Grace Beverley #7 Grace Bentley; committed to misunderstanding covid

[Lilchickpea]

Does this look like she’s paying for Instagram engagement?

 

[Stephg264889]

I just hate how the word 'sustainable' has lost all meaning. The message she posted from that girl calling her a "sustainable queen" - don't they realise that Grace is likely in the top 1% of carbon emissions, and guaranteed consumes way more than the average person? It's a well-established fact that the richest people have the highest emissions. Owning slightly more eco-friendly versions of things (e.g. a hybrid car, furnishing your mansion with eco-friendly products, owning a self-proclaimed sustainable brand) doesn't make you a sustainable queen. At the end of the day, when you own as much shit as her I don't see how she is an individual is living sustainably. The average person on the street who has a wardrobe full of Boohoo/PLT, drives a second-hand VW Golf and goes on holiday once a year is more of a sustainable queen than Grace because of the pure fact that their carbon emissions + overall consumption patterns are likely 1/10th of Grace's.

EXACTLY THIS. can’t tolerate any influencer telling me to make simple swaps to save the planet. I am not the problem. I haven’t bought clothes this year. Go on holiday every other year somewhere in Europe. Don’t hop in taxis to travel 400m in a city full of tubes. But heaven forbid I eat a tin of tuna instead of pine nuts and tofu.
Or buy a staple winter coat from Zara instead of a bloody leather Fendi coat from vestair collective

the bloody irony of them all with their affiliate links to cause further consumerism on top of their personal spend!!!

 

[fwooper]

I just hate how the word 'sustainable' has lost all meaning. The message she posted from that girl calling her a "sustainable queen" - don't they realise that Grace is likely in the top 1% of carbon emissions, and guaranteed consumes way more than the average person? It's a well-established fact that the richest people have the highest emissions. Owning slightly more eco-friendly versions of things (e.g. a hybrid car, furnishing your mansion with eco-friendly products, owning a self-proclaimed sustainable brand) doesn't make you a sustainable queen. At the end of the day, when you own as much shit as her I don't see how she is an individual is living sustainably. The average person on the street who has a wardrobe full of Boohoo/PLT, drives a second-hand VW Golf and goes on holiday once a year is more of a sustainable queen than Grace because of the pure fact that their carbon emissions + overall consumption patterns are likely 1/10th of Grace's.

 

[Deeznutslol]

They’ve deleted all my comments

Censored by the bbc what a time to be alive

 

[Maggiemc96]

So I'm not a qualified psychiatrist but I am diagnosed with OCD. Making sure you are not doing anything wrong towards someone is quite an intense intrusive thought for me. Everyone, whether you have OCD or not, will experience these thoughts on different levels in different aspects of your life. If one doesn't have the right tools to work through these thoughts it can have a serious impact on your well-being when everyday you are faced with the trigger not knowing how to overcome it.

To divert a bit:
I watched Grace on YouTube and she often would say that her success was not done alone, she often would say how privileged she is and the most notable thing for me, was that she shared that no journey or person is perfect. That is something I really took from her because no way we can make perfect decisions all the time and it was great to hear because I struggled with the idea of being imperfect. And even then she would open up and say how she can't please everyone.

Some people say she never acknowledged the above. Yes she did. Not the the extent to what 3rd parties shared over the past year but principle stands she did acknowledge these points.

We don't know how many non-disclosure agreements she had to sign that could have prevented her from sharing more.

Back to my main point:
Before her companies were hyped, before she announced the big changes, I could sense Grace had an attitude shift towards social media as being one of more disadvantageous than advantageous. This was, as she has described in her recent updates, related to a small amount of people, already then, making extreme remarks rather than opening dialogue.

She as a human being,
studying fulltime,
contemplating her future career,
balancing social life with close friends and family, growing into adulthood,
getting through emotional pain of relationship break ups,
signing contracts with impacts to her future
and trying to maintain her online friendship with her followers,
had to try work through her intrusive thoughts
all related to a communication tool that became more and more destructive yet was meant to be inherently constructive.

At that point everything was still "okay", few people could see her pain in using social media. The pain being the struggle to balance the idea of pleasing everyone and not giving away too much of herself in the process.

The noticeable change could have happened in her final year final exams and assignments. When she was unable to please all stakeholders in her life continuously, who she normally could keep satisfied. Her anxiety may have reached extreme levels that put her brain in flight or freeze mode.

So it went from the extreme end of pleasing everyone to the other extreme end of stay true to herself which regrettably left no room to admit fault.

So we would see her on YouTube promoting her business and very little personal life being shared and people then started to get upset. I feel like this can be explained like a friendship where the one friend that shared everything with you just starting ignoring your texts but you would see little highlights on their status updates and feel confused to where things went wrong. Wondering why she was only doing videos to sell things, then bringing out products not in line with her values she shared previously. So without her explanation to say that she is emotionally unable to open any form of dialogue against her decisions, she just dismissed the comments because that was the only tool she kept in her toolbox to deal with the situation. And so it continued because maybe it worked for her for a while. To feel like she had a sense of control over her decision to please people.

But looking back and reflecting- this is SO understandable. One could say the wall was built with the strongest bricks in protect-emotional-well-being warehouse.

Imagine the painful process to knock down a wall like that. To be vulnerable to your own intrusive thoughts, along with other opinions (positive or negative) ringing in the back of her mind (or should I say ringing on her phone).

So going forward without the correct tools in your toolbox and trying to remain emotionally intact to carry on with the necessary everyday tasks to atleast please those close around you and authoritative figures would mean an inability to take constructive criticism due to a build up of emotions on the other side of the wall and a fear of having a fleeting thought that you are not in control of your own actions because the idea of pleasing someone else is so hurtful because the next second goes by with continuously another disappointed stakeholder. And this could be exponential since the digital world is infinite.

And now as you hear the pain coming through her voice - those extreme remarks are still made to justify the inflexible idea of who Grace is in your mind.

The struggle is real in our individual complex brains.

Grace nobody wants to listen to your rants here

 

[eucalyptus]

i'd love to send her screenshots of every time she attacked another company on twitter for messing up her deliveroo order or not having glass cups at their restaurant. she's literally @ing herself with all of that i dont get it

 

[XMMX]

Grace doesn't understand what privilege is at all does she.
Privilege is not just outright being handed money.

It's growing up with no financial stress.
It's finding out about and getting assistance (i.e. parental advice) with applying for a role at IBM at 16.
It's living near London where there's more opportunities.
It's oozing confidence because everything has always worked out for you and your family.
It's being a blonde haired blue eyed white person.
It's having family to advise you on starting a business.
It's knowing that you can invest money in yourself/your business because you have family wealth to fall back on if shit hits the fan.
It's having a network of white collar job friends/family who can advise you and your business.

It's being able to sit and say FUCK ALL about the free school meals debacle because you don't know anyone affected by it and knowing you will never ever be close to needing it.

 

[judgejohndeed]

Sounds like small business shreddy didn’t make 6million this year after all

I just went to check if she’s actually acknowledged anything about the government vote to not feed poor kids last night - nope, nothing, just the story about choosing a Tesla over a Bentley. So left wing, a true working class hero.

 

[judgejohndeed]

God I’m tired of people bleating on like ‘bUt wHaT sHe’S dOiNg iS lEGaL’ yeah...okay. I’m a lawyer, and the law is bullshit. The right thing to do and what the law says is the bare minimum you must do are not the same. Grace holds herself out as caring about ethics etc - well do better. You don’t need to do a shoot in your home. That’s not a commercial space that will be deep cleaned after, that’s her house. And she’s already been shown breaking the rules so why anyone wants to make excuses for her because on this occasion maybe she’s doing the absolute bare minimum I really don’t know - should we give her a medal?

 

[cookiemunchmunch]

Ughhhhh no

 

[DietGossip]

Hi Grace, thanks for reading here and taking on board what we said about captioning your stories that's a win for us disabled people

 

[MIClovergirl]

she just had to get that in there about it being rehomed not sure if it’s dog shit or bull shit i smell

Who’s gonna tell her taking a puppy from a breeder’s house to your house isn’t ‘rehoming’

 

[Dillydally]

Ugh Grace's story about her people pleasing tendencies has sparked so many thoughts for me.
- one thing that has become very clear is that when it comes to social media, you have to have boundaries. This applies to everyone, not just influencers. Grace has no boundaries: she commodifies almost every aspect of her life and personality; she spends most of her time on social media; she has no separation between herself and her brand; she shares every errant thought in her head. So, yes, I am not surprised that Grace's mental health is suffering
- it must also create psychological dissonance to rely on social media for positive reinforcement, which means you trust the opinions of strangers, and then cope with tides of negative feedback, because surely those opinions must be trustworthy too if following the same logic. I think this is why influencers like Grace become zero sum and reject anything remotely negative, even when it's about their business, not them
- influencers like Grace have an over-inflated sense of how important what they do is and how central their world is to everyone else's orbit. I'm more interested in the social discussions around Grace than Grace herself, which is why I am here
- these points are why influencers like Lauren Conrad have highly curated social media feeds and a strong separation between their personal and public lives. Everything they post is strategic and thought out; it's not personal in the emotional sense. This is no different for everyday civilians who use platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to network and for professional engagement; there's a degree of detachment and less at stake
- on this note, if I was a huge influencer with a lot of money, I would hire a social media manager to help strategise posts and engagement. I would ask them to read my comments for me and filter back anything that might be useful feedback for improving the business (not my hair, makeup and personality)
- I am so tired of influencers who grew up in privilege acting like access to the top schools, social circles, holidays, material possessions and cultural experiences is nothing. As someone who went to a state school and then a private school (I got a bursary), I can tell you that the latter is a completely different planet. I met lots of lovely kids there who have gone on to become lovely adults, but I also came across insane privilege and social isolation ("why should my parents pay for people who don't work hard?"). It's immensely disturbing that some of the most ignorant dickheads I met are now in politics, law and finance, making decisions for the rest of society. Sigh

 

[cookiemunchmunch]

I was born in 1992 so I count as a millennial, but I just don't resonate at all with what's being written. Maybe that's just me but the first quote definitely did not make me cry or even stir up a bit of emotion. How is our [generation's] idea of success so warped "beyond recognition"? In what way? I have my own personal views of what success is and I don't feel any pressure from anyone if I'm not there yet. Someone please explain lol because I don't get it

 

[Jlurking]

I am not saying that we should be okay with Grace not wanting to open dialogue when it comes to her business.

It is not okay in terms of a company publishing statements that are inaccurate or misinformation, misleading young consumers. This has legal ramifications.

I agree that in order to be successful in the sustainable and ethical avenue, transparency is key to maintaining loyal customers. This includes open dialogue about business decisions that are not always in line with the said journey. As a lot of you have pointed out, the decline in customers, bot followers, and disappointed reviews etc. are all indications that their customer base is declining. Customers are not satisfied with their products nor their information shared.

This is a major weakness in their company culture. Because, yes, company culture starts at the top by the CEO, and trickles down to influence how each individual in the company goes about their business.
The risk of bad company culture is low sales and bad publicity which will definitely impact their revenue.

I do appreciate you think my writing is partly poetic. I probably come across as that character in Mean Girls to which the line "She doesn't even go here!" is hurled her way.

I wrote that post to bring in a different angle of the human element involved from her POV. A reflection of why a person acts the way they act. The conversation of wrong doing has many layers. Not to justify what happened. But to gain better insight.

One can have all the money in the world but access to the right tools in one's mental toolbox can come at different times for everyone.

I believe there is value in being empathetic to her pain. Maybe there is few and far between on this thread that agree.
She still clearly struggles with the same thought pattern. Some people may say she has yes (wo)men around her, but to give it a different meaning - it may indicate that those close to her, are not helping encourage her to overcome an intrusive thought pattern that brings pain and anxiety.

Nobody is denying that Grace is human, nor are we devoid of empathy. But someone being human does not leave them immune from criticism, particularly when they have profited off of the exploitation of others.

You are projecting thoughts onto her that only she knows she does or doesn't experience. Consequently, it doesn't exactly change my feelings towards her, because it's just conjecture.

I will also say, Grace has an absurd amount of money. If she isn't already, she should be in therapy. (This isn't meant as a dig, I think everyone should go to therapy).

 

[dinkybird]

Imagine passing your test and buying a brand new car ahahahahahah I hope she crashes it reversing into a bollard in Tesco car park. Get a 2009 Kia like every other first time driver hun, you’ll only scratch it to fuck

 

[greenvelvet]

When I mentioned the content creator debacle on that Instagram post, someone blocked me and continued saying to someone else that they shouldn’t be mean and call Grace privileged/treat her differently because she was rich?

It actually blows my mind that you can read that Grace has exploited the fuck out of people, including women, ignore it/block the person saying it, and continue to go at someone else for calling Grace privileged? In what world is calling someone privileged/a liar worse than that person exploiting labour? Why are we riding so hard not only for people that are amongst the most fortunate in the world, but that exploit others?

Literally where has this mindset come from? dismissing criticism between women as “jealousy” is quite misogynistic imo, even though the people doing it seem to think they’re riding for the feminist cause. Like yeah, identify the scourge that is competition between women. But point-blank refusing to grasp that one woman could have an issue with another for a reason other than jealousy, like we have no emotional depth or capacity to be upset by anything other than one woman being better than us (which is what “jealous” communicates), is misogynistic. Like we can’t care about anything else other than we rank in this apparent hierarchy of women. Especially when this hierarchy is entrenched in notions of being sexier, more likeable and more successful. Like if we have a problem, we should just try to be sexier and more successful than grace.

I have found that accusations of insecurity (often disguised in the term “jealous”) are almost always thrown out in these situations too; as if self-esteem in women isn’t a hugely politicised space. IMO the affected concern for competition between women is often handled in a way that further perpetuates this competition; like, “don’t criticise me, and if you do, it’s because you’re insecure and jealous and you’re not as good as I am. If you have a problem with me, compete with me”. You know?

 

[July9696]

Sorry this is disgusting for a company who is supposed to be transparent. If people hadn’t bought it up, theres no way they’d have admitted they had factories in shanghai. View attachment 285856

Wooooow

I agree with you, they never wanted to admit the factories in Shanghai. NOT a good look. Hope fans start to realise that Grace is not their friend and is literally earning from the hard work of others (well it’s hardly from her half ass work days is it!).

Who was it that said...

You don’t make a million dollars, you TAKE a million dollars

Seems appropriate.

Edit:

All that spiel about working conditions btw is likely misleading too. As I said, I lived in China for many years. Labour laws are not the same as in the UK and tala as a foreign company would not have the right to dictate working conditions or pay. It may be one of the factories that don’t make them work 6 days a week, 12 hour days and give them a small room with five others (how do you think your iPhone is assembled...) but have no doubts, if you’re manufacturing in China, you’re doing it to cut costs.

If it wasn’t clear they are using sustainability as a marketing ploy before then I hope it is now. I wouldn’t be so annoyed if it weren’t for her constant showing off her wealth but exploitation and crap salaries endured by some of the poorest people in the world so you can flex your arse cheeks pees me offff

 

[cookiemunchmunch]

I do agree with Grace, some comments are a bit too far and can be mean. I am not innocent in this though with comments I made and subsequently deleted. I may not have called her something horrible but the tone of my comment was not one open to discussion but more to tell someone information and demand answers rather than kindly pointing an error out and starting up dialogue in a way that includes all voices. These comments are done in such a way it completely takes away from the critical discussion.

I was able to have a great discussion with a girl tagged in a wearetala post. She reminded me that a lot of the audience might be dipping their toes into the idea of shopping sustainably. There is definitely great value in how Wearetala markets sustainablity as cool and not something to invoke fear. Going from shopping at ASOS, PLT, Boohoo etc. and doing so possibly because your fave influencer is the face of a collection to then trying to understand how that is enabling fast fashion with has major effects on the environment can be quite devastating for a young consumer.

I am just as frustrated as alot of you are, when at my level of knowledge of ethics and sustainability, the facts and evidence are not shared/stated correctly. This is definitely because in their staff, there is lack of these expertise to know the nitty gritty of how things are stated correctly, how one shouldn't put accreditations actually related to suppliers as accreditations as their own, etc. This is definitely a weakness in their company. I do hope that they hire someone that is well-versed and knowledgeable in this regard to help them so that their market can include those with a better understanding of the laws, requirements etc.

I just think maybe the way that majority of us are going about sharing this information as something to be exposed is not actually getting people to have that very much needed critical conversation. It is creating a divide and people are choosing sides.

Remember some people want Grace to succeed and some people are understandbly upset that seeing her succeed frustrates them (which is not healthy). I won't lie I was definitely on the upset side but that didn't bring me any closer to making a positive impact. I want Grace to succeed so that more young women and men can be inspired to follow in her footsteps and run their own companies in sustainable and ethical way.

I understand your point of view and where you are coming from, and imho I think this shows how much more humble you are of yourself and the things you put out online compared to Grace. I would agree with you entirely if we were speaking of another person that isn't Grace, but I can't agree with you entirely just based off my personal opinion of Grace and her companies.

The reason is well... very evident throughout all the threads on Tattle about Grace. I have a huge issue with people that make themselves out to be something and expect their followers to follow suit (be vegan, live as sustainably as possible, transparency, and to be kind just to name a few examples) and then blatantly do the opposite. She is a massive consumer that went on multiple trips abroad during a pandemic. She has shown that she does not care about her global community by not practising Covid-19 safe practices on a repeated basis. To avoid repeating everything that's been said before on this thread, to put it short she is a massive hypocrite that can not take any criticism. She can't even take constructive criticism, even when it's been phrased in a polite way that allows for a discussion to take place (what comes to mind is the girl that commented about Grace's choice of words for saying that the "vegan police" will come after her for her [constant] use of leather) - she refuses to not take it personally and it's immediately classified as hate.

She certainly doesn't mind if her followers jump on people criticising her, you can also look at her now abandoned Twitter account where she would constantly put companies on blast for minor things like a 30 minute delay on her Deliveroo order.

In terms of how the criticism is addressed to her, I just feel that people are at different points of frustration with either Grace or the products from her companies. If I was a consumer of Tala and was already on my 4th pair of leggings within a year, I'd also be too impatient to be overtly polite in order to hopefully not offend Grace in order to hopefully maybe get some help because I am not getting help from the proper channels; and now am feeling quite desperate for someone to help me. Or if I've just been charged 80 pounds/euros for a subscription service I thought I had cancelled but there is now no way I can get it refunded, to then go to Instagram and see the CEO asking us which obnoxious car she should get for herself. So given these experiences, just to mention a few, I think we can forgive people for getting fed up with hypocrisy and fake behaviour from someone who makes out to be so much better than us all. Imho, she's surpassed the point of being coddled. In any other business to consumer company, if customer service reps have to get used to getting verbal abuse from customers on a daily basis, yet the CEO can not even take some well articulated critcism with an angry tone that's not even threatening (just coming from a place of frustration) - sorry but what else are we supposed to do? It's not my fault she's been coddled her entire life and is surrounded by "Yes" men.

 

[Deeznutslol]

View attachment 282701

Ughhhhh no

Fuck my actual life, this has got to be one of the saddest things I’ve ever witnessed. Idek whats more cringe, the girl writing an essay about grace or the fact that grace has shared it to her story bc shes addicted to validation