Elon Musk's former lieutenant who once slept on the floor in Twitter's office attended this year's Burning Man — and says it was 'totally bonkers' trying to get out
- Esther Crawford said she had a "totally bonkers exit" from mud that stranded many at Burning Man.
- The ex-Twitter director said despite the rain the event was "exactly what I needed."
Esther Crawford, Elon Musk's former lieutenant at Twitter, said she was able to escape the rain and mud that temporarily stranded many people at Burning Man over the weekend.
"We managed to be among a small number of vehicles that left before gate officially opened (which was a totally bonkers exit) but thanks to our camp pulling together to strike early we were able to make a run for it with a big group of the camp cheering for us as we rolled out," Crawford said in a post on Instagram. "It was a perfectly insane ending to a full burn."
She compared her departure to a video game in a comment on Instagram.
Organizers at Burning Man began letting attendees leave the site on Monday afternoon after it told festivalgoers to shelter in place and conserve resources following flooding in the desert.
Crawford was one of several attendees to attempt to leave the event before the shelter-in-place order was lifted. Some festivalgoers attempted to depart on foot through ankle-deep mud.
The ex-Twitter director, who went viral for sleeping at the company's headquarters during Musk's takeover, said it was her ninth time attending the festival that's been known to draw Silicon Valley elite, including Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. This year, Google cofounder Sergey Brin and Musk's brother, Kimbal Musk, were spotted at the fire festival.
Crawford said on Instagram that she attends the event every year because its "full of extremes" that forge deep relationships.
"I feel proud of the citizens of Black Rock City for enduring the additional difficulty that the rain and mud provided," Crawford said on Instagram. "As usual it was not the burn I'd planned for or would've requested but it was what I got - and thus, it was exactly what I needed."
Burning Man is one of many adventures Crawford has posted about since she was laid off at Twitter, which has since been rebranded as X. Earlier this year, she announced she was taking a career break to travel around the world.
Crawford did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.
The Twitter director worked at the company for more than two years after it acquired her startup, Squad, in 2020, according to her LinkedIn page.
After Musk purchased Twitter in October, she was identified as one of his top lieutenants. She posted a picture of herself sleeping on the floor of Twitter's office and was put in charge of the company's new subscription service, Twitter Blue, before she was laid off in February.
In July, the former director of product management at Twitter opened up about her experience with Musk in a 14-minute video where she shared some of the benefits of the billionaire's management, as well as what she said were some of Musk's flaws.