“Exactly,” she said, her voice small. Crushed. “I’ve been working on this app for years, Daniel. The deadline for submissions for the FITC is just a few weeks away. If I accept this new position, there’s no way I’ll have enough time to get the app ready before the deadline. I’ve never had the kind of momentum behind it that I do now. If I don’t make that deadline, I’ll probably never see it through.

“So, essentially, a yes to Trendsetters is a no to my own dreams.”

Daniel hated the defeat in her eyes. He smoothed his palm over her calf. In a quiet voice, he said, “Well that answers the question for you, doesn’t it?”

“No, it doesn’t. It’s just the opposite. I’m left with an impossible decision and I have no idea which path I should choose.”

He paused for a moment, searching for his words. Seeing how upset she was, he wanted to make sure they were the right ones.

“Samiah, I’m sure it’s occurred to you that you can still work for the Outreach Department, even if you’re not the one who gets it off the ground. You said that Barrington seemed to be one hundred percent behind the idea. He won’t do away with it if you say no. He’ll just put someone else in the position.”

“It needs to be me,” she said. “I know I sound cocky, but I’m the best person for this job, Daniel. Barrington has more compassion than ninety-nine percent of the CEOs out there, but he isn’t doing this for altruistic reasons. This is to help Trendsetters’ image in the tech world. I want to make sure that Trendsetters isn’t the only winner here. No one else they put in that job will make an effort to seek out young people of color—specifically young women of color—and bring them into STEM, or into Trendsetters. It’s not because they don’t think it’s important. Some don’t have a connection to the neighborhoods where the people I believe they should recruit live. Others just don’t see it as a priority.

“I’ve witnessed this time and again. Hiring directors will look at two résumés and hold all things constant. They don’t factor in how much harder that young black engineer had to work in order to get into that same position, and how that engineer will bring that same work ethic to the company.” She shook her head. “There is so much good that can come from this.”

“The same could be said for Just Friends,” he pointed out. “Who knows what it could lead to? You may be five years away from building your own Trendsetters, Samiah.”