, I could not be 100% sure. I got them all just in case.”
Later in the video she confirmed Scott’s manager messaged her on TikTok, asking if she could get the photos to her.
“I’m in the process of that right now,” Peters said in a post.
The Inquirer reached out to Peters on TikTok, but she didn’t respond to messages at the time of publishing.
But she made her sentiment clear on social media.
» READ MORE: How to have a perfect Philly Day, according to Jill Scott
“Some people have told me these photos could [be] worth money,” she said in a video. “I don’t care. I know photos are special and meaningful to some people, so all I want from this is to make sure they get back to her family.”
Scott, who also lives in Nashville, posted a comment Wednesday, thanking Peters for finding the photos. She said she thinks her mother Joyce’s move may have caused the photos to end up in Goodwill.
Scott’s camp did not respond to comment requests either.
“How does one’s personal pictures end up at Goodwill,” Scott wrote on X, “My mommy moved. We’re all grateful to get the pictures back. I’ll let you know when they arrive.”
They should be on their way soon.
Peters posted the final video in the Jill Scott TikTok saga on Friday morning, from the UPS Store.
“If it wasn’t for y’alls help, I wouldn’t have been able to get the photos back to her,” Peters said after placing the photos in a box along with a note telling Scott she “was happy she came across the photos and grateful to get them back to her.”
She asked for tracking because, after all, she was shipping the photos all the way to Beverly Hills. (Writer’s note: Wait a minute, could it be Jilly from Philly working on a new Hollywood project?) Peters’ video ends with her sending the box off and going back to her car breathing a sigh of relief.
“This has been quite the interesting experience,” she tells the camera before signing off. “I may not have been super familiar with her before, but I definitely will be now.”
And we are sure Scott, won’t forget the kindness Peters displayed, either.