Things blew sky high for New York-based period pantie company Thinx in March when its dynamic Montreal-born founder Miki Agrawal was accused of behavior not at all befitting a company CEO.
This week on the Inc.’s “Uncensored” podcast, editors from the magazine (one of whom has interviewed Agrawal) discussed Agrawal’s leadership style as well as the complaints. It’s a good summary of the controversy as well as a balanced discussion of idiosyncratic CEOs.
If you’re looking for background on Thinx, the company started up in 2014 offering period-proof underwear constructed of a special fabric that stops leaking and doesn’t stain. It made its first big splash in New York through controversy over its subway ads, which the MTA may or may not have initially resisted approving because of their content.
Chatter about Agrawal’s skills as a CEO spilled out into the public realm when a complaint by 26-year old former employee Chelsea Leibow was filed just over a week ago with the City of New York Commission on Human Rights.
According to TheCut, the complaint included accusations that Agrawal touched an employee’s breasts and asked her to expose them, routinely changed clothes in front of employees, and conducted meetings via video conference while in bed, apparently unclothed. The filing also alleges Agrawal shared nude photos of herself and others, “including but not limited to her fiancé,” with staff. At least once, she is said to have FaceTimed into a meeting from the toilet.
Leibow by no means is the first to have a problem with Agrawal. Two sources told Jezebel that since January 2017 ten people have quit the 30-person company. And between October 2015 and January 2017, six people posted negative reviews to the jobs website Glassdoor, and described Agrawal as “unprofessional” and a “bully.”
In response to the negative coverage, Agrawal responded with an essay on Medium, in which she admitted she made mistakes (and also noted she’s pregnant), adding that she’s stepping down from her role as CEO. “We are now bringing in a professional CEO and an HR manager who will be putting much more rigid HR practices in place,” wrote Agrawal. “Also, just before stepping down, I hired three senior level managers to handle the bigger departments.” The company has also hired a lawyer to deal with the complaint.
Agrawal also posted on her Instagram feed that she was inspired to respond to the controversy because of her parents. “I wrote this, not to acknowledge the baseless stories, but to clear my good family name and simply share the truth of what actually happened,” wrote Agrawal.
For further background on Agrawal’s compelling story, check out Freakonomics Radio’s interview with her below.
Monster podcast on March 1, 2017
