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pointing it out. He's indeed Nigerian btw. It's the first question he answers in an interview with Ebro of Hot97 that I found when trying to find his origins.
He's over OkayAfrica, so I don't guess it's odd to have a second generation immigrant in that position. At least one of the women appears to be ADOS, but idk if she's a rarity or not. I was wondering if any ADOS men were employed there as well after one of the women says even her immediate supervisor was a white guy. I didn't even know OkayAfrica was founded by a white woman. It just gets more and more interesting.
>Like, first of all, the toxicity described is itself so >multi-dimensional. I mean there's the gender dimension obv, >but so many other facets like ethnicity, race... even >geography. For example I notice that even among what appears >to have been a disproportionately immigrant, first-, and >possibly second-generation African staff... that most of the >women raising the allegations are West African (specifically, >Nigerian) and multiple are of Yoruba descent (relevant bc, >judging by his name, the CEO is as well) which at least one >woman alluded to likely influencing relations further. Then, >an ADOS-centered argument could probably be made (correctly, >imho) that a disproportionately immigrant, first-, or >second-generation African staff may have blindspots (or, tbf, >bias) when it comes to the distinct roots (no pun intended), >history, relevance, and (unequivocally Black American) >cultural nuances of the Okayplayer brand specifically. And now >there's multiple conversations brewing on twitter about the >white female founding/ownership of Okayafrica, including how >that may have shaped the political economy between them, the >(black male) leadership/"face" of the brand, and the >completely disempowered (predominantly black female) staff >(I'm slightly less conflicted on this last issue given what we >know about how capital is distributed in the US... the money >to fund black spaces still has to come from somewhere, and I >don't think black women can wait for racial wealth gap >closure/diversification of the ownership class before being >treated better/more fairly in the workplace). > >I mean, where does one even begin?? Any one of these factors >alone could have shaped okayplayer's business performance and >outcomes, talk more of their intersection. > >Other thing is - it's striking how reproducible, recognizable, >and consistent the features of toxic work environments are. >Regardless of industry. Like, I was mildly triggered reading >some of these accounts lol. I'm not sure if it all should be >attributed to scrappy startup culture either... Okayplayer is >a decades-old brand and Okayafrica founded in 2011, no?? >There's just certain policies and practices that should be >well-established in orgs that age, imho. And if the financial >struggles these women allude to are real, then there's likely >been leadership issues even before this CEO (if not in style, >perhaps structure). > >I feel for these women bc I've worked in similarly toxic >environments and know how it can affect ones wellbeing, and I >hope the CEO follows up his departure with some serious >learning, introspection, training, and transformation. Painful >issues aside, it also just reads like he was a CEO >overwhelmed, and perhaps out of his depth, and it probably >affected the growth/evolution of the other okayniches which is >unfortunate. I read Okayplayer has procured some external biz >advisory services about next steps and, if true, that's >comforting to hear. Maybe they should consider pulling an >Alphabet and create an "OKP" or "Okaymedia" parent/umbrella >brand identity, along with a corresponding leadership suite >(of people with proven expertise running successful media >enterprises) who focus exclusively on the unsexy stuff (eg >operations, finance, HR, IT). Then run Okayplayer, Okayafrica, >and other divisions with a middle management structure >responsible for their own content, marketing, >comms/engagement, business dev, etc. That way, if other >okayunicorns (like Okayafrica) were to take off, of course it >makes sense for them to have bigger budgets, exposure, etc but >it should be able to occur without affecting other divisions >or the parent/umbrella brand identity as a whole (as I feel >Okayafrica in some ways sidelined Okayplayer under this CEOs >leadership). After all, it's not like Google Maps growth >compromised Gmail, right? And neither did the failure of >Google+. > >I'm sure the brand will sort itself out and pull through >better than ever tho. >
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Days like this I miss Sha Mecca
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