Ilana Tabby

After graduating college with a degree in Slavic Languages and Linguistics, I worked in restaurants for 11 years before making a major career pivot into manufacturing in 2019. I started with a night school welding class, which led to a job in a metal fabrication shop, and eventually I was recruited to the factory where I currently work as a CNC machinist specializing in medical precision work. Being a woman in manufacturing puts me in the minority, but I believe it actually gives me an advantage because I'm very recruitable. I use my Russian language skills every day at work since we have immigrants from 60 plus countries at my workplace, and particularly in the past few years, many Ukrainians have come in knowing no English, so I'm able to talk to them and help them learn English. Alongside my manufacturing career, I have maintained a steady involvement in nonprofit development since my early 20s, when Lawanda Horton, who I consider my mentor, took me under her wing. She has consulted nonprofits on fundraising for 20 years, and we still consult other nonprofits together. In 2023, she started her own nonprofit called Mission Forward, and now we are able to use our expertise on our own projects as well. I've been organizing with Germantown Community Fridge since 2023, working with refrigerators that are out on the street for use 24-7 for people to donate and take what they need. These two community fridges went out at the beginning of the pandemic, and my work with them has fused with my work with Lawanda, as Germantown Community Fridge is now fiscally sponsored by Mission Forward while we wait for our 501c3 to come through.