According to Forbes reports, the “Wondermind” Mental Foundation, founded by Selena Gomez, her mother Mandy Teefey and businesswoman Daniella Pierson, is going through a deep financial crisis that has put her operation in check.
Teefey, who is the executive director, resorted to a loan with a mortgage guarantee to be able to pay employee salaries.
Since last March, “Wondermind” began to present liquidity problems that prevented covering the complete salaries of their template of approximately 15 people.
Until now, workers have received only one of the two pending salaries, while external contractors are still waiting for amounts that would add “hundreds of thousands of dollars”, including a debt of $ 60 thousand dollars with a public relations firm.
They suspend medical benefits and appeal to financing
According to internal documents obtained by Forbes, Mandy Teefey informed the staff in March that medical benefits would be immediately suspended, amid what the executive herself described as a “difficult and unfortunate” stage.
Employees were also told that they could resort to Cobra coverage, which allows you to maintain medical insurance after losing employment or reduction of working hours.
The company said the payments will be regularized this Monday, May 12, and attributed the crisis to the “normal growth difficulties” faced by many startups in their early stages.
However, internal sources have indicated that financial problems began to sharpen since January 2023, when Mandy Teefey assumed the position of CEO alone.
Some workers have questioned Teefey to lead the company, even pointing out that it rejected lucrative offers of brands such as Airbnb, considering that they demanded too much exposure by Selena Gomez.
However, the head of personnel, Emma Wright, rejected these accusations and defended the work of Teefey, ensuring that she has worked “with pure grace” to keep the jobs and the growth of the project afloat.
“Mandy’s priority has been to protect the team’s livelihood,” Wright said, and stressed that the company prepares for a new stage with renewed focus on emotional well -being.
So far, neither Selena Gomez nor Wondermind has issued an official pronouncement on the crisis. The artist, meanwhile, has made recent statements on the emotional impact of public scrutiny on her body.
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