By day, Ilina is the Director of Community Engagement for the Dix Park Conservancy. She is also a contributing writer for Walter magazine, and she was recently named one of the nation’s top working mom bloggers by Working Mother magazine. Ilina served as Chief of Staff to the First Lady of North Carolina for over two years. Before that, she had her own brand strategy consulting business for 15 years and spent the early years of her career at American Express and advertising agencies. She is known as an "accidental activist" who advocates for myriad issues that stem from ACEs, adverse childhood experiences, and uses her voice as a champion for children. Specifically, she works to reduce childhood hunger, eliminate child abuse, support public education, advocate for global vaccines, and fight for access to affordable healthcare. She uses her voice literally and figuratively as a public speaker and writer who talks about advocacy, family engagement, finding and using your voice, and social justice. Ilina has over 25 years of marketing and communications experience and earned an MS in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University and a BA in History from the University of Virginia. She is a doting mom to two teenage sons and has been married to her biggest champion for 19 years. She abhors sans serif fonts and loves the Oxford comma. When Ilina isn’t working or writing, you can find her reading, cooking, or daydreaming about her next world adventure.

Talk Title: What are ACEs and how can playing in a park help heal kids and families?