2 black women allege racial discrimination at Pinterest after leaving company

Two black women who left their public policy roles at Pinterest last month have alleged they experienced racial discrimination at the company.

Ifeoma Ozoma, the former public policy and social impact manager, and Aerica Shimizu Banks, who worked in federal government relations, made their accusations in Twitter threads Monday.

Ozoma, a Yale graduate who previously worked at Google and Facebook, said she lobbied unsuccessfully for a year to get a pay raise and accused her manager of “racism, gaslighting, & disrespect,” citing a time she said she was given a bad performance review for not “both-sidesing the promo of slave plantations” as wedding destinations.

She also alleged that a white male colleague gave her phone number, photo and name to “violently racist/misogynistic parts of the internet.” Ozoma called Pinterest’s response to the alleged doxxing “dangerously inadequate.”

“I busted my ass at Yale, Google, then Facebook before Pinterest recruited me as the *second hire* on the global Public Policy team. I led work that raised our public policy profile globally,” she tweeted. “It didn’t matter because I’m a Black woman.”

I shouldn’t have to share this story in the year of our Lord, 2020 – but here we are. I’m an alum of Yale, Google, FB, in the WaPo Tech 202 Network, etc…and recently decided to leave @Pinterest, which just declared ‘solidarity with BLM.’ What a joke. 1/#BelieveBlackWomen

— Ifeoma Ozoma (@IfeomaOzoma) June 15, 2020

Ozoma said she and a black female colleague were replaced by a white man, Business Insider reported. On Twitter, Banks confirmed she was the other colleague who left the company.

Banks alleged that human resources at Pinterest misrepresented her pay to her and “pitted her” against Ozoma. She also said she was stripped of her responsibilities after she promoted a policy about the treatment of contractors.

“What should have been a moment of pride and the beginning of a long journey achieving federal and social impact wins for the company, Pinners, and the communities it serves instead marked a period of glaringly unfair pay, intense discrimination, and terrifying retaliation,” Banks posted Monday.

That Black woman colleague? It me . A THREAD. 1/#BlackTechTwitter #TrustBlackWomen #BelieveBlackWomen #InvestInBlackWomen #PayBlackWomen #Reparations #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/2ygZ7skWbX

— Aerica Shimizu Banks (@erikashimizu) June 15, 2020

A Pinterest spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill that the company “took these issues seriously and conducted a thorough investigation when they were raised, and we’re confident both employees were treated fairly.”

“We want each and every one of our employees at Pinterest to feel welcomed, valued, and respected,” the company added. “As we outlined in our statement on June 2nd, we’re committed to advancing our work in inclusion and diversity by taking action at our company and on our platform. In areas where we, as a company, fall short, we must and will do better.”

In its June 2 statement, Pinterest committed to promoting racial justice content on its site and donating about $500,000 to racial justice organizations, $250,000 to businesses damaged during the protests and $750,000 in advertising for organizations that promote racial justice.

Pinterest, like many corporations, has pledged its “solidarity” and “commitment to taking action” to the Black Lives Matter movement, to which Ozoma responded in a tweet, “What a joke.”

Ozoma told The Washington Post in an interview that she knows there are other black employees “who were scared to say anything.”

The company’s 2020 diversity report said 4 percent of its employees were black and that black employees accounted for 1 percent of company executives.

Color of Change, a civil rights advocacy organization, defended Ozoma and Banks and called for Pinterest to apologize and provide due compensation.

“Like so many tech companies that are posting messages of solidarity with Black Lives Matter, Pinterest’s actions undermine the company’s own words,” Campaign Director Jade Magnus Ogunnaike said.