Illana Raia
Founder and CEO of Être
Recently named one the first 250 entrepreneurs on the Forbes Next 1000 List, Illana is the founder and CEO of Être – a mentorship platform for girls. Believing that mentors matter as early as middle school, Illana brings girls directly into companies they select to meet female leaders face to face. Illana is a member of the International Space Station U.S. National Lab Education Subcommittee and serves on the National Girls’ Collaborative Champions Board.
Connect with Illana:
There's no question that mentorship platforms within your own firm are good -- they're good for your people and they're good for your business.
Illana Raia
Episode 034
Show Notes
Brief summary of show:
What is the value of a great mentor? Why does mentorship matter for lawyers?
You may think back to your time as a junior associate and remember the specific people who impacted and helped shape your career from the beginning. Even if they didn’t know it, or if you didn’t realize it at the time, that’s a form of mentorship.
In this episode, we’re exploring why mentorship is a crucial piece when it comes to helping the next generation of lawyers grow, and I couldn’t think of anyone better to join me for this conversation than Illana Raia.
Recently named one the first 250 entrepreneurs on the Forbes Next 1000 List, Illana is the founder and CEO of Être – a mentorship platform for girls. Believing that mentors matter as early as middle school, Illana brings girls directly into companies they select to meet female leaders face to face. Illana is a member of the International Space Station U.S. National Lab Education Subcommittee and serves on the National Girls’ Collaborative Champions Board.
Illana has also authored 60+ articles for HuffPost, Ms. Magazine, Worth and Thrive Global, and her award-winning book Être: Girls, Who Do You Want To Be? was released on Day of the Girl 2019. Her next book, The Epic Mentor Guide, arrives March 2022. Prior to launching Être, Illana was a corporate attorney at Skadden Arps and a guest lecturer at Columbia University. She graduated from Smith College and the University of Chicago Law School, and lives happily in NYC.
We talk about:
• [1:10] How Être was founded
• [4:02] The evolution of Être over the years
• [8:35] How attorneys can get involved in mentorship
• [21:35] How Illana’s very first mentor changed the life
• [23:40] The ways in which Illana has developed into an incredible mentor
• [28:10] Illana’s book recommendation for busy lawyers
Illana Raia's Book
From the publisher:
Fran Hauser, best-selling author of The Myth of the Nice Girl, follows up with a workbook for women who want to get more out of their careers. Embrace the Work, Love Your Career combines accessible advice, time-tested strategies, creative prompts, and thoughtful exercises into one holistic resource.
Stemming from years of experience in senior leadership at Time Inc.’s People, InStyle and Entertainment Weekly as well as AOL and Coca-Cola Enterprises, Hauser centers her career guidance around six main actions:
- Fall in love with your career
- Design your career action plan
- Create time and space
- Know your value
- Build your dream team
- Reflect and reset
Each chapter starts with practical advice and includes prompts and exercises to help readers create their own personal career action plans. Palate-cleansing meditations and coloring breaks conclude each chapter, offering chances for calming reflection. Through simple, inspiring, and actionable tools, Embrace the Work, Love Your Career teaches women to be empowered to focus on the things that truly matter, set boundaries and, ultimately, realize their full potential.
Embrace the Work, Love Your Career by Fran Hauser
Calculator for discovering your marketing budget
