1. Talia #3
The PR work didn’t bother Talia, though. Publicity people were going to do what publicity people did. As long as Talia got to work on her technology and improve lives, she was happy.
“Speaking of celebrations,” Raj said, “I think we’ve monopolized enough of Talia, and it’s time to get on with the party.
Shall we?” With the ease of someone used to steering others, he ushered them all into the main part of the restaurant, where servers floated around and Ideal Life employees mingled, eating spicy tuna hand rolls and sipping on sake from pale-green porcelain cups.
Talia found Sam easily. He was, as promised, at the sushi bar platform in the center of the restaurant.
“Hey, there you are!” He smiled and held out a small glass plate with picture-perfect slices of sashimi on it. “You have to try the salmon. It’s like butter—it just melts in your mouth.”
She took the plate and borrowed Sam’s chopsticks. Their friendship was uncomplicated like that—all comfort, no pretense. “Mm, this is good.”
“Arigato gozaimasu,” one of the sushi chefs said, thanking her from behind the bar.
Talia and Sam wandered through the restaurant, chatting with employees from Ideal Life and investors from the various venture capital firms that had given Talia money early on to start and grow the company.
A couple hours in, it began to sink in that this was really happening.
“I actually did it, Sam. I made Ideal Life real. And now… Oh my god. Omni’s buying it.”
He squeezed her arm. “I’m so proud of you, Tal.”
“That means everything to me. I know you wish people would read more books rather than be online, and I know you hate how everyone’s attached to their phones. You don’t like Omni glasses, or Omni at all, which makes the fact that you’re here, that you support me, even more special—”
“Talia, stop.” He took her by the shoulders and looked straight at her.
“I really, truly, couldn’t be prouder of you.
You’re driven by such unselfish, good-hearted instincts that it doesn’t matter if you partner with Big Tech—you’re going to make a difference in people’s lives.
It’s what you’ve always wanted, and you’re doing it. You amaze me.”
She looked away, simultaneously relieved, grateful, and embarrassed by his praise.
“I couldn’t have made it this far without you,” Talia said when she’d recovered herself. “Oh, but I’m the worst friend! I haven’t even asked about your poker tournament tomorrow. How are you feeling about it?”
Sam shrugged. “I can’t control luck, but I can control numbers, so we’ll just see how it goes.” High-level poker was part chance, part game theory, and Sam was able to use his winnings as a way to balance out his bookstore, which bled money.
Over on the raised sushi bar platform, Raj and Melanie began clinking their glasses.
As everyone crowded together and the room hushed, Melanie said, “Thank you for inviting us here to celebrate with you. We at OmnisZcience can’t tell you how excited we are about the work you’re doing at Ideal Life, and we see a bright future ahead for all of us.
And we’d like to invite your visionary founder and CEO, Talia Morgan, up here to say a few words. ”
“That’s my cue,” Talia said.
“I have to jet soon,” Sam said, “but I’ll stay for a minute while you give your toast.”
“Thank you again for being here tonight.” She gave him a quick hug, then made her way through the restaurant. Meanwhile, waiters passed out a fresh round of champagne to everyone.
Raj handed Talia a glass as she stepped up onto the sushi bar platform. Erin, the summer intern, stood at the front of the crowd and beamed up at Talia, bouncing on her toes and ready to drink in every word.
“Oh gosh, I don’t really like speeches,” Talia said, already feeling the blush spread across her face. “You all know me—I’d rather be actually making things better than just talking about it.”
The Ideal Life employees laughed. She had uttered the phrase “let’s make it better” in so many engineering meetings that it had become a meme on the company’s internal Slack chat.
“The one thing I will say is this. The headlines tomorrow are going to talk about Omni acquiring Ideal Life, and a lot of focus will be on Omni. But I just want you to know that the most important part of all this is you. You are the ones who created this incredible technology. You are the ones who made my grad school daydream a reality. You are the ones who are making real lives better, one decision at a time. So this toast is for you.”
Talia lifted her glass, and being on a raised platform, she felt like she was being buoyed up by the wave of champagne flutes as everyone else in the restaurant lifted their glasses, too. Near the door, Sam tilted his toward her.
“To you!” Raj toasted, and the room burst into cheers and clinking.
Joy fluttered in Talia’s chest. This was really, really happening.
“Excuse me, Talia?” Below the sushi bar platform stood a woman in a skirt suit, her dark hair in long box braids. “Hi, I’m Laura Owusu from the San Francisco Chronicle. I’m sorry I’m late, but I was wondering if I could have a few minutes of your time?”
“Of course!”
Talia led Laura back to the corner of the restaurant with the Ideal Life / Omni photo backdrop.
“Omni’s photographer took some pictures of us earlier that I’m sure they’ll send to you, but I’m also happy to do a couple shots now for your piece if you want.
” Talia grimaced, second-guessing how narcissistic that sounded.
She blamed it on still riding the high from the toast a few minutes before.
“No thanks, that won’t be necessary,” Laura said.
Ugh. Now Talia definitely felt like a narcissistic ass. The people-pleasing part of her immediately wanted to make up for it.
“Well,” she said, “Ideal Life is really excited about our future with Omni. Everyone at the startup believes we’re on the forefront of innovation and that the synergistic outlook is…”
Forefront of innovation?
Synergistic outlook?
Gah—this is why Talia preferred just doing the actual work to talking about it!
Laura frowned at her.