A Twitter manager seen as embodying Elon Musk's 'hardcore' work culture was reportedly laid off. She says she has no regrets going 'all-in on Twitter 2.0.'
- Esther Crawford was photographed sleeping on the floor of Twitter HQ shortly after Elon Musk bought the company.
- Crawford, a Twitter manager seen as embodying Musk's "hardcore" work culture, has reportedly since been laid off.
Esther Crawford, a Twitter manager who went viral after being photographed sleeping on the office floor at the company's San Francisco headquarters, has spoken out after reportedly being laid off.
"The worst take you could have from watching me go all-in on Twitter 2.0 is that my optimism or hard work was a mistake," Crawford tweeted Sunday. "Those who jeer & mock are necessarily on the sidelines and not in the arena. I'm deeply proud of the team for building through so much noise & chaos."
Multiple outlets reported over the weekend that Crawford was let go in a new round of layoffs believed to affect Twitter's advertisement, product, and engineering teams.
Crawford, a director of product management, was seen as embodying Twitter owner Elon Musk's "hardcore" work culture. Another Twitter employee shared a photo in early November appearing to show her asleep on the floor of the company's San Francisco headquarters.
Twitter and Crawford didn't immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment, made outside of regular US working hours.
Crawford joined Twitter in December 2020 after the company bought the screen-sharing startup she cofounded.
The Financial Times reported that she introduced herself to the tech mogul in Twitter's in-house café shortly before his deal closed, and arranged a one-to-one meeting with him for which she got reprimanded by a more senior leader.
Crawford reportedly defended Musk's initial mass layoffs that led to thousands of the company's workers losing their jobs. The Verge reported that Crawford voiced some support for the move on Slack, writing: "I feel heartbroken that this process has required many good people to leave Twitter, but the business was not profitable and drastic cuts were going to be required to survive, no matter who owned the company."
Some Twitter employees responded to Crawford's Sunday tweet with messages of support. "Thank you for working so hard to help lay the foundation for Twitter 2.0 Esther," one tweeted.
Other Twitter users were less supportive. "Girl you're not supposed to swallow the boot," one said. Another said: "All your hard work is reflected in the quality of the current Twitter user experience," apparently referencing recent issues with the site.