On June 28, 2020, “The Truth About Essence” was released by Black Female Anonymous. Black women that work/worked with Essence in some form have called for the resignation of CEO Richelieu Dennis, Essence Ventures board member and former Essence Communications CEO Michelle Ebanks, Chief Operating Officer Joy Collins Profet, and Chief Content Officer Moana Luu.
Dennis acquired Essence from Time Inc in 2018, making it Black owned again. Throughout the article, many things are addressed. From poor management and leadership across the board, to multiple alleged sexual misconduct cases regarding Dennis. “His surface-level commitment to Black women is driven by greed and a debaucherous sexual appetite,” the article reads.
“He has a history of sleeping with women on the Sundial staff, (the parent company of Shea Moisture he sold to Unilever in 2017) and for the women who don’t seemingly consent, he openly sexually harasses them at private company events.”
They go on to say that Dennis “tried to force Essence employees and contractors to sign non-disclosure agreements that exclusively protects his family from liability or disparagement after a string of wrongful layoffs and other potentially libelous business activity.” These allegations took place in in the later half of 2019.
After the release of information, Essence has issued two statements, the first states the following: “Candidly, the last 24 hours have been heartbreaking,” it begins. “At ESSENCE, we uplift the voices of, provide platforms for, and generate opportunities that elevate Black women and communities and have done so for 50 years”
“The accusations are false and we fully deny them. We are not succumbing to a cancel culture. We are not going to defame anyone. We are not meeting hurt with hurt. We know there is a lot of pain and a lot of healing that needs to happen in our communities, but we don’t have to destroy each other to heal.”
June 30, Roland Martin tweeted another statement from Essence. This time, they announced that Carolina Wagna will step in as interim CEO while everything is being investigated.