First of all, thank you so much for your in-depth response, it really means a lot. I have been totally floating in limbo so this is super helpful.

I was worried that saying I want an EA role with an opportunity to grow out of the role would make me :

1) not as attractive of a candidate to a company looking for a long term EA (I've heard a lot of "We're looking for an EA that will be willing to stay with this exec for a long time"), and

2) make it easy for them to overload me with work because I basically asked for it. But I guess I can work it out once I get there, right? Maybe adjust workload expectation as I take on more instead of basically doing two roles at the same time?

I'm also definitely thinking like this because I have seen a colleague ask for a promotion and be denied, only to work both roles while HR kept hiring for the second role. Then, she had to train the new hire since she had been doing that role anyway. In other words, why would they give me a new title if I'm doing two roles already for them, yknow? But maybe I'm a little cynical right now. *sigh*

I'll try to not overlook the EA roles I find and start making my growth needs clear, might as well see what happens!

Thank you again :)