VINEA LAUNCHES SWEEPING Search for Candidates in Key Roles
By: Chip Tulley, Inside Business Reporter
Recruiters are cracking their knuckles this week as Vinea launched a series of high-level job searches to fill roles in communications, Human Resources, and corporate strategy. Inside Business noted postings on various job boards, all emphasizing a desire to locate diverse talent to quickly fill roles as the company prepares for a public option later this fall. Does this broad job search indicate trouble at the helm of the tech startup?
“All right, hit me.” Audrey falls into step with me as I make my way back to my office. She’s got a stylus in hand, ready to cross things off her electronic agenda. I wish I’d thought to use that the other day when I was angry-listing. I experience a minor wave of concern that my piece of notebook paper wound up in unfriendly hands, but I don’t have time to dwell on it, not with Audrey beside me. She explains how Shane hired a recruiter specializing in inclusive hiring and Vinea already lined up prospects for a few key roles.
“We’ve got the candidate for communications tomorrow. The strategy specialist candidate asked to come Friday, but I said we need to move to next week since you can’t spare an hour two days in a row.”
“That sounds smart. But ugh. Can I really not spare an hour on Friday?” I look at her hopefully and she shakes her head.
“Okay, so I know you need to leave for the private air strip in a few minutes, but I really need you to approve these forms for the S.E.C.”
“S.E.C sounds like a Logan situation. Isn’t that for money stuff?” I have zero mental capacity to concentrate on money stuff at this point in my day.
“Logan has already signed.” Audrey looks at her notes. “She says, ‘tell Sam to go for it. Everything’s in order. I got you, babe.’”
I arch a brow at Audrey as I reach for the pen she’s holding out while we walk. I pause to lean on the wall. “Did Logan really add that last part?”
Audrey nods and gathers back the signed forms. “She did. Okay, in your office you’ll find gals from the investment bank Logan selected. They want to talk with you before moving forward. They know you have a hard stop in—“ Audrey checks the time. “Seventeen minutes. Give me your phone so I can charge it during the meeting. My intern is finishing up packing your bag.”
“I’m not staying overnight.”
“Oh, I know, but we thought you might want to change for dinner or just have some comfy things for the flight back. We’ve got you, babe.”
I press open the door to my office and look over my shoulder. “When did you get an intern?”
An hour later I arrive at the airport, having spent the entire car ride with Shane and Logan talking me through the finer points of our price stabilization plan and community members who want to join our board of directors prior to the public stock offering. I don’t even get a chance to check my texts before I have to hand my ID to the pre-check security person.
Audrey follows me on the plane and for a terrifying moment I’m worried she will be coming with me to Virginia to tell me more things I need to think about and I won’t have a minute to prepare myself to “enjoy” my family. But she just hands me my phone and pulls me in for a hug.
“I know they’re mean to you,” she says. “But I want you to know we all love you here. We appreciate your amazing work.”
I feel tears well up, but I don’t let them spill. I don’t have time for that. Haven’t in years. “I’m moved, Audrey. I hope you all know how much I value you.” She gives me a thumbs up and backs off the plane. An instant later she shoves her hand out as the flight attendant is about to close the door.
“The cake!” Audrey’s other hand starts waving the pink bag containing my father’s sugar-free birthday cake. I lean forward to grab it from her and when I clutch the bag to my chest, I see that someone stuck a cupcake in there.
A green sticky note on the wrapper says SAM, and I moan in gratitude as I greedily peel it open and cram the decadent chocolate into my mouth. My staff is amazing. I can’t believe I put them in a position to all feel overworked, just because I couldn’t let myself cede more control of the company. Audrey, Shane and Logan really push me. I need to compensate them better.
Energized, I pull out my phone and refuse to allow myself to groan or frown as I scroll through the messages from my family. My happy birthday text to my father shows as read, although there’s been no response. That’s par for the course.
My brother has repeatedly texted to ask where the dinner will be and what time. His final message reads, “Nvrmnd I found it.”
Also par for the course.
I put my phone back in my bag, opt not to change clothes, and spend the rest of the flight speed-reading all the briefs and memos from Shane, Logan and Audrey. I start to wish I had a co-CEO and will myself not to get my phone back out to look up whether such a thing exists.
Once again longing for the late nights just making coding magic happen, I prepare for landing. I know Audrey arranged for car service to and from the airport and I look out the window, laughing as I notice we are sharing space with the military planes. In another universe, I could hop in a Jeep and share a ride to dinner with my father. The proud Colonel could show off his daughter, the one whose software is (as of two days ago) being used by military researchers.
I try to imagine how I might bring such a thing up to my father, that my company has secured military contracts. It’s been so long since we’ve talked about anything other than my brother’s bright future…
Outside the restaurant, I catch sight of said brother, who nods silently in greeting. I notice he is not carrying a gift bag. He doesn’t seem like he’s got a birthday card in his jacket pocket. “Hi, Sean,” I say and I wait for him to pull the door open, since my arms are full with my carry on and the cake. Sean pulls out his phone to check something and I have to clear my throat and say, “A little help?”
“What? Oh.” He reaches past me and opens the door. I breathe long and slow through my nose, approaching the host stand.
“Vine, party of four,” I say with my best smile.
The young woman at the podium looks up at me nervously. “Some of your party has already arrived,” she says, in a tone that suggests my father got here early, and is upset that the rest of us are not also early. I follow her around the corner to the window table, which glows in light from a charming candle arrangement and a soft pink light fixture above. Dad doesn’t like to eat in places that are too dark, because he likes to be able to see both the menu and his food.
When I made the reservation, I asked them to keep the house music low and the lighting a little higher, at least in the area where we’re seated. I turn to the hostess. “Thank you so much for your attention to our special requests,” I tell her. The pinched look on her face eases up a bit. I look at my father, who is concentrating on his crossword puzzle. “It’s 5:58, Dad. Almost time for your birthday party!”
I slide into the chair across from him. “Oh. Hello, Samantha.” Dad checks his watch. “Cutting it a bit close, are we?”
I pat his hand. “Not as close as Sara, right?”
Sean rolls his eyes and Dad looks at his watch again. “I don’t think we should be expected to wait for her if she’s late. Do you know what you’ll order?”
Sean huffs out a laugh. I pat Dad’s hand one more time. “The server hasn’t even brought menus yet.”
“We eat here multiple times a year, Samantha. I think you know what they serve.”
I shrug. “Maybe I feel like duck today. Or fish. We don’t always have to get the same thing.”
“Well, I will be getting the same thing.” He looks over his shoulder. “I’m glad some places know to keep the racket down with the background music. I like to hear myself think.”
This is as close to a thank-you as I’ll get from my father.
A few moments later, the host hustles back to the table with my sister, who is wearing all black and a scowl to match. It’s been years since she’s spoken to me unnecessarily. I know that she’s actually mad that our mother passed away, but it’s getting harder and harder to be the person who bears the brunt of my entire family’s grief in that regard. I miss Mom, too.
“Happy birthday, Dad,” Sara says, sinking into the seat by his side. I can’t decide if it’s more awkward to have to sit across from my sister or if it would be worse to be next to her, my shoulders rubbing against the angry, black fabric covering her angry, black soul.
Our server arrives with the menus and asks if we’d like to hear the specials. I open my mouth to say yes, but Dad cuts him off. “We all know what we want already,” he says. “I’ll have the chicken, my son will have the pork chop, and both my daughters like the scallops.”
The server blinks a few times and looks around the table as if to confirm. I weigh the pros and cons of standing up for myself and asking for a god-damned minute to read the menu, to choose what food I eat at the dinner I planned and will pay for. And I decide to nod. I start calculating the number of seconds remaining before I can leave.
Dad looks at my brother. “Sean, why don’t you tell your sisters about the progress you’re making with your real estate investment. Now that all the appropriate paperwork has been received.”
I close my eyes and drink from my water glass, vowing to at least buck tradition and get a glass of wine with my meal, despite what my disapproving father thinks. Sean begins to toss around developer slang as I feel my phone buzzing in the bag pressed against my calf under the table. Slowly, painstakingly, I lean to retrieve it without drawing attention to myself.
I glance at the screen to read the preview from Audrey. Just a reminder to write your keynote speech for the science educators event. I let the phone slide back into my bag and pat my brother on the shoulder as if I’ve been listening the whole time. I’m not sure when I stopped trying to get him to look up from his own navel. At some point I just realized I couldn’t make him be kind or considerate of others.
I think about Audrey’s message, about a gathering of science educators. Someone comes to refill our water glasses and I grab his arm. “I’d like a glass of your house white wine, when you get a chance, please.” I smile brightly at him as my father scowls.
“Samantha, really? You can’t go one night without imbibing?”
“It’s a party, Dad. I’m going to have a glass of white wine with my scallops.”
He grunts. “Sorry, Sean. Please continue.”
My brother looks like he’s jealous, even more so when the server slides the cool glass of wine into my hand and I take a satisfied swig. “Anyway,” he says, “I’m pretty excited about the net cash flow…”
I stop listening, sipping my wine, smiling into my glass, and thinking about grumpy AJ Trachtenberg sitting at a benefit dinner. If I’m speaking there, he’ll have to look at me. I think about how it will feel to have those dark eyes burning through my soul as he stares.
“Samantha, is there something you’d care to share with us?” Dad has his arms crossed, frowning at me.
“Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about work.”
“About your computer stuff?” Sean tries to reach for my wine and I move it out of his reach.
“We landed a military contract this week, and I’m feeling really excited about this use of our software. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”
My siblings and my father just blink at me. They have no idea what I do and they don’t ever ask me to elaborate on it. Often, if I talk about work, they scold me for boasting. It must sound jarring for them to hear that my “little college side project” has grown to this sort of magnitude.
“Which military contract?” My father scratches at his chin, contemplating. I know the work he does centers mostly around the troops and strategy, not research.
“Obviously I’m not allowed to talk about the particulars,” I say as my sister’s jaw drops. “But Army biomedical researchers will be using my software to track their projects and ease collaboration with their partner universities.” Nobody is interrupting me, so I take a sip of wine and keep talking. “You know, the military has a beautiful, unparalleled data set for the healthcare of service members, since they all use ServeCare. They have anonymized data about absolutely everything, so it’s been a real gift to sync up the database with all the functions of our programs.”
Sean squints at me. “I thought you made video games or something?”
I turn to glare at him. “Why would you think that? I’ve never even played a video game.”
He shrugs. “You started doing all this in college. Don’t college kids just sit around and play video games?”
I bite my lip, considering how best to respond. “Vinea makes lab work easier, more reliable, and recreateable. I know you all think I’m just bragging when I talk about work, so you might not be aware that I have built partnerships with every major medical research institution in the country, now including the U.S. military.” I shrug. “I did think of the idea in college, yes. But I am now CEO of a corporation. And we form legitimate partnerships.”
Dad purses his lips. “Well.” He nods. “It sounds like we’re keeping you from your work.”
You are! I want to scream. You didn’t ask me what worked with my schedule and you never ask me anything about myself, my needs, or my feelings. I want to tell all of them that I want them to actually want to spend time with me, and not because they want me to do something for them. That all I’ve ever wanted from them is a hug and to hear that we’re all in this together.
Instead, I say, “I’m happy to be here celebrating your special day, Dad.”
By the time the server brings my scallops, my wine is gone and my enthusiasm is completely drained.