CALLING ALL COACHES: What if your coaching practice felt sustainable, values-aligned, and deeply yours? Join feminist coaches Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown for a free workshop on Feb. 25th to learn 3 essentials for building a practice that lasts, and to draft your own liberatory coaching manifesto. Sign up at https://messyliberation.com/

In this episode, we unpack a real-time messy situation that started with a classroom conversation about language, and quickly spiraled into social media backlash, reflection, and deeper questions about responsibility. We explore the difference between calling in and calling out, why language matters when teaching history, and what it looks like when people respond to feedback with humility. Along the way, we talk about parenting, educator accountability, online criticism, and the ongoing work of holding nuance in public conversations, plus a lighter detour into Olympic drama and what it reveals about pressure, humanity, and expectations.

Discussed in this episode:

• A messy moment: reaching out to a teacher about language
• When social media amplifies conflict
• Calling in vs public accountability
• Why “enslaved people” vs “slaves” matters
• Black history as shared history and responsibility
• Educator responses and learning in public
• Navigating trolls and criticism
• Emotional maturity, pressure, and public scrutiny
• Olympics tangent: performance, humanity, and expectations
• Invitation to practice nuance in hard conversations

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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

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 means
• How coaching can unintentionally reinforce harmful systems
• Why phrases like “limiting beliefs” and “we all have the same 24 hours” can cause harm
• The role of identity, power, and privilege in coaching spaces
• Why community is essential to sustainable coaching work
• What a Liberatory Coaching Manifesto is — and why you’ll build one
• How to practice coaching without gatekeeping or hustle culture
• Why this work can’t be done alone

Build Your Liberatory Coaching Manifesto (free, live workshop)

• February 25 at 12pm Eastern on Zoom
• Replay available only to those who sign up

Sign-up for free at messyliberation.com.

🎤 PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/