This week on Mother Up, we’re unlocking the secret to boosting confidence through mentorship with the incredible Illana Raia, CEO of Être. Illana shares how the right mentors can bridge the “confidence gap,” especially for girls navigating life’s challenges.

We also get real about Illana’s journey, from her high-powered career as a lawyer to the unexpected twists of motherhood. Transitioning between these two worlds wasn't easy, and finding the right support system made all the difference.

Illana breaks down how mentors can provide crucial exposure and feedback that fosters self-belief and why confidence is directly linked to having role models. If you’re ready to learn how mentorship can transform self-esteem for you or the next generation, this episode is for you!

Join us in the #EqualityLounge at #AWNewYork24 as we unveil The FQ’s International Day of the Girl campaign, featuring powerhouse girls from Etre, ages 10-17. Together, we will discuss how mentorship changes lives and builds confidence and the magic that happens when we come together to share and pair our collective power. Hear from girls who have the power to be everything from an F1 driver to a financial titan and more.

“Empowered” is out, and “inpowered” is in, according to The Female Quotient, an experience and media company advancing gender equality in the workplace.

The FQ teamed up with mentorship ecosystem Être, which matches girls with women in leadership roles, on “iamINPOWERED,” a print and digital campaign kicking off Thursday.

“iamINPOWERED” will be featured in The Guardian US and The New York Times, with outdoor media companies Clear Channel Outdoor and Outfront Media bringing it to billboards in New York’s Times Square.

The Female Quotient (The FQ), an experience and media company advancing gender equality in the workplace, today is launching a new social awareness campaign featuring girls from 10–17 years old proclaiming they have the power to be in the career they want when they grow up. This is in collaboration with Être, a mentorship ecosystem closing the confidence gap by bringing girls directly into companies and face to face with female leaders. An F1 driver, a Supreme Court justice, a CEO, and an Olympic medalist are some of the variety of careers the girls not only want, but understand they have the power from within to be. The #iamINPOWERED print and digital campaign debuts on October 10 followed by print and digital media beginning on October 11, International Day of the Girl.

"Today and everyday, girls should know they aren’t ‘empowered’, they are ‘inpowered," said Shelley Zalis, founder and CEO of The Female Quotient. "Let’s lose ‘empower’ from our vocabulary. Power isn’t something given, it’s something girls already possess."

“iamINPOWERED” will be featured in The Guardian US and The New York Times, with outdoor media companies Clear Channel Outdoor and Outfront Media bringing it to billboards in New York’s Times Square.

This week on Mother Up, we’re unlocking the secret to boosting confidence through mentorship with the incredible Illana Raia, CEO of Être. Illana shares how the right mentors can bridge the “confidence gap,” especially for girls navigating life’s challenges.

n this episode of the Women in Leadership Talk podcast, host Vicki Bradley sits down with Illana Raia, a former corporate lawyer turned entrepreneur and founder of Être Girls. Illana shares her journey from the legal world to launching a groundbreaking organization that helps young women gain confidence and envision their futures by connecting them with female role models from leading companies like Spotify, the United Nations, and NASDAQ.

Illana explains how Être, meaning "to be" in French, encourages girls as young as 10 to ask, "Who do I want to be?" rather than "What do I want to be?" Through mentoring, hands-on experiences, and inspirational conversations with industry leaders, Être provides girls with opportunities to engage with women from all fields, giving them the confidence to see themselves in those roles.

This conversation covers the importance of mentorship, the power of micro-mentorship moments, and how building confidence in girls at a young age can have a lifelong impact. Illana and Vicki also discuss the systemic barriers that young women face, the importance of representation in leadership, and how Illana’s platform is helping to level the playing field by creating a space for girls to raise their voices.

Illana chats to Stephanie about why mentors matter for girls and how she began 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. They've done the research and the stats are in fact staggering! Mentors matter as early as middle school because that’s precisely when girls’ confidence can falter. Were you aware that between the ages of 13 and 18 girls' confidence drops by 20%? Or that by the age of 14 girls drop their sport at 2X the rate of boys? Or that the sharpest fall-off of girls in computer science remains between 13 and 17? These are just a few data-driven facts Être shares and it's no wonder we need mentors early on in life. Watch until the end as Illana shares her story, top tips, challenges, and more. We would love to hear from you, did you have a mentor when you were starting out and how did they impact your confidence in the workplace?

We recently connected with Illana Raia and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Illana , we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

I developed my confidence and self-esteem largely thanks to the incredible women who’ve been part of my life. My grandmother, for instance, graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1936—a remarkable achievement, especially for a woman at that time. Her determination and pioneering spirit left a lasting impression on me.

One of the biggest aha! moments of Illana Raia’s life came quite unexpectedly.

As a corporate lawyer in New York City, Raia realized one day that her middle school-age daughter not only had no idea what she actually did, but she also was completely unaware of what her mother’s super-accomplished women friends did.

“It was a stunning revelation, honestly,” Raia said. “These very accomplished friends were CEOs, TV news anchors, doctors and more. They did amazing things and yet somehow my daughter had no idea who these women really were. So, I took her to see what they did.”

Through the experience with her daughter, Raia realized the importance of providing opportunities to interact with businesswomen, to ask questions and to learn firsthand from other accomplished women. What began as a mother's concern for her daughter's future blossomed into a global movement called Être — French for “to be” — designed to inspire young girls to dream big through mentorship opportunities.

On this month’s episode of Worth’s Leading Voices series, Laura Gerson, the director of Women and Worth, interviewed Illana Raia, the founder of Être—a fast growing mentorship program for girls.