Talia Jane

Talia Jane (born 1990, full name Talia Ben-Ora) is an American writer and labor activist. She is known for bringing attention to low wages and high living costs in the San Francisco Bay Area, for which she was both praised and criticized.

Activism

In 2016, Jane published an open letter to Jeremy Stoppelman, the chief executive officer of Yelp, where she worked as a customer service representative for Yelp's Eat24 food delivery service.[1] Her letter focused on Yelp's low wages and the high cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was fired shortly after publishing the letter, the news of which garnered significant media attention.[2] She received severance pay of $1,000 and wasn't allowed back at Yelp.[3]

The letter detailed struggles of living on an after-tax wage of a little more than $8 an hour, living 30 miles from the workplace in an apartment costing $1,245 a month, with commuting costs of more than $11 per day. Several outlets published critiques of Jane's life choices that argued ways to alleviate her economic struggles, such as having a roommate. These pieces painted Jane as an entitled millennial, earning her nicknames such as "Narcissa by the Bay" from the conservative National Review. In an interview with VICE, Jane shot back against critics, asking "Who is the right messenger? Up until now, how many of the people accusing me of being entitled were actually discussing the living wage issue? If they don't think I'm the right voice to say this stuff, why don't they find the person who is and uplift their voice rather than bringing down mine? Any voice is still better than silence."[4]

The media storm generated criticism directed at Yelp. Prank orders increased and many customers said they would stop using the service.[5] Yelp responded that the high cost of living was to blame and announced additional customer support jobs in Arizona. Yelp instructed customer service representatives not to talk about their wages to customers. Other outlets used the open letter to promote moving to lower cost areas[6] and to highlight weakened economic conditions for Americans in their 20s and 30s.[7]

Two months later, Yelp raised the pay of Eat24 customer service representatives from $12.25 to $14 an hour, added 11 paid holidays (from zero), and increased the number of days of paid time off from 5 to 15.[5][8] Yelp did not reference Jane in its announcement and said that changes had been in the works since quarter 4 2015 – three months before Jane published her letter. Employees at Yelp reportedly dispute this claim[5] and believe Jane was the "whistleblower" who prompted the changes. The controversy was highlighted in Nebraskan Junior Senator Ben Sasse's 2017 book The Vanishing American Adult, where he wrote that "Some parents may quickly nod their heads in hearing that Talia Jane was fired from her job" and claimed "Our Founders...would panic at the survivability of a nation if we have too many Ms. Janes".[9]

In an analysis for the Washington Post, writer Malcolm Harris noted that Jane was "pilloried in the media as just another entitled millennial who wanted things handed to her" but noted of the resulting wage increase: "Many large labor actions have achieved less".[10]

In May 2019, she was the recipient of a sexually explicit message via Twitter that was sent to her by a Seattle Times reporter.[11] The reporter was suspended by the Times and resigned from the paper on June 7, 2019.[11]

In September 2020, she was arrested while documenting a clearing of a protester encampment in Los Angeles and charged with failure to disperse.[12]

Awards and recognition

Jane was named one of Business Insider's 100 "most amazing and inspiring people in tech right now"[13] as well as one of Inc.com's "25 Coolest Women in Silicon Valley,"[14] both of which credited her open letter for sparking conversation about living wage in Silicon Valley. She spoke about this experience at XOXO Festival.[15] Her talk focused on the impact of online harassment.[16]

Personal life

Jane resides in Brooklyn. She worked as a writer for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee's trivia game This Is Not A Game: The Game.[17][18] She appeared in the pilot episode of Problematic With Moshe Kasher.[18]

References
  1. Jane, Talia (19 February 2016). "An Open Letter To My CEO". Medium.com. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  2. Guerrero, Susana (February 22, 2016). "Yelp employee gets sacked after "Dear Jeremy" post". SFGate. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  3. Jane, Talia (January 20, 2018). "Author of infamous letter to CEO says it 'destroyed her life'". New York Post. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  4. Atad, Corey (25 February 2016). "'Any Voice Is Better Than Silence': Fired Yelp Employee Reacts to Media Backlash". Vice. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  5. Smiley, Lauren (April 28, 2016). "The Revelations of Lady Murderface". Backchannel. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  6. Gelber, Mack. "Hey Talia Jane, here's why you should give up San Francisco for Knoxville". Monster.com. Monster.com. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  7. Danielson, Michael (February 23, 2016). "Entitlement is a Life: An Open Letter to Stephanie Williams". Liberal America. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  8. Truong, Alice (April 28, 2016). "Yelp increases wages after firing an employee who was critical about her low pay". Qz.com. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  9. Sasse, Ben (16 May 2017). The Vanishing American Adult. ISBN 9781250114419. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  10. Harris, Malcolm (9 June 2017). "Why do millennials keep leaking government secrets?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  11. Millman, Zosha (May 5, 2019). "Seattle Times reporter Mike Rosenberg suspended after sending sexually harassing messages". seattlepi.com. Retrieved Jan 30, 2021.
  12. "Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Clears Protest Camp Outside LA City Hall". California Globe. Sep 15, 2020. Retrieved Jan 30, 2021.
  13. Carson, Biz (July 6, 2016). "THE SILICON VALLEY 100: The most amazing and inspiring people in tech right now". Business Insider. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  14. Martin, Emmie (July 14, 2016). "Icons of Entrepreneurship: 25 Coolest Women in Silicon Valley Right Now". Inc.com. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  15. "2016 Lineup". XOXO Festival. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  16. Jane, Talia. "Talia Jane, Writer/Comedian - XOXO Festival (2016)". Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  17. "This is Not a Game: The Game". www.TBS.com. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  18. "Talia Jane". taliajane.com. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
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