PINTEREST ALLEGATIONS

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.”

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.

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.”