When Elizabeth Gore received an email two years ago informing her that America First Legal (AFL) was bringing a class-action lawsuit against her company, Hello Alice, she thought it was spam. 

AFL is a conservative activist group that was cofounded in 2021 by Stephen Miller, one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies and a deputy chief of staff in Trump’s second term. According to its website, AFL exists to “oppose lawless government overreach and fight to restore the rule of law in the United States.”

Gore couldn’t fathom why Miller’s organization would take an interest in her company, a business-to-business platform that serves mom-and-pop companies, offering them, for example, a data-backed assessment of their financial fitness, and potential access to a Hello Alice credit card and other forms of capital. She sees Hello Alice as part of a patchwork of companies, government agencies, and nonprofits safeguarding one of the main paths to the American Dream itself.  

But the message wasn’t spam. America First Legal alleged that when Hello Alice made a $25,000 grant available to Black-owned commercial vehicle businesses, it violated a Civil Rights Act law from 1866 that bans racial discrimination in contracts. 

The AFL email kicked off a long, emotionally draining legal battle that has consumed Gore and her cofounder Elizabeth Rodz ever since, Gore explains, even as Hello Alice has continued to grow. Though the battle is playing out far from the national spotlight, it’s providing a testing ground for legal arguments that might help companies defend their diversity-oriented programs against claims of reverse racism.  

A $25,000, a two-year battle

The program in question was sponsored by Progressive, the insurance company, a co-defendant in the suit, along with Circular Board, Hello Alice’s parent. The legal challenge was brought on behalf of Nathan Roberts, a white man in Ohio who owns a company called Freedom Truck Dispatch.  

Last year, the tussle briefly appeared to be over: A federal judge in the Northern District of Ohio agreed to dismiss the case because the plaintiffs failed to show that Roberts would have won the grant if the competition for it had been race-neutral. In legal terms, he didn’t have “standing” to bring the case, a finding related to a couple of specifics about the situation. (For one, Roberts didn’t apply for the grant during the application window and sued the company only after the window closed.) 

But America First Legal appealed that decision, and in late July the lawsuit came before the Sixth Circuit appellate court in Cincinnati, where the AFL again argued their client suffered an injury because he wasn’t able to apply for the grant. 

Now, based on the discussion before a three-judge panel at the Sixth Circuit, it appears that the Hello Alice lawsuit will solidify a reliable, if unsexy tool that companies can use to defend against claims of reverse racism in anti-DEI campaigns: arcane rules and technicalities. 

For years, corporations have used procedural grounds to evade charges of discrimination in employment-related lawsuits brought by people of color, women, LGBTQ+ employees, and others. The Hello Alice case may show that companies can successfully protect themselves against politically motivated anti-DEI lawsuits the same way. 

“We were really gratified by the court’s questions,” Neal Katyal, a prominent attorney who leads the Supreme Court and appellate practice at the Washington, D.C. law firm Milbank, and is representing Hello Alice, told Fortune. Indeed, many of those questions definitively zeroed in on procedural issues. (The court asked, for example, what about Hello Alice’s terms and conditions prevented the AFL’s client from applying for the grant.) “They obviously had read everything and asked exactly the right questions. And we very much look forward to the Court’s resolution of this case.”

Issues like these could help defendants scuttle cases before the two sides even approach larger questions, including: Was the federal contract law in question ever meant to help address reverse discrimination? (For the record, Hello Alice argues it was not.) And is giving money away as a grant a form of free speech, similar to making political donations? (The 11th Circuit Court has rejected that argument in a separate case, but the matter hasn’t reached the Supreme Court.)  

The outcome of the Hello Alice case may also signal to businesses that they don’t need to preemptively roll back programs for marginalized groups out of fear. 

AFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fortune attempted to reach Freedom Truck Dispatch but found a phone number listed for the company was out of service.

A push for inclusion

Since Hello Alice got off the ground a decade ago, Gore says, the company has served 1.6 million small businesses, helping them secure loans and benefit from a wealth of information and resources. “We have all the financial planning software they need to build their business plans,” Gore explains. 

The cofounders also spend part of their time advocating for small business owners and raising funds for philanthropic grants. To date, Hello Alice has issued $60 million in small grants across the U.S., according to Gore. “Part of our commitment since day one was to ensure that small businesses who have some kind of barrier to entry, that we dig in and ensure they’re part of the platform,” she says. The company has helped veterans, for example, and women who’ve been in the care economy, both groups of people who may not have the credit histories needed to launch a company.

The company is facing off against a movement that has lately gained momentum. Conservative activists who assert that corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are a form of reverse discrimination have been emboldened by support from the judiciary system and the White House. In 2023, the Supreme Court decision in the Students For Fair Admissions (SFFA) case banned colleges from considering race as part of their admissions process, a shift that sent companies scrambling to figure out what the new law meant in the private sector. Separately, President Trump issued executive orders this year that banned certain types of DEI at companies with federal contracts and warned that his administration would investigate private sector firms discovered to be the most “egregious” offenders of DEI.

Whether the Hello Alice case will answer larger questions about DEI’s legality remains to be seen. “Initially, this case presented the big question: Can affirmative action be permissible in the corporate setting?” Katyal explained. “But the trial court said that the plaintiffs didn’t even get to ask that question. They weren’t allowed to because they didn’t meet the legal requirements to be able to bring a case in federal court.” Now, says Katyal, the question before the Sixth Circuit is, “‘Can someone try and complain about a program to give grants to minority-owned businesses when they can’t even allege they would have gotten the grants anyway?’” 

Courtesy of Hello Alice

As the legal battle has played out for Hello Alice, Gore has found support from friends and clients across the political spectrum. “We’re based in Houston, Texas, and [there’s a large] amount of folks who you would think would be against us, and they weren’t,” she said, adding, “Think traditional white male biker companies and trucking companies.” 

Gore says the business owners who have discussed the issue with her—whether they identify as Republican or Democrat—don’t think the government should be telling businesses how to deploy their money. That’s what her legal team believes, too: Private businesses should have the freedom to run or reject affirmative action programs like the grants for Black businesses. Whether such DEI initiatives are good for a company, morally justified, or, as the AFL claims, racist, should be debated in a boardroom and not in a federal court. And there is nothing inherently illegal about a private company offering a grant dedicated to a minority population. 

Playing offense

Lately, many companies have rolled back cohort-specific DEI programs just to avoid the kinds of costly headaches that Hello Alice has faced. Kenji Yoshino, a constitutional law professor at NYU School of Law and director of its Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, believes that’s the right approach for our times. 

Yoshino explains that his center has been “beating the drum on moving from cohorts to content.” That is, he suggests companies make programs such as diversity-focused fellowships in the workplace available to anyone who wants to apply, without changing the ultimate mission of the fellowship. “That really allows a company to do an end run around the SFFA decision,” he says.  

At the same time, he applauds Gore for sticking with her program for Black business owners and preparing to advance not only the technical argument in the lawsuit—showing that the white male trucker doesn’t have the ground to sue—but perhaps much more. Beyond questions about the original intention behind Section 1981, or whether these grants constitute a contract, there’s that more complicated question about First Amendment rights that has yet to reach the country’s highest court. 

If Gore or another business owner can get the law to say that they are merely expressing their views with DEI grant programs, says Yoshino, “that would be the biggest win of all.”

Finding levity

Sticking with this lawsuit has not been an easy decision. When it first hit, Hello Alice was in the middle of a Series C raise, and Silicon Valley Bank, its second-biggest investor, had just collapsed. Hello Alice also had to disclose the lawsuit to other investors, “and there was this fear factor around AFL,” says Gore. “So that capital flew out the door.” But there was a lot at stake, she adds. If the AFL were to prove that grants for minority-owned businesses violated Section 1981, millions of dollars for American small businesses could be lost. So far, the cost of fighting the lawsuit has surpassed $1 million.

The night before the Sixth Circuit oral arguments, she had dinner at a restaurant near the courthouse in Cincinnati. It turned out that the restaurant, Frankie’s, was a Hello Alice customer. For Gore, it was a reminder of the importance of her work. In heavy times, she says, “it gave me levity.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• Salesforce exec Patrick Stokes advises against going into management by default or simply to advance up the ladder.
• He told BI that he became a manager because he wanted to lead others and share his vision.
• Stokes said if you value personal growth, you should be willing to try out new roles that aren't necessarily a level up.

Transitioning to management might feel like a natural next step in your career. However, Salesforce executive Patrick Stokes cautions that it might not necessarily be the right path for everyone.

"I think it's easy for people to be enamored with the growth of kind of, moving up the ranks, rather than the growth of themselves personally," the executive vice president of product and industries marketing told Business Insider.

Stokes, in a conversation during Salesforce's Agentforce World Tour in New York City, said whenever people tell him they want to move into management, he asks them why. Usually, people say that "it's the next step," he told BI — and that's not enough of a reason.

"No, you need to know why you want to be a manager, because now you have to inspire a team," Stokes said. "You have to think about your day-to-day job very differently."

Salesforce EVP of talent growth and development Lori Castillo Martinez echoed a similar sentiment in a previous interview with BI. "Being a deep expert isn't always an indicator of being a great manager," she said, adding that collaboration and task management skills are more important, and the best managers are those who can analyze their teams and maximize productivity.

Responsibilities naturally shift when you transition from an individual contributor to a manager. Stokes said that if you take on a management role, you may not be able to do some of the things you value.

Stokes, who started out as a developer and transitioned multiple times in his career, said he moved into management because he wanted to be a leader, and he was already acting like one.

The Salesforce executive showcased the contrast in responsibilities between an individual contributor and a manager at the company's Agentforce conference. At the executive level, the job involves more than simply managing massive teams — it can often include public speaking at high-profile events. Stokes, for example, gave a keynote address at the event, opening with an energetic anecdote about recent events in New York City. Then, he introduced the company's digital workforce of AI agents, Agentforce, along with other speakers, all while walking through an auditorium of hundreds of people and talking directly to a video camera that trailed him.

Stokes said he's always had strong opinions and a desire to rally others around his vision. From the time he was in high school, he found himself leading projects, despite frequently sitting in the back of the classroom. He said he didn't announce himself as the leader, but he was often the one coming up with ideas and convincing others to get on board.

"That's what you really need to have if you want to go into leadership," Stokes said.

Stokes said that as soon as he feels "not nervous" about an event or meeting, he wants to try something new, and he's a big advocate for changing roles. The exec said some people tend to "think too narrowly" about changes and only want to switch roles if it's "growth within the org chart." Stokes said that can be tough to find.

"If you value the growth, the personal growth that you're gonna get from that new role, enough, you should be willing to take a step back to go forward," Stokes said.

Outside of leading Salesforce's product and industries marketing team, Stokes said he likes to play chess. He said there's a concept in chess called a "gambit" — fans of the hit Netflix show "The Queen's Gambit" will be familiar — where you make what appears to be a bad move, but is actually designed to get a reaction from an opponent. Stokes said that's how he likes to think about his career changes — seemingly risky but strategic long-term.

"When I first went into marketing, a lot of my peers and product were like, 'Why are you going to marketing?' And I'm like,'Just wait. It'll be fine. I'm gonna be great,'" Stokes said.