lliana Santillan was born in Mexico City to a Chilango (CDMX) father and a Purepecha (Michoacán) mother. She moved to the United States in the 90s and spent her teenage years in Washington State. Iliana loves the warm weather and the South in general, so she made the decision to leave the West Coast and move to North Carolina in 2003. Iliana worked as an ESL Instructional Assistant and developed a passion for teaching and education, she got her teaching degree from Meredith College in 2008 and taught ESL in Sanford and Apex for about 10 years. Her passion and determination to do more for her community lead her to NCSU where she got her Masters in Family Life and Youth Development in 2015. Iliana transitioned from being a teacher to becoming a well-known community organizer. She worked at El Pueblo for 4 years, her work consisted of working with youth and adult community leaders to push for drivers licenses and in-state tuition. Iliana also served as NC Director Juntos, an NC State University’s program with the mission to help Latino students achieve high school graduation and attend higher education. Currently, Iliana is the former People’s Power Director at Poder NC Action and the current Executive Director of El Pueblo.