Yes, And Otherwise: Feminist Conversations on Work, Rest & Power
- Épisodes
- 120
- Parution
- toutes les deux semaines
- Dernier épisode
- 9 Nov 2026
À propos du podcast
Intersectional feminist conversations about doing work and life differently. Hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke talk with entrepreneurs, authors, and thinkers about capacity, care, bias, and burnout. We name the systems we're taught to ignore, and imagine what's possible when we stop performing and start being honest.
Épisodes 120
Ugly Healing: Tamela J. Gordon on Hood Wellness, Starting Over, and Success Without the Polish
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/FIND OUR PAST CONVERSATIONS AT https://yesandotherwise.com/Author Tamela J. Gordon (Hood Wellness) joins Becky and Faith to …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
FIND OUR PAST CONVERSATIONS AT https://yesandotherwise.com/
Author Tamela J. Gordon (Hood Wellness) joins Becky and Faith to talk about “ugly healing,” the kind that is not linear, not soft-focus, and not a bubble bath. We start with what everyone is reading, then get into starting over in your forties, unlearning the polished wellness ideal, and why shame loves silence. We also talk about the strange loneliness that shows up after your dream comes true.
Timestamps
00:29 Icebreaker: what we’re reading right now
06:22 The story that keeps following us: starting over
13:20 Scarcity, hope, and the freedom of “I just got fired”
17:42 Ugly healing vs. the soft-aura version of wellness
22:08 The unhooking: restaurant work, Anthony Bourdain, and internalized misogyny
27:53 Aging, the male gaze, and a beauty standard no one can meet
33:30 The loneliness of deconstructing an old story
35:11 Community care, visibility, and why shame loves silence
42:46 What ugly healing looks like for Tamela right now
45:45 What are you saying yes to today?
46:43 Where to find Tamela and her workResources mentioned
• Tamela’s Substack, Broke Woman Writer for Hire: https://substack.com/@shewritestolive
• Tamela on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shewritestolive/
• Tamela on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@shewritestolive
• "Hood Wellness" by Tamela J. Gordon: https://link.amazon/B08MoE0dN
• "American Scoundrel" by Kai Bird: https://link.amazon/B01V7492b
• "Fear and Fury" by Heather Ann Thompson: https://link.amazon/B0bWQf0qs
• "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro: https://link.amazon/B02HRwYGi
• "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez: https://link.amazon/B0b2YByGK
• "Watch Us Rise" by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan: https://link.amazon/B0fAbaZ9n
• "The Island of Sea Women" by Lisa See: https://link.amazon/B0geGZJuN
• "Carrying" by Samantha Josephs: https://link.amazon/B0gUWlE2U
• "If You Can’t Take the Heat" by Geraldine DeRuiter: https://link.amazon/B04IrYYFR
• "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain: https://link.amazon/B0ayHqqRe
• "Adult Braces" by Lindy West: https://link.amazon/B06dOFR78
• Geraldine DeRuiter on Yes, and Otherwise: https://yesandotherwise.com/geraldine-deruiter/🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
Why Women Are Taught to Fear Their Anger with author Gemma Hartley
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/FIND ALL OF OUR CONVERSATIONS AT https://yesandotherwise.com/Author Gemma Hartley (Fed Up) joins Becky and Faith to talk …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
FIND ALL OF OUR CONVERSATIONS AT https://yesandotherwise.com/
Author Gemma Hartley (Fed Up) joins Becky and Faith to talk about her new book, No One Loves an Angry Woman: An Exvangelical Coming-of-Rage Story. They dig into why tradwife content is so seductive, how self-blame keeps systems intact, raising kids after leaving the church, and the difference between anger and dysregulation.
In This Conversation
- 00:15 Welcome and introducing Gemma Hartley
- 04:33 Why are we so fascinated by tradwives?
- 09:48 Groomed to vote for Trump: how does anyone get out?
- 13:26 Self-blame and the “how could you?” thread of supremacist ideology
- 15:45 Victim blaming, self-blame as system protection, and capitalism’s individual solutions
- 18:00 Systems protect themselves by blaming the individual
- 20:36 Self-surveillance, conditioning, and why angry women are disruptive
- 24:43 Sending kids to the Bible camp Gemma attended and talking about sin
- 28:34 Jamaican vs. white evangelical spaces and living in “polluted water”
- 31:20 Public school, patriotism, and letting kids explore with a soft place to land
- 33:51 Who the book is for and seeing your conditioning with compassion
- 37:49 Anger vs. dysregulation, rage on the yoga mat, and anger as a teacher
- 41:21 How Fed Up connects: emotional labor and the capacity to feel anger
- 47:04 Loving angry women, placating, and proximity to whiteness
- 50:23 Where to find Gemma’s book
Resources Mentioned
- No One Loves an Angry Woman: An Exvangelical Coming-of-Rage Story by Gemma Hartley: https://link.amazon/B0bOv7oEn
- Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward by Gemma Hartley: https://link.amazon/B06vGCwnY
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: https://link.amazon/B0aWMgBnn
- Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce: https://link.amazon/B0fGUYVci
- The Famous Five and The Secret Seven by Enid Blyton: https://link.amazon/B0bho6IcY
- Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke: https://link.amazon/B0af4sidu
- Trad Wife by Sarah Langan: https://link.amazon/B0fwS0nN9
- A Well-Trained Wife by Tia Levings: https://link.amazon/B09y3rz7X
- Momfluenced by Sara Petersen: https://link.amazon/B0fS0Zkor
- Faithfully Dissident Daughters: Reclaiming Christian Womanhood Beyond Patriarchy by Chelsea Kim Long: https://link.amazon/B00xTkfrN
- Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy: https://link.amazon/B0hNn1Jwq
- I Didn't Want to be Angry from Faith’s Substack: https://faithwithlife.substack.com/p/i-didnt-want-to-be-angry
- Heart Full, Can't Breathe from Faith's Substack: https://faithwithlife.substack.com/p/heart-full-cant-breathe
🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
Why Hollywood Diversity Keeps Failing with Fanshen Cox
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/FIND ALL OF OUR CONVERSATIONS AT https://yesandotherwise.com/Actor, writer, producer, and Inclusion Rider co-author Fanshen …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
FIND ALL OF OUR CONVERSATIONS AT https://yesandotherwise.com/
Actor, writer, producer, and Inclusion Rider co-author Fanshen Cox joins Becky and Faith to talk about representation in Hollywood, why individual-led and policy-led DEI efforts keep collapsing into lip service, and how she's returned to building community and centering storytellers through Sister Brunch and her production company, TruJuLo (Truth, Justice, Love).
In this conversation:
- 01:32 Movies that made us feel seen
- 07:19 Discovering the power of storytelling and the meaning behind the name "Fanshen"
- 10:44 Raising socially conscious kids: the burden, and the need to keep them safe
- 15:25 Black women's hair, personal choice, and not becoming the oppressor
- 22:26 Theater vs. film/TV acting and the power of casting directors
- 26:44 #OscarsSoWhite, going back for an MFA, and the one-woman show One Drop of Love
- 28:35 Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Project Greenlight, and co-authoring the Inclusion Rider
- 32:12 Moving into development and writing DEIA policy at the California Film Commission
- 35:08 Empowering storytellers: Sister Brunch and TruJuLo
- 39:39 The Black Panther Party legacy, communal upbringing, and fear of retaliation
- 42:39 Capitalism, homeownership, and what happens when anyone gets too much power
- 46:52 Not canceling ourselves, and the limits of shaming
- 52:18 Hollywood as a system: finding agency and community
- 56:29 A decade after #OscarsSoWhite: backsliding on representation
Resources mentioned:
- Sista Brunch podcast: https://www.sistabrunch.com/
- TruJuLo Productions: https://www.trujulo.com/
- KweliTV: https://www.kweli.tv/
- "Fanshen" by William Hinton: https://link.amazon/B0cTyzF9y
- "We Will Not Cancel Us" by adrienne maree brown: https://link.amazon/B044X1c8X
🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
Chapitres
Chargement des chapitres…
How to Heal Your Boundaries (Not Just Set Them) with Judy Hu
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/FIND ALL OF OUR CONVERSATIONS AT https://YesAndOtherwise.comMost boundary advice is about rules: what to say and where to …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
FIND ALL OF OUR CONVERSATIONS AT https://YesAndOtherwise.com
Most boundary advice is about rules: what to say and where to draw the line. Trauma therapist turned boundary coach Judy Hu, author of "The Boundary Revolution," says that's the last step.
Becky and Faith talk with Judy about healing boundaries at the root, which means coming back to "same-size" with everyone else, treating discomfort as ancestral information, and asking whether what we call personality is really an adaptation to trauma.
They also cover raising teens in a culture that tells girls what they're worth, why safety in empire often just means survival, what the Cornell case shows about domination and moral injury, and how to hold people accountable without repeating the harm.
00:41 From trauma therapist to boundary coach, and seeing collective trauma everywhere
02:18 Icebreaker: favorite childhood TV shows
05:27 The story on repeat: teen daughters, unsupervised parties, and messages about worth
10:31 Judy's earliest memory: growing up in an immigrant family in a mostly white community
12:10 Encouraging defiance while keeping kids safe
18:50 Pleasing someone outside vs. inside; decolonization as reclaiming the body
21:09 Cornell, body sovereignty, and why this hurts in our bones
23:30 Healed boundaries: the felt circles and "same-sizedness"
30:11 Healing in community and reparenting the wounded child and adaptive teen
34:01 "I am the dream of my ancestors": healing backward and forward
37:19 Healed boundaries vs. boundary "rules"
42:18 Cornell as microcosm: empathy without excusing harm
47:01 Directing rage at the system; conflict as a path to authentic connection
50:18 Yes and Otherwise: asking for help and tolerating receiving itResources Mentioned
• The Boundary Revolution: Decolonize Your Relationships and Discover a New Path to Joy by Judy Hu (book and audiobook)
• Judy Hu: theboundaryrevolution.com
• My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem
• Kinstead, an intentional community in the Hudson Valley, NY
• Nonviolent Communication (Marshall Rosenberg)🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
Healing Math Trauma: Why You're Not "Bad at Math," with Geillan Aly
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/If you tensed up when you heard "math," this episode is for you. Becky and Faith talk with Dr. Geillan Aly, mathematician …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
If you tensed up when you heard "math," this episode is for you. Becky and Faith talk with Dr. Geillan Aly, mathematician, educator, and author of Compassionate Math, about math trauma. They get into where it comes from, why math shame hits harder than shame in other subjects, and how school systems decide who gets to be "a math person." Geillan shares how she went from publishing to a math PhD program, where she was told she wasn't smart enough, and later left the tenure track over how faculty talked about their students. The conversation covers stereotype threat, "show your work," the inequities built into schooling, and how math trauma follows adults into boardrooms. It ends on a simple way to start healing: play.
01:05 Icebreaker: AI proving theorems, cozy fall recipes, and queer Black art
07:06 Catastrophizing, past experiences, and why the stakes feel so high
09:40 Vulnerability in math class, and why math shame cuts deeper
11:02 The "three Rs," standardized testing, and the fear of reading aloud
12:39 Geillan's path from history major and New York publishing to a math PhD program
16:40 The equity problems, and faculty attitudes like "make the first exam hard so they drop"
18:05 Leaving the tenure track and founding Compassionate Math
18:50 Becky's school equity advocacy: AP enrollment, no Black teachers, and Nikole Hannah-Jones' essay
21:28 Faith on the education system as colonizer, and Claude Steele's research on stereotype threat
26:23 "Show your work": knowing the answer but not being able to explain it
32:35 Faith builds mathematical literacy while homeschooling. What is math even for?
36:41 How math shapes life outcomes, Original Sins, and a system working as designed
38:27 Math trauma in adults: perimenopausal women, a rock star still mad about algebra, and KPI-heavy meetings
42:11 How to heal: separating your stories from your skills
48:09 Geillan's wish: a math trauma Netflix special
50:03 Yes and: being more open and celebrating life on purpose
51:44 Where to find GeillanResources Mentioned:
• "Compassionate Math" by Geillan Aly: https://www.619wreath.com/store/p42/compassionate-math.html
• Geillan Aly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geillan-aly/
• "Original Sins" by Eve L. Ewing: https://link.amazon/B0364VKbX
• Nikole Hannah-Jones' New York Times Magazine essay: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/magazine/ny-public-schools-black-students-segregation.html
• Claude Steele's research on stereotype threat: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-12938-001
• Cuisenaire rods: https://link.amazon/B0fHS56gA
• Faith Clarke's Decolonizing Work series: https://www.faithclarke.com/listen-to-decolonize-work🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
You're the CEO of Your Health: Dr. Judy Wright on Burnout, Bias & Boundaries
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Dr. Judy Wright, physician and sustainable success expert, joins Becky and Faith for a candid conversation about …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Dr. Judy Wright, physician and sustainable success expert, joins Becky and Faith for a candid conversation about self-advocacy in medical settings, the racial bias baked into the healthcare system, and the burnout that high-achieving women often don't recognize until it's severe.
Dr. Wright shares her own journey through medical school (including an undiagnosed learning difference), multiple rounds of burnout across academia, clinical medicine, and corporate work, and the practical, low-lift ways she teaches women to reclaim their time and energy.
Discover other conversations from the margins at YesAndOtherwise.com
Topics Discussed:
- (00:15) Intro: Dr. Judy Wright's background, the Power Balance and PACE framework
- (00:52) Becky's practice of refusing to be weighed at the doctor, and why
- (01:59) "You're the CEO of your health" — reclaiming power with your medical team
- (02:42) Dr. Wright's own story: a doctor who pushed weight-loss surgery instead of treating her migraine
- (07:18) Advocating for others vs. advocating for yourself; Dr. Wright's father's hospitalization
- (09:05) Faith on advocating for her autistic son vs. self-advocacy; the "God complex" trope
- (11:24) Why physicians come off rushed, and why that's still on the patient to navigate
- (13:21) Underrepresentation of Black doctors and racial bias in med-school clinical scoring
- (15:33) Dr. Wright's own struggles with standardized testing and an undiagnosed learning difference
- (18:xx) "A face you recognize that recognizes you back" — trust and representation in care
- (21:03) Faith's story of a doctor who truly listened about her son's care
- (22:38) Wanting to "know the story" — treating patients as whole people, not case files
- (23:50) Introducing stereotype threat (Claude Steele's research) and its link to burnout
- (26:06) Dr. Wright on feeling like her success was "luck," not skill
- (28:33) Burning out multiple times — academia, clinical medicine, and corporate — without having the language for it
- (32:31) Faith's "US 15 pounds" and unrecognized burnout in grad school
- (34:03) The PACE method: the power of intentional pauses (and Dr. Wright's cancer diagnosis as a turning point)
- (38:33) Self-care doesn't require a spa — small, cumulative pauses count
- (41:02) The "superwoman complex" and the guilt of claiming time for yourself
- (43:41) Overfunctioning vs. underfunctioning (quoting Dr. Shanika Walker Barnes)
- (44:10) Becky on gendered guilt: her husband's 20-minute showers vs. her own guilt
- (46:02) Helping high-achieving women believe they're allowed to slow down
- (49:xx) Auditing your calendar instead of assuming every meeting is mandatory
- (53:34) Where to find Dr. Wright, and closing questions: Yes, And, Otherwise
Resources Mentioned:
- Dr. Judy Wright: https://www.thepowerbalance.com/
- Dr. Wright Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/JudyWrightMD
- Dr. Wright LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judywrightmd/
- Claude Steele on stereotype threat: https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2016/11/claude-steele-explains-stereotype-threat
- Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes: https://www.drchanequa.com/
🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/Not Everyone Deserves Your Authenticity with Megan Fuciarelli
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Beckty Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke sit down with Megan Fuciarelli, speaker and "authenticity amplifier," to talk about the …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Beckty Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke sit down with Megan Fuciarelli, speaker and "authenticity amplifier," to talk about the flip side of a conversation we hear constantly: not how to be authentic, but how to actually receive someone else's authenticity when they show up as their full selves.
Megan shares her own story of being othered as a child, discovering at 15 that she was adopted, and how decades of people-pleasing and masking shaped the DEI and belonging work she does today. The conversation digs into the real difference between masking and cloaking a part of yourself, why "not everyone deserves your authenticity," the gap between intent and impact, why professionalism norms are rooted in racism and sexism, and how leaders and everyday people can hold space for identities and experiences different from their own without guilt, shame, or blame.
Timestamps:
00:15 — Welcome and introducing Megan Fuciarelli
05:55 — What repeated story has Megan been living lately?
08:16 — Bullied, never enough, and "closeted acceptance" as a kid
09:00 — Finding out at 15 that she was adopted
12:31 — Becky's own earliest memory of not feeling welcome
15:00 — How early wounding creates people-pleasing
16:59 — Imposter syndrome vs. "am I being who I actually am?"
17:13 — Not everyone deserves your authenticity (masking vs. cloaking)
20:42 — Why you can't fully receive someone else's authenticity until you've done your own work
22:07 — What "receiving authenticity" actually looks like in practice
27:01 — Intent vs. impact — who controls what
29:48 — A recent example of Megan's authenticity not being received
34:12 — Giving people grace for where they are on their journey
39:25 — The urge to prove "I know better," and giving yourself grace
43:02 — Systemic vs. systematic: what happens when institutions know better and don't change
47:25 — Boundaries as agreements, not arbitrary rules
49:26 — Faith's story: parenting an autistic son and the real risk of breaking "professionalism" norms
51:29 — Authenticity isn't fixed, it changes day to day
54:16 — Closing round: what are you leaving this conversation saying yes to?
57:56 — Where to find Megan: Us 2 Consulting and Megan Fuciarelli❤️ Learn more about Megan's work at https://us2consulting.com/
🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
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Announcing Yes, and Otherwise (media for intersectional feminists)
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Welcome to Yes and Otherwise, the new name (and new season) for what was Feminist Founders. In this launch episode, hosts …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Welcome to Yes and Otherwise, the new name (and new season) for what was Feminist Founders. In this launch episode, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke pull back the curtain on why they rebranded, what's changing, and what stays the same.
They talk about choosing storytelling over coaching-and-content, why "feminist founders" no longer felt like the right container (and its exclusionary history), and how "yes and otherwise" reflects their improv-rooted, both/and approach to conversation.
They also introduce a new paid supporter tier, kicking off with a bonus audio offering called "The Collective Exhale," on releasing invisible and emotional labor, the "lead bird" burnout pattern, and what it means to let storytelling and community-building be valuable work in their own right.
• (00:16) Welcome to Yes and Otherwise — introducing the rebrand from Feminist Founders
• (01:16) Why the change: two years of experimenting, evolving, and having hard conversations as partners
• (01:42) Becky's journalism background and missing storytelling for its own sake, not for a "corporate overlord"
• (03:03) Faith on centering human stories amid a chaotic, shifting external environment
• (05:29) The "life-giving" test: choosing storytelling and curation over what felt sticky or forced
• (07:00) The new website, yesandotherwise.com — searchable topics, curated "story bundles," and stories in conversation with each other
• (08:15) What's changing about the newsletter: less frequent, more substantive, connecting past and present conversations
• (08:18) Introducing a paid supporter tier and what it funds (labor, not just content)
• (10:42) Why they changed the name: the meaning behind "Yes and" (improv, expansiveness) and "Otherwise" (the other, the why, who's missing)
• (13:18) Why not "Feminist Founders" anymore — the term's exclusionary history and who it repels
• (17:12) Faith on identity, framing, and building a shared story from different starting points
• (18:17) Reclaiming storytelling and community-building as labor that deserves compensation
• (20:02) Introducing "The Collective Exhale" — releasing invisible labor and the "lead bird" analogy for burnout
• (22:44) Emotional labor, burnout, and the weight women are conditioned to carry
• (23:53) Looking back at recent conversations: period care with Mariah Brewer, colorism with Dr. Sarah Webb, and hair
• (25:50) Faith's invitation to become a paid subscriber, practice over knowledge
• (26:53) Closing thoughts and what's coming nextColorism, Skin Tone Bias & Healing with Dr. Sarah Webb
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Colorism shapes who gets hired, who's trusted, who's seen as beautiful (and who's called dangerous) often within the same …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Colorism shapes who gets hired, who's trusted, who's seen as beautiful (and who's called dangerous) often within the same racial group. In this episode, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke sit down with Dr. Sarah L. Webb, author of Colorism and founder of Colorism Healing, to unpack what colorism is, how it forms in early childhood, and why white people can't opt out of the conversation just because it "isn't their issue."
In this episode:
- (00:15) Welcome — introducing Dr. Sarah Webb, author of Colorism and founder of Colorism Healing
- (00:41) Icebreaker: the last thing you splurged on just for you
- (04:00) Dr. Webb's earliest memory of noticing colorism — before she even had the language for it
- (06:23) Why white parents avoiding "race talk" with kids misses the mark, and why colorism isn't discussed even in households of color
- (08:48) Faith joins and shares her grandmother's story growing up in Jamaica
- (14:19) How Dr. Webb's own healing journey began — the Dark Girls documentary and a moment from Ta-Nehisi Coates
- (15:34) The hardest part of healing from colorism: never knowing when it will happen again
- (18:56) Faith's own colorism journey growing up in Jamaica vs. the U.S.
- (24:05) Faith on power dynamics with neurodivergent, queer family members
- (25:10) Becky reflects on her own white positionality and how she came to understand colorism wasn't "someone else's issue"
- (27:25) Why colorism is everyone's work — racial profiling, the justice system, and disparities within the same race
- (31:08) Fearing the Black Body and how race gets constructed and weaponized
- (32:58) Colorism among people who share the same skin tone — a museum story
- (34:28) Is "we're willing to talk about race but not colorism" a form of virtue signaling?
- (38:09) Faith on "proximity to whiteness" and America's obsession with checklists over systems thinking
- (42:23) Colorism in media and Hollywood — patterns in who gets cast as masculine vs. feminine, and by skin tone
- (45:34) The how: translating awareness into daily practice, not just workshops
- (46:30) Dr. Webb on the second half of her book — the politics of skin tone and how we get free
- (51:40) Closing ritual: what are you saying yes (and otherwise) to?
Resources mentioned:
- Colorism by Dr. Sarah L. Webb: https://amzn.to/4xNPxen
- Colorism Healing: https://colorismhealing.com/
- Fearing the Black Body by Sabrina Strings: https://amzn.to/4xKDRcb
🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/Intersectionality at Work: Autism, Race & Accessibility Explained with Sydney Elaine Butler
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/What if the goal was never "safe" spaces but safer ones? Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke sit down with Sydney Elaine …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
What if the goal was never "safe" spaces but safer ones? Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke sit down with Sydney Elaine Butler, founder of Accessible Creates. They're a biracial, non-binary, autistic entrepreneur living with chronic pain and complex PTSD, and this is a fantastic conversation about intersectionality, disability inclusion, and what it really takes to let people bring their whole selves to work.
Sydney shares how their childhood role as "the helper" shaped their career supporting people with disabilities, what it's like to code-switch between Black and white spaces as a biracial person, and why so much workplace DEI work stalls out at compliance instead of getting to the people actually living the policies.
In this episode:
- (00:15) Icebreaker: the cartoon character you relate to most (Papa Smurf, Atomic Betty, Encanto's Luisa, and Inside Out 2's Anxiety all make an appearance)
- (06:23) Sydney's full-circle moment speaking at the Canadian Autism Leadership Summit
- (08:16) The story that isn't being told: intersectionality in disability and DEI work
- (10:14) Code-switching as a biracial, non-binary woman — and what safety has to do with it
- (16:23) What changes when we stop collapsing identities and start expanding them
- (23:04) Why so much corporate DEI work stays surface-level — and what real accountability looks like
- (26:16) Sydney's shift from "expert" to focus groups: centering the people living the policy
- (33:06) Safe vs. safer spaces — and why "safe" might be a promise no one can actually keep
- (44:07) Filling your own cup: solitude, boundaries, and unlearning the "selfish" narrative
- (51:41) The Resmaa Menakem story: what happens when a room chooses care over the agenda
- (54:04) A real-time example of building accommodation into a relationship, mid-conversation
- (56:14) Closing ritual: Yes, and... Otherwise
About the guest: Sydney Elaine Butler is the founder of Accessible Creates, working with organizations on disability policy, accessibility, and inclusive workplace practice. Learn more at accessiblecreates.ca.
🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
The Politics of Black Hair with Dr. Eghosa Obaizamomwan-Hamilton
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Black women's hair carries history, labor, identity, and risk — and most white women have never had to think about any of it …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Black women's hair carries history, labor, identity, and risk — and most white women have never had to think about any of it. In this conversation, Becky and Faith sit down with Dr. Eghosa Obaizamomwan-Hamilton, a Black mother-scholar and author of Articulations: A Radical Methodology for Black Pedagogy — Redefining Education Through Black Women's Hair Experiences, to dig into what her research uncovered about hair as an overlooked layer of intersectionality.
We talk about the "true cost" of hair — financial, physical, and emotional — the difference between internalized racism and intentional "texturized code-switching," why the rise of social media accelerated the natural hair movement, and the invisible labor Black women carry every day just deciding how to show up. Faith brings her own journey from straightened hair in Jamaica to nearly 25 years of locks, and Dr. Eghosa shares what she means when she says "I am my hair" — plus concrete advice for white women who want to be real co-conspirators instead of passive allies.
Links mentioned:
• Latest article, "We Be Audacious": https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/YBJHBZJRVG7MYDIUCAGA/full?target=10.1080/09540253.2026.2707142
• Articulations, A Radical Methodology for Black Pedagogy: https://amzn.to/4yKaxnr
• Articulations on Audible: https://amzn.to/4fpEEcp
• Reading Guide for Articulations: https://www.eghosaobaizamomwan.com/_files/ugd/1382eb_14e141a63f4b4618bb0e527bb80f385a.pdfJOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
How to Practice Radical Empathy as a Business Owner with Terri Givens
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/What does radical empathy actually look like in a business, not just as a feeling, but as a practice?Becky sits down with …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
What does radical empathy actually look like in a business, not just as a feeling, but as a practice?
Becky sits down with Terri Givens, political scientist and author of Radical Empathy and Reckoning, to dig into the how behind the why. They talk through Terri's six steps to radical empathy (starting with the hardest one: being vulnerable with yourself first), what it means to unpack internalized bias, and why "safe spaces" might be the wrong goal (brave spaces are more honest and more possible).
They also get into the stuff business owners actually wrestle with: how to build diverse teams without falling into tokenism, what "empathy is not absolution" means when you're deciding who to work with, and why intentionality (not perfection) is the real work of inclusive leadership.
In this episode:
• The six steps of radical empathy, and why vulnerability with yourself comes first
• Unpacking internalized oppression, Terri's own story growing up Black and Catholic in Spokane, WA
• Safe spaces vs. brave spaces, and why the second one is the honest goal
• "Strategic empathy": how to have compassion for someone without excusing their behavior
• Building trust and community without falling into performative hiring or tokenism
• The role business can play in creating the future we want, with lessons from historyTerri Givens is a political scientist, author, and entrepreneur. Her books Radical Empathy (2021) and Reckoning (2025, paperback out this year) offer both the why and the how of using empathy as a tool for real change in business, in community, and in ourselves. Learn more and grab the books (currently 50% off) at Terri's website.
Feminist Founders is a space for business owners who care about equity and justice — and want the practical tools to actually build it. New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe and join the conversation.
Find Terri Givens (and her books) at https://www.terrigivens.com/
Also mentioned in this episode:
• "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson: https://amzn.to/44zOjH2🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
The Workplace Case for Period Leave with Dr. Moriah Brewer
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/In this episode, you'll hear from Dr. Moriah Brewer (sociologist, researcher, and founder of Like Home) about one of the most …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
In this episode, you'll hear from Dr. Moriah Brewer (sociologist, researcher, and founder of Like Home) about one of the most overlooked workplace equity issues hiding in plain sight: menstrual care. Only 2% of US companies offer any form of period leave, yet menstruation affects roughly half the workforce for decades of their working lives. Becky and Moriah dig into why that number is so low, what the equity vs. equality argument actually means for HR policy, and how period poverty, medical dismissal, and the $40 billion period care industry all point to the same problem, we've invested in discretion, not care. If you're building a feminist business, this conversation will challenge you to examine your own policies.
Topics Covered:
• The business case for menstrual/period leave, only 2% of US companies currently offer it, but Moriah argues it's both an equity issue and a long-term investment in workforce wellbeing and retention
• Equity vs. equality in workplace policy, why "giving everyone the same thing" doesn't close gaps, and what targeted support actually looks like for menstruating employees
• Period poverty as a workplace issue, in Michigan alone, 2 in 5 women experience period poverty, causing them to miss work or school due to lack of access to basic products
• The $40 billion period care industry gap, the entire industry is built around products and discretion, not care; Moriah is building Like Home to change that with virtual services, cycle syncing support, and in-home care options
• Medical dismissal and the cost to workers, Moriah's own experience with PCOS, fibroids, and years of being brushed off by the medical system speaks to a broader pattern that impacts worker productivity and health
• Why period equity lifts all workplace benefits, the same political and cultural fight that wins period leave also opens the door to better mental health leave, disability leave, and paternity leave
• What feminist business ownership demands, how "permission structures" in workplaces signal ownership dynamics, and what it looks like to lead differentlyLEARN MORE:
• Like Home: https://joinlikehome.com/
• Dr. Moriah Brewer on Instagram, Threads, and Substack: @MariahLynnJoe🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/
Was That Racist? A Real Conversation with Dr. Evelyn Carter
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/On this episode of Feminist Founders, Becky Mollenkamp talks with social psychologist Dr. Evelyn Carter (author of Was That …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
On this episode of Feminist Founders, Becky Mollenkamp talks with social psychologist Dr. Evelyn Carter (author of Was That Racist? How to Detect, Interrupt, and Unlearn Bias in Everyday Life) about why she waited until 2026 to publish a book she could have written during the 2020 racial reckoning, what happened when she watched a community of women authors fail a basic accountability test, and why "safe space" is the wrong goal for anyone trying to build an inclusive business or community.
In This Episode, We Get Into:
- Why Dr. Carter didn't write her book in 2020, and what made 2026 (mid-backlash, mid-DEI-rollback) the right moment
- The whiplash of clients who slashed DEI budgets in early 2020 then begged for workshops weeks later after George Floyd's murder
- A real-time story of Evelyn leaving a women authors' group after watching the group's leaders fail to enforce their own community norms
- The difference between a "safe space" and a "safer space," and why claiming the former is actually a red flag
- The research on self-regulation of prejudice, why guilt changes behavior and anger doesn't, and what that means for how we respond to being called out
- Why white women's tears in conversations about race do real, measurable harm (and what to do with those feelings instead)
- Concrete, everyday microaggression examples from networking events and speaking gigs—"you're so articulate," "are you sure you're the speaker?"
- The simple practice of assuming the underrepresented person in the room holds the higher-status role
- Becky's own story of accidentally lecturing the one Black woman in a coaching group about diet culture, and how she repaired it
- What harm repair actually looks like in practice, and why it's the missing piece in most community guidelines
Resources Mentioned:
- Was That Racist? How to Detect, Interrupt, and Unlearn Bias in Everyday Life by Evelyn R. Carter, PhD (Little, Brown Spark): https://amzn.to/4aS0rqe
- White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad: https://amzn.to/4epWPNh
🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/
Navigating Discomfort: From Cult Survivor to Business Owner with Alesia Galati
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/In this powerful conversation, Faith Clarke sits down with Alesia Galati—podcast host, business owner, wife, and mother—to …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
In this powerful conversation, Faith Clarke sits down with Alesia Galati—podcast host, business owner, wife, and mother—to explore how discomfort shows up in our bodies and impacts how we navigate relationships and power dynamics. Alesia shares her journey from growing up in a single-parent home affected by addiction, through 10 years in a cult disguised as a women's program, to building multiple successful podcasts and a full-service podcast management agency.
What We Discussed:
- How women's bodies teach distress tolerance through periods and other physical experiences
- The complicated relationship with "push through" messaging after cult trauma
- Moving from knee-jerk reactions to slowing down in moments of discomfort
- How childhood experiences shape our automatic responses to conflict
- The importance of mitigation versus avoidance strategies
- Parenting in the age of AI and teaching kids to sit with questions
- Book recommendations for understanding different perspectives on discomfort
- The power of sitting with someone through their coping mechanisms
Featured book: They Wouldn't Dare by Deanna Gray: https://amzn.to/4tdVVJc
Ready to connect with other feminist founders navigating these conversations? Join us in the Feminist Podcasters Collective at feministpodcasterscollective.comWhat Real Consent Actually Looks Like (Beyond “Yes” and “N
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Consent isn’t a checkbox—it’s a relationship.In this episode, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke dig into the messy, nuanced …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Consent isn’t a checkbox—it’s a relationship.
In this episode, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke dig into the messy, nuanced reality of consent. Moving far beyond the simplistic “yes means yes” framework, they explore how power dynamics, discomfort, and unspoken pressure shape whether consent is actually present.From workplaces to relationships to leadership, they challenge the idea that words alone determine consent—and make the case for deeper awareness, ongoing check-ins, and paying attention to what’s not being said.
This is a conversation about power, humanity, and what it really takes to create environments where people can genuinely choose.
In This Episode, We Cover:
- The difference between performative consent and real consent
- Why “they said yes” is often not the full story
- How power dynamics distort people’s ability to consent
- The role of nonverbal communication (and why words aren’t enough)
- Why leaders have a responsibility to pay closer attention
- Consent as an ongoing, relational process—not a one-time agreement
- How discomfort prevents both giving and receiving real consent
- The problem with forcing vulnerability in workplace culture
- Why “use your words” can be an oversimplification
- Real-life examples of honoring consent—even when it costs something
Discomfort Isn’t the Problem, Avoidance Is
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Let’s clear something up right away: discomfort and conflict are not the same thing.But most of us treat them like they are …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Let’s clear something up right away: discomfort and conflict are not the same thing.
But most of us treat them like they are, and that misunderstanding is costing us. In our relationships, in our leadership, and in the kind of world we say we want to build.
In this first episode of our discomfort series, I’m joined by Faith Clarke to break down what discomfort actually is (hint: it lives in your body), what conflict actually is (hint: it lives between people), and why so many of us are doing everything we can to avoid both.
We talk about:- Why your brain is so quick to label discomfort as danger
- How power and identity shape your relationship to conflict
- The stories you tell yourself that escalate everything
- And why learning to stay with discomfort might be one of the most important leadership skills you can build
If you’ve ever avoided a hard conversation, over-accommodated to keep the peace, or spiraled over something small—this one’s for you.
🔑 What We Cover in This Episode:
- The difference between discomfort (internal) and conflict (relational)
- Why discomfort is often a somatic, body-based experience
- How conflict arises from competing stories—not just feelings
- The role of power, privilege, and identity in how we handle conflict
- Why many of us were conditioned to believe conflict is “bad”
- Fight, flight, freeze, fawn—and what they look like in real life
- The importance of threat assessment (is this actually dangerous?)
- How meaning-making turns small discomfort into full-blown spirals
- Why avoiding discomfort makes everything more expensive (emotionally, mentally, physically)
- The possibility of healthy conflict as a tool for growth and co-creation
When Discomfort Becomes Conflict, and How to Stop It
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Becky and Faith kick off their discomfort series with something deceptively small: a middle-of-the-night argument about an …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Becky and Faith kick off their discomfort series with something deceptively small: a middle-of-the-night argument about an open window. What starts as a relatable story about being woken up at 3am becomes a real-time breakdown of how discomfort turns into conflict — and what we can do about it.
They dig into the stories we tell ourselves when we feel disrespected, why anger is actually energy looking for justice, and how our nervous system state determines what choices are even available to us in heated moments. Plus: why the low-stakes conflicts are exactly where we should be building our conflict navigation muscles — so we're ready when the stakes are actually high.
In this episode:
• How a single moment of discomfort becomes a full conflict narrative
• What your body is trying to tell you before you do something you'll regret
• The difference between the stimulus and the story
• Why choosing your response is a form of agency, even at 3am
• How small conflicts are training ground for the big ones
• Using conflict as a tool to actually improve your relationships🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/
Discomfort vs. Conflict: Why They’re Not the Same
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/This short conversation kicks off a new Feminist Founders mini-series on discomfort.Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke start …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
This short conversation kicks off a new Feminist Founders mini-series on discomfort.
Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke start by unpacking a question many of us struggle to answer clearly: What’s the difference between discomfort and conflict?
They explore how discomfort often shows up first as a somatic signal in the body—tight shoulders, a knot in your stomach, a sense that something isn’t right. Conflict, on the other hand, tends to emerge when our stories about a situation collide with someone else’s.
The conversation moves into how identity, power, and lived experience shape our relationship to both discomfort and conflict. Becky reflects on how whiteness and privilege can create an expectation that comfort should always be restored quickly. Faith shares how marginalized identities often require learning to navigate discomfort without the luxury of avoiding it.
Together they discuss:
- The difference between internal discomfort and interpersonal conflict
- How meaning-making can escalate discomfort into conflict
- The role of power, identity, and cultural conditioning
- Fight, flight, freeze, fawn—and the possibility of facing discomfort instead
- Why learning to sit with discomfort is essential for building something new
This episode lays the groundwork for the rest of the series, where Becky and Faith will share stories and tools for navigating discomfort more skillfully in leadership, business, and social change work.
Practicing Mutual Aid in Real Time: Discomfort, Power, and Community Care
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/👉 Capacity for Conflict workshop on March 11, 2026: https://feministfounders.co/workshop/What does it actually look like to …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
👉 Capacity for Conflict workshop on March 11, 2026: https://feministfounders.co/workshop/
What does it actually look like to live your values — not in theory, but in the middle of a messy, real-life situation?
In this conversation, Becky and Faith unpack a recent experience that brought questions of mutual aid, identity, power, and discomfort to the surface. After an unexpected financial crisis, their community rallied to offer support — and what followed was a deeply honest exploration of what it means to ask for help, receive care, and navigate the complicated feelings that come with both.
Together, they reflect on the emotional and relational layers that surfaced: fears about perception, internalized narratives around self-sufficiency, the tension between gratitude and vulnerability, and the ways discomfort can be a doorway to growth rather than something to avoid.
They also introduce a framework for understanding conflict and discomfort through three key relationships — with ourselves, with others and power, and with the problem itself — offering listeners practical ways to approach hard moments with more curiosity and compassion.If you’ve ever struggled to ask for support, worried about how you’re perceived, or wondered how to live your values when things get complicated, this episode offers both resonance and reflection.
In this episode, we explore:- Why discomfort isn’t a problem to solve — it’s information
- The emotional realities of mutual aid and community support
- How identity and stereotype threat can shape our responses to crisis
- What it means to receive help without shame
- Navigating fears of judgment, performativity, or “getting it wrong”
- The difference between charity and collective care
- How power dynamics show up in everyday situations
- Practicing liberatory values in imperfect, real-time ways
- A framework for working with conflict through relationship awareness
- Moving from judgment to curiosity when discomfort arises
From doing to being: Redesigning your business for sustainability with Tracie Root
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/What does it actually look like to design a business that supports your capacity — instead of constantly stretching it?In …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
What does it actually look like to design a business that supports your capacity — instead of constantly stretching it?
In this episode of Feminist Founders, Becky Mollenkamp sits down with Tracie Root, founder of the Gather Community, to explore the tension so many entrepreneurs feel between showing up for clients and creating space for themselves.
They talk about what happens when a business grows out of community and starts to feel more transactional, how hustle culture conditioning shows up even when we intellectually reject it, and why rebuilding capacity is an ongoing process — not a quick fix.
Together they explore:- The difference between doing and being in leadership
- Designing systems that reduce burnout
- Why asking for help can feel exhausting
- The emotional weight of keeping promises to clients
- Boundaries, spaciousness, and redefining responsibility
- How community businesses evolve over time
- Practical ways to create breathing room without breaking commitments
Tracie shares how her goal for the year is to feel more expansive — and what that means in real terms, from looking at her calendar differently to rethinking how support shows up in her business.
This conversation is a powerful reminder that sustainable leadership isn’t about doing less — it’s about designing differently.
If you’re a founder who wants to build a business rooted in care, integrity, and capacity, this episode will meet you exactly where you are.🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE
🔥 Meet Tracie Root – Your Guide to Living Boldly! 🔥
https://www.tracieroot.com/Some people wait for life to happen. Tracie Root makes life happen.
After a devastating loss turned her world upside down, Tracie didn’t just rebuild—she reinvented herself. She faced financial crisis, single parenthood, and uncertainty head-on, choosing bold action over fear. What emerged was a woman on a mission—to help others step into their power, take charge of their future, and create success on their terms.
For over thirteen years, Tracie has inspired and coached women entrepreneurs nationwide, guiding them to break through barriers and build structured, sustainable, and thriving businesses. As the visionary force behind The Gather Community, she transformed in-person events into a powerful nationwide movement, connecting ambitious women who are ready to go all in.
Whether she’s lighting up the stage as a speaker, leading game-changing masterminds, or championing women to take BOLD, decisive action, Tracie’s energy is contagious.
When she’s not coaching or speaking, you’ll find her soaking up the Santa Cruz sunshine with her husband and their four-legged sidekick.
💡 Are you ready to think bigger, dream bolder, and take action? Then Tracie Root is the woman you need to meet!
Divesting from hustle culture inside your own business with Angela Johnson
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/In this episode of Feminist Founders, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke sit down with Angela Johnson, a trauma-informed …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
In this episode of Feminist Founders, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke sit down with Angela Johnson, a trauma-informed marketing strategist and educator, for an honest conversation about capacity, mental health, and what it really looks like to divest from hustle culture without blowing up your livelihood.
Angela reflects on nearly two decades in business, the weight of self-blame when income fluctuates, and the slow, deliberate work of deconditioning from capitalist and patriarchal “shoulds.” Together, they explore parts work, neurodivergence, dopamine-seeking brains, and how founders can redesign their businesses around compassion, curiosity, creativity, and connection — not constant optimization.
This is a conversation about letting go, staying human, and choosing systems that support your nervous system instead of punishing it.
What we talk about
• Why burnout isn’t a productivity problem — it’s a systems problem
• How self-blame quietly becomes the default business model
• Divesting from hustle culture without abandoning financial reality
• Parts work, internalized “manager” voices, and listening to your true self
• Neurodivergence, dopamine, and why consistency can feel impossible
• Why fewer metrics — and different ones — can lead to more peace
• Building capacity without treating rest like a reward
• Redesigning your business around mental health, not endurance
• Letting go of social media and returning to relationship-based marketing
• Why “doing less” can actually make your business more sustainableABOUT ANGELA JOHNSON
Angela Johnson is known for helping rebel entrepreneurs turn their genius into a signature body of work and amplify their thought leadership using her simple one-page marketing plan. She has taught over 3,000 business owners how to stop chasing the algorithm and fitting into one-size-fits-all formulas by crafting a compelling message without using pain points or big promises.With a Master of Professional Communication, her IRB-approved research on how trauma impacts small-business owners is an anchor of her work. Her trauma-informed approach is the antidote for equity-centered businesses that are dedicated to leading with their values in a world where honoring humanity is a radical act of resistance.
Angela has shared stages with thought leaders including Elizabeth Gilbert, Lynn Twist, and Lisa Nichols. Beyond her work as an adjunct professor and entrepreneur, she is happiest when she is creating anything with her hands, from painting, embroidery, and pottery to gardening. Angela lives on the stolen land of the Goshute Nation in Utah, with her partner of over 20 years, where together they spoil their rescue dog, who is the queen of the house.
Connect with Angela at www.angelamjohnson.com.
🎤 WE ARE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE. JOIN US! http://feministpodcastcollective.com/
Another show you may love from the Feminist Podcasters Collective
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Check out the Season 10 trailer for Here’s What I Learned with Jacki Hayes, a fellow member of the Feminist Podcasters …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Check out the Season 10 trailer for Here’s What I Learned with Jacki Hayes, a fellow member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.This season is built around real experiments. Jacki isn’t just talking about ideas. She’s inviting coaches and service providers to assign her an actual experiment from their area of expertise. She runs it in her business, then they come back together to break down what worked, what didn’t, and what the results actually show.
If you like practical insight, honest reflection, and learning from real-world tests instead of polished theories, this season is worth a listen.
Find the show wherever you listen to podcasts or visit https://www.jackihayes.co/podcastNew podcast! Check out Just Rest with Nicole Havelka
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Our friend Nicole just dropped the trailer for her new podcast Just Rest — and we're SOOO excited!We’re both part of the …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
Our friend Nicole just dropped the trailer for her new podcast Just Rest — and we're SOOO excited!
We’re both part of the Feminist Podcast Collective, and watching this show come to life has been such a joy. Just Rest is for people who care deeply, work hard, and are tired of being told burnout is just the price of caring.
This podcast is all about rest as resistance, sustainable change, and staying human in a grind-obsessed world. It’s thoughtful, grounded, and deeply compassionate — the kind of show that feels like a long exhale.Give the trailer a listen, then rate & review if it resonates. It makes a huge difference for indie, values-driven podcasts.
Rest, Time, and Rebuilding Capacity: Feminist Leadership in Transition
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/What happens when feminist founders stop trying to outrun burnout—and start redesigning work around care, capacity, and real …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
What happens when feminist founders stop trying to outrun burnout—and start redesigning work around care, capacity, and real life?
In this episode of Feminist Founders, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke are joined by Meg Buzzi and Sarah Durlacher, co-founders of Fixchr, a boutique consulting firm that helps organizations navigate change through behavior, engagement, and collective practice.
Together, they unpack what abundance actually means when you’re juggling caregiving, leadership, partnership, and survival inside systems that were never built for human needs. This is a conversation about decolonizing time, rebuilding capacity after burnout, refusing urgency culture, and reimagining work that flows—rather than drains.
If you’re a founder who feels stretched thin, caught between care work and paid work, or craving a more spacious way to lead, this episode will feel like an exhale.
In This Episode, We Talk About:
• Why abundance isn’t just about money—it’s also about time, restoration, and choice
• How caregiving (especially for elders) reshapes leadership capacity
• What it means to decolonize time and stop moralizing productivity
• Moving from crisis-driven work to preventative, sustainable change
• The tension between billable work and long-term investments in community and ideas
• Why founders often become the last people to receive the care they offer others
• Designing businesses that can bend without breaking when life happensMeg Buzzi and Sarah Durlacher are the co-founders of Fixchr, a boutique consulting organization that supports organizations, teams, and leaders through periods of transition and change. Their work focuses on behavior change, engagement, and helping groups move together—without defaulting to urgency, extraction, or burnout. https://www.fixchr.com/
About Feminist Founders
Feminist Founders is a podcast and community for business owners who want to challenge capitalist norms and build human-first, equity-aligned businesses. Hosted by Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke, the show blends real conversations, feminist analysis, and practical reflection for founders who refuse to hustle themselves into the ground.👉 Learn more and join the community at feministfounders.co
🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/
Burnout Isn’t a Business Strategy: Making Space for Restoration and Clarity with Amanda Laird
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/🎟️ Join Us December 18th for the Planning SprintIf Amanda’s story hit home — if you also feel buried under tiny tasks …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
🎟️ Join Us December 18th for the Planning Sprint
If Amanda’s story hit home — if you also feel buried under tiny tasks, unclear on the big picture, and craving time to breathe, think, and reset — come join Faith and me for a 90-minute Planning Sprint on Dec. 18th.
This is not productivity theater.
This is support.
This is resourcing.
This is creating space for actual clarity so you can end the year grounded instead of gasping.$199 • No sales page • Register here:
👉 https://beckymollenkamp.as.me/planning______________
This week we sat down with Feminist Founders member Amanda Laird, a growth marketing strategist and creator of Slow & Steady, a feminist business practice rooted in integrity, intentionality, and the belief that women and creative entrepreneurs deserve to thrive without burning themselves to the ground.
Amanda helps solo creative entrepreneurs rethink their relationship with marketing and growth, and she does it through a holistic, feminist lens—one she developed through 20+ years in communications, deep study with Jennifer Armbrust (Sister), and a background in holistic nutrition that taught her to look at root causes, not symptoms.
But today’s conversation wasn’t just about her clients. It was also about Amanda’s own edges—the place where so many of us find ourselves:
the overwhelm of being a one-woman show, the longing for a slower pace, the guilt of resting before we “earn” it, and the capitalist potholes we keep falling into even when we know better.Faith and I walked with Amanda through what it means to rebuild capacity, tap into community, hear the voice she keeps locked in the closet (her words!), and reorient her work away from exhaustion and back toward restoration, creativity, and support.
Spoiler: the answer involved a tiny sketchbook, a five-minute daily practice, and reclaiming the truth that we don’t build feminist businesses by doing it all alone.
It’s tender, it’s real, and it’s a masterclass in taking your own medicine as a feminist leader.
In This Episode We Discuss:
• Amanda’s core value of integrity and how it anchors her work
• Why “slow and steady” is both a philosophy and an aspiration
• How the feminine economy (Jennifer Armbrust) shapes her business
• The honest truth of being overwhelmed by tiny tasks and big dreams
• The eldest-daughter conditioning that tells us we must do it all
• Why capacity and organization aren’t the real issue
• How shame shows up around asking for or paying for support
• The myth that we must “earn” rest
• The voice in the closet: the wisdom of community, reciprocity & tapping into our network
• Rebuilding leadership from restoration, not exhaustion
• Help, harm, and why individualism keeps us stuck
• A practical (and compassionate) plan for moving forward:
• A “not right now” list
• A five-minute daily sketchbook practice
• Anchoring back into alignment-before-action
Turning toward community instead of isolationReleasing the Weight: Invisible Labor and Collective Healing
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/In this episode of Feminist Founders, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke reflect on The Weight We Carry — a focus group …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
In this episode of Feminist Founders, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke reflect on The Weight We Carry — a focus group conversation about invisible labor and how it shows up in our personal and professional lives.
They share insights and takeaways from the powerful session, where participants told stories, named the unseen work they carry, and began exploring ways to release it. What emerged was both deeply personal and profoundly collective — a recognition that the exhaustion so many of us feel isn’t personal failure, it’s systemic.
Discussed in this conversation:
• How storytelling reveals the collective wisdom we already hold
• Why invisible labor is both embodied and systemic
• What it means to refuse to participate in your own sacrifice
• How trust, accountability, and community intersect in the work of release
• Why simple “one-two-three” solutions don’t work — and what does
• How shame, guilt, and perfectionism keep us in patterns of overwork
• The power of community in reprogramming the conditioning that makes us overfunction
• What medicine looks like when it’s rooted in collective care and belongingBecky and Faith also share details about their upcoming small-group program—Releasing the Weight—a community container designed to help you identify, name, and release the invisible labor weighing you down — just in time for the holidays.
✨ Join the group experience: feministfounders.co/group
📰 Subscribe on Substack: feministfounders.substack.com
Business owners can contribute to the white paper
We Should All Be Feminists (a special conversation)
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/This week looks a little different. Becky’s out sick, so we’re sharing a powerful conversation from Assigned Reading where …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
This week looks a little different. Becky’s out sick, so we’re sharing a powerful conversation from Assigned Reading where Becky and Faith dive into Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s essay and TED Talk We Should All Be Feminists.
It’s a wide-ranging and deeply personal discussion about feminism across cultures, the intersections of race and gender, and how we carry both the weight of oppression and the responsibility of shaping culture ourselves.
👉 Don’t miss our upcoming free event, The Weight We Carry on invisible labor, happening October 9, 2025. Sign up here: https://evt.to/eoieheisw
Discussed in this episode:
• How Adichie’s centering of Nigerian culture resonates with Afro-Caribbean experiences
• Why feminism often defaults to “white feminism” in the U.S.—and the harm in that invisibility
• Chimamanda’s 2017 comments on trans women, her clarification, and what it says about growth and accountability
• How women are held to perfectionist standards under white supremacy
• The challenge (and necessity) of contextualizing feminism through race, culture, and personal story
• Why “people shape culture” is both a call to action and a permission slip
• Owning our own stories of privilege and oppression—and how whiteness itself can be a prison
• Shame as one of the sharpest tools of oppression and how it maintains systems of power
• The many ways activism can look: rest, storytelling, parenting, teaching, healing, and beyondInvisible Labor, Collective Storytelling, and Ubuntu with Faith Clarke
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/In this solo episode of Feminist Founders, Faith Clarke reflects on the invisible labor women carry, the stories that connect …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
In this solo episode of Feminist Founders, Faith Clarke reflects on the invisible labor women carry, the stories that connect us, and the power of collective truth-telling. Drawing from Desmond Tutu’s teaching on Ubuntu—“a person is a person through other persons”—Faith invites listeners to consider how our common humanity can be honored through deep listening, shared storytelling, and co-creation of solutions.
Faith shares her background in qualitative research, her belief that human stories are data, and how the Feminist Founders community is engaging in collective storytelling to explore invisible labor. This episode is both a personal reflection and an invitation: to join a larger conversation, contribute your story, and help co-create liberatory solutions for founders and communities.
💡 Discussed in this episode:- The wisdom of Ubuntu and how it calls us into shared humanity
- Why listening to stories is a spiritual practice
- How invisible labor impacts women’s health and lives
- The limitations of traditional research methods and the power of lived experience
- Why collective truth-telling is essential for creating solutions
- The Feminist Founders initiative to document and share a white paper on invisible labor
Beyond Business: Grief, Healing, and Identity with Mai-kee Tsang
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/What happens when you step away from everything you’ve built—not just for a week off, but for months of deep rest and …
Notes de l’épisode
Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/
What happens when you step away from everything you’ve built—not just for a week off, but for months of deep rest and reflection?
In this episode of Feminist Founders summer series on women’s invisible labor, Becky talks with Mai-kee Tsang, who took a two-month sabbatical after seven years of running her business. What started as a response to grief became a radical reimagining of work, worth, and identity.
Together, they explore:
- How grief and pet loss led Mai-kee to create space for healing
- Why sabbaticals are not just breaks, but tools for reclaiming agency and rest
- The “ego death” of stepping away from business identity and embracing the messy middle
- The guilt and fear many entrepreneurs feel when stepping back or walking away
- How invisible labor shapes women’s relationship to work and rest
- The importance of redefining success beyond productivity and business ownership
- Why giving yourself permission to “just be” is a feminist act
Mai-kee reminds us that walking away doesn’t erase the value of what you’ve built. It can be a form of liberation, a chance to listen to yourself again, and to reimagine what’s possible when you’re no longer defined by your work.
Mai-kee Tsang is a writer, mentor, and former Sustainable Visibility® strategist. After seven years of entrepreneurship, she took a sabbatical to grieve, heal, and reconnect with her identity outside of work. Today, she continues to hold space for community through her email letters, Cup of Catch-ups, and experiments in simply being. Sign up for Mai-kee’s email list
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Recommandé par Yes, And Otherwise: Feminist Conversations on Work, Rest & Power
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