The ‘only Black woman in corporate’ at a Black hair-care company? N.J. content creator sues Ebin New York over alleged racial discrimination after viral TikTok series

A local beauty influencer is suing popular Korean-owned beauty brand Ebin New York for $10 million in damages over claims of workplace discrimination, harassment, and intimidation, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The suit builds on a viral four-part storytime Samiyah Gaddy posted to TikTok in April, where Gaddy alleged she was the “only Black women in corporate” at Ebin from August 2023 to January 2024, when she was employed as a full-time social media marketing associate.

In the series — which has received a combined 4.3 million views — Gaddy claims she was wrongfully terminated after filing a complaint with Ebin’s human resources department that detailed a series of racist behaviors from the company’s CEO, her direct supervisor, and several coworkers.

Gaddy was made to screen resumes for Black-sounding names, she said, deliberately excluded from meetings with her Korean coworkers, and forced to stay in subpar accommodations on work trips, among other alleged aggressions.

“There is nothing real about Ebin New York,” the lawsuit reads. “It markets to Black American women. Yet it refuses to allow Black American women to have a seat at the table … [pillaging] the Black community for its buying power but [refusing] to empower the minuscule number of Black employees that it employs.”

Gaddy’s story has inspired Black women to boycott Ebin’s hair-care products, drawing attention to entrenched racial inequity within the beauty industry.

A 2022 report from McKinsey & Co. found that Black women are responsible for $6.6 billion in beauty spending a year, yet they are underrepresented at all levels at cosmetic companies, even after brands made pledges to improve hiring diversity.

Sometimes, these disparities trickle down to consumers: Makeup brand Youthforia came under fire after refusing to apologize for offering a jet-black foundation instead of increasing its shade range, while Tarte Cosmetics has drawn backlash for failing to invite Black influencers on their notoriously luxurious brand trips.

» READ MORE: Youthforia finally responds a month after foundation backlash — beauty influencers are still mad

Still, Gaddy believes the worst of it starts in the workplace.

“I’m soured on corporate America,” Gaddy, who lives in Flemington, N.J., told The Inquirer. “They use us [Black women] for our ideas and then make a big profit out of it.”

Gaddy’s lawsuit describes Ebin — which was founded in 2014 by Korean CEO John Park to sell Black hair-care products — as a “hostile work environment” that subjected Gaddy to “severe and pervasive race-based harassment.”

Ebin New York is being represented by Philadelphia-based employment law firm Marshall Dennehey. The company “categorically denies all allegations,” according to a statement sent to The Inquirer. “We intend to vigorously defend these claims in a court of law, and not in a court of public opinion.”

They did not respond to requests for workplace demographics or company diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

Gaddy said alarm bells started ringing when she went in for a job interview last summer assuming Ebin was a Black-owned business, only to learn that the Black women she saw were contract workers hired to test products.

From then on, Gaddy alleges, she was ostracized based on her race.

» READ MORE: From 2023: This Philly woman went mega-viral by mocking gross cooking TikToks. Like many Black creators, her fame hasn’t been profitable.

“I was going through it every day just to cry in the bathroom to my mom on the phone,” said Gaddy, who is being represented by the Lacy Employment Law Firm in Philly.

A week after she started, the lawsuit claims, Gaddy was left in the office alone while the rest of her department went on a business trip to New York that she was supposed to attend. Around the same time, Gaddy’s team — including Park, the CEO — began speaking almost entirely in Korean around her “to ensure that Gaddy could not contribute in the workplace.”

When Gaddy expressed concerns about workplace culture to a coworker, the lawsuit alleges, he dismissed them by saying, “You wouldn’t understand, I’m Korean.”

Later on, Gaddy alleges she was asked to screen a resume to “see if the candidate had a ‘Black name,’” and was criticized by her supervisor for refusing to follow along.

“They hire their own kind of people. So if their name sounds different … they want to know that,” Gaddy said of Ebin. “I have no idea why they would be asking that of me otherwise.”

» READ MORE: This Philly influencer’s virtual academy is helping BIPOC creators navigate pay discrimination. It has a 5,200-person waitlist.

Things came to a head when Gaddy filed an HR complaint in November after being made to stay at a “low-rate hotel” with safety and sanitation issues on a solo business trip to Atlanta. A month later, claims the lawsuit, Gaddy received a warning for “insubordination.”

On Jan. 12, Gaddy was officially terminated for failing to meet key performance metrics. Gaddy, however, believes “she was actually fired in retaliation for her complaints of race discrimination and harassment,” according to the lawsuit.

Gaddy has no regrets: “If I didn’t go to HR, I would’ve just let it happen.”

Gaddy told The Inquirer that the aftermath of her termination has been a mixed bag of emotions. She feels vindicated by the hordes of comments validating her, but the experience overall has been “very triggering.”

“I was very depressed. I’m still looking for therapy,” said Gaddy, who had to move back in with her mom after being fired.

Gaddy’s social media presence wasn’t always met with positive affirmation.

After Gaddy informed her coworkers of her termination — but before she made her story public — Gaddy’s TikTok and Instagram were littered with comments from faceless accounts that used racial slurs while alluding to her firing, according to the lawsuit. She believes Ebin hired someone to smear her.

» READ MORE: Workplace discrimination rules are getting an update. Is your business ready?

“Your worth is less than minimum wage,” read a comment from one user, a screenshot of which was included in the lawsuit. Others encouraged Gaddy to “go flip mo burgers” and claimed she “cannot keep a real job.”

Since going public, however, Gaddy said she’s received nothing but positive messages from her former colleagues.

“They were so proud of me for speaking up for myself, “It made me feel relieved.”

For now, Gaddy plans to keep speaking out on social media about her time at Ebin. She also hopes to spotlight more Black-owned businesses.

“At the end of the day, my word is the truth,” said Gaddy.