Alfia Ilicheva founded ‘Women in Innovation’ to bolster underrepresented groups of innovators.
The young innovator frequently presents at conferences and institutions such as SxSW, Harvard Business School, and the MBA Innovation Summit. But moreover, Ilicheva is an analyst, businesswoman, and entrepreneur. She has dedicated herself to improving access to mentorship and various opportunities. These initiatives focus on helping women and underserved children break into the world of business, finance, etc.
“For us, innovation is being relevant, being new, but also being smart,” Ilicheva tells Green Connections Radio. “…You’re strategically, mindfully creating these opportunities.”
Alfia Ilicheva launches a career out of wide-spread experience
Ilicheva received a Bachelors’ degree in international business diplomacy from Georgetown University. While there, she worked her way into the position of editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. In fact, she became the first undergraduate in this role.
She proceeded to receive an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she helped found the Columbia Business School’s Women’s Circle. Before Women in Innovation (WIN), Ilicheva worked as an analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Then she served as President at the Five Boroughs Foundation of Photography, a mentorship program for underserved students at New York City’s schools.
Ilicheva also worked as an Engagement Manager at Fahrenheit 212. At this innovation and design consulting firm, she led projects with large groups such as Nestle, Pfizer, and Uber.
“In retrospect, Fahrenheit has taught me the value of looking at the same problem from multiple points of view and recognizing needs of different stakeholders,” Ilicheva tells Hey Mama. “This has encouraged me to explore different value propositions that WIN can offer and ultimately inspired us to re-imagine a bugger purpose and mission for WIN in the world.”
Making time for family above all
For Ilicheva, family comes first. “My two non-negotiables a day are to have breakfast and dinner with my family,” she tells Hey Mama. This means she has to carefully manage her time, considering how much she has on her plate. She advises people to account for “idle capacity” and “bottlenecks” in one’s daily routine to make sure to maximize your time.
Ilicheva grew up in Russia and immigrated to the US at 12 years old. “That experience in many ways taught me probably the most important thing I’ve learned in my life,” she tells Beyond Barriers. “You’re never fully formed, that life is truly flexible.”
The young entrepreneur and social activist adds that she she has had to battle some of the notions that surrounded her growing up. For example, the pressure to be a “perfect woman” and “perfect wife”.
Though Ilicheva has rejected these elements of her roots, she “stay[s] true to [her] Russian and Tatar Roots” with a traditional black tea to start off each and every morning.
Alfia Ilicheva advocates for women in highly unequal fields
The motto of Women in Innovation is “working toward an equitable future, forged by us all.” The company seeks to represent all women and help drive innovation and entrepreneurship.
WIN addresses the “gender gap in the innovation field”. For example, women account for only 20% of the Fortune 500 Chief Innovation Officers. In addition, a 16% wage gap for women in the STEM field marks further inequality. To this end, WIN’s monthly events include a variety of workshops and activities “go beyond traditional networking” and help people by pairing them with sponsors.
“We recognize that women add fundamentally different and unique and a very powerful contribution to creating new ideas, new products, new services,” Ilicheva tells Green Connections Radio. Some of the tools they use to achieve this is “borrowing from different playbooks”, “using conflict as a tool and strategy”, and practicing “humble inquiry”.
Learn more about Women in Innovation here.
