Former Pinterest COO provides a detailed account of her claims about gender discrimination and toxic workplace culture with recommendations for the company
Pinterest has always been about aspiration. It is a platform for sharing beautiful images, curating galleries of an idealized world.
Francoise Brougher
Context & Ripple Effects
When Pinterest hired Françoise Brougher from Google and Square as its first COO in 2018, it was a marquee executive hire; when she was fired in April 2020 after complaining about sexist treatment, she took the dispute public with a gender-bias lawsuit. This detailed account lays out her allegations and recommendations at the moment of maximum leverage.
The company was already under pressure: public complaints of racial discrimination from former employees Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks had prompted Pinterest to commission an outside law firm investigation reporting to its board months earlier. Brougher's account turned a personnel dispute into a governance problem.
First-order effects
Pinterest's board now faces two parallel accountability tracks — the law-firm culture review it commissioned and a public lawsuit from its own former COO — with its employer brand on the line during a period of strong financial results.
Brougher's published recommendations give the board a concrete checklist, shifting the debate from whether there is a problem to which fixes the company will adopt.
Second-order effects
The litigation path ends in a $22.5M settlement four months later, setting a price tag other tech companies' former executives can reference when weighing whether to sue or stay quiet.
Pinterest adopts its special committee's recommendations, including unconscious bias training, meaning the allegations translate directly into HR policy rather than remaining a PR matter.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds — employees speak out publicly, boards respond with independent investigations, litigation ends in settlement plus policy change — discrimination disputes at tech companies become a recurring governance cost that boards budget for, not an exception.
A year later, Brougher, Ozoma, and Banks are still publicly revisiting sexism and racism at the company, suggesting these disputes shape reputations long after the legal resolution.
The trend: Tech workplace-discrimination disputes are moving from private HR matters to public accountability campaigns that end in settlements and board-mandated policy reform.
A must read on typical pitfalls awaiting female leaders when they join companies. It starts with the men being “invited to the “meeting after the meeting,” held all the power and influence.” And ends with the “subversion of most authorities a woman holds” https://medium.com/...
Several people in my TL are talking about this article and now I understand why! Read it “if someone of my privilege and seniority is fired for speaking out about these issues, the situation is likely far worse for people earlier in their careers” https://medium.com/...
“When she asked Silbermann about why the board didn't challenge them, she says he responded “I chose them."" “the only way we get things done here is hiding things.” “what is your job anyway?” Pinterest sounds like a great place to work. https://medium.com/...
Read this important piece by the ex-COO of Pinterest. “The discrimination I experienced @ Pinterest was different from the “bro culture” so many other tech companies are notorious for. It was more subtle, but it was no less insidious & devastating. THREAD https://medium.com/...
“There is a reason that women do not negotiate as hard as men for higher pay. It is not because we are not good negotiators. As I would learn at Pinterest, it is because we get punished when we do.” - This is the truth behind why women ask for raises less https://medium.com/...
So at Pinterest everyone reporting to the CEO had even equity vesting... except the one woman who was given the backloaded deal of 10-20-30-40% and told (lied to) that all executives have the same. Nope. Just her. https://medium.com/... I cannot get my head around this 🤯
“When I asked Ben why the board did not challenge us, he answered, ‘I chose them.’” Hope $PINS Board runs a proper investigation. We're going to find out very quickly how independent they are. https://medium.com/...
Pinterest's CEO/exec team come off as major bullies but also... kind of incompetent? (From former COO Francoise Brougher's 👀 Medium post on the hostile work environment at Pinterest) https://medium.com/... https://twitter.com/...
What an absolute disaster. Pinterest should be ashamed. Yet another woman chased out of the company, after being used as a prop and underappreciated. https://medium.com/...
Thank you @eringriffith for sharing my story about my time at @Pinterest. Your article tells not just my story, but echoes the story of women across Silicon Valley and corporate America: https://www.nytimes.com/... #ThePinterestParadox https://twitter.com/...
Just woke up from a nap to this. There's always more. Maybe someone can ask @Pinterest who took over her whole portfolio after she was pushed out. My understanding is it's the man who wanted her job in the first place. Nasty stuff under every layer there. https://www.nytimes.com/…
This is a really important reminder that hiring women & minorities is not enough. You need equitable & inclusive workplaces willing to confront bias, prejudice & bullying so these people can succeed. https://medium.com/...
How come when it's a woman CEO doing a bad thing, the fully anonymous media exposé alone forces them out... but when it's a man, we come with FULL ON LAWSUITS and he still keeps his job and multi-billion dollar company https://www.nytimes.com/...
At a company where majority of its customers are women, sexism at the very top level. This follows earlier this year two employees accused the company of racial discrimination. https://twitter.com/...
Sound familiar, ad industry ladies? 'Although 70% of @Pinterest's users are women, the company is steered by men with little input from female executives. Pinterest's female executives, even at the highest levels, are marginalized, excluded, and silenced.' https://medium.com/...
“When Pinterest filed to go public in 2019, Ms. Brougher learned that she was paid less than her male peers and that her equity grants were ‘backloaded’” https://twitter.com/...
I learned an INSANE amount from Francoise working for her at SQ The fact that she was - as #2 + COO - paid less than the male colleagues, excluded from board mtgs, & excluded from the roadshow (despite her experience) is: FUCKED UP SEXIST + UNACCEPTABLE https://www.nytimes.com/..…
My first article when @recode launched was a profile of @francoisebr - then a @Square exec: https://www.vox.com/... One thing I learned then is how much she hates the spotlight. So for her to go public in this way about Pinterest is an even bigger deal https://medium.com/...
“Françoise Brougher, Pinterest's former chief operating officer, said she was fired after speaking up about mistreatment.” A key component of institutional courage is cherishing the whistleblower, cherishing the truth teller. https://www.nytimes.com/...
‘According to @Pinterest, I was fired not for the results I achieved, but for not being “collaborative.” I believe that I was fired for speaking out about the rampant discrimination, hostile work environment, and misogyny that permeates Pinterest.’ https://medium.com/...