When we landed, I made a decision. The next morning, I called my lawyer. I want to set up a scholarship fund, I told her. for first generation college students pursuing STEM degrees. Full ride scholarships for five students per year. One-time awards not renewable so we can help as many people as possible.
That’s very generous, she said. May I ask what inspired this? I want to help kids like I used to be. I said the ones who have to do it alone. I stared out my office window at the ocean. Can we make it anonymous? Absolutely. I’ll draw up the paperwork. I endowed it with $5 million. The money I could have given Tyler, could have given my parents, could have used to buy their approval.
Instead, it would help 25 kids over the next 5 years get the education I’d had to claw my way toward. It felt good, better than good. It felt right. Mom called 17 times over the next week. I blocked her number. Dad emailed asking me to reconsider. I deleted it. Tyler sent a long text about family loyalty and how I’d regret this.
I blocked him, too. Rachel called to check in. How are you holding up? Better than I thought I would, I said. Honestly, it hurts, but it also feels like closing a door that should have been closed years ago. Good. They don’t deserve you. She paused. Hey, speaking of not deserving, you remember that documentary filmmaker I told you about the one doing a piece on women entrepreneurs in tech vaguely.
She wants to interview you. I showed her your company’s growth numbers and she freaked out. You’d be perfect for her series. I hesitated. I’d always avoided publicity, preferring to keep my head down and work. But maybe it was time to stop hiding. Okay, I said, “Set it up.” The interview happened three weeks later in my office.
The filmmaker, a woman named Sarah Mitchell, was sharp and insightful. She asked about my background, my company, my journey from broke college student to successful CEO. I told her enough about working three jobs, about starting my company on a shoestring budget, about clients who didn’t pay, and the months I couldn’t make payroll.
About the nights I stayed up coding until dawn because I refused to fail. You must have had great support, Sarah said. From family, from friends, I said, from my husband, but family. I shook my head. They weren’t part of this story. Her eyes sharpened with journalistic instinct. Would you be comfortable elaborating on that? I thought about it about protecting people who’d never protected me.
About keeping secrets that only served them. They didn’t believe in me. I said simply, “They didn’t support my marriage, my career, any of my choices. So, I built this without them. And honestly, I’m proud of that. I’m proud that I didn’t need them.” The interview aired 6 weeks later as part of a PBS documentary series.
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