After a breakup, I decided that having two children under 2 wouldn't deter me from graduate school.
While my kids slept, I studied, and they helped inspire me throughout the years.
Now that I have my Master's, I am able to celebrate all the milestones we reached together.
I would have never guessed that being single, juggling my career, graduate school, and parenting two toddlers would be stamped on my bingo card. But here I am, thriving despite it all.
As a single mom of two, every achievement feels even sweeter. Every achievement reminds me and shows my children that no dream is too distant. Graduating with a Master's of Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington with two toddlers feels more than a personal achievement. It's a testament to perseverance and the unwavering support of my incredible village.
It all began three years ago. After the relationship with their dad ended due to his infidelity, I decided to prioritize myself. Though I hoped we'd co-parent well, it didn't turn out that way. So, I became laser-focused on being the best mom I could be. As a first-generation high school and college graduate, I knew obtaining another degree would be challenging. However I didn't realize how different those challenges would be in my present reality.
In fact, as I started to discuss my plans to continue my graduate studies with others, some saw it as courageous, while others thought balancing deadlines with diapers was outright crazy. Many suggested waiting until my children were school-aged. While I welcomed their feedback, I knew it could be done. I just had to figure out how.
I had to redefine motherhood while pursuing my dreams
I dared to disrupt the idea that single motherhood had to be synonymous with struggle or that my dreams should be placed on the back burner to be a good mother. Above all, I wanted to model perseverance and the value of education for my kids. So, when my eldest was 15 months old, and my youngest was just 3 months old, our journey began.
Balancing my career in political organizing with late-night assignments, mandatory practicums for my MSW, and early mornings of Pixar's "Finding Dory" was challenging. Still, those precious moments of mimicking the whale sounds made by Dory with my children fueled my determination.
While I never found quite the right work-life balance people rave about, our trio cultivated systems and routines that worked for us.
Our days were long, and my nights were longer. During different stages of my graduate program, I adapted our routine. When my children napped, I scheduled work blocks to focus on work calls and client updates. The boys knew that Tuesdays were laundry days, and they loved helping with loading the washer and unloading the dryer. Online grocery orders saved us time, and the boys enjoyed bringing in groceries and stocking drinks in the refrigerator. Picking up their own toys and putting them away when not in use became habitual. At bedtime, we sang nursery rhymes together until they fell asleep, and then I'd read for my courses and write to stay on track.
Involving them in our routine kept them busy and engaged. With their love and constant support, we not only survived but thrived.
I learned to celebrate all achievements and milestones as a family
Being recognized as one of 17 outstanding students out of a graduating class of over 200 is an honor. It recognizes the nights of hard work and determination. But more than that, I'm proud that my sons are polite and mannerable. At ages 2 and 3, they can identify most of the alphabet, count and identify numbers beyond 20, recognize primary colors and shapes, know the careers of people in their neighborhood, their names, my name, our address, and more.
For us, this degree represents countless nights balancing deadlines with their growth and development milestones — from first steps to first assessments, from my endless chapters of reading to their bedtime stories, from practicum hours to scheduled playdates. We made it work.
I set a goal to finish what I started for them. In the end, we did this together.
But the latest workplace trends — "silent layoffs" and "quiet firing" — could be the most harmful to date.
Silent layoffs occur when a company provides staff with severance packages but asks them to keep quiet about the details of their exit.
Quiet firing or quiet quitting, meanwhile, is a subtle move by bosses to make a role less appealing, motivating workers to quit rather than forcing them out through layoffs.
Experts warn that both can create PR disasters and harm company morale.
A cautionary tale
The most recent high-profile example of silent layoffs is PwC, a UK-based accounting firm that launched a voluntary severance program earlier this year.
According to the Financial Times, PwC asked employees not to disclose that they had received a settlement and advised them what to write in their goodbye emails to colleagues.
PwC Global Network President Mohamed Kande.
Europa Press News/Getty Images
A spokesperson for PwC told FT that the voluntary lay-offs were implemented to "respond to changing client demand, attrition rates, and new opportunities."
"Through limited targeted voluntary severance, we can continue to recruit at entry level and where different skills are needed," the statement said.
PwC declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider.
Amit Rawal, a management lecturer at City University of London's Bayes Business School, told BI that silent layoffs have become "increasingly popular across larger corporations."
The goal of silent layoffs is likely to minimize the amount of negative traction the company receives. Eloise Skinner, a psychotherapist who focuses on workplace well-being, told BI that this strategy can be successful for a business if it's kept under the radar.
"Theoretically, by keeping layoffs relatively low-profile, trust in the business — from stakeholders and existing employees — can be retained, and restructurings can happen without excessive external analysis," Skinner said.
But if the news is leaked, like in PwC's case, the trust is broken — both for current employees and the general public.
Quiet firing
Silent layoffs were made illegal across the US in February 2023 as part of the National Labor Relations Act. According to CNN, the ruling was enforced by the National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency that sets out regulations most businesses — with the exception of railroads and airlines — must abide by.
Lucas Botzen, an HR expert and CEO at Rivermate, told BI that the ruling stops businesses from creating nondisclosure agreements or any other kind of agreements that would prevent an "employee or employer from enjoying certain rights that are bestowed on them by law, such as speaking out against unlawful practices or discrimination."
But companies in the US are still finding ways to quietly cut employees by making their roles less appealing.
As BI previously reported, technology firm Dell in February ordered hybrid employees to return to the office three days a week regardless of where they live. Workers who choose to be fully remote will face limited career progression, an anonymous source told The Register.
In November, Amazon decided that employees may have their promotions blocked if they didn't come into the office for three days a week.
"Subtly encouraging someone to leave is seen as the easier option," Suzanne Horne, a partner in employment law at legal firm Paul Hasting, told the BBC in 2022. "If the employee eventually resigns, it's the 'no-fault approach': severance doesn't need to be paid, conflict is avoided and both parties are ultimately happy."
'A PR disaster waiting to happen'
Experts told BI that quietly getting rid of employees could easily backfire when employees opt to fight back and speak out.
These tactics "breed mistrust, tarnish a company's reputation, and can lead to uncontrolled leaks of sensitive information," said Evan Nierman, founder of PR firm Red Banyan and author of "The Cancel Culture Curse."
"When transparency is sacrificed, the rumor mill takes over, creating a narrative of fear and instability," he said.
Dan Buckley is an HR expert and CEO of Cognexo, an AI-led platform that helps boost the employee experience. Speaking to BI over email, Buckley said silent lay-offs are "usually a futile attempt to maintain morale among remaining employees and manage their brand."
"Open communication is crucial, and anything less invites suspicion and erodes brand integrity," Nierman said.
"Ultimately, the cost of trying to silence your former employees will outweigh the short-term benefits of secrecy."
When it comes to quiet firing, Horne told the BBC that it can create an "us versus them" mentality. "You have the engaged employees, and then those just quietly left there, sometimes without their knowledge," she said. "It doesn't create an inclusive or high-performance workplace culture."
The SpaceX founder attacked outgoing Boeing CEO David Calhoun on Tuesday, accusing the beleaguered aircraft company of losing touch with its engineering roots in a post on X.
"The CEO of an aircraft company should know how to design aircraft, not spreadsheets," Musk wrote in response to a post about Calhoun's accountancy degree.
Since Calhoun announced his resignation, the aviation industry has debated whether Boeing should appoint someone with an engineering background rather than a finance background as its next boss.
It's not the first time Musk has picked a fight with Boeing. The billionaire previously claimed the US aviation giant had "too many non-technical managers" ahead of the much-delayed first crewed launch of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft this month.
Both Boeing and SpaceX won NASA contracts to transport astronauts to the International Space Station in 2014.
Emma Roberts says nepo babies in Hollywood don't always have it easy.
People who criticize nepo babies "don't see all the rejection along the way," Roberts said on a podcast.
The rich and famous aren't the only ones who leverage connections to get a leg up in their professional lives.
Emma Roberts says even Hollywood's nepo babies don't always have an easy path to stardom.
On an episode of the "Table for Two" podcast released on June 25, Roberts spoke to host Bruce Bozzi about the public perception of nepo babies, or "nepotism babies."
"I think there's two sides of the coin. People like to say, 'Oh, you know, you have a leg up because your family's in the industry.' But then the other side to that is you have to prove yourself more," Roberts, 33, said. "Also, if people don't have good experiences, maybe with other people in your family, then you'll never get a chance."
Roberts is a Hollywood nepo baby. Her aunt is Julia Roberts, and her dad is Eric Roberts, an actor best known for his role in the '80s action film "Runaway Train," for which he received an Academy Award nomination.
Roberts started her acting career in 2001 in the movie "Blow," where she played the daughter of Johnny Depp's character. Her big break came in 2004 when she was cast — at age 13 — in the lead role in the Nickelodeon sitcom "Unfabulous." More recently, she has starred in several seasons of "American Horror Story."
During the podcast episode, Roberts said it's not always true that nepo babies get everything handed to them on a silver platter.
"That's the thing that I always talk about — people kind of only see your wins because they only see when you're on the poster of a movie. They don't see all the rejection along the way," Roberts said.
She said she tries to be open about the roles she never landed so people will understand that not everything has been "so great and linear and easy" for her as it seems from the outside.
She also said female actors have it harder than their male counterparts when it comes to nepo baby criticism.
"And I always joke, 'Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby?'" Roberts said. Clooney's father is TV host Nick Clooney. His aunt is singer Rosemary Clooney.
The topic of nepo babies has been a major part of the public discourse since New York Magazine published a story about famous offspring of famous people in December 2022.
Many nepo babies and even their parents — particularly those in Hollywood — have pushed back against the title and its accompanying critiques.
In December, Meg Ryan defended her son, actor Jack Quaid, against "nepo baby" claims during an interview with Glamour. She said the label was "dismissive of his work ethic, his gifts, and how sensitive he is to the idea of his privilege."
On her podcast, Allen said she gets called a nepo baby "all the time" while her brother, "Game of Thrones" star Alfie Allen, rarely gets labeled the same way. Their father is British actor Keith Allen.
Mukesh Ambani, the owner and chairman of Reliance Industries, has three children holding different roles across his empire.
And then there's the Drapers, Silicon Valley's premier VC family. Billionaire Tim Draper's grandfather founded the VC firm Draper, Gaither, and Anderson, and three of his children are venture capitalists themselves.
Of course, the rich and famous aren't the only ones who leverage connections to get a leg up in their professional lives.
A 2023 survey of 2,000 workersconducted by Applied, a recruitment company, showed that 68% of Gen Z workers have used nepotism to land a job offer. Even if they think nepotism is unfair, three-quarters of surveyed Gen Z workers said they would still use it to further their careers.
A representative for Roberts did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insidersent outside regular business hours.
Boeing won't bring commercial jets to the Farnborough Airshow, a first for 16 years.
It also didn't bring any airliners to February's Singapore Airshow.
Boeing is prioritizing work on safety and quality plans after the Alaska Airlines blowout.
Boeing isn't bringing any of its commercial jets to this year's Farnborough Airshow, the company confirmed to Business Insider.
It's the first time for 16 years that it isn't displaying its airliners at the world's second-biggest air show. Farnborough alternates each year with Paris, the most-attended air show, meaning it's the primary aviation event for 2024. The Air Current first reported on the news.
Boeing also didn't display any passenger jets at February's Singapore Airshow. However, the Farnborough decision is more noteworthy.
It's a mainstay in the aviation world, where planemakers exhibit new aircraft and announce deals with airlines.
At the time of publication, one Boeing airliner, the 787 Dreamliner, is set to be displayed at Farnborough.
Rather than being sent by Boeing, however, this is courtesy of Qatar Airways, which is set to exhibit its upgraded QSuite business class.
Boeing is instead prioritizing work on a safety and quality plan as it works to regain the trust of regulators and customers following the Alaska Airlines 737 Max incident.
In a statement sent to Business Insider, Boeing said: "Our Commercial Airplanes team has been focused on implementing our comprehensive safety and quality plan and working to meet the commitments we've made to our customers."
"With these priorities in mind, we decided that rather than prepare and perform flight demonstrations this summer, we are redirecting the engineering and manufacturing resources toward airplane production and certification," it added.
"For more than a decade, we've brought our 787 Dreamliner, 777X and 737 Max airplanes to airshows around the world, including Farnborough, Paris, Dubai, India and Singapore. We look forward to doing the same in the future. Boeing will have a strong presence of defense, space, and security products — flying and on display."
At last year's Paris Air Show, Boeing displayed its 737 Max 10 — the longest version of its narrowbody jet — which is still awaiting certification. Approval has been further hampered by increased regulatory scrutiny following the blowout, when a Max 9 lost a door plug in midair.
After the blowout, Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines, Boeing's biggest customer, called the incident "the straw that broke the camel's back." He added that the airline would build an alternative plan without the Max 10 due to the delays.
The 777X, an upgraded version of the widebody 777, was also on display in Paris. It was initially set to enter service in 2020, but this has been pushed back to 2025.
Young workers are increasingly considering customer service as the perfect "lazy girl job."
Westend61/Getty Images
Some Gen Zers appear to be gravitating toward customer service roles for a better work-life balance.
These roles can often be remote, flexible, and relatively well-paid,.
But they can also be stressful and have a significant mental health toll.
For Gen Z, it's all about working smarter, not harder.
And there seems to be an unlikely role that is getting a boost from this trend: customer services.
"The pay is usually decent, most companies are looking for work-from-home type of employees, and there is often schedule flexibility," said Dave Hoekstra, who has spent his entire career in customer service.
According to an analysis of a dataset of over 75 million white-color professionals by Jason Saltzman, the director of growth at Live Data Technologies, which is a provider of real-time employment data, Zoomers in customer success roles have increased in the past few years.
"Since 2021, Gen Z professionals make up a 22% greater share of the white-collar workforce," Saltzman told Business Insider — an increase from 5.1% in 2021 to 6.2% in 2024.
"In the same period, Gen Z employees now make up an 82% greater share of customer success roles," he said, increasing to 12.2% in 2024 from 6.7% in 2021.
Part of this is embracing "lazy girl jobs," a term coined by the TikTok content creator and "anti-work girlboss" Gabrielle Judge. Judge previously told BI that a lazy girl job is any well-paying role that is low-effort enough so people still have the energy to invest in the things they care about.
These jobs often offer hybrid or working-from-home options and are increasingly being considered as a low-stress option due to high levels of burnout felt by millennial and Zoomer workers.
In one video, Judge listed customer success manager as one example of a lazy girl job. According to Glassdoor, the average salary for this position is between $66,000 and $118,000 a year.
With a flexible schedule, a livable salary, and the ability to gain significant social media followers on the side, customer support roles may be an obvious choice for Gen Zers entering the workforce.
A focus on empathy
Hoekstra, who works at the workforce management platform Calabrio, told BI that the customer service industry "looks very different" compared to the late 1990s.
The average annual salary for a customer service rep in the US is $34,000 – $46,000, according to Glassdoor.
"If the employee doesn't mind being tethered to a headset all day and doesn't mind focusing on their job, then it can be a pretty rewarding experience as they look to the future," Hoekstra said.
Brittany Betts, who is on the cusp of millennial and Gen Z and handles customer service at a small travel company, told BI that "it allows you the opportunity to embrace your inner emotions and empathy with other people while simultaneously helping them find what they need.
"Gen Z has been known for many things and I know 'hardworking' hasn't generally been one, but we are definitely understanding if not anything else."
Social media side hustle
Customer service positions can give workers the freedom to be creative with a social media side hustle. On TikTok, videos under the hashtag #customerservice, where creators either show one side of a customer support call or reenact difficult interactions, can rack up millions of views.
Daineshe Sutton, for example, has gone viral with some of her videos, in which she shows how she handles escalations and steps in if customers are rude and cussing at other agents.
Sutton believes the influx of Gen Z and millennial workers is mostly due to remote work becoming the norm. She said these roles also don't come with the pressure to dress up every day or the fear of being judged on one's appearance.
"Remote work is focused solely on skills, knowledge, and the ability to effectively assist customers and not what you look like while doing it," she said.
Another creator, who posts anonymously under the name Disney Mom, has amassed 138,000 followers for her no-nonsense calls with what she describes as "entitled" customers.
"The fact I can work in my PJs without a bra on is my biggest flex," she said. "I hate driving in traffic, especially morning rush hour, because people are beyond nuts trying to rush to work."
But while such remote jobs are often portrayed as relatively stress-free, the reality is much more complex.
A 2024 Zendesk survey of 2,500 global consumers and 4,500 business respondents found that 21% of Zoomers had higher customer service expectations since the pandemic. Almost 50% also said an "unfriendly support agent" was what they found frustrating about a negative customer service experience.
The industry generally has a bad reputation. Customers feel exasperated when they can't speak to real reps and get enraged when their problems are not immediately solved, or they feel they are being passed from agent to agent with no answers.
One of the biggest downsides of the career is dealing with angry people, Sutton said. She can take anywhere between 45 and 100 calls per day, and it can be physically draining to maintain empathy and professionalism, which can take a toll on her mental health.
The job "requires a lot of patience and resilience," she said.
"Managing the diverse range of emotions and attitudes from callers is mentally and emotionally taxing," she said.
The creator known as Disney Mom agreed, saying she has had to deal with a lot of "dumb situations" and a significant number of calls where customers can be "rude, racist, and sexist."
Sutton started posting on TikTok because she saw "an opportunity to shed light on the realities of customer service." She wanted to provide a behind-the-scenes view of what happens when you call up a company to complain and challenge the mantra that "the customer is always right" — particularly when they are difficult.
More generally, remote jobs can often lead to a feeling of isolation.
"The lack of face-to-face interaction makes it harder to build rapport and convey empathy," Sutton said. "Requiring extra effort to ensure that the caller feels heard and understood."
Sutton hopes to be part of the industry changing for the better.
She never thought she'd gain traction, but when one of her videos amassed more than three million views, she realized how much it struck a chord with people.
"Ultimately, it's refreshing for viewers to see the work we do and the interactions we handle daily," she said.
Two St. Louis residents are suing to halt the city's guaranteed basic income program.
Art Wager / Getty Images
Two St. Louis residents filed a lawsuit to halt the city's guaranteed basic income pilot.
The program provides 540 low-income families $500 monthly to help them afford housing and food.
The lawsuit alleges that it's "unconstitutional" for St. Louis to use public money on basic income.
As St. Louis continues its guaranteed basic income pilot, two residents are suing to cut the program's funding.The lawsuit alleges that the city's plan to give low-income families $500 a month is unconstitutional in the state of Missouri.
Submitted to a circuit court on June 13, the lawsuitclaims that it is a Missouri Constitutional violation for local leaders to give cash to residents in the form of basic income. The suit cites a clause in the state's Constitution that prohibits all municipalities and political corporations from granting "public money or property to any private individual."
The plaintiffs, Greg Tumlin and Fred Hale, are both St. Louis residents. In a statement to Business Insider via his attorney, Tumlin said St. Louis cannot give individuals cash because they have "not performed a service for the city or sold any goods" that would warrant payment from the city.
The lawsuit requests that city officials stop spending money on basic income, a move that could shut down the GBI pilot. City officials have until June 28 to respond to Tumlin and Hale's lawsuit.
The GBI pilot is giving 540 families no-strings-attached cash payments for 18 months, and the first payments began at the end of 2023.Qualifying participants have a child enrolled in public schools and have a household income under 170% of the federal poverty line, which is around $50,000 a year for a family of four.
St. Louis' program mirrors over 100 basic income pilots that have been launched across the US, as the model becomes an increasingly popular approach to try to combat local poverty, food insecurity, and homelessness.
Basic income offers participants — who typically live at or below the federal poverty line — lump sum or monthly cash payments to spend on what they need most. Business Insider has heard from participants who used the money to secure housing, afford groceries and prescriptions, pay down debt, and support their children.
Adam Layne, the St. Louis city treasurer, previously told BI that St. Louis residents have primarily used their $500 a month to pay bills.
"We want to get people to a place of thriving rather than surviving," he said, adding, "That's why the success of the program is critical to be able to show the data about what impact is this actually having on St. Louisans."
Still, basic income pilots continue to be opposed at the city and state level — and St. Louis' program isn't the first to face legal opposition.
St. Louis GBI lawsuit includes concerns over funding, use of public money
The St. Louis program is funded by $5 million from President Joe Biden's 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a pandemic economic relief fund that has previously been used by cities to launch GBI pilots. A donation from former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who is from St. Louis, also allowed the program to expand from 440 participants to 540.
Other basic income pilots are funded through federal programs like ARPA, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or through private donors.
Tumlin and Hale's lawsuit specifically says that giving "public money" to St. Louis residents is unconstitutional, given that St. Louis is running the GBI pilot using some city funds.
BI reached out to the city of St. Louis and St. Louis Guaranteed Income for comment, but the parties did not respond by the time of publication.
Meanwhile, a similar case is active in Texas. In mid-June, the Texas Supreme Court further extended a pause on Uplift Harris, a guaranteed income program in Harris County, which contains Houston. Payments were set to begin in April, though Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenged the program as "unconstitutional." The suit, filed on April 9, noted that the program "redistributes public money in a manner that violates the Texas Constitution" through gifting public funds.
Uplift Harris, which had accepted just over 2% of applicants, would have given 1,928 families $500 a month, no strings attached, for 18 months. Most participants were selected from high-poverty ZIP codes with household incomes below 200% of the federal poverty line.
"Local governments exist in part to help the less fortunate among us, and the Supreme Court's ruling effectively ends a program that has proven to be highly successful at allowing lower-income folks to lift themselves out of poverty," said Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee in a statement.
However, it isn't clear if the results of basic income lawsuits in Harris County or St. Louis could affect one another or result in long-term bans — despite both cases being over the use of local government funds.
States like South Dakota, Arizona, and Iowa, Republican politicians have also brought basic income bans to the state legislature.
Elon Musk has said two people have "aspirationally" tried to kill him in recent months.
Richard Bord/Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BI
Elon Musk said recently that "two homicidal maniacs" had threatened his life.
Law-enforcement records show Tesla's HQ has had several "terroristic threat" reports.
One related to an emailed death threat against the carmaker's CFO at the time, Zachary Kirkhorn.
In recent months, "two homicidal maniacs" have threatened to kill Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul said at Tesla's latest annual shareholder meeting.
"I probably need to like work out and, you know, and like not get assassinated or something," the CEO of the electric-car company told shareholders June 13 in response to a question about what he's doing to keep himself safe and healthy.
Musk said the two people "aspirationally" tried to kill him and "a bunch of other people" in the past seven months, forcing him to be a bit more "standoffish."
Security is a high priority for Musk. He owns his own security company, which Tesla pays millions of dollars to protect Musk, a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows.
Tesla has relatively tight security, and the company increased security at some of its factories during its recent wave of layoffs, several workers told Business Insider. Tesla factory workers have also faced their fair share of scares over the years, including, most recently, an active-shooter report that turned out to be a false alarm.
Law-enforcement records obtained by BI through a public-records request show that Musk has not been the only high-profile target of threats or intimidation at Tesla's sprawling corporate headquarters in Austin.
Zachary Kirkhorn, a former Tesla CFO, next to Musk.
YouTube
In March 2023, Tesla's chief financial officer at the time, Zachary Kirkhorn — who board members considered making Musk's successor before he unexpectedly resigned — received a death threat via email, according to 911 records and a sheriff's office incident report viewed by BI. The missive demanded $300,000 in bitcoin not to end his life.
The Travis County Sheriff's Office described the incident as a "terroristic threat" in its report, the documents show, though ultimately law enforcement believed it to be a scam.
Under Texas law, terroristic threats include threats of violence that are intended to put people in fear of imminent bodily injury, cause a reaction by an emergency agency, or interrupt a place of employment.
Other records from the sheriff's office obtained by BI show that at least five other 911 calls were made from Tesla's HQ between the opening of the Austin Gigafactory in April 2022 and January of this year for what law enforcement also categorized as terroristic threats. The sheriff's office is seeking to withhold the records for most of those incidents from BI.
An email sender claimed they were 'hired to kill' Kirkhorn if he didn't step down
In the case of Kirkhorn, a Tesla security officer at the Gigafactory initially called 911 at the time to report the incident, according to the records. The security officer told deputies that the CFO had gotten an email from someone claiming to have been "hired to kill you if you don't step down," the report provided to BI said.
"Wire $300,000 dollars to bitcoin account within 12 hours," the email to Kirkhorn added, according to the incident report.
The Tesla security officer told deputies the email was sent to multiple email addresses with variations of Kirkhorn's name, suggesting that the sender was attempting to guess his email address.
The security officer also said he believed it was the "first threat" that Kirkhorn received by email, according to the report.
In a second interview with deputies, the security officer told authorities his team was able to trace information in the threatening email back to Nigeria.
A Travis County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, Kristen Dark, confirmed to BI that the email was found to have originated from Nigeria and was thought to be spam.
"Based on the spam email mail address it is likely a scam attempt," the incident report read. "This was brought to Kirkhorn's attention and he was ok with just documenting the situation. No further action needed."
The case was ultimately suspended and no arrest was ever made, according to the incident report and Dark.
Tesla and Kirkhorn did not respond to requests for comment.
Cars on the assembly line at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin.
SUZANNE CORDEIRO/Getty Images
Kirkhorn left Tesla last August after working at the carmaker for about 13 years. He held the title not only of CFO, but also "Master of Coin."
His departure came as a shock to some. The Wall Street Journal had reported earlier that year that Kirkhorn could be in line to become the next CEO of Tesla.
Other 911 calls related to a threat against Musk and a Tesla employee
One of the other 911 calls that the sheriff's office designated as a "terroristic threat" related to a report by a Tesla employee who said he was threatened in February 2023 by another worker while on the job. The suspect in that case was accused of threatening to pull the man off a forklift and "slap the shit" out of him, according to an incident report.
The employee who made the report told deputies that he had been "advised to allow Tesla Security to work the incident first before attempting to file a police report" but that he got "tired of waiting on Tesla," the documents show.
The case was closed after the accuser told deputies he no longer wished to pursue it, but he sought to get it reopened that July.
Some Tesla workers told BI that tight production deadlines and the intensity of the work could sometimes create a high-pressure environment.
"Every time they ramped up production, I felt like a frog in a boiling pot of water," one former worker from the Austin factory said. "You could just feel the stress level at the factory shoot up, and sometimes that meant people were more likely to pop off or act out."
Another 911 call that was made in January of this year and categorized as a terroristic threat related to a report of a Tesla employee threatening to kill Musk and US President Joe Biden. Travis County deputies responded to Tesla HQ at the time of the call.
A day later, Justin Mathew McCauley of Minnesota was arrestedon a felony charge of terroristic threat in connection to the incident. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by BI, security at Tesla alerted the Travis County Sheriff's Office of a threat made on McCauley's account on X, the social-media site owned by Musk.
"I will arrive in Texas, where the war has began on many fronts @X, @Tesla," one post said, according to the court documents. Another said, "@JoeBiden @X @Tesla @Elonmusk, I am planning to Kill all of you."
According to the court papers, McCauley's wife notified deputies in Minnesota after he told her he was going to Texas and never coming back.
McCauley was eventually stopped and arrested by Travis County deputies in Austin on January 28. He told them that he planned to go to the Gigafactory "to try and contact Elon Musk," the arrest affidavit says.
"Everything I did was completely insane. It seems like a bad dream," McCauley later told FOX 7 Austin in an on-camera interview. The 32-year-old former Tesla worker said he was in a state of "psychosis."
McCauley was jailed for roughly four weeks before he was released on bond March 1. His next court hearing in the case is scheduled for July 3. Attempts to reach McCauley on Monday and Tuesday were unsuccessful.
The details surrounding the other three 911 calls from Tesla's headquarters — which records show were made in November 2022, March 2023, and November 2023 — and the dispositions of those calls, were not provided to BI. The sheriff's office said in a letter sent to BI that the records fell under privacy and open-investigation exemptions to the public-records law and has asked the Office of the Attorney General of Texas to weigh in.
Dark, the Travis County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, told BI that the agency did not provide additional security services for the Tesla factory but would respond to emergencies there as it would any other location in the county.
"The Gigafactory is in our agency's jurisdiction and we respond to 911 calls for service," Dark said.
Tesla employees say security is thorough
Last July, the Travis County Sheriff's Office responded to a 911 call reporting an active shooter at the Austin Gigafactory. At the time, workers who were at the factory received a memo from Tesla telling them to take cover because of an "Active Attacker," two employees told BI.
"It was unsettling because no one really knew what was going on. We were just standing outside the building waiting to go back to work," one worker, who was there during the ordeal, told BI. The employee asked that they not be identified in this story, as they are not authorized to speak to the press, but BI has verified their employment.
The sheriff's office told local news at the time that the building was cleared and there was "nothing to substantiate the presence of a shooter at all."
The false alarm wasn't the first scare at a Tesla factory.
In 2021, a Tesla worker was fatally shot in the parking lot of the company's Fremont, California, factory after an altercation with a coworker who was later charged with murder.
Tesla has factories across the US, including this one in Fremont, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
In April, Tesla appeared to tighten security at some of its factories after Musk told the staff he planned to eliminate more than 10% of the workforce.
The day after the memo was sent out, some staff at Tesla's factory in Sparks, Nevada, waited in hours-long lines to get through a series of badge checks, and some workers found out they'd been laid off after security scanned their badges and sent them back home on shuttle buses, five current and former employees previously told BI.
Several Tesla workers told BI it would be difficult for anyone to bring in a weapon or unauthorized personnel to access the company's factories.
Factory workers in both Nevada and Texas go through at least three security checkpoints to enter their workplace, with badge checks on the shuttles in, and at the gate for those who drive into work, as well as at two separate points once they enter the building, four workers said.
Musk has spoken out about threats against his life.
Apu Gomes via Getty Images
Musk has previously indicated his worries about personal safety
Musk has expressed concern about his personal safety multiple times over the years and even talked about dying "under mysterious circumstances."
The billionaire has also repeatedly attempted to take down a social-media account that tracked his private jet travels, even threatening to sue the college student who ran the account after Musk said his son X had been followed by a "crazy stalker" because of the jet-tracking account.
BI previously reported that Musk secretly bought a house in 2022 after the address of a house he'd been renting became public knowledge and Musk found it to be "no longer private and secure for my family." A neighbor told BI earlier this year that the home had around-the-clock security.
From December 2023 to February, Tesla shelled out about $3 million to Musk's security company, which represented only "a portion of the total cost of security services concerning Elon Musk," according to an SEC filing.
Security costs can include measures as varied as personal bodyguards or private planes, and Musk is one of many prominent executives spending millions over security concerns.
In 2023, Meta approved a $14 million security allowance for its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. The company spent over $24 million on expenses associated with Zuckerberg, including security and private travel, an SEC filing shows.
Meta said in the filing that Zuckerberg had become "one of the most recognized executives in the world" and needed to be protected as a result. The company's longtime chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg was also given a security budget.
Tesla and Musk's other companies seem to have taken a similar approach. Last year, an engineer at Twitter, the social-media site that became known as X, told the BBC that Musk was followed around the company's headquarters by at least two bodyguards at all times.
"It is getting a little crazy these days," Musk said at the June 13 Tesla shareholder meeting. "To first approximation, the probability that a homicidal maniac will try to kill you is proportionate to how many homicidal maniacs hear your name."
"So they hear my name a lot — I'm like, OK, I'm on the list, you know," Musk said, laughing.
"Think of John Lennon who was singing about, 'Hey, can't we all just be nice to each other,' and then he got shot by one of his fans," Musk said. "Like, OK, we'll try to avoid that."
Rivian's R2 could be the lower-cost SUV model that consumers seem to be clamoring for.
Rivian
Volkswagen will invest up to $5 billion in Rivian, an EV maker that's struggled with profitability.
Rivian, which lost $1.4 billion in the first quarter, aims to develop a more affordable SUV.
Rivian's new $45,000 SUV, the R2, set to launch in 2026, targets mainstream customers.
Volkswagen just inked a deal to invest up to $5 billion in Rivian, the electric-vehicle maker that has, like its peers, struggled to turn a profit.
The deal, announced Tuesday, creates a joint venture focused on developing software to be used in both companies' cars. It also affords Rivian, which lost $1.4 billion in the first quarter, a financial cushion to continue developing a much cheaper SUV.
The partnership is expected to "lower cost per vehicle by increasing scale and speeding up innovation globally," the joint announcement said.
Software is one of Rivian's strengths, Goldman Sachs analysts noted in January — "a key part of the value proposition and monetization opportunity for Rivian."
But the company has struggled to sell more cars profitably. It's still just a small slice of the overall EV market. Rivian delivered nearly 14,000 cars in the first quarter, compared with Tesla's almost 390,000.
The race to create cheaper EVs is heating up across the industry, as car makers confront an affordability problem that has narrowed the potential buyer pool.
Rivian's current SUV costs nearly $80,000. In March, the company introduced two smaller SUVs designed to reach more mainstream customers.
"These represent our future," CEO RJ Scaringe said of the new models.
One of the models, called the R2, is slated to launch in 2026 and will cost $45,000, about the same as Tesla's Model Y.
The R2 "will be foundational to Rivian's long-term growth and profit potential," the company said in its first-quarter earnings report.
Tesla has been teasing a $25,000 electric vehicle for years. Last year, Tesla's top engineers told investors that the company's next generation of electric models would cost 50% less to make. But the production road has been bumpy — last month, Tesla pulled back on plans to roll out a new manufacturing method for its electric cars, Reuters reported.
In April, Ford CEO Jim Farley said the company is working on new affordable EVs that could be priced as low as $25,000 to $30,000.
The Volkswagen news sent Rivian shares up 50% in after-hours trading.
Last year, New York City began enforcing its near-ban on short-term rentals, including Airbnbs.
As of June 24, there are just 2,276 legal short-term rentals, according to the city government.
City officials say the law aims to ease the housing affordability crisis and boost the hotel industry.
Last September, New York City began enforcing its strict new regulations on short-term rentals. Since then, the number of legal short-term rentals listed on Airbnb and other platforms has plummeted.
Less than a year into the city's policy, known as Local Law 18, it's not clear whether the near-ban is achieving one of its central goals: relieving pressure on the city's severe housing shortage. But as summer tourism heats up, the dearth of rentals and rising hotel room prices mean visitors to the city are in for an even pricier trip than they likely bargained for.
Under LL18, someone can rent out their home for less than 30 days only if their unit is in an approved building, they rent to a maximum of two guests at a time, and they stay in the home with their guests, among other restrictions. Potential hosts have to apply for approval from the Office of Special Enforcement under the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.
The city opened its application portal in March 2023, and as of June 24, it has received 6,395 total applications for short-term rentals, according to OSE. The city has approved 2,276 of these, denied 1,746, and asked 2,269 applicants to submit additional information, the office said.
That small number of approvals has led to a dramatic decline in short-term listings since last year, according to AirDNA, a collector of industry data. Between August and September of last year, when the city began enforcing LL18, Airbnb listings for stays of less than 30 days plummeted from 22,246 to 8,039. They fell again to a low of 2,646 in October, but have slowly climbed since then to nearly 4,000 in May, around 82% below the level last August.
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We want to hear from you: Are you an Airbnb host in NYC who's been impacted by the new regulations? Have you been affected by a loss of income? Have you converted a short-term rental to a long-term one? Are you still finding ways to rent unlisted? Tell us your story about how the new rules are affecting you in this form.
At the same time, the number of Airbnb listings for stays longer than 30 days rose rapidly. Many of these new, medium-term rentals were simply converted from short-term, AirDNA's chief economist, Jamie Lane, told Business Insider.
"When we actually looked at the total number of listings on Airbnb, from October, once the dust had settled, to pre-law going into effect, it was only about a 14% decline," Lane said.
The vast majority of New York City's short-term rental inventory is listed on Airbnb, while a small portion of it is on Vrbo and Booking.com, according to Lane.
The city hasn't begun fining hosts for violating LL18. It's working with Airbnb and other short-term rental companies to ensure they're in compliance before it begins cracking down.
"That's resulted in a massive reduction in illegal listings across the major platforms," Christian Klossner, executive director of the Office of Special Enforcement, told Business Insider. "This law was not about new fines for people. This law was about preventing it at the source, and that's what we've done."
The city won't say how many short-term rentals it's found that violate LL18, but says it will publish that number in its annual report in September. However, the OSE attorney said the city is continuing to conduct inspections based on complaints and issue fines for violations of long-standing rental regulations.
The city has long banned homeowners from renting out entire units for less than 30 days, but it didn't have the power to enforce these regulations until LL18 was passed.
Impacts of the near-ban
LL18 was motivated by the city's housing affordability crisis, caused in large part by a severe housing shortage. Pro-housing supporters of LL18 argue New York City needs to prioritize homes over hotel rooms.
"Illegal short-term rental operators hurt our hospitality industry and make it harder for New Yorkers to find affordable housing, and we must ensure we are holding them accountable," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement this past March.
Short-term rentals, including Airbnbs, can take homes that would otherwise be lived in full-time off the market, potentially exacerbating the housing shortage. The city's home vacancy rate is 1.4%, the lowest in over 50 years, according to a recent city report. It can also help inflate home prices and rents.
The main lobby of New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hotel on February 24, 2017.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/Getty Images
Former City Comptroller Scott Stringer found in a 2018 report that for every 1% of all homes in a New York City neighborhood listed on Airbnb, rent in that neighborhood went up by 1.58%. "Between 2009 and 2016, approximately 9.2 percent of the citywide increase in rental rates can be attributed to Airbnb," the report found.
But Airbnb and other critics say the near-ban won't do much to address the housing crisis while hurting homeowners who relied on the rental income and visitors who can't afford sky-high hotel costs. There are a slew of factors — from new housing construction to migration patterns — that impact housing costs and vacancy rates. But there's some evidence, including from Irvine, California, that restricting short-term rentals can reduce rents. It's not clear how much of a role LL18 has played so far in changing these conditions.
The hotel industry has seen its revenue soar recently. Occupancy rates hit 82% last year, while the national average sits at 63% after falling to 47% in 2020. The average room price reached a record $301 per night, up 8.5% since 2022. The vacancy decline and price surge are likely both a result of the disappearance of so many short-term rentals and the fact that about 20% of city hotel rooms are currently being used to shelter migrants, among other factors.
"It's not surprising to me that you remove 20,000 short-term rentals, and all of a sudden, hotel rates are going up by 10%," Lane said.
Airbnb sued the city to prevent LL18 from going into effect but lost in court last August. "New York City's short-term rental rules have significantly reduced accommodation options for visitors and contributed to higher hotel prices that are making it more expensive to visit the Big Apple," Nathan Rotman, Airbnb's northeast policy lead, said in a statement to Business Insider. "More importantly, the rules haven't improved housing affordability in the city— rents continue to rise and housing stock has reached historic lows."
Some Airbnb hosts say the measures go too far, choking small-time hosts who rely on the extra income, even though the original target was much bigger empires.
"I see these buildings on Central Park with penthouses that are empty because nobody can pay millions for apartments like that. But here I am fighting to stay in New York in my pre-war walkup building," the owner, who remained anonymous for privacy reasons, told Business Insider.