The Epic Mentor Newsletter Hits 200! Two Hundred Editions of Epic Mentor Moments
Two hundred editions.
That's 2,000 titles considered, 200,000 words written, and - my favorite part - tons of ideas sparked by questions from girls and answers from mentors.
It's my favorite part because - and it's just us talking here - I wasn't even sure I wanted to write a newsletter, much less one every week. I liked the discipline of writing monthly for HuffPost or Thrive Global and occasionally for Ms. Magazine, but the idea of putting pen to paper 52 times a year was daunting.
But then, I thought, so are the questions coming from next gen girls.
How do I land an internship at SpaceX? How can I get my art seen at Pixar? Can TikTok really help me network? Do cover letters matter at NBC? How do I send my cool idea to Nike?
Since the thrilling publication of The Epic Mentor Guide - an early inside track to the work world matching questions from global girls with answers from 180 women running the show - queries from curious girls continued to pour in.
Would continuing the conversation every week actually be...fun? Oh my lord, yes.
To read any of the articles mentioned below click here, because over the last 200 weeks we have:
covered events like the Olympics, Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes, while answering questions about roles at the Super Bowl (so, more coming next week);
honored cultural moments with women in the military on Memorial Day, issue experts on Election Day, teen philanthropists on Giving Tuesday and first responders fighting Texas floods and LA fires;
talked dreams taking flight with Navy pilots like Lt. Peggy Dente, Lt. Arielle Ash and Lt. Saree Moreno, the first Black female Air Force pilot Captain Theresa Claiborne and astronauts Cady Coleman, Jeannette Epps and Tracy C. Dyson;
interviewed role models like Kellie Gerardi (space), Sophia Kianni & Phoebe Gates (fashion), Audrey Sherman (patents), Sunny Choi (Olympics), Emmas Schieck (Paralympics), Jen Welter (football), Chelsey Goodan (speaking up), Kate T. Parker (looking up), Sophie Beren (listening up), Mandana Dayani (showing up), Maddy Roth (voting), Jayathma Wickramanaya (leading), and Laura Terruso (storytelling);
spotlit mentor cohorts like 20 Women to Know in AI, 20 Women in Fashion, News Anchors Running All 5 Sunday News Shows, 6 of 8 Ivy League Schools Run by Women, Mentors in the Metaverse and more;
recounted IRL Être experiences in boardrooms at favorite companies, living rooms with Gloria Steinem (twice!), conference rooms with Fast Company, Forbes, Worth and SXSW, and intimate convos with the late Lilly Ledbetter and Tyra Banks;
tracked marketing moments by the numbers with Wicked, Barbie and The Life of a Showgirl;
dove into more data surrounding womens’ sports, college acceptances and first-year pay; and
revealed of-the-moment research in 2022, 2024 and 2025 - the latest through our partnership with Hello Sunshine.
We've celebrated game-changing Gen Z-ers through summer activities, graduations, college apps and internships, marveling at albums dropped, books published, discoveries patented, non-profits launched and companies started.
Awards were cheered, apps were beta-tested, records were broken and names appeared on ballots for the very first time. And we gave flowers to other BFF orgs we love, because our conversations are best when the group chat grows wide.
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.
And the conversation continues.
The fact that the 200th edition falls right after National Mentoring Month seems appropriate. The very first edition closed with the words: “Because what started with Être in boardrooms and expanded into a book should naturally continue right here. Join us, subscribe & share with your mentorship circle…” and I echo that today.
So join us. Keep sending in smart questions and insightful answers, because this is how epic mentor moments keep happening. And they're everything.
Looking forward with gratitude to the girls asking questions, newsletter guru Elizabeth O'Connell and the epic mentors answering,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three more things about The Epic Mentor Newsletter you won't want to miss: to read any of the articles mentioned above, find the full list of 200 here, to learn more about the book that sparked the convo click here, and to send along any questions, answers or suggested mentor features, DM me here!
