Originally from Turkey, Isil Yildiz grew up in Plainview, Texas. She earned her BA in Political Science from Yale in 2004 and then earned a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2007. Following law school, Yildiz moved to New York City and practiced litigation with a focus on white-collar defense and investigations and securities litigation. She left the law after six years and now works as a real estate agent with Compass, specializing in residential sales in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Yildiz lives in Gramercy Park with her husband and their two children. Yildiz has been involved with yale.NYC (the Yale Alumni Association of New York) since 2015, first as chair of the communications committee and since 2017 as President. During her tenure, she spearheaded the re-brand of the New York City-based alumni organization into yale.NYC and made it a priority to increase engagement and collaboration among other local Yale alumni groups. In addition, Yildiz serves as secretary for the Class of 2004.