17 episodes
Your Body, Your Brand Kaila Tova
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- Society & Culture
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5.0 • 8 Ratings
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Women are dropping out.
They’re dropping out of the workplace to become yoga teachers. Leaving behind careers to sell essential oils and fitness programs. Opting out of STEM to focus on their Paleo diet cookbook.
And even when they stay in, they’re spending their lunch hours talking about their latest diet, getting up from their desks to do burpees or add a few more steps to their FitBit, waking up early or staying out late to beat their bodies into submission at hot yoga or Crossfit. They’re giving the money they earn to the women who have dropped out.
We're making dangerous investments.
We’re bought into the idea that health and fitness is where the money is, and if we could just spend or make a few more dollars and hit the next PR, all of our problems will be solved, we’ll improve our relationships, and finally stop hating our bodies. But though the Internet seems bullish on optimizing your health, no one ever talks about the real reason we’re feeling so bad in the skin we’re in: money.
And it’s time that we had a conversation about it. In our increasingly branded and visual online world, we need to talk about how capital —both social and financial — affects the ways in which we hold onto damaging beliefs about our body image, fitness, and nutrition.
And getting rewarded for disorder.
The things we invest in often control us. This podcast isn't about eating disorders, though it does touch on how we're buying and selling disordered eating, fitness, and body image. But really, it's about the pervasiveness of brand, the difficulty of selling something authentically, and the sad fact that it's easier to sell something you can control (your body) than trying to control corporate America.
This podcast will introduce you to marketing psychology and behavioral economics and tell the story of how we gave up our sense of embodiment, empowerment, and participation in the workforce in exchange for a few “likes” and the veneer of a “healthy” personal brand.
The Your Body, Your Brand podcast brings experts in sales, marketing, branding, feminism, and coaching into conversation with coaches, entrepreneurs, and diet consumers to ask:
Why do women keep dropping out of the workforce to sell diet/fitness/body image coaching?Why do people keep getting invested in following "solopreneurs" with fitness/diet/body image brands? Is becoming a brand based on your body ever a good thing?
Visit the website to read show notes, meet the guests, and learn more about each episode: bodybrandpod.com.
Support the podcast and receive exclusive extended audio interviews through our Patreon-only podcast feed: patreon.com/bodybrandpod.
Reach Kaila Tova at yourbodyourbrand@gmail.com
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/bodybrandpod.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Introduction
An introduction to the ethos and story behind the Your Body, Your Brand podcast.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/bodybrandpod.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Prologue
It starts with a toxic workplace and ends in a yoga studio. Jennifer Saminathen, a smart, driven, and vibrant woman, has an MBA and a promising career in Silicon Valley. So why does she want to leave it all to become a yoga teacher?
Before we dive into the whys and wherefores wellness entrepreneurship, we’ll hear a case study on dropping out, on the eve of Jennifer’s first yoga teacher training class.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/bodybrandpod.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
The Ouroboros
Do you know where you first got the idea that thinner, leaner, more or less muscular was better? Do you know why you keep reading articles that tell you that your beliefs are true? How about why magazines don't publish more plus size women or why diet companies keep raking in millions despite studies that show that representation can change the way you think about body image and diets don't work?
In this episode of the Your Body, Your Brand podcast, we'll discuss how representation of bodies is often tied to social and financial capital -- getting "likes" and getting paid -- and why we're all drowning in diet culture.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/bodybrandpod.
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Pipeline Problems
Women are dropping out. Maybe that woman is you. Maybe it's someone you know. Maybe it's someone you follow online.
They say there's a serious leak in the corporate pipeline, or maybe it’s the lack of female representation in STEM roles. If you've ever felt like your nose was pressed up against the glass ceiling or like you had to be more "masculine" in order to make it at work, then you'll understand why women are choosing to no longer either give up and work for less money and recognition or fight it out as one of the boys -- they're choosing a third way: selling their body image to other women.
In this episode, we'll get a sense of why women feel like they have less agency in the workforce than they do in yoga pants and on Instagram -- and why the conversation around feminism has shifted from burning bras to wearing sports bras.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/bodybrandpod.
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To Sell Ourselves is Female
What, exactly, is a brand, and why are we all trying to become one? While bestselling author Daniel Pink says that “to sell is human,” exactly what is it that women are selling?
In today’s episode, we examine why even feminist women end up objectifying themselves in the pursuit of the almighty dollar.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/bodybrandpod.
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Dangerous Investments
No one wants to consider sunk cost, whether financial or otherwise. Losing capital in a capitalist society is a sign that you’ve failed — and especially in America’s culture of the self-made man, failure is just something that we don’t tolerate. We’re not failing at breaking the glass ceiling, we’re succeeding at harnessing alternative income streams. We’re not failing at body positivity or fat acceptance or self-love, we’re just works in progress, trying to push until we don’t have anything left. We’re going to succeed -- even if it kills us.
In this episode we're diving headfirst into a niche corner of economic theory: Identity economics. Using a theory put forth by Professors George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton, we're going to look deep into our own motivations for buying into "healthy lifestyles" and selling them back to others.
Sources:
"Economics and Identity" by George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton
Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being by George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton*
Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? A Story of Women and Economics by Katrine Marçal*
*Amazon affiliate links
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/bodybrandpod.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Customer Reviews
Love it!
Enlightening! Insightful and entertaining all in one! Thank you for this important podcast. Looking forward to season 2!
5 stars
Brilliant, brave, honest and important. Thank you for your courage to share your passion for this topic!
Outstanding - A Must-Listen
This is a must-listen podcast for anyone interested in breaking free from diet culture and "wellness", works in the online business or influencer space or wants to learn more about the connection between diet culture, branding and the patriarchy.
The high production value and wide variety of guests make it an easy, if thought provoking, listen. I can't wait to hear more.