“Employees should be paid for their hard work”: Famous beauty and skin care app’s senior staffer shares disturbing details
Employees who spend years helping build a company usually protect its image, speaking out only when compelled. It is never an easy decision—especially when one has invested time, effort, and belief into an organisation’s growth. But what should an employee do when things go beyond control? Perhaps this dilemma is what led Adyasha Roy Tomar, a senior communications executive with a well-known beauty and skincare app, to share her experience publicly.” My association with Kult App has become embittered due to difference of opinion. Me, being of the opinion that employees should be paid for their hard work. Them, subscribing to the school of thought that “salary” is a very loose term contingent on how much money investors release, their P&L and honestly, on their mood. Let me first lay out the facts. Employees of Kult have not been paid since December. Wait, I have that wrong. SOME employees have not been paid since then because the so-called favourites of the CEO seem to have been paid.
The people who were required to quickly churn out investor decks and creatives – paid, ” says Adyasha in her LinkedIn post.“Writing this post might cost me almost 11 lacs – because even if they COULD pay me now, they wouldn’t. But if you know me, money has never held precedence over principle.” She adds.” I know the first instinct will be to victim blame seeing the history of the company and the people involved. I don’t blame you. But the pitch Mr. Yadav gave me to join was… now that I think about it, a deal with the devil. I can’t believe I left advertising for such a sham. And I can’t wait to go back in a month. (Update soon). “says Adyasha in the post.
There is another post in which she mentions that she has been offered money to pull down her post and sees it as an irony in context of a company which is not willing to pay salaries but is ready to pay money to hush.“You get offered brand endorsement money. I get offered hush money. We are not the same. No, I wish I was kidding. A representative called me to tell me Rahul would do something for me “personally” if I would take my post down. So my bro has hush money in his account, but no money to pay salaries? A brilliant founder told me the other day, founders sometimes use their own wealth and personal loans to make payroll. Here, the dude told me, and I quote, that even if I pay your salaries, how will I run the company? But the best part, the gentleman who has a history of not paying salaries, told me I DID ENOUGH DAMAGE. Me? How? Just by refusing to let this go on longer?” she adds.Adyasha Roy Tomar works as Head- Creative & Brand Communications in Kult App and has above 8-years of experience in the industry. Several users in the comments section appreciated her courage, while others suggested seeking legal recourse.
Founded by Karishma Singh and Ruchika Pallavi, Kult is projected as an AI-driven beauty platform which offers personalised skincare recommendations. The startup had secured $20 million in Series A funding in April 2025, led by the M3M Family Office.As per HT.com ” In a statement emailed to to HT.com, M3M painted itself as a “victim” of financial mismanagement at Kult. The company pointed towards CEO Karishma Singh and her husband Rahul Yadav, founder of Housing.com, when it came to the question of delayed salaries.” “We are as concerned as any other stakeholder by the reports of unpaid salaries. We want to be clear: M3M is itself a victim of the situation that has unfolded; read the statement given to HT.”Disclaimer: The Times of India has not independently verified the claims with the company, and this article is based solely on the LinkedIn post and media reports.
