Feminist Founders Subscriber-Only Podcast
from Becky Mollenkamp
Power With, Not Power Over: A Practice for Decolonizing Your Business
In this solo episode, Faith Clarke reflects on a transformative training she attended—and uses it as a jumping-off point for a powerful exploration of what it means to build businesses rooted in withness. From decolonizing business practices to nurturing trust and community, Faith offers a grounding yet provocative meditation on how feminist founders can shift from "doing for" to "doing with" in both client and team relationships. This one is an intimate invitation to examine where power, hierarchy, and fear still linger in our systems—and how to lovingly shift toward co-creation, accountability, and healing.
Discussed in this episode:
- What decolonizing work really looks like in business
- A new lens for leadership: Doing with vs. Doing for
- Why co-creation is essential for equitable client and team relationships
- How supremacist systems are baked into even our spreadsheets
- The importance of micro-shifts toward our bigger vision
- Navigating the fear and trauma that make “withness” hard
- Community and accountability as tools for liberation
- Trust-building and trust repair as essential leadership skills
Referenced Resources:
- Dr. Giovanni Washington’s definition of decolonization: "Decolonization is a process of healing the ruptures created by dominant or colonial ways of knowing and being. Decolonization is a return… to the old ways, to the mysteries, to the comfort of beginner’s mind and a return to right relationship with Mother Earth."
- Rupa Maya's flowchart of colonization