Letter to the Board of Directors of Oakland based nonprofit The East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse regarding mistreatment by Jasmine Fallstich
Sent July 17 one day before the store and dock managers were fired.
Hello Mary Tammy and Chrise
It was wonderful to see you last weekend.
I know by now you all have heard bits and pieces of the happenings with the organization. I am writing to let you know this isn’t just a recent thing. I have been exploited in my role from about November on. In April I finally took a stand and said “no” to a demand from Jasmine. The “no” was surrounding Mother’s Day weekend when we had two events going, remember that craziness? She agreed to have us at the school (a favor for an acquaintance) when we were already struggling to get volunteers at the book fair. From that one situation on, I was treated differently and in May I started looking at job listings.
After seeing her mistreat other colleagues and seeing her interactions with me become almost uncomfortable, I started applying for a new job in June.
This behavior she is displaying right now isn’t something new or a result of the stress of restudio.
She is a manipulator. She uses people and when they no longer serve to promote her faked “everything is put together” image she’s trying so hard to present, she washes her hands of them and treats them like garbage, destination landfill.
Her inconsistency in leadership is extremely hard to follow. She has told me “get in the community. Find events” then “stop doing events”, “set your goals for this quarter” then “everyone stop working on your goals for this quarter”, “get field trips into the store” then “stop getting field trips into the store”.
Starting Saturday night I no longer have access to the Facebook page, meaning I cannot do the stop waste grant requirements, which is a large portion of my job and just another example of Jasmine reactive vindictive nature. To be clear, I went to work Saturday to teach a restudio workshop.
I have put a lot of my time (both paid and unpaid) and a lot of energy into making this organization relevant and have done the best of what I can do to promote its success moving forward; however, with Jasmine’s inconsistent leadership and now her cruel vindictive interactions, I don’t see my time with The Depot going beyond August. Yes, she will be on vacation for three weeks but she will be back and when she is back I hope to no longer be working for her.
Saying these things doesn’t come without hurt because I felt like her and I were good friends but now I see it was all part of her calculated plan.
I hope you know how much I appreciate the chance to work with you all and for this cause. We have had our own bumps, but getting to see this beautiful world of sustainability I am excited for my future and what I can do to make a difference.
I am thankful for the experience the Depot has given me and hope to use these skills in future roles. Currently I have applied to a very similar role with other local businesses and organizations.
Take good care
