Rahwa Ghebre-Ab, ’09: An Unforeseen Path Leads to a Dream Job
Rahwa Ghebre-Ab, ’09, is the senior vice president of business and legal affairs at the entertainment-industry powerhouse Lionsgate, where her principal focus is on labor and employment matters. She’s been in her present position for more than two years and at the company for more than five years, and she is very happy to be there. “This is a dream job,” she said. “Some days I can’t really believe I get to do this work every day.”
The path to her current professional happiness was not entirely smooth. Graduating into the ongoing effects of the Great Recession, she found her law-firm start date postponed, and after she did begin work, she was slotted into the employment law practice after only interning with the litigation practice group. Despite not having studied or interned in the labor and employment field, she quickly grew to greatly enjoy the work, particularly her assignments with Sony Pictures, one of her firm’s clients. At one point she requested to be seconded by the firm to work directly at Sony. That didn’t work out, but the firm did transfer her to its San Diego office so she would be closer to the action.
After she had been in that San Diego office for just nine months, the firm closed it. Although the firm offered to move her back to Chicago, she liked California and still felt drawn toward the entertainment industry, so she decided to stay and make her own way. “Among the many things the Law School imparts to you are resilience and the understanding that there is always opportunity, even when things seem to be most challenging,” she remarked.
After an extensive job search, she landed at a Los Angeles firm that had an employment-law focus, and for two years she continued mastering the state’s intricate legal landscape and applying her knowledge for the firm’s clients. She also kept submitting applications for openings in the entertainment business. As one of her side activities, she hosted segments of a video series, Justice Is Served, for the organization Black Hollywood Live, and one of her podcast guests, Carl Douglas, an attorney who had worked on O. J. Simpson’s defense team, offered her some crucial job-search advice after they had finished recording the interview.
“Essentially, he told me to relax and recognize that I was someone with a lot to offer,” she said. “Not to seem arrogant, but not to shrink myself, either—just to show confidence that a company would not regret hiring me and that I had a lot to bring to the table.” Her interview with Lionsgate was the next day, and she says she surprised both herself and her interviewer with her directness. After a follow-up round of interviews, she was hired within the week.
Lionsgate has grown rapidly, principally through mergers and acquisitions, and it has produced or distributed blockbuster programming that includes the Hunger Games franchise and the television series Mad Men. It has facilities in China, India, and other countries, and it is active in virtually all media and entertainment platforms. Ghebre-Ab has provided support on the employment side for several major mergers and acquisitions, participated in a wide range of contract negotiations including at the company’s highest levels, and engages regularly with executive leadership regarding employment strategy. In this fast-growth environment, she has a constant responsibility for ensuring that everyone involved with the company understands and honors its cultural expectations. “There is a complete commitment here to being a company that is diverse, inclusive, and respectful, and we make sure that everyone gets that message,” she said.
She is also working toward inclusivity in other ways, including serving on the Women Who Lead advisory board of the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel and as a member of the board of directors at the Employment Roundtable of Southern California.
“When I was at the Law School, there was so much energy, intellectual curiosity, and important learning that I rarely took a real break,” she recalled. “I had thought that might change when I got more settled into a career, but it’s the same way for me here. I’m busy all the time, constantly learning and growing—and I am loving every minute of it.”