Ilana has been serving the Jewish educational community in New York City in multiple capacities for over 20 years. Before founding the Shefa School, she served as the Director of The Saul and Carole Zabar Nursery School at the JCC in Manhattan. Prior to being named to this position, she worked at the JCC as Director of Young Families and then as Senior Director of Family Life, supervising programs serving families and children from birth to eighteen years old. Ilana began her teaching career at the Central Park East School in Harlem and went on to become a founding teacher at the Ella Baker School, an alternative public school in Manhattan. She then worked as an Early Childhood Curriculum Consultant for the Children’s Aid Society, where she developed curricula with directors and teachers in daycare, Head Start and private nursery school programs throughout the city. In 2016, Ilana was a recipient of the Covenant Award.