In this episode of Charge the Wave, we welcome guest Helen Wan, author, speaker, lawyer, and diversity, equity and inclusion consultant. Her novel THE PARTNER TRACK (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press), about a woman of color navigating an alien corporate culture, has been adapted into an original Netflix series.
Tune in to this episode as Helen shares insights into:
- How and why she came to document her Biglaw experiences into her debut novel, The Partner Track
- The advice she received when she started her writing project over 20 years ago
- What inspired her to become an author
- Her Netflix experience and the next projects on the horizon
- Advice for aspiring authors and attorneys
About Helen Wan
Helen Wan is an author, lawyer, and speaker on DEI and women in the workplace. Her novel THE PARTNER TRACK (Macmillan), about a woman of color navigating an alien corporate culture, is in production as an original Netflix series. Helen has written for CNN, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, and The Daily Beast. She writes and consults on achieving equity and inclusion in academic, business, and legal settings. Her book is taught in colleges and law schools.
Previously, she was in-house counsel focusing on media and IP law, most recently as VP & Associate General Counsel at Hachette Book Group. Before that, she was Associate General Counsel at Time Inc. and practiced law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, P.C. in New York.
Helen is a graduate of Amherst College and The University of Virginia School of Law. She is honored to serve on the Amherst College Executive Committee and the boards of the New York Women's Bar Association Foundation, Asian American Arts Alliance, and Pen Parentis.
Learn more about Helen Wan:
Visit Helen’s website: https://www.helenwan.com/
Connect with Helen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-wan-a576b348/
Follow Helen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/helenwan1
Buy The Partner Track: https://www.helenwan.com/the-book/
How 'Partner Track' Made the Leap from Novel to Netflix Series: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/partner-track-book-vs-show
About the Charge the Wave Podcast
Footnote 4 presents its Charge the Wave podcast – focused on entrepreneurs, executives, and icons who are assiduously building companies, cultures, and communities.
Charge the Wave aims to uncover the personal stories and anecdotes from inspiring builders and trailblazers in their respective professions and dig into the formative moments, hard-fought lessons, and circuitous voyages that are woven into the fabric of the everyday, interesting journeys of our fellow wayfarers.
Charge the Wave is focused on the industrious pioneers who are navigating the choppy waters of the unknown, rising and grinding everyday to face the endless uphill climb.
Charge the Wave is singularly focused on:
Inspiring entrepreneurs — who are building startups, battling the unstable seas to discover product-market fit, and aiming to launch innovative products and services to successfully cross the chasm into successful commercialization.
Influential executives — who’ve had winding career paths, weathered the storms and wreckages, and built resilient and high-performing crews and organizations.
Iconic individuals — who are becoming authors of their destinies and master navigators by wayfinding, sidewinding, wandering, and perfecting their craft, charting new courses to make an indelible mark in the world.
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Footnote 4 has had a front-row seat to many recent successes in the last several years, both advising and consulting for incredible individuals and teams who have risen above their stations, by building high-performance crews and cultures — and carving their own paths throughout various industries along the way. Footnote 4 dedicates Charge the Wave to the late Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968), the greatest waterman, pioneer, and American icon of our time.
Website: https://footnote4.com/
