New York's Worst Bosses: Claudine Gumbel
With your help, we've ID'd 14 of the potentially worst bosses in New York. We'll be parading them in front of you daily, and when we're done, we'll all decide together who's the worst. Feel free to shout out your suggestions if any of these tales joggles a traumatized (or happy) memory!
Previously, publicist cum boutique owner Claudine Gumbel was only known to us for opening a new branch of her shop, Caravan, that was so exclusive it would even admit Jeff Probst. Oh, and also for firing the ass of socialthing and self-styled stylist Kristian Laliberte. Oh! And also for having a nice wedding to a probably gay man! Anyway, as it turns out, some say the lady is also a bad boss.
Gumbel is a co-founder of boutique fashion PR agency Think PR, whose Flashy website boasts of clients like Everlast, DKNY Men's Underwear, and Rock & Republic. Wait ... what's this past tense w/r/t Rock & Republic, though? "Think PR launched this premium denim company and worked closely with them for over 3 1/2 years ... We have a full case study that we can provide to you for our work during this time." Defensive much? According to one tipster, they've got cause to be: "she lost rock and republic (i meAN thats sad!) and they leak employs faster than people dying on the titanic [sic]." Sad indeed!
Another ex-employee says she "makes Pol Pot look like a saint." How so? One ex-Think flack says it's because of Gumbel's unclassy background: "Claudine always thinks people are trying to use her, or outshine her. She's a nobody from Staten Island, resplete with the whipped husband, tacky apartment way to uptown for the fake accent she uses to try and disguise her tacky SI drawl ... She tries to pay everyone with "exposure" even though she steals it for herself. She calls her employees incomptent fools and thieves." Mrowr! It sounds like the contents of this bag of fighting cats all sorta deserve each other.