Matilda Djerf is apologizing after her employees accused her of some nasty behavior.
In case you’re not familiar with the influencer, she’s a Swedish social media personality with over 3 million followers and an entire brand under her name. She started a clothing company, Djerf Avenue, with her partner Rasmus Johansson and in the last five years, they’ve amassed over $35 million bucks in revenue. Wow!
The profit comes at a huge cost, though, according to her employees. Swedish outlet Aftonbladet just published an exposé in which her staff came forward with some serious allegations. One employee even called the influencer a “psychological terror,” according to the news source, stating she “yells at us, calls us names” over trivial things such as having no coffee or “if someone was sitting in the wrong seat.” Ick…
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Further on, employees said she would throw a fit “if her food hadn’t been heated up.” One staff member even said Matilda has her own restroom, and when the sign fell off one time, she refused to use it again until the toilet was scrubbed from top to bottom.
As for the Djerf Avenue brand, it carries sizes XXS to 4XL — so, they’re supposed to be all about inclusivity! But reports allege that when seeing a plus-sized model’s photoshoot, the CEO said:
“We have to reshoot this because she looks so f**king fat in these clothes. We can’t show that.”
AWFUL!
On Instagram on Tuesday, Matilda didn’t come out and deny the horrible claims made against her. Instead, she straight up began apologizing from the jump. In a lengthy statement, she said she’s been quiet for a few days, but she wanted to “write this directly” to her followers:
“My highest priority has been to meet with the Djerf Avenue team and speak to them. I am fully aware that my words here are not an answer or a solution, but for me it’s important to write this directly to you.”
The influencer then said she “wasn’t ready” for so much “responsibility” with her brand:
“To anyone who I’ve hurt or let down, I want to start off by saying that I’m genuinely sorry. When I started Djerf Avenue I never expected that the company would be what it is today, with so many team members and so much responsibility. I wasn’t ready. I had never led a team prior to this, I had never built a company prior to this, and under a lot of stress, high tempo and naivety I failed to be the leader and colleague I wish to be along the way. And for that I am so, so sorry. I wish my growth happened faster. I really want to underline that I’m extremely committed to getting it right and to continuing growing.”
Um… WTF?? So she was “under a lot of stress” and thought that allegedly treating her employees like second-class citizens was an acceptable response?! That’s just cruel!
Matilda added that she’s going to be bringing an “organizational psychologist” and more HR folks into the organization:
“We are constantly working on improving and developing the internal business, everything from structures that need to be set in place to new initiatives. This is ongoing work and this year we’ve made some important changes to improve the work culture at Djerf Avenue. Amongst other things, we have hired a more experienced management team, we have introduced monthly anonymous surveys to collect feedback and take action, we have also set up an external organizational psychologist to assess our workplace. We are also in the process of bringing in an additional external HR professional to support the organization.”
Wrapping up her statement, the businesswoman said:
“Moving forward, I’m committed and want to focus my all on becoming the best leader and colleague I can be. I’ll keep learning and working to ensure Djerf Avenue is a safe, inclusive space for everyone. I want to end by saying thank you to all of you who’ve had honest and transparent conversations with me over the past few days.”
Damn. It’s definitely a lot to take in.
See the full post (below):
In the comments, her followers still seemed pretty outraged, tho. And many didn’t agree with her response AT ALL:
“Experience has nothing to do with being a nice human.”
“Not knowing how to be a leader has nothing to do with treat others humanly”
“So because you never led a team before, that gives you the right to treat people lower than you..MmmK”
“But did u apologize only bc you got caught? Or are you genuinely sorry”
That last one raises a good point! What do U think, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments (below).
[Image via Matilda Djerf/Instagram]