show episodes
 
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’r ...
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show series
 
In our prologue, we met Jennifer Saminathen on the eve of yoga teacher training. What became of her? In this episode, we find out Jennifer’s next steps — and also hear from two previous guests about their decision to leave wellness entrepreneurship behind. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/bodybrandpod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri…
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Buckle up, because we’ve reached the final episode of the podcast wherein we ask: what does it mean to do helping work in the context of a capitalist society? Wellness entrepreneurship seems to promise to make health into wealth — but what about the other helping professions? In this episode we look at David Graeber’s theory of Bullshit Jobs,* Davi…
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When we start a diet or a fitness program, we often ask others to hold us accountable. When we launch a brand or start a business, we often feel accountable to our audience and customers. What does all of that accountability mean, when we consider it in a neoliberal framework? In this episode, we look at economies of visibility and ask what whether…
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If you’re listening to this podcast, you’ve probably heard the word “neoliberalism” before. Most of us only have a vague concept of what that means — I certainly did when I started this project. But to understand wellness entrepreneurship, we need to understand neoliberal economics — and neoliberal feminism — and how it shapes our ideas about who w…
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What drives women into multilevel marketing is the same thing that drives women into wellness entrepreneurship writ large. While MLM has codified a certain business model, wellness entrepreneurship requires the same level of commitment, often for the same slim chance at payoff. Yet the women who remain optimistic about this business model must have…
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A brief word to add some context, and ensure that the audience is aware that 1) being a guest on this podcast doesn't imply endorsement of the context I've added around the pieces of the interviews I've chosen to include, 2) this is cultural criticism and not investigative journalism, which means that I'm using narrative to contextualize something …
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When we talk about wellness entrepreneurship, it’s hard to ignore the pyramid-shaped elephant in the room: multilevel marketing. MLM or network marketing gets plenty of time in the media, but instead of just talking about why the actual system is good or bad, we’re going to ask: why do women join them in the first place? I approached these intervie…
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When professional brand takes over personal life, performing your branded self can feel like a life-or-death proposition. In this episode, we continue our look at the pitfalls of engaging in what Brooke Erin Duffy calls “aspirational labor,” and we examine the factors that keep us trapped in a performance of success, even when it leads to failure. …
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Not every health coaching program starts or ends with an eating disorder — but that doesn’t mean that most forays into wellness entrepreneurship leads to fame, fortune, and a cookbook deal. In this episode, we’ll look at how, branding becomes a performance and, as Pace Smith puts it, a “cage with the bars labeled freedom.” Support this show http://…
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Are you religious about your workouts? A fanatic about nutrition? Do you consider yourself a clean eater or try to stay “good" about your fitness? While it’s funny to joke about Crossfit or veganism being a “cult,” have you ever stopped to really consider the intersections of religion and food? And what happens when your religious fervor gets tied …
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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 strea…
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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/bo…
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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 "masculin…
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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…
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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 th…
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