Last Friday, the Black Girls Code (BGC) board announced that founder and CEO Kimberly Bryant has officially been removed from her position as a leader and board member of the organization, according to Insider. In addition, the outlet reports that she has taken legal action against the nonprofit and three board members. 

As previously reported by AfroTech, last December, Bryant was accused of possessing a leadership style that was threatening and borderline abusive. An investigation into the matter was launched after allegations were brought forth by former employees and volunteers.

Bryant has repeatedly denied the claims made against her and has used social media to keep those following her journey in the loop.

According to a spokesperson for BGC, “The Board believes the decision to remove Ms. Bryant as CEO and as a board member is in the best interests of the organization, the girls it serves, its employees, and its donors. BGC has been focusing its efforts on moving forward and expanding on the success of the organization since its inception.”

Questioning The Removal Process

Following the recent news regarding her removal from the company altogether, Bryant is now speaking up, alleging that she was never offered severance, healthcare assistance, and more despite having built the organization from the ground up and managing the business for more than 10 years.

“Let me break this down more,” she wrote via Twitter. “No severance offered, no healthcare assistance offered, and non-payment of banked vacation. Sure not all the above is ‘mandatory’ but we definitely offer it to others and vacation payout is mandated by law.”

While further details surrounding the investigation have yet to be revealed, Bryant does suggest that being removed from Black Girls Code may have been a form of retaliation against her.

“Ten+ years of founding and building an organization to a $40M+ international brand which fundamentally changed the course of an industry and ousted without not a penny of severance offered,” she continued via Twitter. “Sounds like retaliation?”

Changing The Landscape For Black Girls In Tech

During her tenure, Bryant managed to land deals with tech giants including Lyft, Google, Microsoft, and others to help empower Black girls across the globe.

Black Girls Code has served more than 20,000 across both America and South Africa.