Illana Raia is the founder and CEO of the mentorship platform Être (French for “to be”). It creates face-to-face connections between 15-25-year-old girls and women in leadership, providing a vast and diverse array of resources.
Previously a corporate attorney at Skadden Arps and a guest lecturer at Columbia University, Raia made a significant career pivot when she realized that her young daughter had no idea what she, or any of her friends, did for a living. The fashion designers, CEOs, surgeons, authors, and others that made up Raia’s inner circle were known simply as “your friend from book club,” or something similar. So, Raia set up lunches with her friends and daughter, encouraging her to ask every question she could think of. Seeing the gap between the next generation of young girls and the incredible progress women have made in the workforce, Raia founded Être.
Raia is the author of two award-winning books, The Epic Mentor Guide and Être: Girls, Who Do You Want to Be? She tells Worth readers, “Bring girls into your organizations and face-to-face with female leaders. Mentors matter…and the earlier, the better.” She continues, “For smart companies that want to see more women in the boardroom—the time is right to save seats for girls.”
