Selena Gomez’s company couldn’t pay its employees last month

[Teletubby 144,900]

Wondermind, a mental health startup cofounded by singer, actor and business mogul Selena Gomez, is in the midst of a crisis after apparently running out of cash and failing to pay its employees, vendors and freelancers starting in late March.

The issues at Wondermind surfaced on March 31 when employees didn’t receive a paycheck for the second half of the month. Later that day, Teefey sent an email to the staff with the subject line “Important Update,” informing them that their healthcare provider Sequoia had terminated employees’ benefits including health, dental and vision insurance two weeks prior. “We apologize for the email on a wellness day,” Teefey started, going on to blame the troubles on a delayed payment from an investor. “As you are aware, we have been working tirelessly to secure our next round of funding,” she said. “An investor who was lined up to provide some critical bridge funding last week was not able to execute their transfer on time.”

For now, the Los Angeles-based company, which employs around 15 people to publish articles, interviews and podcasts about mental health topics, is being kept afloat by Gomez’s mom and Wondermind’s CEO Mandy Teefey, who told employees on Thursday that she took out a loan against her home to pay back its outstanding debts. Employees have been repaid for one missing paycheck but are still waiting on another, while freelancers and vendors are owed tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars.

In 2022, a year after its launch, Wondermind raised $5 million at a $100 million valuation in a Series A funding round led by Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures and the family office of real estate billionaire Barry Sternlicht.

Despite the initial hype (and its now wealthy celebrity cofounder), Wondermind seems to be in dire financial straits, according to recordings and emails obtained by Forbes, as well as interviews with three current Wondermind employees, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. In addition to money owed to staff members, two of these employees say the company owes $60,000 to a PR firm it previously worked with. One said Wondermind owes tens of thousands of dollars to freelance writers, some of whom haven’t been paid in over three months.

Selena Gomez, for her part, does not have an active role at Wondermind. She’s listed as the chief impact officer on the company’s website. “We have to fight with her agent to get her to do anything for us and she rarely does. And by ‘do anything’ I mean post something on Instagram or interview her for an article so it does good traffic,” one Wondermind employee told Forbes, noting that Gomez met with the staff only once in three years.
A company spokesperson insists this is “absolutely not true” and argues Gomez’s involvement “speaks for itself.”

Edited Sunday at 07:52 PM by Teletubby

[bionic 48,493]

Even if she's not actively involved in the company as the co-founder she should use her wealth to support the company in the short term even if that means a path to dissolving the company

[Lextyr97 19,635]

This is absolute insanity. You can’t not pay people what the ****

[Red 97,782]

Meanwhile, Rare Beauty…

[weed 72,883]

Mess... billionaire's mom took out a loan to pay employees a month late... gag! Give ya mama some money or pay the debts and shut it down!

[nATAH 46,659]

embarrassing 

[BradleyCooper 2,057]

You couldn’t pay 15 people? Really?

[A Fried Egg 8,399]

Isn’t she a billionaire?

[Pandacadabra 8,381]

1 minute ago, A Fried Egg said:

Isn’t she a billionaire?

Was about to say this. Either thats a lie and shes not actually rich or she's selfish. Go help your mom, Selener

[Economy 49,018]

1 hour ago, bionic said:

Even if she's not actively involved in the company as the co-founder she should use her wealth to support the company in the short term even if that means a path to dissolving the company

This. If the company isnt taking off use your wealth to pay the workers what u owe.

 

I get she isnt the exclusive owner but she is involved. It just looks really bad

[Nagini 1,504]

Low grade behavior. I didn't expect much else from the class of LA garbage. 

[Juanjo 2,064]

Way to let the employees know well after sh*t has hit the fan. I wouldn’t stick around if that was me. If you can’t afford to pay your employees, you’re pretty much done-done. 

Edited Sunday at 03:29 PM by Juanjo

[Bronco 9,236]

8 minutes ago, Juanjo said:

Way to let the employees know well after sh*t has hit the fan. I wouldn’t stick around if that was me. If you can’t afford to pay your employees, you’re pretty much done-done. 

Yep. 

That said, as someone who works in the charity sector where work is always funding dependent. 

You absolutely can see the train coming in advance and have time to plan the exit route.

[Teletubby 144,900]

23 minutes ago, weed said:

Mess... billionaire's mom took out a loan to pay employees a month late... gag! Give ya mama some money or pay the debts and shut it down!

Her mother recently posted about trying to get investors for the company, but she didn't like when someone called her Selena's mom. 

It seems her mother is running the company, but doesn't know what she's doing.  This company had another co-CEO who left the company and, according to employees, that's when the problems started.
Selena doesn't control anything, although she allowed her name to be used to start the business, so she should be more involved.

also what happened to the $5 million raised in August 2022? they only do online content

[weed 72,883]

22 minutes ago, Teletubby said:

Her mother recently posted about trying to get investors for the company, but she didn't like when someone called her Selena's mom. 

It seems her mother is running the company, but doesn't know what she's doing.  This company had another co-CEO who left the company and, according to employees, that's when the problems started.
Selena doesn't control anything, although she allowed her name to be used to start the business, so she should be more involved.

also what happened to the $5 million raised in August 2022? they only do online content

Yeah it gives her mom wants to be in control and have her own venture but unfortunately pride or something else is getting in the way and tanking the company. Sad for people who turn to them for help and sad for the employees!