The Subtext: Multi-Level Marketing

Let’s talk about the billion-dollar industry that turns friendship into a sales funnel, and women into its favorite target. They show up in your DMs with compliments before they show up with a pitch. They promise community, purpose, and financial freedom. But behind the glossy before-and-afters and the "girl boss" energy, multi-level marketing companies have a darker history, and a devastatingly predictable math. This week, Savannah and Lee trace the origins of MLMs from a vitamin salesman in the 1930s all the way to your Instagram inbox, unpack why women have always been the primary target, and ask the harder questions: what happens when community gets weaponized for profit, and what does it mean that 99% of recruits lose money, and keep recruiting anyway? Things we mentioned in this episode: Strangers by Belle Burden Savannah's new album Songs of Peace in Times of War Apple Music | Spotify Humoresque by Antonín Dvořák AI Series on No Small Endeavor releases on April 6th! Follow The Subtext: Instagram | Threads | X | YouTube | TikTok Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter | Lee's Newsletter Follow Savannah: Instagram | Substack Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices