Sohla El-Waylly challenged power structures within Bon Appétit and called attention to the exploitation of BIPOC employees in the workplace. During the early stages of the pandemic as we all sat at home with grandiose visions of dedicating more time to intricate cooking projects, Bon Appétit’s already-popular YouTube series gained exponentially more views. Much of the fanfare behind the channel centered not on the food the chefs were cooking, but the seemingly congenial nature of the editors, writers, and contributing chefs. For us viewers at home, they seemed like the best of friends.
In June, shit hit the fan. I’m not interested in getting too into it because I don’t want to platform those at fault, except to focus on El-Waylly, who was not only the first person to call for the resignation of editor-in-chief Adam Rappaport, but also reported that she was both vastly underpaid and wasn’t being compensated for her on-air appearances.
If you go back to those old Bon Appétit videos, you can see just how superior El-Waylly’s cooking knowledge and talent are. (How is she the only one who knows how to temper chocolate?)
Luckily, a lot of other folks recognized her talent: She now has a cooking show on Food52 and the Babish Culinary Universe. Her story represents the need for radical transparency and active pushes for equity, not just a pretty masthead with a seemingly “diverse” group of people. The optics of the BA team made it seem like they were a convivial group of colleagues, but the slightest poke at the facade completely shattered that idea, and exposed rampant inequities between white and non-white employees. It’s not enough to have a seat at the table—especially when you use the presence of BIPOC employees to pat yourself on the back and allow egregious disparities to continue to take place.
And to put it all out there, El-Waylly’s story isn’t unique. It’s easy to see the fall of BA as a one-off example of institutionalized discrimination, but I can guarantee that what happened at BA is likely happening at a lot of your favorite companies.
Words,Ashley Rodriguez