Lawyer, Lecturer, Founder of Être

When Illana’s daughter was in grade school, she emailed some girlfriends and asked if they would take part in a one-day “girls summit” at her home. She pictured her daughter and her friends gaining wisdom from accomplished women – writers, surgeons, CEOs, designers, attorneys, news anchors. This idea lead to the founding of Être , a place girls can go to help them find their own path in life, and what they want “to be.”

To hear the full Women to Watch™ Media interview with Illana, listen below.

Full Biography

Illana Raia is a lawyer, a guest lecturer at Columbia University and the founder of Être – a new resource and mentoring site for motivated girls. Offering curated links and role model quotes, Être is designed to keep girls close to the subjects they love while encouraging financial confidence, philanthropy and young entrepreneurship along the way. As Être means “To Be,” the goal is to help today’s girls figure out who they want to be.

Prior to launching Être, Illana was an attorney with Skadden, Arps in NYC – first in the Mergers & Acquisitions group and later as the Firm’s first Counsel in Knowledge Strategy. Illana graduated cum laude from Smith College, interned with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and has a law degree from The University of Chicago, where she was Managing Editor of The Legal Forum. Named a Mogul Influencer in 2017, Illana is participating in the Balance Project Interviews and was recently profiled in Forbes. Illana is married, has two children and lives happily in the same small town in New Jersey where she was raised. She remains unapologetically nerdy.

For more information on Illana, check out the links below!