Blavity reviews

2.9

25% would recommend to a friend

(84 total reviews)
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Morgan Debaun

23% approve of CEO

20% positive business outlook

Blavity has an employee rating of 2.9 out of 5 stars, based on 84 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Blavity employee rating is 22% below average for employers within the Media & Communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

84 reviews
1.0
Nov 18, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Most of the people working (non-executives) at Blavity are truly amazing with few exceptions.

Cons

How bad can a place be to work for, really really really really bad if multiple people are quitting without a job in a pandemic - even the one white man left after less than a year. Supposedly the mantra is making black people happy, they have failed miserably when comes to the black people in their own company - who are miserable. The company culture with people working remotely is still toxic mainly due to bad leadership. Most of the reviews about Morgan DeBaun are shockingly true, there is a small percentage of exaggeration. Morgan should definitely be removed as CEO, her inflated ego directs poor decision making. As other reviews have mentioned day to day, you are not sure what you are dealing with based on Morgan’s mood swings which results in tantrums that disrupt the business. Morgan has a reputation for being mean for no reason, talking down to employees and treating people horribly because of her own personal failings. Her communication style is often haphazard, for some strange reason she thinks she knows everything and controls communication flows that makes everything worse. Morgan literally translates things incorrectly from one meeting to the next resulting in bad direction and incorrect outcomes for projects which leads to the famous Morgan "cutdown". She thrives on making people feel small and that they are incompetent - when it is MORGAN that is incompetent. If you are creative be leery of interviewing at Blavity they (Morgan) have been known stealing ideas, profiteering and giving no credit to the creator. Aaron Samuels/COO and Jeff Nelson/CTO the other cofounders of Blavity noticeably checked out, both barely paying attention in meetings until called out by Morgan. Aaron is also very emotional when on those rare occasions checked in because Morgan put him on the spot. Aaron is way out his league, poor communicator, has poor memory of meetings/conversations, holds personal grudges that effect daily business functions and gives absolutely no value to employees. People Operations will be of no help to any employee since it is now lead by Aaron who has no idea how to support, mentor or grow employees. The current leadership in People Operations have probably opened themselves up to more lawsuits that they cannot afford. Blavity is not a tech company and never will be, why that is part of the description I have no idea. A tech company has engineers and product managers pushing innovation, not leadership that barely understands basic tech terms or flexibility to learn what they do not understand. Employees working at Blavity are there for what it stands for, most have no loyalty to the company leadership - Morgan or Aaron. Most of the people working (non-executives) at Blavity are truly amazing with few exceptions. Many employees work very long hours, 10-14 hours a day while being underappreciated and dealing with negatively charged working environment. It is not worth the paycheck, like one other review "Run Forest RUN!".

1.0
Feb 19, 2019

Black Company Exploiting Black Employees

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The environment is relaxed and the employees are sociable.

Cons

Upper management is awful and lacks leadership skills. They resemble children playing CEO-for-the-day. The pay is egregious, they exploit young, black, professionals entering the workforce and are unable/choose not to hire established professionals because they lowball prospective employees. The CEO has made jokes about their employees living check-to-check. The chief execs don't seem to have a true understanding of the black experience and culture, only their narrow viewpoints and personal experiences.

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Blavity Response
6y
Thank you for sharing your feedback. To support the gathering of information of our current culture, the People Operations Team is implementing support systems which will allow employees to provide more frequent, detailed, and confidential feedback. The hope for the team is to better identify the potential gaps/areas of opportunity in Leadership Skills and implement a strategic Leadership Development plan.
1.0
Jul 8, 2019

Run, Forrest! Run!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

All of the amazing and talented colleagues! Seriously, these people are rockstars

Cons

Morgan, the CEO, is almost single-handedly bringing the company down. To start, Morgan is a demonstrably bad CEO who only cares about herself and her own advancement but masks it all behind her “we’re fighting for women and Black people” narrative through Blavity. I totally believe the reviewer who suggested that the positive reviews must be paid for; it’s a known “secret” within the company how horrible Morgan’s self-absorbed/narcissistic behavior can be and the fact that she shouldn’t be running any companies, so all of these overly positive reviews are suspect, to say the least. While the other executives have some growing to do as well, most people within the company are okay with them, but Morgan… well! There are many people who still remain employed at the company only because they feel stuck for various reasons; they’ll smile if you see them but they just want to get out of there ASAP. What’s disgusting is just how many great and excellent talent have left the company due to the culture and the treatment they received; just do a search on LinkedIn for people who used to work at Blavity. As someone who never writes reviews, my only reason for writing this one is because I don’t want anyone else to have to experience what some of us have experienced at this problematic company. Blavity is one of the worst career experiences I’ve had, and it really hurts me to say this as a Black professional who wanted to see Blavity, and a team of Black founders with a supposedly great mission, win. Like many at Blavity, I initially fell for the image and once inside the company, it became very clear what it really was. If you know anyone who currently works at Blavity, or has worked at the company, on a personal level, just ask them… if they’re honest, they’ll tell you! A lot of us refuse to let our friends, or even acquaintances, apply to Blavity. This company is good at selling events and mostly nothing else. I’m surprised that Blavity’s reputable investors haven’t stepped in before the fire spreads; as a Black professional who cares deeply about diversity and inclusion, I never, in my wildest dreams, would’ve ever thought that I’d want a Black female CEO fired so badly, but she’s really just that bad! Sorry but facts are facts… many at the company would back me on this, including a bunch of other Black women who’ve unfortunately had to deal with her childish (or, as another reviewer put it, “mean-girl”) behavior. Morgan treats employees like children and expects them to respect her… how does that work?!?!? She spends a lot of her time working hard to be perceived as an influencer and uses Blavity as a conduit; Blavity and the $ we raised is how she manages to get into certain rooms, meet the “VIP” that she does, and fly around, so it’s really all about what benefits Morgan, not Blavity and the humans who work hard to make it all happen. Remember, the universe revolves around Morgan… don’t you dare get it twisted! All in all, I’m extremely proud of my excellent colleagues at Blavity… you’re some amazing and talented humans whom I look up to, and from the bottom of my heart, I wish all of the success possible upon all of you. Final words: Blavity needs better management YESTERDAY!!!

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Blavity Response
6y
Thank you for sharing your feedback. Know that we take your feedback seriously, and make every effort to create an open and transparent feedback loop, not only with Junior employees but across Senior and Executive leadership teams as well.
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Glassdoor has 133 Blavity reviews submitted anonymously by Blavity employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Blavity is right for you.