Female Founders: Evie Jeang of Ideal Legal Group On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Don’t be afraid to connect with others, but also remember that not everyone is your friend. There will be people who want things from you, especially if you are a founder. But at the same time, there are a lot of women out there that are willing to support other women. You’ll never know if you don’t connect and open yourself up to possibility. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, we’ve all been there, we’ve all done that. I think it’s another way for people to connect to you, to make yourself more relatable.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Evie Jeang.
Evie Jeang is a licensed attorney in California and New York and the Founder of Ideal Legal Group, practicing in the areas of international family and surrogacy law. Jeang is also a surrogacy expert and the President and CEO of Surrogacy Concierge, an agency that helps connect clients with surrogates. Ms. Jeang understands first-hand the impact that a demanding career or health issues can have on one’s ability to expand their family.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I grew up in a broken home. My parents got divorced when I was four, so I was basically raised by my grandparents. My dad married multiple times, so did my mom. I always thought family was very important but, wondered how could I create the family that I always desired as a little girl.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
It was the opportunity to see miracles happen all the time. That love does trump everything else. I’m a big believer in love, despite the industry I’m in. I see people fighting against each other all the time.
But when there’s a sick child, then both parents will work together to set their differences aside. To me that is unconditional. In addition, I get to see the joy on my surrogacy client’s face when they welcome their baby into the world. This is the rewarding feeling that comes over me from family law and surrogacy. It’s helping people create families. Whether it’s helping my client through a hard time in their life, leading them to a different path to create a different journey, or the next chapter in their life. They all share the same foundation of love.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I can’t even remember off the top of my head anymore. But I guess for me personally, it was just spending most of my time focusing on my career and myself in the beginning. I was adamant about becoming a respectable family law attorney. Surrogacy was not widely popular then and it was still considered taboo. Funny thing is that I’m now a family law and surrogacy attorney. I didn’t even want to pursue surrogacy or paid attention to it in the beginning.
My biggest take away is always to keep an open mind and don’t rely so heavily on the word “never”.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. I would say one of my best friends, Elaine Chu, convinced me to freeze my eggs when I was still very young and fresh out of law school. I was actively pursuing my legal career and was not thinking of starting a family with my ex-husband at the time.
As I mentioned, I came from a broken home, from that I was afraid of commitment and scared of having a child. I did not want my child to go through what I went through with my parents. I did not my child to see his/her parents fighting all the time.
I felt this way for a long time. Elaine asked me “Evie, why don’t you freeze your eggs because you never know if one day you will want to have children.” I listened and sort of just did it on a whim. At the time, I didn’t think I would go through with using them later in life. I have a beautiful and healthy seven-year-old son now.
If it wasn’t for Elaine, I would have never experienced this unconditional love that one has for their child. I would have never had the opportunity to really enjoy the family union that I craved so much as a little girl. Elaine passed away a few years ago from breast cancer, but I constantly tell my son how important and how much she meant to me.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
It takes a lot to start a company. I did not have it easy myself when I opened my law firm and surrogacy agency. Fundraising is still a male dominated world/industry. This is also the same in multiple other industries. It’s hard for women to get her foot in the door most of the time. It’s very tough to be out there in the world as a woman.
The gender stereotype is that as a woman, you must raise a family, cook, be a housewife, and at the same time be a mother. It’s a lot of work life balance. But given all the gender roles we must play, it makes it hard to go out to network, fundraise for company, pitch it and market it. Some women take the back seat in their careers, so they can raise their children and be at home. But many of us have decided to re-enter the workforce and we are conflicted between our home and work life. Which one comes first? Our career or our family? Women choose to make sacrifices.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
That’s a complicated question. I think companies and society is noticing that they need more women in the workspace. The percentage of women leading Fortune 500 companies is steadying increasing. The world is listening more now. I would tell my female readers and listeners to find companies that align themselves with your values but also appreciate you. Corporate world can be cut-throat and cold.
I’m part of an organization called YPO, Young Professional Organization, and they are very inclusive. They usually have a 45-year age cap to join the organization, but they extend that age gap to 50 for women. The reasoning is because they understand that women need the few additional years from either coming back into the work force because they took a career break. I think companies should be like YPO and tailor their policies towards women.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder, but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
I think women should be founders because let’s just be honest we are so good at multitasking. We are more intuitive. Research demonstrates that decisions made base don intuition alone is usually always a good choice. Especially in company where you must wear multiple hats, you have to be so used to multitasking.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
For me I always thought being a founder was very lonely. But over the years I’ve come to discover that is not true. Everyone wants to be your friend!
Talk to people, ask for help, make connections with others. There’s going to be so many people that are willing to help you and give you advice. Just make sure to do your due diligence and research everything.
Don’t be afraid to connect with others, but also remember that not everyone is your friend. There will be people who want things from you, especially if you are a founder. But at the same time, there are a lot of women out there that are willing to support other women. You’ll never know if you don’t connect and open yourself up to possibility. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, we’ve all been there, we’ve all done that. I think it’s another way for people to connect to you, to make yourself more relatable.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
I’m not sure what makes someone cut out to be a founder, I think everyone has it in them. What holds one back from another is their confidence and belief. Do you have a limit to that belief and the belief behind your company? There is no personal training for something like that. It comes from within oneself. Do not tell yourself things like “I can’t do it”, “I’m too busy”, “I don’t have the knowledge”. If you are able to remove that limit, then I think anyone can be a founder.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
One thing I wish someone told me when I started is to not have 20 balls in the area, but focus on 1 or 2. Having multiple interests while starting a new company can blur your vision and lead to multiple distractions. For me personally, it’s the fear of missing out. Fearing of missing an opportunity, especially if I have a great idea and there are so many people who approach me or that I meet. Stay focused and hyper vigilant on your goal.
Don’t jump on everything. A lot of times that excitement or fear of missing out can lead you down the wrong path. What I’ve learned from starting my companies, is that not everyone is your friend in the beginning. It’s about weeding through the bushes to get to your prize. I wish someone would have told me just to stay focused and put all your energy into the one or two things that you really want to work on.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I would say surrogacy has been the most rewarding field so far. I’ve used my expertise and knowledge to help infertile individuals and couples to bring babies into this world. Who doesn’t love babies?!
I want to help my clients make their dreams come true.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I’m a strong advocator for being positive and looking on the bright side. There is a lot of negatively in the world right now. If I wanted to start a movement, then it would be something that aligns with this passion in my life because this is how I live my day to day. Trust me, a lot if things can go wrong as a family law attorney!
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Elon Musk! He is someone I would definitely want to have a sit down dinner with and just pick his brain.
Thank you for these fantastic insights!
Female Founders: Evie Jeang of Ideal Legal Group On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.