The Epic Mentor Guide Turns One! Fifty-Two Epic Editions of Workplace Q&A

I love birthdays. Anyone who knows me will tell you this.

I love all of the celebrating – the cake and candles, confetti hurled in the air, the hats, full hearts, and hope that comes from bringing a new year of goals to light.

This birthday – watching The Epic Mentor Newsletter cross the 1 year mark – is a big one for me. Launched last May 8th in response to The Epic Mentor Guide’s success, I was warned that starting a weekly newsletter would be a huge time commitment. Maybe too much.

Oh, but it wasn’t.

Instead, it sparked a new conversation between next gen girls and LinkedIn’s leading women, collecting authentic workplace questions and getting them answered by women who know. And the best part? It feels like we’ve only just begun.

Cake & Candles.

First, the numbers.

In 52 weeks we’ve issued 52 editions of The Epic Mentor Guide, answering questions from Être girls and teens in 10 countries who are eyeing the workplace for the first time. We’ve interviewed or featured over 200 women across more than 25 industries, touching on topics like equal pay, inclusive boards, female mentorship, diving in, taking the mic, stepping back and vaulting to new heights.

We haven’t missed a week and, more important, the mentors we’ve reached haven’t missed an opportunity to share essential wisdom with next gen girls.

The Confetti.

And what wisdom they’ve offered!

 From 3M's "100 Patent Woman" advising innovative girls about the patent process to DEI leaders suggesting questions for interns to ask about inclusion, big topics were broached from the start.

When Roe was rolled back we found role model answers for questions on college campuses, and when the first Artemis launch was postponed women in the space industry explained why. Tomorrow's leaders heard mentor advice pulled from conferences like SXSW EDU, the Forbes Power Women's Summit and their Equal Pay Forum, and then asked their questions in the room at last week's Women & Worth.

Women offered new books for the next gen to read, podcasts with female mentors at the mic, and upcoming movies not to miss. And when we released our first national study measuring girls' confidence on Day of the Girl, women who ran the data weighed in.

Are we grateful? You know it. Are we excited for the year ahead? Oh my Lord, yes.

Goals & Gifts.

Because there is so much more to come, and there’s no such thing as too much joy.

May 8th is not only the anniversary of this newsletter, it’s also Être’s seventh birthday.

So, with our first set of Être girls now in college here’s my birthday wish for girls everywhere:

“May this new year bring you closer to your goals, access to new role models, and mentors to springboard you to new heights. May you see your brass ring – whatever that looks like to you – and grasp it firmly with two hands and the strength of generations of women who came before you. May you see exactly what you can be...by meeting the women doing it in real-time.”

And my gift? It’s big. Think, boardroom table big.

Our Être girls have grown and its time that Être had a grown-up Board, in addition to our all-girl Advisory Board.

An Êxecutive Board.

While we’re still wrapping things up & tying the last bows, I can tell you that each of our eleven new Board members was chosen to align with her specific vertical on the Être website: Be Smart, Be Informed, Be Brave, Be Happy, Be Strong, Be Balanced, Be Charitable, Be Connected, Be Wi$e, Be Innovative, or Be Well Read.

We’ll have more on this over the next week, but consider this the birthday card signed by women I am honored to call our newest advisors – industry leaders and truly epic mentors.

I seriously love birthdays. But maybe none more than this one.

With grateful thanks to the over 1K subscribers reading along and to the LinkedIn women sharing their advice in this space – we love highlighting your words for tomorrow’s workforce.

Looking forward,

Illana

ÊXTRA: We LOVE it when other BFFs share out birthday, so êxtra cake & confetti to volunteer solutions non-profit NEST4US (also turning 7 today), founder of Sprinkles cupcakes & author Candace Nelson, and Elizabeth O'Connell, Être's Executive Producer & Chief Content Strategist!