She was born in Tatarstan and was raised in the Islamic faith. She graduated cum laude from the Moscow University Department of Economics in 1987 and defended her Candidate of Economic Sciences (PhD)thesis at the same institution in 1994. In the 1990’s Ilzija worked in financial management for a number of Estonian companies. From 2001 onwards she has worked as an Associate Professor and taught courses including Financial Management, Finance and Banking, Management Accounting and Controlling. Ilzija provides training in both Estonian and international in house training projects. In 2008 the Institute of Certified Financial Managers (UK)noted her as their best trainer in finance. Her main areas of research are behavioural finance and its core beliefs, the unique characteristics and identity of the Estonian Russians and education in the languages of ethnic minorities.