About

Ilana Rehavia is a multimedia freelance journalist with extensive experience in print, online media, TV and radio. Specialising in fashion, lifestyle, travel and culture, with eight years’ experience working for the BBC while also producing celebrated content for different media organizations.

And something a bit more personal...

Fashion has always been my passion.

There were the yearly trips to the mall with my grandmother, who knew perfectly how to spoil me. The more frequent visits to the cheap shopping neighbourhood where, since I couldn't afford a different designer outfit for each school party, my mum got me a few skirts and tops to mix and match and I learnt the transforming power of accessorizing.

There were the afternoons spent rummaging through sales with my best friend, the sneaking into fashion shows through the loo (yes I did), the hours dissecting fashion magazines and, of course, the different looks I spent hours creating for my beloved Barbies.

And yet, on my first day at Journalism College, I answered "War Correspondent" when the professor asked what our career aspirations were. As you can probably gather though this site, I ended up changing my mind quite quickly about the whole war thing.

Still, my journey to get here wasn't exactly direct. While still in college, I landed a job at a radio station where I did almost everything there was to be done - including reporting about the chaotic traffic in Brazil from a helicopter, how cool is that? I then moved on to work as a culture reporter for a celebrated financial newspaper, where, for some strange reason, nobody called me crazy when I wanted to profile a punk icon or talk about the Brazilian sex hotels.

But there was something missing. While I loved my native São Paulo and the life I built there, I needed my world to be bigger. The size of the whole planet. So, in 2001, I sold my old car, bought a plane ticket, said some difficult goodbyes and took off to London for what was to be a year long adventure through Europe and Asia.

I got to work as a trainee sushi cook (despite never having cooked before), I sold clothes at Topshop, then I landed a dream job at the BBC: I traveled around, covered stories that ranged from the Tsunami anniversary in Indonesia to the Fetish Industry in Japan. One year became many and today this is the place I call home.

And, in a city where style is everywhere, I started to realise I wanted fashion and lifestyle and culture to be more than a passion and a mere aspect of my work. I wanted it to be my full time job. After producing and presenting a very eye opening documentary about the way Brazilian women view beauty, and being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey about the subject, I knew it was time to take the plunge; I did a masters in Fashion Journalism and, when the time was right, said farewell to wonderful years at the BBC to start working freelance.

All this brings me to here. London, Europe and the world are full of wonderful, powerful, transforming - and stylish - stories waiting to be told, and I love being able to tell them!

- Ilana