Stephanie Nilva

Stephanie Nilva is the founding director of Day One, an organization that partners with New York City youth to end dating abuse and domestic violence through community education, supportive services, legal advocacy and leadership development. Prior to establishing Day One in October 2005, Stephanie was the Director of Break the Cycle New York, which she launched as the local office of a national organization in 2003.

Nilva has been working in the domestic violence field throughout her legal career, practicing family and matrimonial law, specializing in relationship abuse. She has published two articles for practitioners on the subject of teen dating abuse and appeared on national television as an expert in the field. 

Immediately following law school, Nilva was the recipient of a New York State IOLA Legal Services Fellowship designed to provide community education and direct representation in response to domestic violence in the Orthodox Jewish community.  Following her work in New York at both Legal Services for New York and New York Legal Assistance Group,  Nilva became the acting director and managing attorney at Community Law Center (now Law Center for Families) in Oakland, California. During her time in California, Nilva also provided direct representation to clients in family law proceedings throughout Alameda County. Nilva returned to New York and became the executive director of Legal Information for Families Today (LIFT), an organization devoted to helping individuals navigate the New York City child welfare and family court systems.