Ilana Nankin, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Founder & CEO at Breathe For Change.



Dr. Ilana Nankin is the Founder & CEO of Breathe For Change, an organization on a mission to enhance the health and well-being of educators, students, and entire communities. Ilana is an award-winning entrepreneur, teacher educator, and former San Francisco pre-k teacher committed to using wellness as a vehicle for healing and social change. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at University of Wisconsin. Her research revealed the critical connection between educator well-being and student learning, and the positive impact that wellness and social-emotional learning can have on teachers and students’ lives.



Inspired by her research, Ilana founded Breathe For Change, which offers mind-body wellness, social-emotional learning, and yoga teacher trainings for educators and community leaders, and provides wellness and SEL professional development for schools, districts, and organizations. Since 2015, Breathe For Change has certified over 5,000 educators through their 200-hour Wellness, SEL and Yoga Teacher training and since COVID, is now impacting thousands more through their transformative digital trainings.