I’m sure is not lekker to be fired from the company you have started without proper explanation.
Black Girls Code founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) Kimberly Bryant founder has been fired by the company’s board members. The organisation decided to part-ways with its founder after she file a federal lawsuit for claiming wrongful suspension.
The Black Girls Code through its spokesperson issued an a statement that states that letting go of Ms Bryant is in the best interest of the organisation.
It “believes the decision to remove Ms. Bryant as CEO and as a board member is in the best interests of the organisation, the girls it serves, its employees, and its donors. BGC has been focusing its efforts on moving forward and expanding on the success of the organisation since its inception,” writes Black Girls Code spokesperson.
In the lawsuit she filled on the 11 August, alleging wrongful suspension and conflict of interest by board member Heather Hiles.
A statement provided to TechCrunch by Bryant and her attorney describes the termination as “an unfortunate culmination of a hostile takeover initiated by Board Member Heather Hiles of the nonprofit that Ms. Bryant created from the ground up, with Hiles’ ultimate desire to gain control of over $30 million in donated philanthropic funds.”
The organisation spokesperson said that “the timing of the Board’s decision had nothing to do with Ms. Bryant’s lawsuit”
Bryant’s firing comes after a tense period between Bryant and the board of directors she appointed. In December 2021, Bryant was denied access to her email, which she eventually learned was a result of being indefinitely suspended from the nonprofit organisation by her board of directors.
The nonprofit tweeted a statement by Hiles, who said, “Bryant will move on from CEO and board member of BGC. The entire community wishes her well on her next endeavor.”
In response, Bryant tweeted that she had been “wrongly removed” and “without cause or an opportunity to participate in a vote of these actions.
A Black Girls Code spokesperson said that Ms. Bryant was paid her accrued vacation in accordance with California law, but declined to comment on Bryant’s severance and healthcare assistance allegations.
One insider said Ms Bryant is being treated unfairly, there was no warning or even internal investigation.
Speaking to TechCruench Aniesia Williams, the founder of the communication services company AW+CO, said the way Bryant was treated was unacceptable and that many Black founders within the ecosystem can relate to what Bryant is going through. She also said the way the organisation removed Bryant sends a bad message to the young girls the foundation has impacted over the years.
“Even the erasure of her on the website, all the while using her daughter’s face everywhere, is a slap in the face,” Williams told TechCrunch. “Black women as a whole can’t make any mistakes without fear of everything we have built being snatched away from us.”
