Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Recho Omondi $55K-gate, TikTok family Disney trip backlash + Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Recho Omondi $55K-gate, TikTok family Disney trip backlash + Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend · Mini Scroll

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  Hi, everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  Like today, I'm your host, Lauren Meissner, the founder of
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  the youth digital media brand Centennial world.
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  Welcome back to mini scroll, everyone.
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  Happy Friday. OK, I'm going to do a shameless
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  plug right now. Please follow me on TikTok and
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  Instagram, specifically on Instagram.
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  I have literally been hovering just above 9200 followers for
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  like, I'm not kidding, four straight years and I'm so close
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  to 10 Ki mean I'm like hundreds off, but you know, like I'm in
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  the 9th 1000 range for years and so many of you guys, I
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  understand like the podcast and stuff like as it's grown, it's
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  not like relevant to my personal life.
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  So I get that it doesn't necessarily translate to
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  followers, but I'm like so many more people listen to this
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  podcast then follow me on Instagram.
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  Please just follow me on Instagram and follow me on
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  TikTok if you guys care about the business updates because I
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  am constantly pumping out unhinged business like growing
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  the podcast, growing the business updates on TikTok.
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  All right, let's just get into the stories for today.
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  So the first three that I have for you guys, this started at
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  the beginning of this week a little bit and I wasn't sure if
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  I was going to cover it, but you know what, we're going there.
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  So this family, specifically a mother, but a family, has gone
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  viral on TikTok for documenting their trip to Disney despite
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  collectively having a stomach bug.
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  So user Hilary Smith went super viral earlier this week after
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  she posted a video admitting that she, her partner and her
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  children still proceeded with her trip to Disney World despite
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  having suspected norovirus. I have never had the norovirus,
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  but I know people who have and it literally apparently feels
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  like death. So she did this video like put a
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  finger down if and told the whole story of basically how
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  they travelled by car, plane and shuttle and then went to the
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  parks while she, her husband and her children seemingly had this
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  virus, this stomach bug which is apparently highly, highly
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  contagious. And the night before you leave
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  to go on this trip, your daughter says she doesn't feel
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  so good. A little bit later she starts
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  throwing up everywhere. And then a few hours later you
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  start throwing up everywhere. After 0 hours of sleep and you
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  decide to make it to Birmingham where your flight leads out of.
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  You're going to make the two hour draft of Birmingham and the
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  next thing you know your seven month old is throwing.
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  Get their security, get to your gate, board this plane.
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  You get strapped in. And at this point, your
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  husband's not doing so well. The reaction on social media has
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  been really bad. People are commenting like
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  imagine paying thousands of dollars for a once in a lifetime
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  trip only to get nobro virus from someone else's kid.
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  Put a finger down if you don't care about other people's
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  health. You can imagine.
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  In response to the backlash, Hillary was actually pretty
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  defensive at first. She was saying like her kids
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  deserve this experience. They planned it for so long and
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  she didn't think it was a problem.
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  Now, there are other people on TikTok saying they were on that
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  plane or they were at Disney at the same time and their kid came
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  down with Nora virus or, you know, got really sick.
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  And and yeah, it's like it has really spiraled.
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  Obviously, there's no way to necessarily Fact Check that.
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  But after getting quite defensive, Hillary did delete
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  her entire account. So you cannot find her on TikTok
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  anymore. But those videos, they are still
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  floating around. Some things just don't need to
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  be shared on the Internet. Like, first of all, that is very
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  selfish, of course. Like I am in a complete
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  agreement with that, but also why do you need to tell the
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  whole Internet a story about how you and your entire family were
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  like shitting for multiple days on end and vomiting at the same
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  time while going on a family vacation?
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  Like that just doesn't need to be shared.
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  The virality from that moment like is never going to be worth
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  it. We don't need to know that.
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  Your employers don't need to know that.
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  Your children's friends don't need to know that.
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  Like too much information. Stop sharing such weird
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  information online. OK, the next story that I have
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  for you guys, I am going to breakdown the 55 K gate as it is
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  being affectionately referred to online.
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  OK, the next story that I have for you guys is I'm going to be
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  breaking down the Rachel Amandi $55,000 salary gate going on.
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  So Rachel Amandi, she's the host of the Cutting Room Floor
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  podcast and they exclusively published on Patreon.
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  They went viral. They've gone viral quite a few
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  times, but they went viral recently for their Marc Jacobs
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  episode, Marc Jacobs, no, Steve Madden, Marc Jacobs Steve Madden
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  episode. And you know, her content, like
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  I said, is behind a paywall. Now Season 6, they went behind a
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  paywall. So they did five seasons of I
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  believe it was just like released as usual as like a
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  normal free podcast. And then season 6, they went
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  behind a paywall and that has been wildly successful for her.
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  And she is really amazing at what she does.
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  But that's Steve Madden interview going viral despite
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  being behind a paywall was like a big moment for the industry I
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  feel. So yes.
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  Anyways, she is quite beloved. Her content is great, however
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  this week she has faced a wave of criticism after she posted a
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  job opening offering a $55,000 salary for a full time in person
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  role in New York City. The position was for like a
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  studio coordinator, but essentially the tasks given that
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  this person would be doing was bookings, administrations,
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  studio coordinator and also personal assistant duties.
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  And the role came with no benefits.
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  The benefits thing is a bit kind of out of my realm.
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  In Australia, you don't get benefits with jobs because that
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  just, it just is built into culture mostly.
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  And in Canada you do get benefits.
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  Like when I was in Canada, I was actually in recruitment in both
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  Canada and Australia. So I do have some knowledge in
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  this space and there are benefit packages, absolutely.
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  But again, it's obviously not as important as it is in the US
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  where there's not universal healthcare.
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  First, you need to know these 4 main things to see if you
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  qualify #1 This is a full time job.
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  This is a full time job. It is every day, Monday through
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  Friday from 9:30 AM until 6:00 PM.
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  Number 2. This job is in New York City.
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  This job is in New York City #3 it is in person and #4 this
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  person needs to start immediately.
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  The job is, we're looking for a studio coordinator.
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  And this job consists of really kind of three main things.
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  Number one, office admin. Think of yourself as like the
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  secretary of the office. You need to have excellent
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  written and verbal communication skills.
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  You need to be a professional emailer.
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  This is a junior role, by the way.
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  This is a junior role, but I think it's a great job.
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  The second part of the job is a bookings coordinator.
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  You will be be helping us book the show.
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  Okay, The third part is a little bit personal assistant.
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  You will be kind of managing a little bit of my personal
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  schedule, but you'll be managing the schedule of the entire
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  office. It was very much framed as a
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  role that is like perfect for someone who wants to get their
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  hands dirty, wants to hustle, wants a foot in the door in this
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  industry. Obviously many commenters were
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  like, this is an adequate salary for New York City.
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  People were saying it's like working three separate jobs.
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  I'm going to say when you are doing an entry level like
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  assistant role, especially in media, I don't think that all of
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  those job descriptions, I, I mean, maybe the maybe the
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  personal assistant side of things is a bit weird, but like
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  bookings, administration, studio coordination, I feel like that
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  can fall under the same job description.
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  I didn't personally see the job as like 3 separate jobs,
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  especially when you're in like a small organization, like a
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  startup, like you wear a million different hats.
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  However, she also wanted somebody with three years of
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  experience for this role. Look, is this compensation that
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  unusual for fashion and media? No, for an entry level job, but
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  I do think requiring someone then to have experience for an
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  entry level job that pays that much, that is also full time in
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  the office, you know, I think that's the biggest difference
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  now is yes, like I'm a millennial.
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  Like we worked the craziest jobs.
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  Like right before I started Centennial, I was making $52,000
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  a year being a full time beauty editor in media, like a full
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  time beauty editor five days a week at the office.
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  OK, so like, I get it, I've done that thing too.
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  But I also think part of owning your own business is that you
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  can make those changes. So even if you can't necessarily
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  pay someone more, because like I get that.
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  I wish I could pay my team so much more than I pay them and it
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  makes me feel so guilty that I can't, you know?
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  But this is just the reality of like building a business and
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  also media in general is like such a tough industry.
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  And so to kind of offset that and give my team better working
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  conditions because they are so valuable to me and I wish I
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  could pay them what they are worth to me and to the business.
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  I try and give as much flexibility as possible.
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  You never need to be in the office five days a week.
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  If someone was on 55K with me, it would be part time.
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  I would be so happy for them to have other stuff going on.
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  They can switch their working days if it makes sense for, you
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  know, freelance gigs that they have or another type of job that
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  they're doing. Not tracking vacation.
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  I literally don't care how much vacation you take.
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  You never need to track it. You don't need to like tell me
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  that you're sick or ask for a sick day, like whatever.
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  Like that is the stuff that I can control as the business
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  owner in terms of the culture that I'm building around the
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  workplace. Even if I cannot pay them as
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  much as I want to pay them, there's kind of this belief that
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  big corporations are often the only ones who are exploitative
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  or have poor working conditions. And that's not totally true
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  because in smaller organizations, you know, there's
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  no HR usually there's like so few processes and exploitation
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  can happen sometimes even easier than it can at big corporations.
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  I'm not saying she was going to exploit this person, but you
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  know what I mean? So in response to the backlash,
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  initially she posted Tik Toks talking about her like struggles
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  in the industry in her early career, sharing that she earned
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  around 30,000 dollars out of college and she interpreted the
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  salary as part of like the hustle culture.
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  She also mentioned that the position or that her entire
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  organization is self funded through Patreon.
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  And I actually think that was a mistake because while we could
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  probably figure that out or assume like that is obviously
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  how the business is funded for the most part, her audience was
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  already upset with her about this salary.
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  So then to basically tell them like, well, you're not paying me
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  enough to pay this person a livable wage.
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  You know, I think that was a big mistake because it kind of just
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  added like fuel to the fire and people got even more upset.
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  Then amid all of this, she released her episode with
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  Gwyneth Paltrow, like it a podcast episode, which she did
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  note like had to go up. But she was like, I understand
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  how releasing it then seemed like we were just trying to
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  brush this under the rug and like, move on and not address
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  it. But yes, she said like this
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  episode had to go up. And then she made a Patreon like
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  podcast episode basically addressing the missteps.
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  And I thought it was actually quite good.
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  She gave a recap of the whole situation.
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  She kind of reflected on it in this Patreon episode.
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  She admitted the hiring process was mishandled.
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  She said that she had paused recruitment for it to get their
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  shit together. Like HR, they're going to work
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  with recruitment agencies. They're going to be more careful
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  in the future. And she was like, this is still
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  a really small organization. Like, I'm still figuring it out.
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  And to be figuring it out so publicly, like, yeah, we made
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  some mistakes. And honestly, I think that's the
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  best that you can ask for in this situation.
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  You know, getting all of that backlash and initially kind of
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  doubling down. And we see that a lot with
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  creators, so it's not unexpected.
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  But as the backlash grew, instead of being like, Oh my
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  God, fuck you guys. Like, you just don't get this
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  industry. You just don't get it.
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  She took the job posting down and, yeah, made a response and
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  said, OK, Like, you know what? Like some of the stuff you guys
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  said is true and thank you. Like this is a reflection for me
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  and this is what we're going to do and change moving forward.
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  So I thought that was pretty good.
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  All right. And the last story that I have
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  for you guys, of course, Serena Carpenter has released her 7th
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  studio album, Man's Best Friend. I have to know what you guys
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  think about it. I'm just going to recap like
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  what some people are saying about it, like what some of the
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  reviews are saying. But yes, Manchild, the single,
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  like the first single, it's lead single dropped on June 5th and
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  it quickly went to number one in the USUK and Ireland.
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  And then second single Tears was released alongside the album
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  today. As we know, the album cover was
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  very talked about. I actually like that she did not
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  change it. I like that there was no
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  surprise there was no twist because I think if there was a
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  twist, it would have felt like it was in response to the
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  backlash, even if it wasn't. So I like that she stood her
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  ground on it. I don't necessarily love the
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  album cover. Like you guys know, I I did like
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  have a bit of criticism around it.
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  I was like somewhat on that side, but I can appreciate that
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  she didn't veer from it. I know she did release alternate
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  covers, but there was so much speculation that the actual like
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  when it actually came out that it would turn out that the man
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  standing there like grabbing her hair was like actually her or
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  whatever. So I kind of like that.
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  That was not the twist. Reception has been split.
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  I would say overwhelmingly people are enjoying it.
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  However, they're saying it's not as good or like impactful
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  initially as short and sweet. And I think part of that is
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  short and sweet, even though like Sabrina always kind of had
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  this like cutesy sexy thing going on.
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  Short and sweet was so in our faces.
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  And I think it it was the first time that a lot of people who
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  were not already diehard Sabrina fans like realized what her
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  whole shtick is. And we're like, oh, that's kind
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  of fun and like, that's kind of cool and like, what a different
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  vibe, you know? And so I think it was almost
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  like so shocking that it was very impactful in the moment.
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  But now we know what it is. And so, yeah, people are saying
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  it's kind of like a little bit more vanilla.
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  And she hyped it up too much because she was initially saying
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  that this album is not for Pearl clutchers.
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  And then people are like, this is such a vanilla album to be
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  kind of promoting it like that. I don't necessarily necessarily
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  agree with that. I think it's like playful.
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  It's a little bit edgy for me. Sabrina's music always takes a
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  little bit of time to marinate. Even with Short and sweet, I was
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  not fully on board with it. I didn't really like the album
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  to begin with, and then it turned out that it was literally
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  in my Spotify Wrapped as like one of my top albums of the
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  year. So for me, her music, I always
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  need to kind of sit on it. Anyways, guys, that's it for me
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  to scroll today. This was a dry week.
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  It really was. It doesn't happen very often
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  where it's like multiple days. I'm like not much has happened.
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  So hopefully fingers crossed next week.
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  We have a lot going on, but thank you so much for listening
• 14:22
  regardless. I love you guys.
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  Please remember to rate, review and subscribe Spotify star rate
• 14:27
  US. It helps us so much.
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  It helps us grow and I will talk to you on Monday.
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  Bye.