Today we’d like to introduce you to Romi Lassally.
Hi Romi, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am the proud Co-Founder and Executive Director of Ready to Succeed here in Los Angeles. We provide college-going foster youth and first-generation college students with career and personal development opportunities that help them graduate and secure career-track jobs. We help them achieve the unimaginable and it’s my greatest honor to: work with these young people as they realize their dreams and build a better future.
As a student at UCLA, I got my big career break at Fox Studios after a chance meeting in a studio lot. This significant encounter not only helped springboard the next 13 years of my life as an entertainment executive and producer, but it also planted the seeds for what would later become Ready to Succeed. I went on to create a digital media company for women and became the founding features editor for The Huffington Post before taking the steps towards building this nonprofit. Back to the serendipitous stroll down the studio lot – I realized how limited these moments are and almost non-existent for many youth, especially for foster youth facing massive barriers, who go without any support from family networks. Combine that with my pay-it-forward approach to helping people make professional connections to launch their careers, and I knew it was time to act.
It’s become evident to me, as I reflect on my career, that I’m interested in navigating transitions across significant life stages. My first company, True Mom Confessions, created a platform for women to feel seen and heard during the often-challenging shift from singlehood to motherhood. With RTS, we work with the Scholars as they move from college to career and become adults. It’s a time full of so much hope and possibility amidst the graver decisions confronting this stage.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The growth we’ve had building Ready to Succeed in only seven years is staggering and naturally not without some challenges. Here are a few, that hopefully speak to others going through their own growth journey.
1) Understanding How Nonprofits Function. My background was media and entertainment, not the nonprofit sector. I had to confront this challenge during our first few years to learn how things worked with programming and fundraising.
I started with learning as much as I could about the child welfare ecosystem, what was working, what was not, where RTS could plug in to help connect the dots, and what we could offer that was needed and/or different. We had no intention of recreating the wheel and doing anything someone else was already taking on. I noticed a lot of siloed organizations doing similar or complementary work but few were working together. I learned quickly this was more about a lack of bandwidth than interest in collaboration however, it’s an issue that persists. Over the years, we’ve found some amazing partners that are significantly amplifying our efforts and impact. One example is a partnership with Make Good. We’re working together on Project Dorm Room, an initiative to ensure that all foster youth heading to college have all the dorm room basics along with caring, supportive people to help them on move-in day.
In learning about how nonprofits operate, I needed to understand fundraising – specifically how a small organization could be recognized and receive support from foundations. I was quickly reminded that most businesses – especially the entertainment business – were about building relationships based on trust and understanding the needs of your prospective donor. It became clear that foundations want to fund organizations aligned with their mission. It was a reciprocal relationship, and this insight made it a lot easier to unlock funding. We were lucky to meet Winnie Weschler and Jeannie Pritzker early on who gave us our first grant. This gave us credibility and we were invited to apply for a lot of other foundation funding. We’re now receiving grants from many foundations – many of them repeat grants.
2) Recruiting students to become RTS Scholars. One of the most surprising challenges was how hard it was to identify and reach the students we wanted to serve. Confidentiality concerns, timing, and logistics often got in the way of reaching foster youth on campus despite knowing they were there and in need.
We overcame this by building trusted partnerships, including those with Guardian Scholars programs on campuses and mission-aligned community partners. It also helped that the strong results from those within the program grew our credibility, and our RTS Scholars and alumni have become ambassadors helping further drive enrollment.
Throughout our growth, we unlocked a key insight around a surprising, yet common challenge, faced by many organizations providing resources to foster youth. The issue wasn’t a lack of resources, but rather connecting youth to the right resources at the right time. This remains a strong focus for us today.
3) Company Growth. I learned a lot from the online business I started and ran for five years -True Mom Confessions – but this “growth phase” is new, exciting, and challenging! I was always very ambitious and imagined Ready to Succeed would consistently increase the number of students we serve, but an opportunity in 2021 enabled us to grow exponentially – quadrupling the number of students we served from 50 to 200. This required doubling our staff size – hiring the right people and then ensuring these people could grow into managers themselves. We have a strong, dedicated team, all women except for my partner Pat. We had a lot of growing pains – redefining roles and understanding our strengths and weaknesses – but had to face this while still operating a very responsive program. We iterate as we grow, also centering what was needed for our scholars and the ever-changing workforce environment.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My partner and co-founder, Pat McCabe, and I know the value of professional connections and the opportunities and skills that come from well-connected and well-informed support systems – all things that foster youth don’t have. With LA County home to the largest population of foster youth, we couldn’t imagine the thought of those who overcame enormous odds to make it to college not having the support to succeed through to graduation and beyond. It was unthinkable. So, we began Ready to Succeed seven years ago from our dining room tables helping six college-going foster youth with networking opportunities, career mentoring, and placing them in internships. Fast forward to today, we have worked with more than 400 students, supported by a team of 16 passionate professionals, a dedicated board, and generous partners. I couldn’t be prouder of the achievements the Scholars in our program RTS Scholars are making, with 90% graduating college within 4.5 years and launching successful careers.
Ready to Succeed is the only career readiness program of its kind. Beyond crafting resumes and securing internships, we provide holistic support that empowers students to tell their story and learn to demonstrate their unique value to employers. We are preparing them to own their futures and stick by them even after they have successfully secured full-time careers. Our alumni are an incredibly important part of RTS’ success, helping inspire those just starting out to stay hopeful and optimistic so that they can fully embrace their potential.
What were you like growing up?
As a child, I was very independent, sometimes to a fault (solidarity to all the parents raising independent children!) Yet this independence formed the roots for what would later become a core value that guides Ready to Succeed, and that is “practices makes performance and learning is grounded in doing.” My mom explains this best through a tale before I started to walk. She came into my room where I was running back and forth in my crib – making sure I had it just right before showing off my new skill to anyone else. Practice makes performance, and learning is grounded in doing.
I still feel like I need to do a lot of research, learn and understand new things from many angles, and demonstrate to myself that I have a firm grip on things before feeling confident or competent. From speaking in public to making a meal, I don’t like to wing it – I prepare a script or follow a recipe, and I’m ok with that!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://readytosucceedla.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readytosucceedla/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readytosucceedla/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romilassally/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/readytosucceedla
