Ifeoma Ozoma blew the whistle on Pinterest. Now He Protects

Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an invoice Expanding protections for people who talk about discrimination in the workplace.

A new website came to advise tech workers on how to stand out from abuse by their employers.

Apple has responded to a shareholder proposal asking it to evaluate how it has used confidentiality agreements in employee harassment and discrimination lawsuits.

Disparate developments had one thing in common—or rather, one person: Ifeoma Osoma.

Since last year, Ms. Ozoma, 29, a former employee of Pinterest, Facebook and Google, has emerged as a central figure among tech whistleblowers. The Yale-educated daughter of Nigerian immigrants supported and mentored tech workers who needed help to make their voices heard, demanding greater legal protection for these workers and urging tech companies and shareholders to change their whistleblower policies.

He helped inspire and pass the No Silence Act, a new California law that prohibits companies from using non-disclosure agreements to silence workers who raise their voices against discrimination in any form. Ms. Ozoma also published a website called The Tech Worker Handbook, which provides information on whether and how workers should whistle.

“It’s really sad for me that we still have a lack of responsibility in the tech industry that individuals have to do this with,” Ms. Ozoma said in an interview.

Their efforts, which alienate at least one ally along the way, are gaining more and more attention as restless tech workers take more action against their employers. Last month, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee revealed that he had leaked thousands of internal documents about the social network’s harms. (Facebook has since renamed itself Meta.) Apple also recently facing employee unrest, many workers voice their concerns about verbal abuse, sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination.

Ms. Ozoma is now focusing on directly forcing tech companies to stop using non-disclosure agreements to prevent employees from talking about workplace discrimination. He has also met with activists and organizations elsewhere seeking to pass laws similar to the Prohibition of Silence. He is also in constant contact with other activist tech workers, including those organizing against Google and Apple.

Much of Ms. Ozoma’s work stems from her experience. In June 2020, she and a colleague, Aerica Shimizu Banks, publicly accused their former employer, the virtual board maker Pinterest, of racism and sexism. Pinterest initially denied the allegations, but later apologized for the workplace culture. his workers organized a march, and a former manager sued company on gender discrimination.

“It is remarkable that Ifeoma has gone through very painful experiences, developed solutions for them, and then built a movement to make those solutions a reality,” said John Tye, founder of Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit that provides legal support to whistleblowers. He and Miss Ozoma recently appeared on a TV show. webinar educating people about whistleblower rights.

Meredith Whittaker, a former Google employee, organize the 2018 strike About the company’s sexual harassment policy, Ms. Ozoma added: “She got around and worked to help others blow it more safely.”

Growing up in Anchorage and Raleigh, NC, Ms. Ozoma became an activist after a five-year career in the tech industry. As a political science major, he moved to Washington DC in 2015 to join Google in government relations. He later worked on international politics at Facebook in Silicon Valley.

In 2018, Pinterest recruited Ms. Ozoma to its public policy team. There, he helped get Miss Banks aboard. They led policy decisions, including discontinuing its promotion. anti-vaccine information and Content related to nursery weddings On Pinterest, said Mrs. Ozoma.

Still, Ms Ozoma and Ms Banks said they faced unequal pay, racist comments and retaliation for filing a complaint on Pinterest. They left the company in May 2020. A month later, during the Black Lives Matter protests, Pinterest released a statement in support of Black employees.

Ms. Ozoma and Ms. Banks said Pinterest’s hypocrisy forced them to talk. on twitter they explained his experiences Ms. Ozoma declared that Pinterest’s description was a “joke”.

Pinterest said in a statement that it is taking steps to increase diversity.

Ms. Ozoma and Ms. Banks took risks by talking loudly. This is because they violated the confidentiality agreements they signed with Pinterest when they left the company. California law, which provides only partial protection, does not cover people who talk about racial discrimination.

Their lawyer, Peter Rukin, said he had an idea: What if state law were expanded to prohibit non-disclosure agreements from preventing people from talking about any form of discrimination in the workplace? Ms. Ozoma and Ms. Banks soon began working with California state senator, Democrat Connie Leyva, on a bill to do just that. It was introduced in February.

“I am proud of these women for coming forward,” said Ms. Levya.

Miss Ozoma and Miss Banks crashed on the way. Ms. Banks said she no longer speaks to Ms. Ozoma because Ms. Ozoma took her to Pinterest without disclosing the discrimination there, and then barred her from working on the No More Silence Act.

“Then Ifeoma kept me out of the venture through gaslighting and bullying,” Ms. Banks said.

Ms. Ozoma said she did not remove Ms. Banks from the organization. She added that Ms. Banks “feels left out” as the news focused on Ms. Ozoma’s role.

Since leaving Pinterest, Miss Ozoma has moved to Santa Fe, NM, where she lives with a flock of chickens she calls the Golden Girls. He also runs a tech equity consulting firm called Earthseed.

Miss Ozoma continues her whistleblowing work through Earthseed. It’s collaborating with nonprofit Open MIC and consulting firm Whistle Stop Capital to stop tech companies from using non-disclosure agreements to keep employees from coming forward about discrimination anywhere.

In September, Ms. Ozoma, Whistle Stop Capital, and Open MIC, along with social impact investor Nia Impact Capital, submitted a shareholder offer to Apple. The proposal asked the company to assess the risks associated with the use of concealment clauses for employees who are subject to harassment and discrimination.

Apple said in a letter last month that the company would not act on the proposal, arguing that it “does not limit the ability of employees and contractors to speak freely about harassment, discrimination and other illegal acts in the workplace.” He declined to comment beyond the letter.

Ms. Ozoma also supports and mentors other tech activists. The Tech Worker Handbook website was designed in part to help with this. The website has information on how to navigate confidentiality agreements and how to protect against corporate surveillance or physical threats. At the top of the site is a slogan: “Preparation is Power.” Ms. Ozoma said the site has had more than 53,000 visitors since it went online on October 6.

“I’m sending this out to people who are thinking about moving forward,” said Ashley Gjovik, a former Apple activist who relies on Ozoma for her support. He added that when people think of whistleblowing, “their minds don’t go to places like personal, digital, security stuff, all the legal ramifications, how do you get that story out, the effect it has on friends and people.” family, the impact on your mental health.”

Last month, Ms. Ozoma also received a call from Cher Scarlett, another activist Apple employee who left the company this month. (Ms. Scarlett refused to give her real name for security reasons; she is legally changing her name to Cher Scarlett.) She asked Ms. Ozoma how she would pass laws such as the Silenced Residual Prohibition Act in her home state of Washington.

Ms. Scarlett, Ms. Ozoma, described the steps she took, including working closely with an MP who could write a bill.

Ms Scarlett, along with another tech activist, contacted Washington state senator and Democrat Karen Keiser. Keizer plans to sponsor a bill that would expand whistleblower protections when the legislative session begins in January, according to a statement from her office.

“That’s why the network of whistleblowers and women like Ifeoma is so important,” said Ms Scarlett.