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Join feminist coaches Taina Brown and Becky Mollenkamp for casual (and often deep) conversations about business, current events, politics, pop culture, and more. We’re not perfect activists or allies! These are our real-time, messy feminist perspectives on the world around us.
This podcast is for you if you find yourself asking questions like:
• Why is feminism important today?
• What is intersectional feminism?
• Can capitalism be ethical?
• What does liberation mean?
• Equity vs. equality — what's the difference and why does it matter?
• What does a Trump victory mean for my life?
• What is mutual aid?
• How do we engage in collective action?
• Can I find safety in community?
• What's a feminist approach to ... ?
• What's the feminist perspective on ...?
Becky Mollenkamp: Hi, how are you?
Taina Brown: Hi. I am, I'm good. I'm good. I don't know. I don't know.
Becky Mollenkamp: Was that convincing?
Becky Mollenkamp: Maybe it doesn't need to be. Well, the year is almost over. How are you feeling about 2024? If you had to have one word to describe 2024, what would it be? That's a good one. Mine would be like anxiety was the word of the year for me. Until November. And then it turned into shit show with anxiety.
Taina Brown: Shit show. For so many reasons.
Becky Mollenkamp: Because for most of the year for me, it was like this feeling of collectively, I felt like we were all collectively kind of holding our breath. And there was all this tension, maybe tension is the word here. It just felt like all this tension and anxiety about what will happen, what will happen. Sadly, then we got the answer to what will happen, and it was a shit show.
Taina Brown: 2024 came to kick ass and take names. Let me tell you, outside of the collective anxiety and tension and grief that a lot of people are dealing with and have been dealing with all year, I keep seeing RIPs of just older Black celebrities, artists, popping up on my Instagram newsfeed. Every time it's like, my god, another one? Like, what the hell is happening?
Becky Mollenkamp: I feel like there's a lot of people who are like, you know what? I've had a good life. I can't deal with what's to come. Fuck it. If I were much older, I might be feeling the same. I feel like I'm just a little too young for that. But I feel that in my bones of like, I got a glimpse of what's to come and fuck that. It's rough. It's been a rough year. To some degree, I feel like we've been saying that at least since 2020, which it feels like every year has just been like, "Oh, you thought you were bad, 2020? Here's 2021. I'll show you up, 2022." And then like this year and, God only knows, what 2025 will bring.
Taina Brown: Well, I was talking about this with my acupuncturist yesterday, and my wife and I have been talking about it for a few weeks. If you're into astrology, Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008, and it is transitioning out of Capricorn. By the time you listen to this, it has already transitioned out of Capricorn. It's transitioning out on November 19th into Aquarius, so we're about to enter the age of Aquarius. I have a Capricorn stellium.
Becky Mollenkamp: Well, if that's anything… Sorry, I was just going to say if it's anything like Hair, the dawning of the age of Aquarius, does that mean we're all gonna be hippies or what does it mean?
Taina Brown: Aquarius is really rooted in collective transformation and dismantling systems. It's a time of intense disruption and imagination and creativity and rethinking things from a systems level. Collectively, that's what we're about to engage in. If you are an air sign, this is also about internal systems—your relationships and how you process information, how you see the world. I have a Capricorn stellium, which means I have four planets in Capricorn. I am ready for the planet of the underground and shadow work to leave my space. Like, I'm so ready.
Becky Mollenkamp: And for those of us who are not as astrology astute, which is myself, like I know a little bit, but not a lot… Whatever the reasons, whatever the signs may be saying, 2024 has been rough. But to not make it all about how horrible things have been, it's taught us lessons. And for that, we can be grateful. With my son, teaching him resilience is a big focus for us right now. I keep trying to focus on, "Hey, things can be bad, but nothing's ever a failure if we learn from it. Nothing is ever the worst if we can grow from it." So let's try to find the good. Not that I am trying to positive him out of everything and love-and-light him out of everything, just to be clear, but…
Taina Brown: Yeah. Thinking your way out of this. Good vibes only.
Becky Mollenkamp: But we are learning about resilience and how to deal with hard times and failure or perceived failure. Part of that is: What do we learn from it? How can we grow from it? Because that's what matters. And guess what? 2025 may also be a shit show. I'm going to say, I would probably, if I were a betting woman, put my money on odds-on favorite 2025 being a shit show. It may give 2024 a good run for its money. So how do we grow and make it better at an individual level?
Taina Brown: Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp: Because systemically there's all kinds of stuff happening, and there are things that we can try to do. We've talked about a lot of that in other episodes. But like, right now, it's like, what did we individually learn from it, and how are we individually gonna apply that in our lives moving forward? So what's a lesson that you learned in 2024, Taina?
Taina Brown: Yeah, I feel like I knew this, but I learned it in a new way this year. Community really is everything. Like, it really, really is. I almost died this year. I was hospitalized for over a month. I went in for a routine surgery, and they messed it up. I ended up in the ICU with sepsis and had to have another emergency surgery. It was one of the hardest experiences of my life. We were living in Baltimore, where we had one friend. Our entire community is in Atlanta. And the way they showed up for us, even from afar… we would not have made it through that time without them.
Becky Mollenkamp: Quite literally, right?
Taina Brown: Quite literally. I could not have survived without my community. If I was going hard for community before, I am going harder for community now. It's really humbling because you have people doing things for you that you can never repay.
Becky Mollenkamp: Community was on my list as well. Not to the degree that you experienced, which is beautiful—not that you had to go through that—but for the reminder that community matters. Even for me, who didn’t have anything like that, community in business has been so important. I've done collaborations this year, started this podcast, and had so many things happen that made me feel less isolated. When I wrote down community, I was thinking of it in that business sense, but also those business friends become real friends. It’s been really great for me.
[Conversation continues discussing lessons learned, astrology, community, systemic issues, and personal growth in the context of their experiences and intentions for the future.]
Becky Mollenkamp: Well, happy New Year, we hope. And 2025 will certainly be something. But I’m excited to do it with you, continue this podcast into the new year, and explore everything that comes our way. At least we have each other and this space for these conversations. Thank you to those who are listening. I hope your 2025 is wonderful.
Taina Brown: Yeah, happy New Year. It's actually my birthday in a couple of days, so…
Becky Mollenkamp: Yay, happy birthday! We’ll have to do a birthday celebration episode or something. I'm a Pisces, so mine's coming up in February. We can do one for me too.
Taina Brown: Sure. I love my birthday, but I don’t like the attention. Like, I want people to know it’s my birthday but then stop looking at me.
Becky Mollenkamp: Just throw the gifts at me. That’s all I need. Anyway, happy birthday, happy New Year, and we'll see you in 2025!