Privilege as a Tool for Change with Vivienne Miles

Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/NOTE: Feminist Founders is a listener-funded podcast. Your contributions enable me to continue bringing you these important conversations. To support the mission, sign up for a paid Substack subscription at https://feministfounders.substack.com/ ---------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 |  InstagramDiscussed in this episode:Vivienne’s relationship with feminismThe meaning of her company’s name, Co-Op Movement and Social ClubHow Vivienne bought into diet culture early in life and eventually rejected itThe ways Co-Op is challenging diet culture norms in the fitness spaceWhy community is as important at Vivienne’s gym as movementHow Vivienne finds employees who share her valuesThe challenges of marketing a gym without shame-based approachesThe ways privilege plays into gym membership and participationHow ground-breaking it is to have a gym that isn’t focused on weight lossThe sustainability of her business model beyond her initial 5-year investmentWhy her business isn’t a passion project or charitable endeavor, and the importance of making moneyWhat helped Vivienne confront her privilege and set out to begin using it to create meaningful changeVivienne’s abortion storyThe journey from struggle to privilege and how the former inspired how Vivienne uses the latterHer partner’s journey to feminism and supporting her visionResources mentioned:Podcast Abundance with Virginia ElderJessamyn Stanley on Instagram“Loving What Is” by Byron Katie“Power of Now” by Eckhart TolleAimWell Kids in Kansas CityDebonie Lewis at Co-Op KCThe Loveland Foundation from Rachel CargleLearn more about accountability coaching with host Becky Mollenkamp at https://beckymollenkamp.comA full transcript of this interview is available at FeministFoundersPodcast.com