The Glamorous Grind
The Glamorous Grind is where bold legal minds meet unfiltered conversations. Join hosts Ilona Antonyan and Mila Arutunian—powerhouse attorneys at Antonyan Miranda—for this dynamic podcast as they dive into headline-making lawsuits, past cases, and the hustle of balancing career, family, and ambition. With fascinating guests, including celebrities, business leaders, and former clients, Ilona and Mila keep it raw, real, and always glamorous.
The Glamorous Grind
Grit, Glow-Ups, & First Impressions
What happens when two Armenian refugees transform adversity into a powerful journey of justice and empowerment? Join us, Ilona and Mila, as we recount our transformative experiences from fleeing Baku, Azerbaijan, to building successful legal careers in America. Each story we share highlights the resilience needed to overcome cultural and economic hurdles and the strength drawn from family support and a positive mindset. We invite you to listen as we explore the trials of adapting to a new life, facing the challenges of fitting in, and nurturing the passion that eventually led us to law.
Ever wondered how a twist of fate or a psychic encounter could pivot your entire career path? Our journeys into the legal profession, marked by unexpected turns and immigrant dreams, is filled with surprising stories, including the inspiration Mila took from TV justice shows and the tough decision for Ilona to start her own law firm. Through personal anecdotes, we unravel the unpredictable yet rewarding nature of the legal field, from handling complex cases to leveraging our linguistic and cultural backgrounds to serve our community. Our narrative is a testament to ambition and the pursuit of dreams against the odds.
Balancing motherhood with a demanding legal career poses its own set of unique challenges, and we’re here to share how we navigate this delicate act. We highlight the importance of finding passion in our work while also savoring the joys and challenges of being working parents. By sharing our experiences, we hope to inspire others to seek personal fulfillment in both career and family life, embracing every step with style and tenacity.
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My grandma taught me. She said to me in Russian, I'll say it in English. What she said to me was always stand up for yourself.
Ilona:Welcome to the Glamorous Grind where ambition meets allure.
Mila:Where Ilona and Mila, longtime lawyers, friends and your guides to the wild and sometimes downright outrageous world of law.
Ilona:Every week we're diving into our juiciest past cases, breaking down drama and dishing on how we keep it classy in the chaos of careers, family and big dreams.
Mila:Whether you're a powerhouse attorney balancing your own grind or just here for the jaw-dropping stories, grab your coffee or your cocktail, because we are bringing the heat with style and tenacity. It's law it's life.
Ilona:It's a glamorous grind. This week it's all about pulling back the curtain.
Mila:We're introducing you to us our journey, our hustle and why you want to tune in every single week. We'll share how we started as immigrants, what sparked our love for the law, the highs and lows of our careers and, of course, how we managed to keep our personal lives thriving and fabulous.
Ilona:And stick around, because later we're giving you an exclusive sneak peek at the exciting segments, incredible stories and glam-filled conversations coming your way on The Glamorous Grind.
Mila:We've been friends for a while and we're colleagues. You're my boss. What are the chances out of all the places in the world? Both of our families come from the same city in the fallen Soviet Union. How old were you when you came to America?
Ilona:I was 12 years old and we were both from Baku, azerbaijan, but we're Armenians and we both became refugees because of the ethnic cleansing of Armenians between 1980 to 1990, to be given an opportunity to make the American dream happen.
Mila:My family came also after the Baku pogroms occurred, my family initially moved from Baku to Ukraine because that's where they could afford to live. We got like this small house and like 30 of us lived there together because my grandparents had five kids and everyone lost their homes. And growing up I remember it was really fun for me because there were so many people always everywhere. You know, if it was hot we didn't have AC. So we like got our "skladushki", which were our like little beds, and we all slept outside. So as a kid it was like so fun. But now I realize like the poverty that we lived in.
Ilona:When we became refugees. You know, the conflict started when I was starting second grade. I remember going to school and when my mom and I were taking the elevator up to go home, there was a letter next to the elevator saying Armenians, get out of our city, we're going to kill you. I remember my mom ripped that off and she got scared and eventually we just went on vacation so that the political situation and conflict would calm down, because Azerbaijan and Armenia were fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, the land that's between them, because Nagorno-Karabakh wanted to join Armenia. While we're on vacation, living with my aunt in Uzbekistan for a few months, we're hoping things will settle so we can come back to our home. We didn't think we're never going to return home. We received a letter saying that our home was invaded in the middle of the night, that our neighbors got burned, thrown down, balconies rolled in carpets and that we're lucky we weren't home. And our neighbor, who was Russian, so she wasn't kicked out of the city she said that when she walked into our home the only thing that was left was our photographs all over the house. We were left with nothing.
Ilona:We ended up going to Armenia and I didn't speak Armenian language. I spoke Russian, because in Azerbaijan you know on the way I worked in former Soviet Union every single former republic spoke Russian, which was the universal language. But then everybody had their own ethnic language and since I was Armenian living in Azerbaijan, I didn't speak Azerbaijani. I came to Armenia, I didn't speak Armenian, so it wasn't accepted as their own and I remember they changed all the schools from Russian language to Armenian to make sure that they don't lose a vernacular, my entire life I've never felt like I fit in anywhere.
Mila:I've always felt like I've always been this like outcast, like I was born in Ukraine but I'm not Ukrainian. I speak Russian but I'm not Russian. You know, I'm Armenian but I don't speak Armenian and like really Armenians didn't really accept us back then because we were from Azerbaijan and then we came to America Like I'm not American but I'm here.
Mila:You are American. Well, now I. And then we came to America like I'm not American, but I'm here, you are American. But back then I was just like never like fit into any box and always have felt like this, like crazy outcast, that you know, I was always like where do I fit in?
Ilona:I definitely feel like I fit in America and I'm American and I'm so grateful for that. But obviously when I became a refugee moving from Azerbaijan to Armenia, I wasn't accepted as their own, although these are my people. They said I got bullied. I had to fight in school every day pretty much. Did you physically fight? Oh yeah, I mean, I used to love watching Bruce Lee movies. There was a movie theater next to our house and I thought Bruce Lee was my God. I used to pray to Bruce Lee just so that I could go and kick some butt. When I'm at school to defend myself and I use his moves. I was actually defending other kids because I was getting. I got along with people, but I didn't like it when I saw injustice. So if I saw somebody getting bullied just because they're a refugee or they didn't have nice clothes or something else, I would stand up for them. And I remember there was one girl in my class in Armenia that they would just come and smack her in the face and she wouldn't do anything.
Ilona:And I didn't like it. So, anyways, I made enemies with them, so it was like a daily thing.
Mila:You were a lawyer before you were a lawyer. Um, you were an advocate.
Ilona:Yeah, I think it was of my heart, um but yeah, I remember one time I got jumped by a lot of people after school and trying to protect, you know, my friends over there. So I remember I had a heavy bookcase with a lot of books and I took the bookcase because I couldn't and I just started spinning like so I could like get everybody away from me.
Ilona:I was like spinning with it to keep everybody away from me, and then you know doing the karate moves which don't work, because I was not that good at it.
Ilona:You know doing this and this and this.
Mila:You're also very little. You're petite. I can't imagine.
Ilona:I'm I'm" petite, but you know I can . fight I can fight, I'm a good fighter.
Ilona:mean I went and then I come to America and I had to fight a lot, because physically,. Because then I start school I don't speak English. Girls got, you know, fifth graders got jealous, pulled my hair on the bus, pushed me. My grandma taught me. She said to me in Russian, I'll say it in English what she said to me was always stand up for yourself, and that has been imprinted in my mind Always stand up for yourself, and that has been imprinted in my mind Always stand up for yourself. So if somebody pushed me, treated me unfairly, I gave it back to them. I think, whichever way you are, your soul is the same. When you're a kid to now, If you were a mean kid, you're probably going to be like that when you grow up, unless life taught you some lessons and you became self-aware.
Mila:Foundationally, I don't think we change.
Ilona:No.
Mila:As people.
Ilona:I think we just have different responsibilities.
Mila:We get wiser and learn our lessons, and then we have to use tact, because we can't just fight people when they piss us off anymore, unfortunately, but no, I mean, it's interesting I also struggled with assimilating into the culture. Like now I definitely feel American and like as an adult, I see the melting pot and I see that everyone is different. But we came to America and you know, everyone was Mexican because we were in San Diego and I was the only one who spoke Russian and they put me in the ESL classes with all the Spanish speakers and I had no idea how to learn English because everyone else spoke Spanish. And you know, we went from not having any food, like just being extremely poor, to now. You know, my mom got like a check for $300 for welfare, so she would like go to Albertsons and buy like all the frozen pizzas and all the bonbons. So we just all exploded and gained so much weight so quickly. I was like 170 pounds by the time I was 11. So now I'm like poor, I'm foreign, I'm overweight and I had a mustache on top of all of that.
Mila:Okay, so like everyone bullied me too, and then I like wanted to take off my mustache, but my mom wouldn't let me take it off because she said it would grow back thicker. Oh, I know, this is like all the Soviet girl problems, this is real. So then she's like I'll fix it. So she goes and buys me bleach. So now I'm this like overweight brown girl with a blonde mustache, and on top of that my grandma like was so excited that they had velour in the store, you know. So she like went and bought all this like velour material and made me a bunch of pants so I would wear these like ugly velour pants every day. I'm laughing now, but it wasn't funny. But, like you know and yeah, I'm laughing now but it wasn't funny, oh yeah, but like you know, and yeah, I was bullied and I felt like I always kind of like stood out. But you know, ultimately at the end of the day, going back to like being in America, all you have to do is work really hard and you can literally accomplish anything.
Ilona:And stay positive
Mila:And stay positive. That's a huge thing, because your mind is powerful.
Ilona:Yeah, because a lot of people are held back by their past and I think rewiring your brain and thinking positive and especially just like being grateful for what you have your health, your five senses, anything small things every day matter to be grateful for. Because you know here I think we forget everything that we have, that we didn't have a certain time in our lives. My father always said we came here, we came here for you, it's all on you, and I was always a good student, so I felt the pressure. Now it's just wired in me that I have not reached my potential. I have so much more to accomplish in my life and I know I can. It's like I just know my gut that I'm going to do bigger things than I've done so far. I'm going to do bigger things than I've done so far and I really want to make a difference in the world Perspective is everything I mean.
Mila:I feel like I was even lucky because, even though I also was very greatly affected by the pogroms, I was not born yet, so, like I ended up being born in Ukraine because my mom was pregnant with me when they fled, so I didn't have the comparison of like living a normal life until I was, you know, 11, like you, or my sister who was 12 years older than me, and then going to, like you know, poverty. I was born into poverty.
Ilona:Oh, I didn't know, I didn't realize you were not born there.
Mila:Yeah, I was born in 1990.
Mila:So like right as soon as you know, they settled in Ukraine, my mom had me, so I don't even have that comparison, but I do have the comparison of like growing up in Ukraine, because we grew up in Ukraine, and, you know, after the Bolshevik Revolution, like Ukraine was never its own country, so I grew up like there was no law and order. My neighbors were all, like you know, crazy. Everyone was hungry, everyone was alcoholics. They would drink percovka, which is like vodka with pepper, because, like it's basically rubbing alcohol, I think they put the pepper in to, like you know, make it taste decent.
Mila:I wonder how it compares to absolute papar which I liked in my Bloody Marys back in the days I haven't tried it, but like that's kind of what I grew up in and you know, every time I have like a hard day, now hard day of like all my kids are sick and I have to be up all night. I'm like I've had harder days and I'm sure you're the same way. But I think you have to be in that mindset because both you and I could have been like we're victims. This sucks Like why are we so poor? Why are we in America and we don't have rich parents and we're not privileged? And I mean I felt like that.
Ilona:When I came to America I was like why the hell was I born? Why did you bring me here? Because I had to. When I had to go to school in America, I didn bullied so much that there were days when I just like wish I was dead, like I really hated my life so much and I felt like my parents couldn't speak English, they couldn't like stand up for me or do anything, being poor or not or rich. What matters and what mattered to me and matters in my family still is how close my family is, how much love and support we give to each other, and that includes, you know, my mom, my dad, my aunts, my cousins, my grandparents. They were just always so loving and so supporting that I didn't like I personally don't really feel like I missed out on anything during my childhood.
Ilona:I guess I couldn't do some extracurricular activities that I wanted to because they didn't have the money. And what I really hated is when we would go to the market. I'd be like mom, I want a gum, because you know they had these American gums. Maybe you don't know, but back in former Soviet Union they used to sell Turbo gum and like McDonald's gum, mcdonald's, you didn't have it, mcdonald's gum, and it was so good, but it was like a dollar, Russian ruble and I'd be like mom, can I have gum? She'll be like portuga", which means we have no money, and I hated it. I hated when a ruble would go somewhere and I'd say, want something. She probably could say , and I just was so ashamed of that and I was like, okay, I'm going to grow up and I'm just going to have a lot of money and I'm going to make it happen. I can buy anything I want and fortunately I worked hard to be where I am, so that's not a problem anymore.
Mila:I know I remember like every time you know now they, for whatever reason in schools they like, give the stuff to the kids in the school every year. But when we were kids they would give us a list at the beginning of each school year of, like, all the things you need to buy. And I remember like every time that list would come in I had like this dread of like we have no money, like where's my mom going to find money to, like buy me a calculator and markers, you know, and I remember like growing up and being like I will never be poor again. This will never be an issue. My children will never wonder where their calculator is coming from. So now, when people are like, how do you have the motivation to work so hard? I'm like this is not hard. Being poor is hard, being hungry is hard.
Mila:Not knowing where your rent is coming from is hard, working hard and having all of the opportunities in the world to build grow and develop is a blessing. Why don't you tell us a little bit about how you decided to become a lawyer?
Ilona:In high school I asked my dad. Well, I told my dad that I want to go to the moon, I want to be an astronaut. And he told me because he still had the fresh off the boat mentality is that you're a woman, you're not going to end up going to the moon, you're going to be sitting behind the desk somewhere. But I was really good at math. So then I said I want to be an actress Because when I was a kid my grandma made sure that when I would walk on the street I would sing really loud so it would be discovered.
Ilona:And I used to do that. I would like scream my butt off screen like singing on the street as a little kid. But that didn't happen in former Soviet Union, never got discovered. So then I went to a psychic to figure out what the hell am I gonna be. First I went to her when I was 16 with one of my boyfriends I mean the boyfriend. At a time I remember she told me that I was gonna have nine children and that she gave him a reading and said he was gonna not have nine children when you're on your way, I don't know about him.
Ilona:I'm fine now and I have some frozen embryos. But you know, we broke up like two months later. So your reading was a lie. So a couple of years later, I take my other boyfriend to a psychic. While he's getting a reading and I refuse to spend any more money on that lady.
Mila:So same psychic?
Ilona:Same psychic, but I wasn't going to participate.
Ilona:So while I'm in a waiting room
Mila:Why would you not find a new psychic?
Ilona:Because she was like the main one there on the radio all the time. So then I. So I'm sitting in the hallway and then her daughter is there. She's like okay, why don't I give you a reading for, like free? So she looked at my hand and I said well, I really don't know what I'm going to like. What am I going to be when I'm going to grow up? And she says I see a lot of papers around you. I remember being in the shower that night and I was thinking a lot of papers, I guess I could be someone's secretary or I could have secretaries. And then my dad, I remember, mentioned to me before that only lawyers or doctors make it to America, because that's what every immigrant thinks. Okay, I'll be a lawyer and that's it. That's when I made a commitment. I was in a shower shortly after a psychic reading, and that's how it got started.
Mila:So my story is much simpler. We came to America and my mom was like, okay, mila, like we brought you here. I don't speak the language, this is not my country. Like you better make it worth it. So then she said you can be a lawyer, a doctor or a failure, take your pick. So I really thought about it and I was like, well, I don't like blood, so I guess I'll be a lawyer because I don't want to be a failure.
Mila:And then I really like fell in love with Law Order and I watched Law Order religiously. So I like really liked what they were doing and I always I like became just so enthralled with the fact that, like the justice system worked so smoothly here, because growing up, like in the Soviet Union, there was no justice system. In the Soviet Union there was no justice system. I remember like my uncle's friend got his head chopped off for 300 bucks and no one even like knew who did it, what did it. Like people would disappear all the time, like no one knew here, like everything was investigated. I was like wow, and I was like so amazed by the constitution and the two-party system.
Mila:I was like this is genius, I like like super nerdy, but I was just like really, really passionate about like the American legal system. And then I like for sure thought I would be a prosecutor and I would watch like the cute blonde lady in Law and Order who would like be eating Chinese food in the high rise at two in the morning like solving cases. I was like that's going to be me. But then when I like became an adult, I was like I need to make money and like not, you know, deal with murder all day. So yeah, here.
Ilona:I remember when I was a kid and I was watching some black and white Russian movie, I was impressed with the part where there was a girl who was she was a prostitute but she got arrested. And then I remember this moment where she's like reciting these code sections to the cop and then they let her go and I was like that's so cool, like she knows code sections. So, as a litigator, like I know my code sections really well. But I didn't know I was going to be a lawyer back then.
Mila:How did you end up choosing being a family attorney?
Ilona:I think it chose me because I opened up my law firm straight out of law school. I remember I worked for a criminal law attorney during law school because I had zero connections and I wanted to have something on my resume and he would accept every case that would walk through a door and give it to me and I did the work and it would get filed and everything was fine. So then that gave me confidence that you know, maybe I can do this myself. So when it came time to talk about salary, after I pass the bar exam, he calls me. He says I can't afford to pay you salary, but how about I open up a office, like in an apartment building in North Park somewhere, and we'll do everything 50-50. So all he would do is at least pay rent and then I would give him 50% of profits. Which gave me an idea.
Ilona:And I was 20, I just turned 25. I'm like I wonder what would be, what would it cost to just have my own office, to rent an office and do it myself? Because I speak fluent Russian, I speak fluent Spanish, and during that time I went downtown and started looking, walking around and called the phone numbers I saw for rent and just inquired what it would cost to rent my own office and I ended up just signing the lease into the first place. I walked actually in Sparkles building, I remember that building.
Ilona:Yeah, I mean it was. I signed a lease without applying for a job anywhere and then put an ad into Russian newspaper, mexican newspaper and Yellow Pages. At the time Russians and Hispanics started using my services. So I took every case that would walk through the door and prepared hard and learned and went all the way with it. So well, from family law I ended up getting a criminal case that was a lewd act with a minor because I helped my client get 50-50 custody of his kid. The mother got mad so accused, worked up her teenage daughter to accuse a stepdad of touching her breast. That turned into criminal charges lewd act with a minor which he was facing eight years in prison or jail.
Ilona:I learned that people use family court to manipulate the system to get advantage and that got me more interested in family law and I started getting more family law cases and eventually, after like second year into my practice, 50% of my practice was, I would say, family law and the other 50% was personal injury and civil litigation. I did breach of contract cases. I did some jury trials and I said, okay, I'm just going to do family law exclusively, but we have recently added personal injury back to our practice as of January 2025. We're going to be serving the Russian community, hispanic community and everybody else out there to help them with personal injury
Mila:And employment. I did totally opposite of you. I went the firm route. So initially I started my practice I mean, I didn't know anybody, I didn't know any attorneys and I ultimately ended up doing personal injury defense work and I really liked litigation and I liked the trial practice, but I didn't love being on the defense and I didn't, and it wasn't. You know, I used to think there was like good guys and bad guys, but now I realize everyone is okay, like everyone's doing their job. There's a lot of gray areas in the law, but I still didn't love defending.
Mila:You know, personal injury cases, especially looking at people who were injured, and you know, watching videos of people in the hospital like screaming in pain. We're going to do that in plaintiffs. On the plaintiff side, though, it's different. It's different because I feel like I'm on the right side. You're helping people, yes, and like, what really like kind of switched me from PI to employment, was one case. It was a 3-year-old who fell out of a 14-story building and was one case it was a three-year-old who fell out of a 14th story building and he fell because he was like climbing on this air conditioning unit, that like, and there was no screen in the window. So they were suing. Did he survive? He survived because a tree broke his fall. But he was very badly injured. Basically had you know, defect health, defects for life, like lost all his teeth, had was going to have a limp for his whole life.
Mila:And at that time Daniel, my oldest, was, I think, two or three and so watching the videos of this like child, like fully in a full body cast, like crying, like it, just I couldn't do it. I just could not do it. I was like PI defense not for me. I was like employment it's like salacious, it's sexy, like no one's hurt. I mean there's a lot of trauma that comes with it, like emotional trauma. I can handle that, but I can't see injured kids anymore Like I was, just like I can't, unless I'm like helping them get money and like fighting for their rights. I don't want to defend cases like that.
Mila:So I started doing employment and I went to big law. I started working at Jackson Lewis. There was like a thousand attorneys. It was super. I mean you have to hustle, but again, I'm not scared of hard work, but it was good. I really liked employment, it was fun. And then I got an opportunity to start an employment plaintiff's practice and initially I was like I'm not really a plaintiff's lawyer. I've always been on the defense side. But I always say don't miss any opportunities. I'm a yes girl. So I was like you know what, I'll do it. So I started an employment practice and it was great and I love fighting for people and I always say you have to find passion in what you do, because that's what gives you motivation. I can't imagine waking up and not wanting to go to work. I can't imagine waking up and being like oh, I have to go to work again. This is terrible. Like what kind of life is that? Because we spend so much time at work, we should enjoy it, you know.
Ilona:I'm happy when I go to work. It's definitely quiet, I get things done, I feel productive. But I would really love to have more time with my children because I barely see them. Like I go to work at, you know, I'll drop off my daughter at school at 830 in the morning and then I'll come home at 630. I'll have 30 minutes with them by Monday through Friday. Then I have to work out at 730 three times a week, half the. If I'm stuck at work then I miss it.
Ilona:Like I love working, I love getting things done. Like before I had children, I used to work six to seven days a week. My car was always the last one on the parking lot, three, four in the morning, and obviously I had court in the morning or tons of clients to handle. And I did that from 2005 to, I would say, till 2019, when I had Ella. Then I, you know I didn't work till three four in the morning anymore, but I still worked a lot until I had children in 2023 four in the same year. I now take my weekends off because that's my only time I really get to spend quality time with them and that's not even enough.
Ilona:there's no time for yourself but you know how it is for yourself like I feel guilty getting my nails done because it's an hour and a half wasting time, you just have to do it.
Mila:That's why I work out at four in the morning, because everyone's asleep. If it's like six and I know the kids are about to wake up, I feel guilty being in the gym. I'm like I have to go home they're going to wake
Mila:You know, if it's the weekend, I work out, even on the weekends, at five in the morning, five to six, because otherwise I can't.
Ilona:I can't because I have an infant sleeping in my bed in my room, so I have to take care of him at night and he wakes up two to three times at night. And then I have Ella sleeping with me because you know, she's my little baby and I don't mind at all. I would love anyways. Of course my boyfriend doesn't like it, but I want to sleep with Ella forever.
Mila:Yeah, I have no kids in my bedroom. Kids are not allowed to even come close to my bed.
Ilona:How did you decide to
Mila:So there was never any other plan. I met my husband. We got married after three months of knowing each other and then as soon as I finished law school, I finished law school at 24, got pregnant like - finished in or passed the bar in November, was pregnant by January and had a baby like year one of law school. And then I had another baby three years later, and another baby three years later and now I have three kids. I've been married 12 years and that was that.
Ilona:Yeah, I think - I'm 44. And your kids are older than mine because you got started earlier than me. I waited till later in life because I wasn't as lucky to just like meet somebody. Of course, I heard from my family and felt pressured ever since my 20s, that I'm becoming an old maid and like all your cousins and everybody's married. And you know I was sent to psychics a couple of times to get readings as to why this is not happening for me. I was told I've been cursed, that I've jinxed on me, you name it. But in reality, like I dated a lot, to the point where my young grandmother was like you know, look at you, what's going on? Like I'm a grandma, I'm making it up for all of you guys, because you didn't date, my other grandma didn't date, my mom didn't date, so I'm making it up for all the women in my married heritage, so say thank you.
Ilona:So of course you know we laughed about it. But she didn't like you know she didn't think it was as funny, but that's the reality. I had no choice. I want you know. I was like, okay, I'm going to probably get married and have kids and I'm 25. Nope, didn't happen. Thought it might happen by 30. Didn't happen. That might happen by 35, didn't happen. So then I said, screw it, I'm just going to like freeze my eggs until you know I find the right guy. Because, as being a divorce attorney, the one mistake you make that will make your life miserable is have children with the wrong person. Because for the next 18 years you'll be in court over custody, over child support. For the next 18 years you'll be in court over custody over child support and a whole bunch of other problems. So I didn't want that and I waited. I was hopeful until I was 39, that you know some prince will come and sweep me off my feet and everything will be good and I'll have a family with him. Didn't happen.
Ilona:When I was 38, I met my boyfriend and when I met him I said, hey, I, hey, I decided I want to have kids before I'm 40. So I'm going to have my own kid this year. You can hang around with me or you don't, but I'm doing it. So he stayed with me. The first time I did my IVF transfer, it didn't work. And then, you know, we still continued dating and I tried again in April of 2019. And you know, I now have my beautiful daughter, ella, and she's five years old, so and then I obviously have more frozen embryos.
Ilona:I waited and when I was 42, I said, okay, not getting any younger might as well get it out of the way. So I decided that I'll carry one child and I was going to hire a surrogate to have another child for me. But what happened is that everything doubled. It went to my ultrasound and they're like you have twins. I'm like what? Well, okay, fine, like I just adapt, like this. My great blessing, all good. My boyfriend almost had a heart attack. I gave birth to twins in July of 2023. And then, as soon as I recovered from my C-section, the surrogate's water broke and I had to fly to Northern California to pick up my other set of twins. And yeah, I have a funny video. I I had all the babies at home. Like I don't need help, I can do this myself, I want to take care of all the babies myself tonight.
Ilona:So I had I bought these double beds for for the infants, where they're laying, and and then I also had ella sleep with me, so I had five children. I thought I'm gonna be able to take care of everybody myself that night.
Mila:I'm getting anxiety listening to this because I had one newborn and two toddlers and I thought I was going to die. But go ahead.
Ilona:WelI wasn't able to do it. I definitely needed, you know, my boyfriend's help and I had to. I don't remember how that night went, but I remember I took videos because everybody was screaming. I was screaming, I was like, ah, this person wants a boob, not person my kid. They get a bottle here and they wake up Ella. It was a disaster. So now what we do is, you know, I rotate my babies. I take a different child every night into the crib in my room and Ella sleeps with me, and then that's a story, but it's very manageable. Now that I have five, it's easy, like it's actually way easier.
Mila:I feel like humans are just so adaptable, like at first everything sounds difficult and then, once you get it, it's just like meh.
Ilona:I got this. Yeah, like now I'm thinking, you know, although it might be crazy, but what I mean? I have two more. I would have seven kids if I ever did that again. I would have to hire a surrogate if I ever did that. Of course, you know, I don't know if anybody will agree to it, but I actually don't need consent. So we'll see what happens in life. If everything goes to plan and I accomplish my dreams and make big things happen, then why not?
Mila:You know what I love about you more than anything probably is that like you are really good at being positive. I always say, you know, tell myself this because I feel like so often I get into the nitty gritty of the hard parts and I'm like don't let your blessings be burdens. And I feel like you're so good at that innately, and so like, keep up the good work.
Ilona:I mean, I think life is up and down. All of us, you know, have our highs and have lows and you know, once you hit the bottom it's only going to go up. So just know that time will heal and I think that when I I remember a moment when I realized that it will only get better. I had an ingrown nail on my toe and I was like 16. And I had to go to a doctor to help me and I remember he had this huge syringe and he had to put this.
Ilona:He had to give me a numbing shot into my toe like where there's bone, but you know I had to tolerate it. All I was thinking is time heals, time heals. This will be like in the past, like think of the future, like and that works, and that work and now, like I always think back of that, I'm like it was hurting so much.
Ilona:Yeah, well, I mean, I think of my mindset at the time, not of my ingrown nail. I was just thinking this moment will be the past. So just get through it, yeah, and then it won't hurt anymore.
Ilona:well, I hope that everyone feels like they know you me a little bit better. We hope we can share with you what it's really like going through the courts, as well as tell you some of the wild stories.
Mila:We will be interviewing past clients, so you don't have to take our word for it. You can hear their stories directly from them.
Ilona:Now for a taste of what's to come. Each episode, Mila and I will bring you into our world through three exciting segments.
Mila:First off, we have Hot Off the Headlines, where we dive into the latest lawsuits and legal stories making waves in the news, From shocking twists to high stakes drama. We will break it all down for you with wit and wisdom.
Ilona:Then we'll revisit some of our own crime and punishment and past cases and present drama. We'll relive our most startling cases, proving that the stories of yesterday still pack a punch today. We'll even be inviting special guests during these segments who were actually involved in the cases.
Mila:And, last but not least, you can look forward to what we are calling the balancing act. This is the part where we share our secrets to juggling demanding careers, family life and personal passions, all while staying sparkling Tips, tricks and a little glam on the side. And that's a wrap for today's episode of the Glamorous Grind.
Ilona:We hope you loved getting to know us, our stories, our passion for the law and what makes this grind just a little bit more glamorous.
Mila:And next week we've got a special guest who turned their legal battle into a life-changing story.
Ilona:You won't want to miss this. We'll be dropping episodes every Tuesday, so make sure you stay tuned.
Mila:Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Ilona:And be sure to follow us on social media for behind-the-scenes content updates and even a sneak peek at future episodes.
Mila:Until next time, remember, success isn't about choosing between ambition and elegance you can have both.
Ilona:Stay fabulous, stay fierce, and we'll see you on the next episode of the Glamorous Grind.
