by
Lisa Jean Francois
The internet beauty community erupted this week after celebrity Makeup Artist and Youtube Vlogger, Alexandra Bond, shared (via snapchat) the details of a recent encounter with the CFO of Milani Cosmetics. The specifics can be a bit hard to sift through, so here’s the breakdown:
Bond who has been making YouTube videos since 2006 and has a longstanding relationship with Milani says it isn’t about the money.
I held it together on the call, but then I lost it. When I’m in my feelings I usually take it to snapchat…I really felt like they were some big company, and that they (The CFO) was thinking ‘you’re a little makeup artist and what you do compared to what we can do is nothing.’…. Never in a million years would I have thought so many people would have been involved. I was ready and willing to give back the money I spent. I just do not like or appreciate the way I was handled. It was the way she was like “this is what you better do or this is what you’re going to do.” I was shocked.
Folks have been weighing in with their verdict on who was right and who was wrong in this situation, however, the biggest thing to note here is that social media influence is real. Word about Bond’s video spread like wildfire throughout the black blogging and beauty communities, and sparked a much-needed conversation about the relationships smaller, personal brands, have with powerhouses like Milani Cosmetics. More and more brands are relying on social media influencers to help grow their businesses, but this is the first time we’re seeing how that power can potentially hurt larger corporations.
Bond issued the following statement via her rep:
Alexandra is a woman of integrity, and has worked hard to become a self-made success in the makeup industry. She will always be open, authentic, and honest about her experiences and that is why hundreds of thousands of supporters on social media relate to her and are passionate supporters of her endeavors.Alexandra moves forward with dignity and in the spirit of forgiveness; she wishes Milani Cosmetics all the best. Alexandra will continue to succeed, and is grateful for the outpouring of love and support during this most difficult time.
52 Responses
Alex is a dishonest, unprofessional individual. She is talented but her attitude is absolutely HORRIBLE. It is not mentioned if the foul things that Alex said to the CFO and that is wrong! I have experienced her and I can tell you, she lacks dignity. It sucks that Milani had to apologize to her as I am sure she needs to apologize to the CFO. People have on an undeserved pedestal and she needs a reality check. Running to social media after she was probably extremely disrespectful is so like her, she needs to grow up and deal with conflict like an adult.
I understand that Alex was upset that she was talked down to by the CFO, no one should be spoken too in that manner, but I do not understand why she would cash in for a credit or refund a ticket that she did not pay for, that is essentially stealing from that company. She clearly thought since Milani is such a big company that they wouldn’t notice what she did. If this was a small company or a person that she did this too people would be siding with the company or person and not Alex.
I’m sorry the Blogger should have not cashed in the ticket in the first place. If Delta called and told you all this, you should of directed them to the Milani Rep that booked it in the first place. And then you use the ticket credit for an event that wasn’t by Milani. I mean the CFO was wrong for being unprofessional but I can see why. Now unless there is more to the story that the author didn’t put down or that the blogger/ CFO isn’t tell us then ok…but the blogger was wrong in my eyes ..as in who started first. …..It case of “its the principal” type thing.
So no one thinks it’s shady that she didn’t contact milani first before switching the ticket? Just so they were aware. Only reason for doing it behind their back was to be slick.
you right!!!
I don’t have my glasses on but if I’m reading this correctly the two sides are arguing over a difference of $290. Listen if Milani is that pressed over $300, I would seriously look into the ingredients they are using and their manufacturing practices. I would question what they are doing with products that don’t sell. If things are that tight, I’m pretty sure they are cutting corners somewhere else.
“Tickets are not transferable unless otherwise stated on the ticket at the time it was issued.” Ticket was issued in her name not the company. The company no dought could not transfer it back without her doing so. A Company incompetency, she got a gift. This happens often when the company does not set up tickets correctly using a 3rd party many times.
It’s like I said earlier (not sure if it was posted) someone buy you a house for $650,00
In your name, you on the deed, and months later decide not to give you the keys. So you go show the deed with your name on it and have new keys made and move in.
The moral, don’t buy things in other people’s names , unless you sure you want them to have it. Lol
Side eyeing anyone supporting this Bond character….she’s a thief, period.
True. Anyone who thinks this is okay is someone I would never ever want to do business with or have any kind of money transaction with.
An airplane ticket was purchased in Alex’s name.
Alex learns that the full value of $640 ticket will be lost if someone doesn’t use it.
Alex calls Delta Airlines, and is credited $350 of the $640 ticket.
Alex applies the $350 credit to a new flight unrelated to Milani.
i think i was pretty clear
A friend of mine become a insider for a drugstore cosmetics brand. She got around 7 items from this brand. After she review the product she got a lovely email from the brand “Profusion” offering her a stack in a giveaway for her blog. Of course, she been blogging their product for a long time now.
why did they work with her? She only has 25K subscribers her last video was done a month before and the one previous says a year before. She does have a instagram following of 92 K not sure if that happened before or after this “scandal” but she is posting about interviews and etc. Why use drama to get a name for yourself? The company has apologized let it end there. By the way is Milani black owned?
Why on Earth would she cash in a ticket she did not pay for? Where is the debate? She stole from the company and when they called her out rather than called the police she thinks she has a grievance with them?! If she hadn’t cashed out the ticket the company may have been able to transfer that for a flight worth more than the cash out amount, but we don’t know because while this conversation that should’ve remained private was made public by an entitled woman who has had a very public lapse in self-awareness, the company has exhibited some professionalism by not responding. People will rarely speak kindly to you when you steal from them.
People do that with tickets all the time. Someone buys you a first class ticket you decide to switch to coach and get the credit for the remaining portion.i don’t think she was eight in getting the credit but a company arguing over $650 that they could easily write off on their taxes is petty and embarrassing. Sell some lipstick and charge the $650 to the game.
It’s not just a matter of writing that $650 off on their taxes. Because of past fraud companies have to report everything they do financially to the IRS or get punished and fined big $$. Her cashing in that check caused a huge headache for Milani, which is most likely why the CFO went off.
Just because it was purchased in her name, doesn’t mean it’s ultimately hers for personal use. It was just a ticket with her name on it, not with her money. It would be different if they gave her the ticket as a gift, and then changed their minds and wanted the money back. Maybe I’m missing something. Social media does more harm than good most of the time.
This should be a non issue because, if we are to believe the article above, Ms. Bond basically took money that wasn’t hers. PERIOD. She took it upon HERSELF to decide what was to become of that plane ticket when it wasn’t even her place. When she got questioned about it, that’s when things turned ugly. I’m sure she got defensive in the process, but of course she’s not telling us the things she said that prompted the CFO to lose her composure. Either way the blame can be spread on both sides as far as the unprofessional behavior goes, but the majority of the blame should be placed on Ms. Bonds for taking what wasn’t hers to begin with.
Exactly, outside of social media, this would never have been a case she could win. What concern is it of hers whether the ticket funds are lost if she fails to use it when she did not even pay for it. If she’s as astute a business women as we are supposed to believe, she would have contacted Milani and sought permission before doing what she did. How in her mind did she consider that the right and sensible thing to do?
The advantage of getting your story out first (not to mention the tears). She presents herself as the victim when she is the source of the problem.
wait I’m confused… so the ticket was in her name… the ticket and the money was going to expire and then she repurposed it for something else because she could and no one was claiming it. Milani wasn’t going to get their money at all, regardless of if she took it. If milani was going to take the $350 credit for another ticket then i could see their point but they wanted money back for something they were going to let expire anyway. So regardless of what she did the Milani books would still have shown 640 dollars wasted on an airplane ticket.
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. So what if it expired. I have purchased tickets I couldn’t use that expired. It happens. It’s their money regardless. They can put it in the trash and burn it if they want to. She had no right cashing in that plane ticket she didn’t pay for. And if she didn’t see anything wrong with it I feel like she would have called and talked to them about it BEFORE she did it. “Hi guys just letting you know that I found out the ticket you bought for me is about to expire so what do you plan to do with it?”No. She didn’t do that because she was trying to be shady and hope they wouldn’t notice. She didn’t offer to pay until after they went to her. If she really thought this is okay I have serious doubts about the morales being taught these days.
Plus if they are writing off loses for $640 the receipt from airline would not show a $640 loss because she took a $350 credit.
But the difference is the company could have claimed that loss of $640 on their financial filings. When she cashed in on the ticket, she took that option away from them. Also, business to business transactions can be very different than business to consumer transactions given the volume of work they may do with a specific company (eg. this airline). We are not privy to what agreements they may have had in place with the airline (eg. insurance, credits, etc) and that’s not anything the Milani or the airline had to disclose to the MUA. Clearly the company had not forgot about the ticket because the MUA triggered the following events to occur when she cashed in on the ticket.. Finally, why didn’t the MUA exert as much energy in flipping this ticket to her benefit to simply reach out to the folks at Milani and ask what would they like do with the ticket. The lack of transparency she had with Milani while using the ticket to her benefit reads suspect and we are only hearing about this after she got caught.
This Bond person seems shady and manipulative. Pay their money back. Such unprofessional behavior. Good luck booking future engagements. Bye girl.
That was trifling of her to take credit for something she didn’t pay for. They lost the whole 600+ because she took half credit that didn’t belong to her. THEN she wonders why they wanted it all back?!?! They should have dropped her behind from the start!
This is just as bad as when she was begging for donations to go to a funeral and when people started talking about it, she snapped back with how rich she is and how she doesn’t need anyones money. Oh….but she was asking for donations tho…..
Yeah social media is powerful and some people use it for trifling things….
Unprofessional on both parties…especially Milian. It’s not what you say but how, it’s not what YOU do but how. Even if a person is wrong, no one deserves to be bullied or belittled.
So this vlogger does something shady as hell to this company then has the nerve to complain about being threatened with blackballed. I wouldn’t hire her. She had no business taking all or part of the proceeds from a ticket she didn’t pay for without at least discussing it with them to see if it was okay.That’s plain stealing. Or why didn’t she call and maybe offer the $350 in the beginning. I’m not saying the CFO should talk to her any kind of way but this is a grown woman. Using the ticket for her own use?? Nah She is a hustler and a thief. She knew that mess was dead wrong. I can’t stand when these kinds of people turn around and play the f’ing victim. “I was willing to pay” my butt. Yeah after they came to you. They shouldn’t have had to even ask you. Keep those crocodile tears.
Some of you fools below didnot read the full article .All of this could been avoided if the CFO took the $ 350 that was used as a credit instead they wanted her to pay the 640 that they spent. Get it? instead almost everyone below saying she should have given back the entire 640 for what? she was giving back what she used.
People like the CFO are bullies when they are in certain authority-
She was not wrong to use it because Milani would not get back the money as credit because once a ticket is purchase in your name is cannot be transfer as credit to anyone’s name. So its her ticket!
All she had to do was not use it! If you have $350 to pay back with no problem, why not just pay for your own ticket? None of that money, at that point, was hers to use.
The ticket was not hers to cash in BUT she offered to give them what the airline credited her and they refused. So what the hell could she do after that. If she owes them anything, it would be the $340, not the whole amount since that’s not what she got credited.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple as her just giving them back the money. Her cashing in that ticket was a problem for Milani. Companies are subject to yearly IRS audits when it comes to reporting any financial losses, such as an unused plane ticket. If the money does not follow the proper reporting trail, the company could face a huge fine from the IRS, even over something as minor as a $640 unused ticket. The CFO could have handled it lot better though.
and I agree with liberianwoman; you should have not cashed out that ticket. You do share some of the blame as to what happen here.
Look I’m glad that they are reconciling there differences, but after all this, lets look at it for what it really is; she only apologized because of the retribution this would have caused. Black beauty bloggers and consumers all help put Milani cosmetics on the map and losing some if not all black consumers (may be a stretch but it’s possible) of Milani products because of this is too risky. Some ppl have already boycotted. For the CFO, It’s you “better apologize to this girl or lose your job”. They don’t want to lose there momentum because of this one person. Its all damage control moves here. That CFO showed her true colours.
Girl move on. The dynamics of the relationship with you and your superiors at Milani have changed. They will treat you like dirt. It would be very awkward going back.
Let’s call it what it was, theft, and she’s seems dim enough not to have realised that. If that was my money I’d have been p*****d at the audacity, tho the CFO definitely could have handled it better.
Professionalism is extremely important but Alex was unprofessional as well, by trying to use the ticket for reasons unrelated to it’s purchase. I always try to look back and see what was the catalyst that caused a conflict and in this situation it was Alex. I’m not trying to take up for Milani or their CFO making belittling comments to someone you have a business relationship with is unprofessional. But all of this started with Alex and her choice to cash in on a refund for something she did not purchase, they call that fraud.
BGLH you should specify that Milani bought the ticket in Alex’s name so that it’s clear that Alex cashed a ticket that wasn’t hers…I was briefly confused about that until I came to the comments.
Alex should’ve just left the ticket alone. It wasn’t hers to deal with. That way if Milani had a problem with the ticket going to waste due to the cancelled event it would’ve been on them, not her.
be careful with social media….
Know your self worth and move on young lady. It sounds like CFO thinks the company made and/or owns you. Btw the ticket was not yours to cash in.
While the aftermath is terrible..she should have never cashed in the ticket. It was hers to cash!!! Someone else bought the ticket in this case…the company and if they were going to lose the money then thats on them. It goes along with the rest of the losses for the quarter. Or perhaps THEY would have used the credit for something who knows. Let me repeat aftermath terrible but she was in no way justified in using that ticket to begin with
your contradicting what your saying.
Did Milani purchase the original ticket? If so, then why was Alex trying to use the ticket for something else after the event was cancelled? Either I’m missing something or something doesn’t sound right. If she tried to use the ticket for something unrelated to Milani then I would agree that she does owe them. A CFO is responsible for tracking all money spent. So when audited, she (the CFO) would have to explain the missing $640 for an event that was cancelled. Should the CFO have been professional in her attempt to recoup the money, absolutely. But I don’t think she was wrong for trying to get back money that wasn’ Alex’s to spend how she wanted.
#TeamNoOne She shouldn’t have cashed in any part of the ticket. That should have been handled by Milani, since they purchased the ticket. That said, the Milani CFO shouldn’t have reported to threats and personal attacks—they should have taken the $350 that Alex cashed in for personal use as reimbursement (just as they would have received from Delta).
I she should give Milani the money. They paid for the ticket. She didn’t. If the event was cancelled she should have let the ticket expire. She didn’t buy it.
Cut to the point the YouTuber had no right to any portion of a ticket she did not purchase.
She had no right to use that money, credit, or whatever. She didn’t think they would notice since the event was cancelled. Since the ticket wasn’t paid for by her, she really does owe that company their money. Tears aside, the ticket was purchased for a specific reason, not for her to galavant and tootsie roll all over Miami. She lacks integrity. These ppl should be spamming her page instead.
I definitely agree with you and I love the galavant and tootsie roll portion.
DO NOT SPEND WHAT IS NOT YOURS. Period.
No company, big or small, will EVER respect you or your work when you have such terrible behaviour.
You came off as hungry and unprofessional. That was a tough spanking, but I hope you will learn the rich lesson behind it.
All that drama over $640! Since I haven’t verified the facts, I won’t act like I know Ms. Bond’s version of the facts are absolutely accurate in fairness to Milani and its CFO. But, when you have a 5 year business relationship with someone who is supporting and advancing your brand, you do not want to take that for granted. So, hopefully this incident will serve as a wake up call for Milan, other large companies and their representatives to be more mindful and respectful of those in social media and the other supporters of their brand generally. There may be instances when a return of the full amount would be appropriate. But, it is never appropriate to act in an unprofessional and discourteous manner, even when things get heated.
While I agree that the CFO should’ve been more respectful, Ms. Bond essentially stole from the company. Given that detail, it shouldn’t be on the Business to behave respectfully when dealing with a thief. Now I don’t believe Ms. Bond lacks integrity, I do however feel she lacks professionalism and maturity. If I owned a store and someone came in and stole an item or cash out of the register, is it on ME to treat that thief with respect or even be polite about demanding they return the item/cash immediately? No, and quite honestly I’d be livid. I understand what was stolen was not money out of the CFO’s own pocket, however, the CFO bears the responsibility of the companies finances, and yes – would have to answer for discrepancies. Depending on the severity of the discrepancy, may even pay for it with their job. With that perspective, it could likely be money out of the CFO’s own pocket. With a family to be responsible for and arbitrary person irreponsibly putting *my* career in jeopardy, I’d be less than diplomatic.
Here’s a company that’s been producing products catering to a demographic, which for the better part of 50 years (and more), has been overlooked and “of no concern” with larger brands. Imagine the start up costs, the risks, the lessons and losses that have been incurred over the years Milani has been out and up against brands like Maybelline, Revlon etc. It wasn’t that long ago that African American women were scraping bottom to find products for us that were affordable and accessible. Less alone find places that would keep a healthy stock/reorders of products for AA. Now, it’s much easier. They along with a few others have a permanent space in most drug stores in areas where there’s a relatively moderate to large AA consumer base. They’re much bigger and reach out to build relationships with burgeoning young professionals as a marketing strategy to raise their visibility as well as those they’re working with and this is what they’re met with? Backlash in support of a thief?! All because she took comfort in divulging her shame and cried to SOCIAL MEDIA…shedding tears over being told to return what she stole, via her ignorance.
The entitlement of today’s youth is astonishing. What I wouldn’t give to have the opportunity this young woman had. I’m not saying she hadn’t yet paid any dues in the course of “trying to make it” – I’m saying she has far from earned her “pound of flesh”. Professionally, you put in WORK and get knocked on your tail more times than patted on the back –and that’s for stuff you’re SUPPOSED to be doing or going the extra mile. She -committed a crime, one in which she COULD be prosecuted for and it takes experience and years on this Earth busting one’s behind to know that.
The audacity and ignorance behind her actions are appalling and in like form, those who rallied in support of her. Like my store scenario above: having the community egg your store mercilessly because you rightfully demanded the thief return what they stole because you used harsh words in doing so. I’m not saying the CFO’s decorum was wholly justified but seriously grow up, words are words. This woman was in the wrong and should’ve apologized profusely. She should’ve been way more ashamed of her behavior, recognized SHE was at fault – returned the money and left social media in the dark about the whole thing. Not everything belongs in the public realm…just shameful. I do not feel sorry for her.
*slow claps with the stank face* YES!!!!!
I said nothing to sign on to Ms. Bond’s version of the facts. I said nothing that in anyway condones theft. I DID say that unprofessional, discourteous behavior is not appropriate, even when things get heated. If you disagree with that, that is your right. But, please don’t misrepresent the things that I have said.
Bye girl. S. Williams got you all the way together lol Just let it go.
IF YOU DON’T GO AWWWFFFF!!!!!! YES!!!