POV: Emilia Conti
Construction doesn't feel heroic.
That was the first thing I learned.
There were no confrontations, no sharp emails, no moments where a single decision shifted the balance of power. Just documents. Long conversations. Disagreements that didn't raise voices but still left me drained in ways adrenaline never had.
I spent mornings in the hospital and evenings in virtual rooms with people whose faces I was still learning to trust.
They came from everywhere.
Compliance lawyers who'd burned out of pretending neutrality.
Data analysts who understood patterns better than people.
Former administrators who knew exactly where systems broke—and why they were designed to break there.
No one spoke in slogans.
That helped.
"This can't look like an enforcement body," one of them said during our second session. "The moment it does, institutions will close ranks."
"And it can't look like advocacy," another added. "Or they'll dismiss it as ideological."
I listened.
