Uber has placed its Asian diversity and inclusion officer on leave after employees complained about a ‘don’t call me Karen’ session she arranged that was intended to explore the ‘American white woman’s experience’.
Bo Young Lee was hired by Uber in 2018 as its Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer.
She is now on leave after employees – including some involved in a ‘Black at Uber’ organization – complained about the sessions.
Titled Moving Forward: Don’t Call Me Karen, the sessions were designed to give white women who work at Uber the chance to share their perspectives.
‘We will be diving into the spectrum of the American white woman’s experience from some of our female colleagues, particularly how they navigate around the Karen persona,’ an invitation for the event read.
Panelists included Head of People Nikki Krishnamurthy, Director Meghan Musbach, Senior Director Kelly Seeman, and Director of Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Initiatives Diane Krieman.
Lee, who advocates for gender neutral bathrooms LGBTQ rights and Black Lives Matter on social media in addition to in her job, moderated the conversation.
The first session was in April and inspired a complaint from a black, female employee who said called it ‘tone-deaf, offensive and triggering’.
Lee defended the decision, according to The New York Times, telling the woman that while the conversation may have been uncomfortable, ‘sometimes being pushed out of your own strategic ignorance is the right thing to do’.
The second event happened last week on Zoom.
During the session, Hispanic and black employees complained on designated Slack channels – ‘Los Ubers’ and ‘Black at Uber’ – that they were being ‘scolded’.
‘I just don’t even understand the premise of the meeting.
‘I think when people are called Karen’s it’s implied that it is someone that has little empathy to others or is bothered by minorities others that don’t look like them.
