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Christene Barberich[/caption]
Refinery29 co-founder Christene Barberich is stepping down from her role as global editor-in-chief of the 15 year-old women's lifestyle site to make way for a replacement, she revealed on Instagram Monday morning.
The decision comes after multiple former staffers publicly accused the site, which was acquired by Vice Media for $400 million in October, of a lack of diversity and discrimination against people of color on its staff.
"I’d like to start by saying that I’ve read and taken in the raw and personal accounts of Black women and women of color regarding their experiences inside our company at Refinery29. And, what's clear from these experiences, is that R29 has to change. We have to do better, and that starts with making room," Barberich wrote Monday. "I will be stepping aside in my role at R29 to help diversify our leadership in editorial and ensure this brand and the people it touches can spark a new defining chapter."
The reckoning began last Tuesday, when Ashley Edwards, a former news and politics editor at Refinery29 from 2017 to 2019, responded after the site signaled support for the Black Lives Matter movement by calling out its alleged mistreatment of black staffers.
Hey @Refinery29, cool blacked out homepage! But you know what real allyship looks like? Paying your Black employees fairly, having Black women in top leadership positions & addressing the microagressions your Black employees deal with from management on a daily basis.
— Ashley Alese Edwards (@AshleyAlese) June 2, 2020
Edwards' Tweet thread prompted several other former staffers to share their own experiences, to which the union representing Refinery29's editorial staff responded two days later by saying they'd written to management "asking for immediate action at the highest level."
In her statement Monday, Barberich implied that she'd remain with Refinery29 in some capacity, at least through a transitionary period, but that the site will immediately begin the search for a new global editor-in-chief.
"It's time for a new generation of leadership that’s truly reflective of the diversity of our audience with divergent points of view, one that builds and expands on our original mission to amplify and celebrate a wide range of voices, perspectives, and stories...stories that need and deserve to be told," Barberich added.
In a staff memo, Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc added that Refinery29 will be releasing "a handful of leadership positions" from a hiring freeze that had been implemented during the pandemic "with a clear focus on bringing in more diversity to the organization."
The shakeup at Refinery29 comes just days after it was revealed that Variety co-editor-in-chief Claudia Eller will be taking a leave of absence after telling Piya Sinha-Roy, a freelance journalist and former editor at rival entertainment industry trade The Hollywood Reporter, that she sounded "really bitter" after Sinha-Roy accused her of not having "done enough" to foster diversity in Variety's newsroom. Eller apologized for the exchange on Thursday, adding that she hopes to eventually return to Variety "when the time is right."
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