A Black executive assistant quit after Condé Nast CEO gave her an English language guide as a gift

Jones saw the gift as an insulting microaggression, according to The New York Times .
Cond Nast has been under fire for its toxic work environment over the last week.
The company has also parted ways with Matt Duckor , the head of lifestyle and style programming for Cond Nast, after racist and homophobic tweets of his resurfaced.
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An executive assistant at Cond Nast resigned from her position less than six months after she was hired because of an insulting gift from the company's global CEO, Roger Lynch, according to a new report from The New York Times .

Lynch was brought on as Cond Nast's CEO in the spring of 2019. Cassie Jones, a Black woman, worked for Lynch for four months during his tenure.

In November, Lynch brought Jones into his office and gave her "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, a guide to standard English typically used for writing.Lynch said Jones could "benefit" from reading it, according to The Times .

roger lynch DISH

Jones found the gift insulting and thought of it as a microaggression according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to The New York Times, as it indicated her language skills needed improvement.

She quit just a few days after Lynch gave her the book, leaving it on his desk before she left the office.

Lynch told The Times he didn't intend for the gift to be offensive. "I really only had the intention like every time I've given it before for it to be a helpful resource, as it has been for me," Lynch said. "I still use it today. I'm really sorry if she interpreted it that way."

Jones did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment, but according to her LinkedIn profile , she worked as an executive assistant to Lynch for about five months, seemingly her shortest tenure as an assistant. Her profile also lists English language as one of her accomplishments.

Jones' story is one of many to come out of Cond Nast over the last week. The media monolith is under fire after allegations surfaced of a toxic work environment that singled out nonwhite people at Bon Apptit. The brand's lucrative videos were helping the struggling company.

Bon Apptit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport resigned on Monday after a photo of him in brownface resurfaced, but employees from the brand told Business Insider's Rachel Premack that Rapoport's picture was just the tip of the iceberg. According to the staff, few Bon Apptit staffers of color are compensated for their time in the brand's videos and Rapoport refused to make the videos more diverse.

bon appetit adam rapoport Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images; Samantha Lee/Business Insider

Likewise, Rapoport repeatedly denied a raise to his former assistant Ryan Walker-Hartshorn, the only Black woman on staff at the magazine, despite the fact that she only made $35,300. "He treats me like the help," Walker-Hartshorn told Premack in an interview .

Matt Duckor, the head of lifestyle and style programming for Cond Nast, left the company after it launched an investigation into him when racist and homophobic tweets of his resurfaced. According to Business Insider's investigation, Duckor also failed to put nonwhite people in Bon Apptit's videos alongside Rapoport.

A Cond Nast representative told Business Insider that the company "is dedicated to creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace" in a statement. A representative also said that Cond Nast is "listening and are taking seriously the concerns raised by our Bon Apptit team members," and it plans to publish its Diversity and Inclusion report by the end of the summer.

Cond Nast did not immediately reply to Business Insider's request for comment on this story.

Do you have more stories from inside media you want to tell? Email rpremack@businessinsider.com .

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