RISING ICON #106: Isaac Etter
An interview with Isaac Etter, founder and CEO of Identity:
What name do you prefer to be called?
Isaac Etter
What are your pronouns?
He/Him
Where did you grow up?
Lancaster, PA
What city are you currently based in?
Lancaster, PA
How do you typically introduce yourself to new people?
Isaac, founder of Identity and adoptee
What’s one thing you wish more people knew about you?
I am really into Navy Seals training and mindset, haha. I was really inspired by Can’t Hurt me by David Goggins and Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink. I think there are a lot of correlations with leading great teams and I hope to be known as a great leader.
Who do you help?
Adoptive and foster families all over the world.
What are you building now?
Identity! A startup building resources that help adoptive and foster parents make their children feel seen, heard, and valued.
What were you building ten years ago today?
A recording studio out of my parent’s basement oddly enough, haha! Music was my first love and songwriting and producing will always have a special place in my heart.
What do you predict of yourself 10 years from now?
I will still be running Identity and changing how adoptive and foster parents are prepared and supported. There won’t be an adoption agency in the United States we aren’t utilized in 10 years.
What’s a fact or statistic you wish everyone knew about your industry?
There are more than 391,000 children in foster care at any given time.
Why do you believe the work you do matters?
I was adopted when I was two years old. I struggled with feelings of rejection and abandonment most of my life. I was also adopted interracially and struggled with my racial identity. My parents did their best, but did not have the knowledge and resources to help me. The work we do at Identity matters because it gives parents, just like mine, the knowledge and resources to build a deep bond with their child. It helps them make their child feel seen, heard, and ultimately valued.
Who is your mentor and what is the best advice they’ve given you?
I have had and have many great mentors, too many to name. But some advice that has always stuck with me is “the quicker you learn if something works the better. Don't waste time before finding that out.” They gave me a copy of “the 24 hour startup” after this conversation.
What piece of content about you or your company are you most proud of?
We released a docuseries on my adoption story and Identity called Discovering My Identity. Its free on our Youtube to watch and was a labor of love.
What publication do you hope to appear in next?
I would love to be featured on big parenting platforms like Parenting.com. I know there are so many families who would be excited by the work we do at Identity.
Who would you love to be interviewed by?
I would love to be interviewed by Trevor Noah. I am a big fan of his book, show, and other content. He doesn’t have a talk show, but Keegan Michael is an adoptee so it would be awesome to be interviewed by him and chat about our shared experience.
If you had to give a TEDTalk tomorrow, what would the title be?
Fractured Identity - Understanding why adopted people struggle to understand who they are.
What award would mean the most to win?
I want to be a Forbes 30 under 30 and win the Adoption Hall of Fame award through the National Council For Adoption
What makes zero sense to you?
That post adoption support and education is not a requirement for adoptive parents. It is for foster parents, but adoptive parents are left often to fend for themselves.
What game are you changing?
Adoption and foster care post-placement support. We are re-imagining what this looks like around the country and will continue to do so.
What’s the next thing you’re a part of that you want to invite more people to participate in?
I’m all invested in our work at Identity. We will be creating more and more resources for parents so I always invite parents and people to follow our socials and check out our website for new resources and content.
Where can we follow you online?
@isaac_Etter & @identity.learning
What’s one thing that makes every leader better?
Extreme ownership. Take ownership of everything that happens in your company and life.
Only you can make it better and it starts with ownership.
Follow along with Isaac’s work by visiting identitylearning.co
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We’re grateful to each RISING ICON for their transformative work. Thank you, Isaac, for sharing your story!
LAUREL is a media relations partner for bold leadership. For nearly a decade, we’ve helped leaders build effective strategies for scale and growth specializing in key opinion leadership and go-to-market strategy for emerging brands. To follow along with the RISING ICONS series, nominate a leader or subscribe to our weekly email newsletter. To accelerate your own rise, get our free guide to elevating your leadership profile, FIT(lite). RISING ICONS is made possible by grant funding from Knight Foundation.
“Take ownership of everything that happens in your company and life.Only you can make it better and it starts with ownership.”
Notice: It’s important for our readers to understand the origin of the interview content. The featured ICON contributed responses that were not edited from the original submission. All claims are made solely by the contributor and do not reflect the views of LAUREL or its partners. Thank you for supporting innovation leaders. We’re convinced, the future is bold.
