The executive suite occupies the twenty-sixth floor of the rented office which houses The Rawls Project. Aashvi’s office is in the back but furthest from the elevator and directly across from Morgan’s office. To the right of the hall from their offices is the board room that overlooks the Chicago skyline offering a 270 degree view, the entire world seemed to look up at the people looking down. It was here that Aashvi held her board meetings between herself, Morgan, and all the investors with voting privileges. Today, for their first time, Ronie sat in one such meeting. 

They were bewildered by how loud it was, Morgan looked frazzled and every ten minutes almost on schedule Aashvi ended up arguing with either Jake or Ros. Each represented a separate venture capital firm that tied their money and reputations to Aashvi long ago. When the conversation strayed too far from profits or future profits, one would raise an objection and Aashvi would become defensive.

 The scattered remains of breakfast had given the room the appearance and smell of a poorly cared for bed and breakfast in the morning. The meeting ran two hours late and Morgan had yet to cover the developing situation in California. 

Aashvi unplugged her laptop from the projector in the middle of the room to give Morgan space to show data for potential marketing pushes. She entered her password and the screen showed a tall woman surrounded by people. 

The image was a screenshot taken from CNN and the headline read, “Behren Ukumen Delivers Fiery Speech to Supporters in Long Beach.” Morgan looked around the room appreciating the welcome distraction of the bright cityscape outside, if she rushed, she could maybe end her day before too long. Then, she noticed Ros’s frown and proceeded.

She spoke to the room, “This is Behren Ukumen, a candidate for mayor in Long Beach, a small city south of Los Angeles, who requested access to our data through her campaign. A local publication picked up the story and the incumbent’s lead dropped 13% overnight. Ukumen’s willingness to listen and enact what their constituents want has helped the platform spread by word of mouth in the city by over 300%. We should capitalize on this opportunity by marketing it through purchased ad space. Ukumen’s popularity is proof that the tool works.” 

The next slide in the presentation showed the live data collection coming in from California. Traffic was up 30% over the last 12 hours and growing steadily. Jake, Aashvi, and Ronie began to nod while Ros’s frown deepened before she sighed and asked, “I thought the project was meant to stay apolitical-- doesn’t marketing this alienate some of our potential base?” 

Morgan nodded, and suggested that people regardless of political affiliation would connect with the success of the campaign. Ronie spoke up for the first time that meeting, “I’m not sure what about the project of changing the world seems a-political to you, Rosaline--” 

They were cut off mid sentence by an angry glance from Ros who said, “It’s Ros, Ros. Not Rosaline. I expect you to pick up on these things sooner given that your area of expertise is social dynamics whatever that means.” Ros folded her hands on the dark oak table and stared at Ronie. 

They turned bright red and apologized, “Ros, I see what you’re saying but I believe supporting people who do feel the world needs to be changed is entirely within the scope of our mission.” Ros began to reply but stopped mid sentence before relenting, “Whatever Morgan suggests is fine with me.” 

“On that note,” Aashvi interjected, “I did want to talk about the problem of continuing to collect meaningful data. Thus far, we have been lucky in that the vast majority of respondents have provided answers that make sense. However, as the project grows in popularity, I expect that the quality of the replies will diminish.” Jake and Ros shot each other a glance and Mitch, the ever silent investor who only sat stoically through every meeting, jerked his head alert and grunted at Aashvi. 

Ronie replied, “Isn’t this part of what we’re doing already? Filtering noise from the data before we admit analyses to outside parties?” Aashvi smiled and Jake’s eyebrows shot up. Morgan thought his face looked like a grotesque mask and tried to hide her disgust. 

“Yes, that’s exactly right. My suspicion is that as we continue to process data the quality of said data will decline. Therefore, I suggest we begin paying our contributors when their data is used based on the need of the individual user," Aashvi replied and all hell broke loose. 

Jake screamed about having barely begun making profit and Ros turned a deep crimson and began muttering about wasting her employer's time. Mitch babbled directly to Morgan about his impending retirement-- his speech unrelated and incoherent in places still adopted all the angry tones around him.

“If you could all breathe for a minute. Please, incentivizing users is one of the ways we will bring on new users,” Aashvi paused to wipe sweat from her upper lip that accumulated in the heat of her embarrassment at such a scene, “while incentivizing previous users to contribute new data as our project evolves.” 

Nobody spoke and then Jake leaned back in his chair and said, “I think I speak for every investor here,” his eyes shot between Ros, Mitch, and Ronie before sneering at Aashvi, “when I say that you are handing out money that doesn’t belong to you. No, that’s our money Aashvi.” Jake suppressed a giggle when he saw how red Aashvi had become. Half the fun of investing in the fledgling company came from getting a reaction from someone he perceived to be significantly more intelligent and arrogant than himself. 

“I do think you speak for yourself,” Ronie interjected before Aashvi could reply. “In fact, I think it's brilliant. Aashvi’s plan incentivizes new users who might benefit from a small payout and who have lived experiences that would provide depth to our analyses,” they concluded before sinking into their chair. It was an even 3-3 split on the board. 

“Yes, that’s exactly it. We have to provide a reason for everyone to come together and lift up their voices against these oppressive systems,” Aashvi smiled at Ronie and turned her head to hide a blush. Jake rolled his eyes and asked for the meeting to be dismissed. Everyone held their breath in anticipation of receiving the rest of their day back. Aashvi nodded but added, “Yes. Everyone can leave except for Ronie. You can stay here with me. We should talk logistics.”