Iliana Paulino

Iliana Paulino  ·  Vancouver, BC

Hey there!Come on in.

I’m Iliana: a Dominican lawyer gone academic researcher, by way of kitchens and Vancouver. This is my home on the internet, where I keep my stories, my curiosities, and everything time has taught me. Make yourself comfortable!

Sit on The CouchMeet your hostgo ahead, it’s comfy
The door is always open✦Something is always cooking✦Pull up a chair✦Hecho en Santo Domingo✦Powered by curiosity and coffee✦Ask me anything✦The door is always open✦Something is always cooking✦Pull up a chair✦Hecho en Santo Domingo✦Powered by curiosity and coffee✦Ask me anything✦

The living room

The Couch is where the stories live.

Pull up a seat
An open notebook with a pen resting on a wooden surface

De la Cocina

Why I wrote my first menu in a notebook

A vintage typewriter in low light

Dos Lenguas

Two languages, one brain

A laptop displaying code on a desk

Código

The first AI tool that changed my mind

The kitchen

Everything I know, I learned next to a stove.

I ran a seafood bistro in Santo Domingo, redesigned kitchen operations in Vancouver, and spent a season on the line at Stanley Park Brewing. Restaurants are the most honest small business there is: they teach you pressure, hospitality, margins, and the small choices behind a good service.

When I write about food, business, or people, that is the kitchen I am writing from.

Stories from the kitchen
A chef plating a dish mid-service in a professional kitchen
somewhere mid-service

The study

What I’m up to right now.

July 2026

  • Writing the first issues of The Couch, one story at a time.
  • Working as a research assistant at University Canada West, on urban resilience with the URSA alliance.
  • Fresh MBA graduate, and still a student at heart: my Master of Science in Management at the University of Illinois continues.
  • Building small tools with Claude Code, and convincing every small business owner I meet that AI is for them too.
  • Keeping my French alive, un petit peu every day.
IP

that’s me, photo coming soon!

Meet your host

“If I had to be born again, I would not change a single thing.”

Curious by nature, independent by practice. Lawyer first, restaurateur after, researcher now, student always. The long version of the story, family included, lives one click away.

My whole story

The guest book

Before you go, say hi!

A note about something I wrote, a book I should read, a recipe you tried, or just a hello. I read everything, and I write back.

hello@ilianapaulino.comAll the ways to reach me