Privilege As A Tool For Change With Vivienne Miles Feminist Founders podcast

Privilege as a Tool for Change with Vivienne Miles

1M ago 1:07:11

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Vivienne Miles (she/her) doesn’t believe a traditional bio is authentic to who she came here to be. Instead, she shares experiences that don't define her, but that have given her a lens to see herself through and a foundation to define who she came here to be.

Childhood abuse.
An unplanned pregnancy at 20.
Sexual assault and physical abuse in her 20s.
An abortion at 30.
Another birth at 34.
A divorce at 22.
A bankruptcy, foreclosure, and car repossession.
$50,000+ in healthcare debt from depression and 12 suicide attempts before age 27.
A model who posed in Playboy ad used her sexuality as a currency for a decade.

Vivienne has grit and resiliency like no fucking other, but none of those things define who she is or how she interacts and engages in her life. With her Saturn Return, a giant beacon of light began to illuminate a path forward; one where she was no longer willing to tolerate abuse from boyfriends and addictions that kept her in low frequencies and shitty situations.

Her vocation might seem shallow, but it’s full of her heart and a love language of healing, connection and unapologetic love, which transcends the four walls of her Co-Op Movement and Social Club.

Website | Instagram

Discussed in this episode:

Vivienne’s relationship with feminism
The meaning of her company’s name, Co-Op Movement and Social Club
How Vivienne bought into diet culture early in life and eventually rejected it
The ways Co-Op is challenging diet culture norms in the fitness space
Why community is as important at Vivienne’s gym as movement
How Vivienne finds employees who share her values
The challenges of marketing a gym without shame-based approaches
The ways privilege plays into gym membership and participation
How ground-breaking it is to have a gym that isn’t focused on weight loss
The sustainability of her business model beyond her initial 5-year investment
Why her business isn’t a passion project or charitable endeavor, and the importance of making money
What helped Vivienne confront her privilege and set out to begin using it to create meaningful change
Vivienne’s abortion story
The journey from struggle to privilege and how the former inspired how Vivienne uses the latter
Her partner’s journey to feminism and supporting her vision

Resources mentioned:

Learn more about accountability coaching with host Becky Mollenkamp at https://beckymollenkamp.com

A full transcript of this interview is available at FeministFoundersPodcast.com

32 episodes

Childhood abuse.
An unplanned pregnancy at 20.
Sexual assault and physical abuse in her 20s.
An abortion at 30.
Another birth at 34.
A divorce at 22.
A bankruptcy, foreclosure, and car repossession.
$50,000+ in healthcare debt from depression and 12 suicide attempts before age 27.
A model who posed in Playboy ad used her sexuality as a currency for a decade.