Feminist Founders: Building Profitable People-First Businesses

You are a business owner who wants to prioritize people and planet over profits (without sacrificing success). That can feel lonely—but you are not alone! Join host Becky Mollenkamp for in-depth conversations with experts and other founders about how to build a more equitable world through entrepreneurship. It’s time to change the business landscape for good!

Feminist Founders: Building Profitable People-First Businesses is a business podcast hosted by Becky Mollenkamp, with 115 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Becky Mollenkamp hosts Feminist Founders: Building Profitable People-First Businesses, a business show with 115 episodes published.

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  Episode #116

  Healing Math Trauma: Why You're Not "Bad at Math," with Geillan Aly

  Sep 24, 202652 min

  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 Geillan Resources 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/

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  Episode #115

  You're the CEO of Your Health: Dr. Judy Wright on Burnout, Bias & Boundaries

  Sep 15, 202657 min

  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/

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  Episode #114

  Not Everyone Deserves Your Authenticity with Megan Fuciarelli

  Sep 1, 202659 min

  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/ SUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING AT https://yesandotherwise.substack.com/subscribe

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  Episode #112

  Colorism, Skin Tone Bias & Healing with Dr. Sarah Webb

  Aug 19, 202655 min

  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/

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  Episode #111

  Intersectionality at Work: Autism, Race & Accessibility Explained with Sydney Elaine Butler

  Aug 10, 202659 min

  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/

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