Thread by @ivieani, Black media companies have contributed to this toxic industry environment by internalizing [...]

Black media companies have contributed to this toxic industry environment by internalizing and perpetuating the structures of media companies anchored by the same white supremacist, sexist, misogynist, classist, structures that our society is tethered to.

I’ve witnessed it

With my platform and voice, it’d be irresponsible to not be vocal about the realities of this industry. People still ask why I left my job as Music Editor at Okayplayer to freelance last year

Seeing former OkayAfrica employees share their stories.

Now I& #39;m sharing mine [THREAD]

I appreciate the acknowledgment of the work I was doing at Okayplayer, but what I was experiencing at the company did not match. I felt it was time to move on when I did because, like many media professionals staffed at other companies, I was overworked, underpaid, and burnt out

There were 3 people on the editorial team—all editors, no staff writer. We often did the work of editors, staff writers, senior staff writers, social media manager, artist liaison, producer, etc. Not quite what editors at a normal newsroom/editorial environment would be doing

I was commuting 4-5 hours every day to and from the office and sometimes attended work events outside office hours on top of that. I was physically drained, underpaid, and unable to move closer to the office, which surprisingly was asked of me once

When I asked to set the groundwork to discuss a raise, I was told that the salary I was making was market value for an editor in NY, while there were editors in NY in the same spaces that were less qualified making twice what I was making

Market value salary wasn’t the point for me; I was getting paid below my value, below my past salaries, and **not at a livable wage** with minimal room to negotiate.

The only time I received a small pay raise was when NY raised minimum wage and it was legally required

On top of not making a livable wage, I also wasn’t receiving my paychecks on time. There were numerous times when the staff& #39;s checks/direct deposits would be late. I was often the very last person to be paid and would have to go back and forth with accounting to sort out payment

The work I did received traction, press, and praise from outside of the company, but in one of my exit meetings the Editor In Chief told me “you weren’t a good editor.”

I heard the opposite from the writers I edited, from my direct teammates, industry peers, and from readers

I did speaking engagements+work outside of OKP to supplement income. I& #39;d ask+receive permission beforehand. No matter how much attention/traction/ press my outside work would bring the company, it didn’t always feel welcomed/supported in the way other staffers’ outside work was

I was told by higher-ups that editorial wasn’t the focus. Our 3-person team at Okayplayer felt like an afterthought

The CEO Abiola Oke would refer to journalism+editorial as “product" that couldn’t “raise capital” for the company despite the company, being an editorial platform

The CEO would refer to himself as a journalist despite having no training, prior media experience, & a limited understanding of editorial. The EIC asked for a functioning website, I asked for a staff writer & we got neither. There was minimal investment in the journalists at OKP

Certain opportunities and press passes to cover major events in music and media wouldn’t go to writers or editors on staff at OKP/OKA, but Abiola would often be present at some of these major events. I saw this raise questions from outside of the company

We weren’t receiving basic tools to do work. My first day as editor, I was told to use my own laptop. I spent the rest of my almost 2 yrs at the company using my own equipment while other employees worked on company laptops. Others staffers were forced to use their own too

The company didn’t offer me equipment until I was about to quit. Even then, my requests were ignored. My laptop broke, affecting my daily work, yet I was often being reprimanded for output

Also, my requests for paid time off that I was legally owed were ignored multiple times

Right before I decided to leave, there was a new contract that was presented to employees. It was a degree more restrictive and didn’t offer staff much.

The CEO sent out a statement forcing people to sign the contract within 24 hours, or they’d be terminated.

No one signed it

Per his request, I emailed to set up a meeting with Abiola to discuss the contract but didn& #39;t get one. My asks, emails, messages, requests kept going unanswered before and after the contract emerged. It seemed like there was minimal room to discuss and implement change, so I quit

I resigned from Okayplayer Sept 2019. Around that time, about 1/3rd of OkayAfrica& #39;s staff quit or was fired– all Black women

People had questions

Abiola would talk about current & former employees in a personal manner to other staffers and ex-staffers

Looking back at how specific employees were treated and talked about by the CEO/higher-ups, it was unprofessional and constitutes a toxic work environment

When I resigned, I signed with a literary agent to write a book– a longtime goal of mine. It was brought to my attention that Abiola used this to tell others I was "trying to be famous"

Interestingly enough, at my exit meeting he, the CEO, told me his life goal was to be famous

People in+outside the company relayed higherups targeted me to minimize my work/reach.I& #39;m unsure there.Hard to gauge why the environment felt uneasy. I did work I’m proud of at Okayplayer. I helped others do work they’re proud of. I value that whether or not the company valued me

The company lost a lot of women at the same time. Remaining employees were men in higher positions & a few women below. By the ques people were asking me, it& #39;s clear the optics didn’t look good. Witnessing this from the inside, even on a peripheral level, it also didn’t look good

It& #39;s worth considering what people mean when they say things like “support Black women.” At this point, these types of phrases fall subject to semantic satiation; do it even mean anything given how we& #39;re still treated in work and in life?

Support Black women in media; not just the ones who are executives, in high-ranking positions, or at white companies.

Support the ones at Black companies.

Support the ones in low-ranking positions who stay quiet to survive and get by

Support the one& #39;s who speak up too

Silencing, exploitation, manipulation, targeting, hostility, and harassment should not be common denominators across the board in media, at any company.

It& #39;s clipped for that

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