Refinery29 Editor-in-Chief Christene Barberich Steps Down

Following criticism from former Refinery29 employees accusing the brand of racial discrimination, co-founder and editor-in-chief Christene Barberich has announced she will be stepping down from her role at the head of the women’s media brand.

Barberich took to Instagram Monday to announce she will be leaving the role “to help diversify our leadership in editorial and ensure this brand and the people it touches can spark a new defining chapter.”

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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. And, so 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. A chapter that demands a new voice—both for our team and our audience—one that can shape and guide the critical stories that have the real power to shift and disrupt our culture, helping to eliminate institutional barriers that separate us and hold our society back. We will begin the search for the next Global Editor-In-Chief of R29 immediately. 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. That is still at the heart of this company and why its community has loved it so much for the past 15 years. Because they ARE Refinery29 today—and what it will become—which is even more important in this moment than what inspired us to create it in the first place.

A post shared by Christene Barberich (@christenebarberich) on Jun 8, 2020 at 7:00am PDT

Criticism of the brand erupted last week amid larger conversations about race and social justice taking place in recent weeks following George Floyd’s death. Former employees spoke out about a toxic work culture in which women of color were tokenized and discriminated against. After former deputy director Ashley Alese Edwards called out the brand for posting in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement while failing to pay Black employees fairly or address microaggressions those employees “deal with from management on a daily basis,” writer Ashely C. Ford replied, saying that she worked at the company “for less than nine months due to a toxic company culture where white women’s egos ruled the near non-existent editorial processes.”

I worked at Refinery29 for less than nine months due to a toxic company culture where white women’s egos ruled the near non-existent editorial processes. One of the founders consistently confused myself and one our full-time front desk associates & pay disparity was atrocious.

— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) June 4, 2020

Several other former employees also came forward to “thoughtfully share their experiences of racist aggressions at @Refinery29,” the R29 union tweeted on Friday.

“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,” Barberich wrote in the Instagram post announcing her departure on Monday. “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 also announced that the search for her replacement would begin “immediately.”

“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,” she wrote. “That is still at the heart of this company and why its community has loved it so much for the past 15 years.”

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