Chapter 59: The Billionaire Boss Who Wears Sweatpants to Work

~ONE YEAR AND SEVEN MONTHS LATER~

“Today, I’m talking with Octavia Wilde, co-founder of O.G. Idea, the multibillion-dollar technology design company.”

Octavia’s eyes rose from her shoes at the sound of the reporter’s voice.

She settled herself into the chair set across from the middle-aged woman who had arrived at the office that morning for the scheduled interview.

Octavia had met Fran at the door of the office space and led her to a room walled in by glass on all sides that looked out onto the colorful lounge area where some designers sat behind laptops working away.

In the soundproofed space, Fran had set up her recording equipment and begun the interview.

“Miss Wilde, ever since the launch of your Athena program, your tech company quickly grew to become the most profitable design firm in the country—even around the globe. What’s the secret to your success?”

Octavia pushed her glasses up her nose and answered promptly. “Simple. Laziness.”

“Could you…explain that?”

She grinned. “Whenever I come across something really hard that I don’t want to do, I find a way to automate it.

“Instead of powering through the tough things, I’d rather create something to do the work for me. The only reason Athena came to be is because I got sick of combing through engineering drawings.”

The reporter smiled in amusement. “I see. You’ve accomplished so much at a young age. A lot of people see you as some kind of tech genius. What do you think of that?”

“I’ll take it,” Octavia replied. “The general public is a lot more forgiving about things if they think you’re a genius.”

“Like what?”

“Wearing hoodies and sweatpants to work, for one.”

“Yes, you are rather…notorious for your…uh…unusual office attire.”

“The great thing about being the boss, I make the rules. I can wear whatever I want. It’s great!”

“And your company does have a different set of rules than others.

“You made headlines some time back when it came out that the O.G. Idea workday is only six hours long and you give twice as much vacation time as other companies.”

“It actually makes more sense, I think. Why keep people chained to their desks all day when you can really only be productive for a portion of that time?

“Besides…we still get a lot done and deliver great products to our customers.”

They were interrupted by the door opening. Gracie walked into the room and took the seat next to Octavia.

“Sorry I’m late,” Gracie apologized, “just sorting out some tech malfunction with one of our clients.”

“Not to worry, we’d just started,” Fran said.

“We are now joined by Gracie Shalhoub, the other founder of the company. Now that I have both of you here, I have to ask, what’s it like being a woman in tech?”

Octavia and Gracie exchanged glances. Gracie responded to the twinkle in Octavia’s eyes with her own dancing pupils.

“Interesting,” Gracie responded.

“It depends,” Octavia said.

“How so?” Fran asked.

Octavia paused. “Well, when I was in school, as one of the few women in my engineering classes, I did feel as if I had to prove myself to my classmates, or to my professors.”

“You had to work twice as hard as everyone else for the same respect?” Fran asked.

“You could say that,” Octavia said. “But then, sometimes getting written off was a blessing in disguise. I was automatically discounted, assumed to be the token girl.

“So I was free to do whatever I wanted; to not have to live up to anyone’s expectations. Some of my best coding ideas happened in times like that. I guess now with O.G., it’s pretty much the same.”

Fran nodded at that. Then she turned to Gracie, “And you?”

Gracie shrugged.

“I come from a family of tinkerers—all of which are male. Sure, it bothers some people that I do a ‘man’s work,’ but I’m not overly concerned about those people. If I see something I want to do, I do it.”

“Let’s talk about your success. Your company only employs a handful of people—sixty-two, I believe.

“And yet you create products for some of the biggest institutions and corporations around the world. The value of this company is well over a billion dollars.

“You two are some of the wealthiest women in the world right now. You’re some of the wealthiest people in the world.”

“That’s more of a statement than a question,” Gracie remarked.

“But thank you for saying it all the same,” Octavia said, with a gracious nod.

“It’s very rare to see two women—especially one being a Black woman and the other a daughter of Middle Eastern immigrants—in the positions the two of you have,” Fran continued.

“My question is, what do you think it means for other young girls or women hoping to start out in tech having you two as role models?”

“I don’t know if we’re the best role models,” Gracie said.

“We’re definitely not very ladylike,” Octavia added.

“Our language is vulgar.”

“And we use far too much sarcasm.”

Gracie shook her head. “Hardly your ideal women.”

Octavia beamed. “But I guess part of that is what got us to where we are. To answer your question, Fran…I think it’s great to have representation for those who need it.

“For instance, someone who has definitely inspired me is Indira Bhandari, of Curie Technology.”

“Your first investor and current mentor,” Fran commented.

Octavia nodded. “She’s been great to work with and an inspiration for many people.

“But all the same, I say if there’s something out there that you’re meant to do, some passion calling your name, just do it. Even if there’s no one like you doing it, you can be the first.”

While Fran nodded thoughtfully, Gracie said, “Damn. That’s deep.”

“Isn’t it?” Octavia remarked. “I’d write it down, but I think Fran beat me to it.”

Fran laughed, then posed her next question. “Even with your business making these incredible profits, it’s a known fact that your salaries aren’t that much more than your employees.

“You certainly don’t make as much as other people in the same position at similar companies. Why is this?”

“We tried!” Octavia said earnestly. “As our profits kept growing, we gave everyone—including ourselves—bigger salaries. But damn, at some point, making more and more money gets boring.”

Gracie nodded in agreement. “I found the more money I made, the more relatives I seemed to have. It was necessary to draw the line somewhere…before I found myself related to half of the city.”

“There’s only so much you can spend on video games, anime merchandise, and Nerf guns,” Octavia added. “Eventually, you start running out of ideas.

“And it becomes a lot of work to find new ways to spend money. After spending on all the regular, sensible crap, of course, properties, retirement, real estate, and whatnot,” Octavia said.

“I bought my parents a mansion so they could finally have enough space for all my family,” Gracie said. “And now that place is even more crowded than their old home. Nothing really changed.”

Fran asked, “But what really is interesting is what you’ve done with the extra profit. The Octavia-Gracie, or the O.G., endowment fund is one of the largest funds in the country.

“Why did you decide to put your money toward scholarships and business loans for women in STEM?”

“I wanted to give out the scholarships,” Octavia said, “because I would love for there to be more women in tech. More women in STEM, period.

“I know I would have enjoyed having more female classmates when I was in school.”

“And I’d like more women with businesses,” Gracie added. “I mean, actually running things. Not just doing clerical work or someone else’s job for them.”

“That’s an incredible sacrifice,” Fran said.

“Not really,” Octavia replied. “I think of it as more of an investment. Whoever these women go on to be, whatever businesses they have or careers they take, I believe it will benefit us all.

“So it’s not like we’re giving away anything, we’re just allocating funds to where they’d best cater to our interests.”

“What she said,” Gracie commented.

“Do you ever have any regrets about diverting all your money toward these scholarship and loan funds? When you ladies give away your fortune, it really is all given away.”

“Instead of magically ending up back in our pockets like some billionaires’ charitable donations?” Gracie said with a wry smile.

Fran did not disagree.

“We already make a lot,” Octavia said. “More than enough. Our business is thriving, our employees are happy.”

“They are the highest paid tech firm employees in the country,” Fran remarked.

“They are the ones who keep everything running,” Octavia said.

“But you do realize,” Fran said, “that if you decided to keep your profits, instead of putting them into the fund, you would have a personal net worth of over a billion dollars?

“You could be one of the world’s few billionaires.”

Octavia mused on this.

“True,” she finally responded, “but as enticing as that sounds, it’s not something we want to pursue.”

“Why?”

“Too much of a bother,” Gracie said. “The accounting paperwork alone would destroy me.”

“Yes,” Octavia agreed, “Honestly, I’d rather take a nap than deal with an extra couple million dollars. When it comes to money, more isn’t always more.”

“What do you mean by that?” Fran asked.

Octavia paused in thought. “Let’s just say, I knew someone once who was in a similar position. He had it all, but it didn’t make him…”

“Happy?” Fran supplied.

Octavia frowned. “Not just that—it didn’t make him…him. As much as everyone made a big deal about the guy, if you asked him…he couldn’t even tell you who he was.”