When Next Gen Dreams are Billboard Big: Être Turned 10 in Times Square
All photos by Sam Wallander
Ten, nine, eight...
Girls around me were chanting, counting down. Heads were turning on Broadway in the heart of Times Square.
...three, two, ONE!!
And then suddenly our logo was exploding on a billboard amid fireworks. And as we told the story of Être in the city where it started, I literally couldn't believe my eyes.
Last Friday morning before our billboard celebration began, I recounted here on LinkedIn how Être launched in 2016 with a small email to close friends and an imaginary billboard in my head. The image of that pretend billboard actually became my screensaver & remains so to this day. So to watch that exact billboard now light up with our logo after a decade of storming boardrooms with girls was...well, surreal.
And the teen narrators of our Insta Live thought so too. Throughout the video that streamed to 15 Club Être chapters in the U.S. and another 3 in Canada, India and Mexico, narrators Lucie, Cameron, Olivia, Grayson and Aashna (who took the red eye in from CA to lend her voice) continued to point wildly to events on the screen:
I WAS THERE when we went to NASDAQ...that's me ON THE PODIUM when we rang the bell!
YES! And there's the UN trip - that's ME at the mic! You too!!
I wish I'd been at Spotify...but there's LoveShackFancy and we were just there!
Wait - that's us at Pinterest - I'm definitely pinning these photos...
Look how young I am there...I was nine at my first Être event. NINE!!
And the excitement only grew as we walked up Broadway to the other side of The Wedge billboard where Être's instagram was continuously scrolling, pulling out different images and videos of our weekly Gen-Ê spotlights on a second billboard.
As videos of Gen-Ê girls played in Times Square, we noticed more people stopping to look. Gazing up at Gen Z change-makers from across the globe, their faces animated and smiles wide, we watched native New Yorkers and tourists alike slow their stride to take it all in.
And then came videos of the birthday wishes we received - also from around the world.
Picture cards, posters, heartfelt tributes and some birthday songs all shared sky-high. We'll be sharing every video sent in by girls and epic mentors all week on Insta - but we're sending advance thanks right now to participants in the LinkedIn family like Cate Luzio who hosted Être's first book launch (complete with author signing tables for the girls) at Luminary, Melanie Curtis who serves on our board and keynoted an Être TED-Ed event - parachute in hand, Eleni McCready who spearheaded our joy-filled 4-city book tour with Lilly Pulitzer, Miriam Spritzer who pioneered our brand new partnership with Golden Globe Foundation, Priti Dalal who hosted us on Day of the Girl at TikTok, and countless more.
Indeed, our gratitude knows no bounds.
From the execs who have ushered us into boardrooms and asked for brand feedback to the icons like Gloria Steinem, Tyra Banks and the late Lilly Ledbetter who have sat in 1:1 conversation with next gen girls, the last 10 years have brought dynamic discussion.
From the 250+ role models in our books who offered quotes and answered girls' questions about the workplace to the 500+ Être TED-ED mentors who have advised TED-Ed speakers age 8 to 18, the last decade has seen wise words land on eager ears.
From our constantly growing Club Être chapters - a warm welcome to Club Être Silicon Valley that launched today - to the original Être Advisory Board that started us off in 2016 and is still made up of 100% middle, high school & now collegiate voices, our story has remained entirely Gen Z-led and driven.
What do the next 10 years hold? What's Être's next era?
We're gearing up to bring a new type of boardroom experience to the next gen - backed by data and powered by mentor moments. Stay tuned...it's going to be big and we're beside ourselves with excitement.
Right now, though, as we unwrap the birthday messages still coming in with unbridled delight, all I can say is thank you. It was an epic birthday and we loved sharing it in the city where everything started.
Here's to what's next.
Looking forward to the next 10,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three more 10th birthday moments you won't want to miss: the story of the pretend billboard I imagined in 2016, the first set of images from our birthday morning, and the celebratory press release that kicked off the day!
