The founder of Kyte Baby, a trendy baby clothing brand, is facing a TikTok tantrum after she denied the request of a new mother to work from home so she could care for her premature adopted newborn who was struggling in the NICU at a Texas hospital.
Ying Liu founded Kyte Baby in 2014, after her own baby girl developed a chronic case of eczema, according to the company website. The brand features infant clothing and sleep sacks made from breathable, sustainable bamboo materials.
“We’re parents, too,” Kyte Baby states. “Kyte Baby may have started as one mama on a mission, but today we couldn’t do what we do without our team—a diverse group of parents and sustainability advocates, hailing from around the globe, from our headquarters in the US to our manufacturing facility in China—even Canada and the UK.”
But, when a member of that team — an employee identified as “Marissa” by TODAY.com — asked to work remotely to care for her hospitalized newborn, Liu admitted she said no, a decision she now regrets.
With calls for a boycott on TikTok, Liu posted an apology video to Kyte Baby’s official account.
“Hey guys, it’s Ying,” she began. “I wanted to hop on here to sincerely apologize to Marissa for how her parental leave was communicated and handled in the midst of her incredible journey of adoption and starting a family.”
“I have been trying to reach out to her to apologize directly as well,” Liu added in the video, which has received more than two million views.
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“Kyte Baby prides itself on being a family-oriented company,” she continued. “We treat biological and non-biological parents equally.”
Liu stressed that she has “the utmost respect for babies, families, and the adoption community.
“However such respect and good intentions were not fully communicated to Marissa in the discussion of her parental leave,” she said. “It was my oversight that she didn’t feel supported as we always have intended.”
The company founder assured viewers that Marissa was offered a position “whenever she decides to return from work.”
According to a statement to TODAY.com, Marissa has “declined” that offer. Liu went on to promise Kyte’s HR policies would be reviewed to “avoid hurting our staff and our community in the future.”
The speech fell flat, with many accusing Liu of reading from an insincere, lawyer-prepared statement.
“Dozens of moms made videos saying they were once loyal Kyte customers, but would now boycott the company,” TODAY.com reports.
Liu tried again, posting a second video later that day.
“The comments were right,” she admitted. “It was scripted.”
“It wasn’t sincere,” she added, “and I’ve decided to go off-script.”
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She admitted to being “selfish” when she made her “terrible” decision.
“I was the one that made the decision to veto her request to go remote while she has to stay in the NICU to take care of her adopted baby,” Liu said. “And when I think back, this was a terrible decision —I was insensitive, selfish and was only focused on the fact that her job had always been done on-site and I did not see the possibility of doing it remotely.”
“I cannot imagine the stress she had to go through, not having the option to go back to work and having to deal with a newborn in the NICU,” she continued. “So thinking back, it really was a terrible mistake. I own 100% of that.”
She acknowledged that her second attempt at apologizing will appear to many as a shot at “saving face” and rescuing her company.
“As a mom, as a female owner of the business — and especially a baby business — I feel like I need to set the record straight: That I fully realize the impact of my actions … I did not accommodate Marissa fully and did not even reach out to her personally, didn’t even talk to her at all about what happened to her until today,” Liu said.
“I really want to take this opportunity to say that I’m sorry,” she told TikTok. “As for Marissa, she is a fantastic woman, she has the biggest heart and … I love her as a worker and enjoy working with her every day.”
Marissa would receive benefits and the remote position she requested, Liu vowed.
But TikTok isn’t known for its forgiving nature.
Many of the thousands of comments stated that Liu’s mea culpa was inspired by “sheer panic” and came “too late.”
“We continue to apologize to both Marissa and our Kyte Baby community for how her maternity leave was handled … we are revising our maternity policy to give all new parents more time off and creating a process to better support our team,” a spokesperson for Kyte Baby told TODAY.com in a statement.
“Marissa was an on-site employee for Kyte Baby who worked in our photography studio for a little over seven months,” the statement explained. “Based on our maternity policy at the time, all parents, whether biological or non-biological, who worked for the company for at least six months, received two weeks of paid maternity time. As part of this agreement, they were required to sign a contract stating that they would return to their job for a minimum of six months after their paid leave was complete. Employees who were with the company for over one year received four weeks of paid maternity time with the same six-month requirement.”
Marissa was offered the standard package “but given her son’s situation, was unable to sign the six-month contract,” the statement continued. “She did propose a remote option for her job, but given that her role was largely on-site, at that time, we did not feel that the proposed plan would fulfill the responsibilities of her current position. We told her we understood her situation and informed her that her job would be here if and when she opted to return.”
“However, upon reflection, we should have taken more steps to accommodate her situation,” the spokesperson conceded. “We’ve since realized that Kyte Baby needs to stand by our values of being a woman-owned, family company. We have reached out to Marissa directly and reiterated that her job is here if and when she is ready to come back. We have also offered to work with her to find a remote position within the company. At this time Marissa has declined our offer.”
“In a 2021 company blog post honoring International Women’s Day, Liu praised her employees, many of whom are mothers, and the benefits of remote work,” TODAY.com reports.
“I have no problem with my employees being home and working while taking care of their kids,” Liu said at the time. “Why should they come back to the office five days a week when they’re still very productive and can perform? … Women are amazing. I hope this will bring the status of female employees higher because all this has proved that they don’t need to be at the office 8 hours a day. They’re still able to be productive and take care of their families.”
By February 1, Kyte Baby said it will unveil a revised maternity policy.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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