The Idea They Kept

She pitched the product line. Wrote the brief. Made the case. “Here’s what we should build.”

A year later, the company built it. Her name isn’t attached. No thank you. No acknowledgment. No line in the announcement that says “this was someone’s idea and that someone is still here.”

She’s not asking for royalties. She’s not claiming intellectual property. She’s asking for two words. “Thank you.”

The institution used her idea and then moved past her. The product survived the restructuring. She didn’t.

Now the company sells something she imagined, protected by a separation agreement that prevents her from saying she imagined it.