Fashion Editor Refinery 29 Brand Experiences

Refinery29 Finds Next Top Editor at Facebook

Simone Oliver, who has worked at The New York Times and Condé Nast, will inherit a workplace described equally "toxic."

Credit... Refinery29

Sept. 9, 2020

Refinery29, a fashion and beauty site whose previous top editor resigned nether pressure in June, has a new global editor in primary: Simone Oliver, who leads partnerships with magazines and lifestyle brands at Facebook and Instagram.

Vice Media, the possessor of Refinery29, announced Wednesday that Ms. Oliver, who previously worked at The New York Times and Condé Nast, will kickoff Sept. xxx. She will oversee Refinery29'south articles, videos, audience engagement efforts and partnerships with clothing companies and other brands. The "global" in her title is a nod to the site'southward offices in New York, London and Berlin.

Ms. Oliver, 38, volition succeed Christene Barberich, a Refinery29 co-founder who stepped downwards subsequently several erstwhile employees went public with accounts of workplace discrimination. In a social media mail, one old Refinery29 staff member described "a toxic visitor culture where white women's egos ruled."

At the fourth dimension of the complaints, Ms. Barberich, who is white, best-selling "the raw and personal accounts of Blackness women and women of color regarding their experiences inside our company," and said, "We have to practise better."

Ms. Oliver, who is Black, was the digital director of the Condé Nast beauty magazine Allure earlier her iii-year stint at Facebook and its sibling site Instagram. At The Times, she was an editor and producer who led several early digital initiatives. In 2011, equally the digital editor of Styles, she started @newyorktimesfashion, the paper's beginning Instagram business relationship.

"At the time, the philosophy was Instagram didn't bring value considering it didn't garner clicks," Ms. Oliver said. "My philosophy was that we need to go where readers are."

In a argument on Wednesday, Nancy Dubuc, Vice Media's chief executive, credited Ms. Oliver's "forward-thinking approach to content and strategic media expertise."

Ms. Dubuc has worked to bring about changes in Vice Media'due south workplace civilisation since taking charge in 2018. A 2017 Times investigation uncovered 4 settlements involving Vice Media employees and allegations of sexual harassment or defamation.

The company caused Refinery29 last year in a deal valued at roughly $400 million. The lifestyle site was brought in to complement Vice Media's main offerings, which entreatment to a largely male person audience.

In June, against a backdrop of nationwide civil rights protests, Ms. Barberich was among the high-ranking white editors who resigned subsequently staff members complained publicly nearly institutionalized racism and sexism at media outlets.

Leaders of Condé Nast, The Times, Hearst Magazines and other media companies pledged to improve their hiring practices by looking beyond the puddle of white male job candidates. Ms. Oliver was named to the Refinery29 post two weeks after Dawn Davis, a Black publishing executive, was named the next editor in chief of Condé Nast'southward Bon Appétit. The previous Bon Appétit editor, Adam Rapoport, resigned afterwards a 2004 photograph of him wearing an offensive costume resurfaced on social media.

Ms. Oliver said she had spoken with several staff members well-nigh Refinery29's workplace environs. "We can push button even more on giving new and diverse voices — and not just race and gender — a seat at the table," she said.