Abuela: Mija, television.
Diana: You killed it. I’m watching right now. You’re trending on Twitter.
I turned off my phone again.
The after-party was at a rooftop bar downtown. Open bar, hors d’oeuvres, networking. Investors kept approaching me with business cards. Journalists wanted interviews. Other honorees wanted to collaborate.
James found me around midnight.
“You’re trending on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. The Forbes website crashed from traffic. Nina, this is insane.”
“Is it good insane or bad insane?”
“Good. You’re everywhere. CNBC wants you on tomorrow morning. Bloomberg wants an exclusive. TechCrunch wants to do a deep dive on MedLink AI’s technology.”
“Schedule them for next week. I need a few days to process.”
“Fair enough.” He grinned. “Have you checked your phone?”
“Not since I turned it off.”
“Turn it on. Your family is losing their minds.”
I pulled out my phone and powered it on. It immediately started buzzing nonstop. Calls, texts, notifications flooding in.
I opened the family group chat.
Mom: Nina, please call us. We’re so confused.
Gabriella: I can’t believe you didn’t tell us.
Miguel: This is incredible. I’m so proud of you.
Dad: Your mother is crying. Please call.
Tía Carmen: The whole family is calling me asking if this is real.
Tío Roberto: Nina, I’m watching the rerun right now. You said your company has 890 hospital clients. Why didn’t you tell us?
Abuela: Mi amor, why didn’t you tell us?
I typed one message.
Me: I tried to tell you. For six years, you weren’t listening.
Then I turned off my phone again.
Tuesday morning, I woke up to discover I was internet famous. The Forbes ceremony had been watched by 4.2 million people live. The clips were being shared across every social media platform. My acceptance speech had gone viral.
They’ll understand eventually, and when they do, it’ll be on your terms, not theirs.
That line in particular was everywhere. Memes. Quote graphics. TikTok videos. #failedentrepreneur was trending.