A woman was shocked to find out that a company that she applied to work for thought that her vacation pictures were inappropriate. What was even more surprising was the way the company went about expressing this opinion — by sharing it publicly on social media, calling the woman out and sharing a photo from her personal Instagram account. The company, Kickass Masterminds, tried to use Emily Clow’s bikini photo from her personal Instagram (without her permission) to teach job applicants a lesson about professionalism, which was a bit ironic as many perceived what the company did as extremely inappropriate and unprofessional.
Emily explained that Kickass Masterminds contacted her after she applied for a marketing position with the company. A representative from the company encouraged her to follow Kickass Masterminds on Instagram, she told NBC News.
But she never imagined that the company’s Instagram would feature a photo of her in her two-piece bathing suit. On the company’s Instagram Story, Emily found a bikini photo that had been pulled from her personal Instagram account. Over the photo, the company wrote, “PSA (because I know some of you applicants are looking at this) do not share your social media with a potential employer if this is the kind of content on it. I am looking for a professional marketer – not a bikini model.”
“Go on with your bad self and do whatever in private. But this is not doing you any favors in finding a professional job,” the company continued.
In spite of being shocked that the company would share a photo from her personal Instagram profile and call her out, Emily still tried to be professional about it, she explained to BBC.
Taking the company’s advice, she archived her bikini photo so it was no longer visible, and even thanked the company for their “advice.”
“I sent a follow-up email shortly after with my resume, cover letter and saying how I hope to hear from them soon,” Emily told BBC. “I asked at the bottom of the email to please take down the story and thanked them for understanding.”
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Emily alleged that the company did not remove the photo, which prompted her to speak up about the incident on social media. On X (formerly Twitter), Emily wrote that she was “objectified” by a company that called her “unprofessional” for having a bikini photo on her personal Instagram.
She added that she was “baffled” by the company’s decision to call her out publicly like that.
What was supposed to be a lesson on professional from the company turned into a lesson about what not to do.
Because of the backlash that resulted from the incident, the woman behind Kickass Masterminds, Sara Christensen, had to give up on that particular business after being trolled online and receiving threats.
More recently, Sara has spoken up about “cancel culture” after the mistake destroyed her business.
