Meet Romi Lassally | Co-Founder of Ready to Succeed

We had the good fortune of connecting with Romi Lassally and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Romi, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My entire career had been as an entertainment executive and media executive, but when I saw the profound needs faced but foster youth, I knew I had to make a shift.

Pat McCabe (the individual who would go on to be my co-founder) and I started speaking to organizations who were serving foster youth to determine what we could do to help. We learned about a lot of incredible groups working with foster youth – but came across something that few people were talking about. That is – while there were thousands of students on campuses across California who had come out of foster care and managed to overcome the incredible odds to get into college, these students were dropping out at alarming rates because they lacked a support-system of any kind or the resources they needed to cover basic needs.

Even if they were one of the 3% of foster youth who did get a degree, they weren’t succeeding after graduation. These youth had worked so hard to get into college and graduate with a four-year degree, but weren’t getting the career track jobs that would set them up for long-term success.

To us, this was unacceptable, but something that we saw as a solvable problem. So, in 2016 we started Ready to Succeed by connecting three college-going foster youth with the right resources, relationships and opportunities they needed to graduate college and launch successful careers. These three resilient students not only got their diploma, but also unlocked their potential to soar. Fast forward six years and we now have 300 students who are in various stages of completing college, launching successful careers and reaching their full potential.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Before Pat McCabe and I started Ready to Succeed, career education was happening at home by well-resourced parents, or, by chance. We didn’t want to leave the future of foster youth and first-gen students to chance, so my Pat and I created a career and personal development program that runs concurrent to a student’s time in college. Most higher ed nonprofits that work with under-resourced youth focus on college access and persistence (getting into and graduating from college). These are both great milestones, but academics without career education won’t get students to where they want to be.

Through all of our career readiness programming – personal coaching, paid internships, community and mental health support and financial assistance – we prepare our students to launch great careers upon graduation. Some days we can’t believe what we’ve built, but thanks to our incredible employment partners, volunteers, donors, staff and the hard work of our courageous students, 94% of our students land career-track jobs within six months of graduation.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’d create a mountain to sea tour that incorporates some of the best sights, sounds, and tastes of Los Angeles County. I’d even invite our students on this tour! We’d venture out to the beach in Malibu before heading to Topanga Canyon for a beautiful hike and views of the ocean. We’d visit the Getty Villa for stunning architecture, art, gardens and more views of what Los Angeles has to offer. Before leaving the West Side, we’d stop to see the canals in Venice. Traveling east, we’d pop into the Hollywood Farmers Market for breakfast, and some of the best fresh produce and locally sourced food. After a short drive north and east of Hollywood, we’d wander through the Rose Bowl Flea Market for shopping and people watching. Because a visit to the San Gabriel Valley is not complete without East Asian cuisine we’d get lunch in Arcadia at Lan Noodle and visit the newly renovated Chinese Gardens and the other exquisite flora at the Huntington Library in San Marino. On a Saturday evening, we’d go dancing at the Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association and listen to one of the many live swing bands the two world-class owners/dancers had lined up for the evening. Our last stops would be on Myrtle Avenue in the City of Monrovia and further east in the college town of Claremont.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m dedicating my shoutout to Jessica Pilska, Founder of The Opportunity Network, an organization focused on helping people leverage their network for good. She was one of the first people I called when I started exploring how I could help foster youth and first-gen students. She was direct, yet encouraging: “You are going to be doing something that no one else is doing yet, so it is going to be hard, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.” Her advice guided us in the beginning and it still guides us now. It reminds me that it’s okay to not know the answer, because uncharted territory is a place where right answers don’t exist yet.

Website: https://readytosucceedla.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readytosucceedla/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readytosucceedla/