I wanted to find out whether I could be valued for myself — without my company, without my inheritance, without my grandmother’s name doing the work for me.”

She paused, and the room stayed silent for her, and she let herself say the next part plainly, because these people — the executives, the reporters, the donors — were exactly the people who would understand it, and exactly the people her family had wanted so desperately to impress.

“Most of you in this room know what it is to wonder whether you are loved for what you have or for who you are.

You have felt the calculation start behind someone’s eyes the moment they learn your net worth.

So you will understand why a woman might want to set all of that down, once, and stand in front of a person with empty hands, and find out what he does.

I did that.