Ilia Young Portfolio

May 2026 · Chapel Hill, NC

Dear visitor,

Hello! My name is Ilia Young and I'm so excited to get to introduce myself to you! First, I just want to say welcome and thank you for checking out my portfolio!

I'm currently a rising 3rd year student within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media. I've taken creative classes throughout my time, and have found a niche in working on political campaign communications!

Creating a portfolio in this format allows me to truly showcase my appreciation for traditional and comfortable methods of communication. In a time of ever-changing technological advances, maintaining a calm and welcoming environment is essential.

You'll learn a bit more about my committment to human connection as you move through this site, and I'm excited to share my passions with you! You'll find the best ways to contact me at the bottom of the page, I'd love to hear from you!

Cheers!
Ilia Young

About Me

I mentioned earlier my student status and interests, but if you're interested in specifics, I'm a Journalism (Political Communications focus) and Public Policy double major, with a minor in Social and Economic Justice. I'm open to any internships or professional work opportunities, and I'm set to graduate in May 2028.

Outside of my major, I invest much time in Housing Student Affairs within my student organization- the Residence Hall Association. I work on the student executive board as well as the South Atlantic Association of College and University Residence Halls' Regional Student Board.

I don't want to spoil too much, but below is a deeper dive into my responsibilites!

Ilia standing with delegates at a regional residential leadership conference.

Ilia standing with the regional board of directors.

2026 ✦ Engagement

Regional & National Engagement

Regional:

Within the South Atlantic Affiliate of College and Univeristy Residence Halls (SAACURH), I serve as the National Communications Coordinator for my Residence Hall Association. Working alongside 300+ other student residential leaders from across 13 states and dozens of universities, we pass organzational legislation, create educational sessions, and recognize outstanding leaders at our two annual regional conferences. Outside of the fall and spring in person conferences, we meet virutally biweekly to decide business and complete committee work. This year, I've been an active member of the Strategic Planning and Leadership & Advocacy Committees.

National:

I serve on the Regional Board of Directors as the Regional Leadership Conference Chair. Managing my own team of 15 UNC students, it's my responsibility to communicate our conference planning progress to the appropriate regional and national directors and advisors. The conference which my team and I are planning is the first in 30+ years to be held at Carolina! Planning a conference for 300+ students to attend on our campus next fall is truly a labor of love!

Ilia with UNC Residence Hall Association members.

The entire RHA at our fall training summit led by the executive board.

RHA Executive Board at a sustainability program.

A few executive board members running a sustainability event for on-campus residents.

RHA Fall Executive Board in front of the Belltower.

A photo of the Fall 2025 RHA executive board in front of the Belltower.

Carolina Connections

Working on the local UNC level truly allows me to connect with and maintain meaningful relationships with on-campus residents and professional staff members here at Carolina. Working mostly alongside our 12-person executive board to advocate for residents and plan engaging programs creates memories for students that will last a lifetime!

Ilia posing with Rameses with a Carolina Housing Award.

Ilia posing with RHA advisor and RHA President.

2026 ✦ Recognition

Recognition

This spring at Carolina, I've been recognized for my work within our professional parent organization, Carolina Housing. This Rising Leader award propels me into the next year and confirms that my work in planning to host the 2026 fall Regional Leadership Conference is making positive impacts.

I was also awarded the Robert White Linker Chancellors's Award from the National Residence Hall Honorary for my influential work in residential leadership.

Finally, last fall, I was presented a high SAACURH recognition, a Golden Louie Pin, from the now Regional Director-Elect, Matthew Parkis, who is an undergraduate student at the University of Florida.

Human Skills

Since the world has become increasingly tech heavy over the last few years, it's been my priority to create face-to-face connections with people. True human interaction can't be replaced, and is honestly missed in anything that it is replaced with.

Take a real example now. As a member of the Carolina Dining Services Student Dining Board, I work with CDS to ensure student satisfaction at on-campus dining locations. Earlier this year, ordering kiosks were installed at many dining locations across campus. Our student feedback prompted a discussion about how we as young people miss the interaction with workers and how it wasn't the inconveneice that the officials were making it out to be.

In a generation of screen, time, and efficiency obsessed companies, organizations, and people, it's more important than ever to remember to slow down and actually have real discussions.

Listening to others and interacting before acting can create significant connection and real positive repercussions.

Chuck Stone Scholars from 2023 reunite for 2025 closing ceremony.

Ilia Young · 2025

CSP alumna with Program Director Livis Freeman.

Ilia Young · 2024

Professional Development

As a Chuck Stone Scholar, I've built upon my professional development skills throughout the years. Working alongside Hussman professors to create a true brand and understand my strengths within the field has proven extremely helpful. The Chuck Stone Program for Diversity in Media led me to the Hussman school and confirmed that Journalism was the field for me.

During the last year or so, I've had the opportunity to take a few political communications classes within Hussman. I've absolutely loved each one that I've taken and felt like that field clicked. These programs and classes have supported me in finding a career field and allowing me to create concrete and achieveable goals for my future within political communications.

These opportunities have shown me that I have the ability to create change, and how close it is. It's thrilling and makes me excited about the tangible future that I feel I have available to me!

Ilia and friends volunteering at a marching band competition at Wake Forest.

Ilia Young · 2025

Ilia works at a Habitat for Humanity build.

Ilia Young · 2026

Philanthropic Efforts

As a member of the National Residence Hall Honorary Chapter of Janus, I have the duty to volunteer and work with my peers to create a better tommorrow. This spring, I had the opportunity to work at the Carolina Housing: Habitat for Humanity: Build-A-Blitz during the month of March. Coming back to the root of housing and connecting back to why we do what we do was an important step for all students who volunteered at this event.

On a personal interest level, I volunteer yearly at the "Greatest Show on Turf," a professional marching band competition hosted at Wake Forest University. As a lover of the marching arts, and a part-time highschool color-guard coach, it's important to me to continue to volunteer at these recreational events. Keeping contact with fans and other staff creates a network of unlikely friends. There may be a common show or interest that keeps everyone coming together, but without the people who run the show, the magic cannot go on! I mark the date for Nightbeat off on my calendar every year so that I might have the chance to volunteer again and be reunited with that incredible friend group!

AI Skills

I hope that you've gotten a glimpse of my personality and some values from the rest of my portfolio. It is important to acknowledge the world and career shift we're moving toward, that is, this age of AI that is rapidly approaching. I do have strong personal concerns with AI, however, I can wholly understand and appreicate its abilities to support human work. Independence from AI is essential, however, it is an incredibly useful and helpful tool.

This being said, I do consider myself capable of, and willing to, work with AI systems to create better outputs. In the field of Journalism, the name of the game is objectivity. I've recently used the LLM Claude (and to a much less extent ChatGPT as well), and after a few months of working with it, I asked it to provide a description of me in "granular detail." It's response? "I don't have enough data about you personally to create a profile." This showcases my ability to work productively with the platforms without giving up personal or sensitive information. This translates directly into the journalism field, where everything is about maintaining privacy and dismissing bias.

All in all, I think we can embrace AI and I can adjust to most efficiently implement it into necessary tasks.