My name is Tej. I’m the Civic Action Lead @dosomething. I lead the team that’s registered 130k+ young voters this year. Today I’m walking out of work, demanding the resignation of @ariaIrene. #DoSomethingDidNothing 1/33

I’ve worked @dosomething for over three years now from an intern all the way up to program lead. During my time, I’ve experienced and witnessed a great deal of violence, gaslighting, and harm perpetuated in this toxic environment. 2/33

We’re walking out because we’ve tried every recourse at our disposal over the past years and especially the last 8 weeks to make equitable change happen. I do not believe that there is anything worth saving at this org without Aria stepping down. Read more @dosomethingEQ 3/33

I haven’t shared my story in pursuit of centering my Black femme colleagues on the campaigns team who are disproportionately marginalized by the culture of this org. However, it’s become clear that we must perform our trauma to hold our Board and CEO accountable. 4/33

My time @dosomething has been traumatic. I took a leave of absence from undergrad at Columbia to work on registering young people to vote at scale. It was exciting work but I recognized quickly how I had fallen into the pattern of young talent exploited and mistreated by DS. 5/33

What I’m sharing illustrates the white supremacist culture ingrained in the fabric of this organization. All of this has happened under @ariaIrene’s tenure and as she’ll tell you, she is responsible for what happens here. It’s long past time for her to take responsibility. 6/33

TW: Sexual Assault

I was 19 when at the @dosomething annual company-wide, overnight retreat in 2018, I was sexually assaulted. #DoSomethingDidNothing 7/33

We were all forced to share rooms at this retreat branded as “culture” and “bonding” with other staff. Despite being uncomfortable, I didn’t want to make a fuss and went along with it. 8/33

I was quite sick during the retreat with a fever and cough so on the last night, I headed to bed early. I was underage so I didn’t join in on the drinking and “fun” that was happening that night. I woke up abruptly to my drunk roommate in my bed touching me and abusing me. 9/33

After he peed on me, chased me out of the room, followed me, and made me hide in bushes outside, nearly two hours later I was able to find hotel staff who shared with me which room our HR person was staying in. I broke down crying and shared what had happened. 10/33

The person who assaulted me was sent home when the sun rose. After hearing stories of @dosomething’s leadership protecting sexual abusers, I was terrified that he wouldn’t be fired. (He eventually was a few days later after they heard his side of the story). 11/33

Flash forward to months before staff retreat 2019. I asked if I could have my own room. One exec told me that everyone was going to get their own room, after having to fight @ariaIrene on the increased budget needed and the loss of “camaraderie” from rooming together. 12/33

I’m grateful that at least some of our leadership recognized that staff safety was more important than money. 13/33

@dosomething has always had a “face” of the text messages we send with social change actions to our millions of members. It’s supposed to build an authentic connection with young people to hear from one person each week about what they can do to improve their community. 14/33

In March 2019, the former face of SMS was leaving the org. I was approached about replacing them. The reason they wanted me to be the face was because I was young, BIPOC, my name was three characters long and “easy enough” to pronounce. 15/33

For context, every 160 characters costs more money. I was conflicted. I’m a pretty private person and this meant launching myself into a very public space. It’s not easy to say “no” at DS or to set boundaries. Implicitly, you can be labeled as difficult for doing so. 16/33

As one of the only young people in the office, I was used to being tokenized. I was used to being the “young person” check on whether or not something was relevant to the zeitgeist. This felt like more of the same thing on a larger scale. 17/33

So I said yes. Since then, it’s been constant discomfort. My name has been attached to campaigns @dosomething ran that didn’t align with my values or my beliefs. I’ve had to pretend to be non-religious to our members, despite my Hindu faith. 18/33

I’ve been recognized on the street, random gatherings, and on dating apps. And this isn’t a slight to the young people who recognized me, but rather to the system that put me in this position. #DoSomethingDidNothing 19/33

While I joke about this with friends and somebody else might find all of this exciting, I felt it was invasive. There is no world in which I can leave work at work because being “Tej” follows me everywhere. 20/33

I do my job because I care about young people. I don’t regret being the face of SMS because of the young people who have reached out and shared how just being myself has helped them in their journeys. I just wish I didn’t feel so trapped. 21/33

The last story that I have the headspace to tell. I’ve had 6 managers over the course of my 3 years at DoSomething, including @ariaIrene. I was being transitioned from Aria to a new manager, who I had relationship problems with. 22/33

This manager and I were polar opposites. We would get into lengthy disagreements about how to handle the work, the strategy for our civic action team, and more. So we entered mediated conversations to work through this. 23/33

One day, my mom came into town from CA. I took a half day off in the afternoon to spend with her. I was running late so my mom and my twin waited by my desk. As I was about to leave, this manager asked me to step into a room with him briefly. 24/33

He pulled a bottle from a liquor shelf in the office before we went into the room. He wanted to “reset” our relationship by taking a shot together at 2pm in the office. I was 20 years old at the time. #DoSomethingDidNothing 25/33

I told him that I wouldn’t take a shot with him and he seemed disheartened. After drinking both shots he poured, I got out of the room and reported it to an exec. It was chalked up to male “bravado” and “harmless.” 26/33

I left the office quickly after that. My mom was understandably upset and outraged for much of the day and told me I should quit. I wish I had listened to her. #DoSomethingDidNothing 27/33

I shared all of this and more with the DS lawyers when they were investigating the past 8 weeks. I corroborated stories of Black women using a janitorial closet as a safe space. Stories of Black colleagues who were gaslit and tokenized systematically. 28/33

The Board refuses to release an anonymized version of the report, summarizing the findings as “culture issues within the organization, with respect to professionalism, staffing, and inclusion.” 29/33

They say there was nothing the lawyers found that proved @ariaIrene should not be CEO. I hope you see just how wrong that is. #DoSomethingDidNothing 30/33

The past two weeks that @ariaIrene has returned from her leave, she’s shared a 9 point plan for how to get DS back on track and to rebuild trust. These are some check-in notes with Aria from August 2019. A list of problems I shared with her that needed to be addressed. 31/33

The most serious issues are all points in her plan today. We’ve given her constant feedback that isn’t acted upon. I told her last week that trust was lost a long time ago. This is why. We have tried to work within to change the org for years. Nothing’s changing. 32/33

No one can dispute the fact that @ariaIrene has done so much to build @dosomething. But no longer should we have to choose between her fundraising prowess and a safe workplace for BIPOC staff. It’s time for her to resign. #DoSomethingDidNothing 33/33