Messy Liberation: Feminist Conversations about Politics and Pop Culture

Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown
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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 ...?

  1. Why hobbies matter in a capitalist world

    1D AGO

    Why hobbies matter in a capitalist world

    In this episode of Messy Liberation, Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown start with the cultural moment — unpacking the Bad Bunny halftime performance — and end up somewhere deeper: a conversation about care, creativity, and what it means to live inside systems that don’t value our humanity. They explore revenge bedtime procrastination, why so many of us push the things we love to the edges of our day, and how capitalism teaches us to dismiss anything that doesn’t generate income. Becky shares a personal story about caring for her injured dog and the emotional labor that often goes unseen — especially in relationships — while Taina reflects on creative work, attention, and honoring what matters. Together, they ask big questions: • What if hobbies aren’t frivolous?• What if care work is real work?• What does it look like to honor our emotional lives instead of minimizing them?• And how do we navigate relationships when we experience the world differently? This conversation weaves culture, feminism, mental health, and lived experience into an honest exploration of being human in a productivity-obsessed world. If you’ve ever stayed up too late chasing a moment of freedom… felt unseen in your care work… or wondered why rest feels so hard to claim — this one’s for you. 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

    51 min
  2. What liberatory coaching actually means (and why it matters right now)

    FEB 9

    What liberatory coaching actually means (and why it matters right now)

    This conversation is specifically for people who practice coaching or run coaching businesses (no certification required). Becky and Taina unpack how well-meaning coaches can unintentionally repeat patterns of harm rooted in capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy — even when they genuinely care about their clients. They introduce a framework for building a liberatory coaching practice that centers identity, power, privilege, community, and care — not just goals, outcomes, or productivity. The episode also previews the interactive workshop happening February 25, where participants will begin building their own Liberatory Coaching Manifesto. This isn’t about gatekeeping, hustle, or “fixing” clients. It’s about practicing coaching in a way that expands choice, agency, and humanity — for both coaches and the people they serve. What liberatory coaching actually meansHow coaching can unintentionally reinforce harmful systemsWhy phrases like “limiting beliefs” and “we all have the same 24 hours” can cause harmThe role of identity, power, and privilege in coaching spacesWhy community is essential to sustainable coaching workWhat a Liberatory Coaching Manifesto is — and why you’ll build oneHow to practice coaching without gatekeeping or hustle cultureWhy this work can’t be done aloneBuild Your Liberatory Coaching Manifesto (free, live workshop) February 25 at 12pm Eastern on ZoomReplay available only to those who sign upSign-up for free at messyliberation.com. 🎤 PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    10 min
  3. From Snowstorms to Support Husbands: What Mutual Aid Really Looks Like

    FEB 2

    From Snowstorms to Support Husbands: What Mutual Aid Really Looks Like

    From neighbors shoveling driveways to the quiet labor of holding community spaces, this episode explores how care becomes invisible, and how naming it can be radical. Becky shares a story about hosting invitation-only “secret salons” and grappling with the discomfort of being compensated for community-building work. Taina reflects on moments when emotional labor was unexpectedly acknowledged—and how powerful that recognition can be. The conversation expands into privilege, power, and relationships: what it means when someone checks their privilege out loud, how that can change the nervous system in a room, and why pretending we’re “past” bias is far more dangerous than admitting it exists. They also talk about gendered entitlement, “support husbands,” emotional safety, and the exhausting reality of always wondering when contempt might surface. What mutual aid looks like in everyday life (and why it’s not charity)Snowstorms, disability, aging, and who gets left behindThe invisible labor of care, organizing, and community-buildingWhy being seen matters as much as being paidEmotional labor, race, gender, and power dynamicsChecking privilege—and why it changes the roomSupportive partnerships vs. entitled masculinityWhy “I’d never do that” is a red flagCapitalism, commodification, and collective responsibilityHow acknowledgment can be an act of liberationResource: "Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next)" by Dean Spade🎤 WE ARE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

    44 min
  4. Another show you may love from the Feminist Podcasters Collective

    JAN 26

    Another show you may love from the Feminist Podcasters Collective

    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/podcast

    1 min
  5. The US is falling apart: Collective grief, privilege, and surviving the Trump regime

    JAN 26

    The US is falling apart: Collective grief, privilege, and surviving the Trump regime

    NOTE: This episode was recorded before the murder of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Our hearts are with his family and we share your outrage about his murder. Abolish ICE. In this episode of Messy Liberation, Becky and Taina sit inside two overlapping kinds of grief: personal loss and collective unraveling. Becky names the heavy, destabilizing grief of watching U.S. power erode on the global stage—and what it means to confront the loss of privilege, safety, and certainty in real time. Taina shares the complicated aftermath of her mother’s death, including the anger, relief, and dissonance that come from being told a story about someone that doesn’t match your lived experience. Together, they explore grief as a political and embodied experience, the difference between healthy and harmful anger, and why being “aware” isn’t enough without guardrails, resourcing, and community. This episode is about naming the mess without rushing to fix it—and learning how to stay human when the world makes it very tempting not to. 🧠 Discussed in This Episode• The grief of losing global privilege—and why it still matters even when privilege is complicated• Why awareness without action (or guardrails) can keep us stuck• Seasonal depression, political despair, and “who gives a shit” energy• Resource mapping as a tool for emotional regulation and capacity• Healthy anger vs. destructive anger—and why movements can’t survive on rage alone• Parenting, power dynamics, and what under-resourcing does to relationships• Complicated grief after the death of an abusive or estranged parent• The dissonance of hearing glowing stories about someone who harmed you• Relief as a valid response to death—and why that doesn’t mean you didn’t love them• Dehumanization, polarization, and the cost of refusing to seek understanding• Why systems benefit when we fight each other instead of looking up 🎤 WE ARE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    56 min
  6. Sinners vs One Battle After Another: Race, Power, and Who Gets Centered in Hollywood

    JAN 20

    Sinners vs One Battle After Another: Race, Power, and Who Gets Centered in Hollywood

    In this episode of Messy Liberation, Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown dive into a layered, messy, and necessary conversation about storytelling, race, motherhood, power, and who gets centered when Hollywood tells “political” stories. Using three recent releases as our jumping-off point — Sinners, One Battle After Another, and His and Hers — we unpack what happens when art claims to be subversive… and whether it actually is. We talk about: Why Sinners feels intentionally campy, unapologetically political, and rooted in Black culture, music, ancestry, and collective survivalHow One Battle After Another leans on harmful tropes about Black motherhood, revolutionary violence, and white male centrality — and why “satire” isn’t a get-out-of-harm-free cardThe racial reframing of His and Hers and how changing the main characters to Black women fundamentally shifts the story’s meaning, stakes, and powerWho gets empathy, who gets invisibility, and who’s expected to carry the labor — on screen and offWhy representation alone isn’t enough, and why who tells the story matters just as much as what story gets toldThis is a spoiler-heavy episode that assumes you’ve either watched these films or are okay hearing the full critique. It’s also an honest conversation about discomfort, trigger warnings, and the exhaustion of watching your lived experience turned into “prestige art” for someone else’s enlightenment. If you care about media literacy, liberatory storytelling, and calling b******t when “art” punches down — this one’s for you. 🎤 WE'RE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

    55 min
  7. America Is the Colonizer (Again): Venezuela, Power, and Empire

    JAN 12

    America Is the Colonizer (Again): Venezuela, Power, and Empire

    Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown dig into the U.S. military action in Venezuela, and why calling it “surprising” misses the point entirely. What’s happening in Venezuela isn’t new. What is new is how little the U.S. is pretending anymore. Discussed in this episode: Why the U.S. arrest and removal of Venezuela’s leader is colonialism, not “law enforcement”How oil, capitalism, and empire are always the through-lineThe danger of pretending America is a neutral or moral global authorityWhy “how you do anything is how you do everything” applies to geopoliticsThe direct connection between capitalism, rape culture, and power grabsWhy nuance matters—and why refusing false binaries is not the same as defending dictatorsHow white discomfort gets mislabeled as “lack of safety”Why joking about colonization isn’t harmless (and what listening actually looks like)What it means to be able to critique U.S. actions without claiming expertise over other nationsRESOURCE: Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing They also wrestle in real time with fear, grief, learning out loud, and the possibility that America’s increasing global isolation may be both terrifying and inevitable. This conversation isn’t tidy. It’s not optimistic. But it is honest—and rooted in the belief that refusing empire starts with telling the truth about it. Next episode preview: Becky and Taina shift gears (a little) to talk about Sinners and One Battle After Another during awards season—with opinions they already know won’t be universally loved. 🎤 WE'RE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

    40 min
  8. Why “New Year, New You” Is Oppressive (And What to Do Instead)

    JAN 5

    Why “New Year, New You” Is Oppressive (And What to Do Instead)

    New year, same b******t? In this first episode of the year, Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown tear into the pressure cooker that is “New Year, New You”—and why it’s a capitalist scam designed to make you feel broken so someone else can profit. They talk honestly about aging, bodies, wrinkles, weight loss drugs, and the impossible beauty standards women are asked to carry—especially as hyper-thin culture makes its deeply unwelcomed comeback. Becky and Taina reflect on what it means to age in public, to feel tenderness toward softness, greys, and change, and to reject the idea that looking older is a personal failure. The conversation also widens to business: the pressure to “start fresh” every January, the myth of endless growth, and the exhausting reality that there is no finish line—just maintenance, repetition, and showing up again. They share how they’re approaching the year differently: slower, more collaboratively, more honestly, and more in tune with their actual capacity. This episode is a permission slip to stop reinventing yourself on capitalism’s timeline and start listening to your own body, rhythms, and seasons instead. 🎤 WE ARE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

    40 min
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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 ...?

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