This week’s episode goes straight for the tender spots—disability, guilt, surrender, messy healing, cultural expectations, accountability, and, yes… Beyoncé. It’s one of those conversations that reminds you why we started this show in the first place: to tell the truth about being human in a world that keeps demanding performance.

Taina opens with a vulnerable (and infuriatingly relatable) mess about navigating life with a disability while recovering from intense medical trauma, and the complicated guilt that comes with needing care instead of giving it. Becky names what’s underneath it all: grief for the life we thought we’d have. What follows is a wide-open, nuanced conversation about surrender, agency, capitalism’s lies about productivity, and the lifelong work of unlearning parentification.

From there, we spiral beautifully into:

• What accountability actually looks like (BD Wong, RF Kuang, publishing vs. Hollywood power, and why identity + industry shape what’s possible)
• How nuance gets flattened on the internet, and why that harms marginalized people most
• Jay-Z and Beyoncé attending a Brandy concert and the absolutely chaotic discourse about whether they “should” have said hi (Ray J… buddy… please log off)
• Spotify Wrapped: joy, community, surveillance capitalism, FOMO, manipulation, and why we’ll still post ours anyway
• The ways pop culture reveals our own longing to belong—and the pressure to be ethically perfect inside systems built on exploitation

It’s tender. It’s political. It’s petty. It’s deeply liberatory. In other words: peak Messy Liberation.

🎤 WE'RE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

We didn't record a new show this week, but we're happy to share this episode of The Empowered & Embodied Show with Taina Brown. It's so good! Enjoy!

This week’s episode of Messy Liberation is exactly what the name promises: deeply human, a little chaotic, politically charged, creatively fueled, and threaded with the kind of vulnerability most people only share with their therapist.

Becky opens up about the messy joy and stomach-turning self-doubt of writing her first book — including imposter syndrome, fears of co-opting liberatory work, the ethics of citation, and the tension between wanting to be seen and fearing the inevitable rejection that visibility invites.

Then Taina dives into her own mess: the viral rumor about Donald Trump allegedly performing a sexual act on Bill Clinton (yes, really), the cultural fallout, the misogyny underneath homophobia, and the horrifying normalization of sexual violence in politics and media.

It’s an episode that moves from book-writing anxiety… to Brene Brown… to Epstein… to consent… to cult dynamics… to “underage women” as a media phrase… to slow-burn lesbian jokes… to the existential absurdity of trying to hold nuance in a collapsing empire.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• The behind-the-scenes process of writing Becky’s liberatory business book
• Imposter syndrome, power, privilege, and the fear of getting it wrong
• The ethics of citation, accountability, and writing through a white lens
• Why visibility feels both intoxicating and terrifying
• How to engage in liberatory work without replicating harm
• The alleged Trump/Clinton sexual scandal and why it’s blowing up online
• Misogyny, homophobia, femininity-as-weakness, and power dynamics
• Why the phrase “underage women” is a dangerous media trap
• The GOP’s terrifying attempt to normalize sexual violence
• Laughing at the absurdity as a survival strategy
• Updates from last week’s messes (the school-board situation + relationship boundaries)
• The difference between mess that moves us forward and mess that destroys democracy

Resources + Mentions

• "Emergent Strategy" by adrienne maree brown
• The Messy Liberation Coaches Circle

🎤 Proud members of The Feminist Podcasters Collective; join us if you have a podcast at http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

In this week’s episode, Becky and Taina dive straight into the deep end of real-life mess: school-district politics, equity vs. “equality,” the exhausting reality of advocating inside systems designed to fail kids, and the tender, complicated terrain of queer marriage, desire, and boundaries. This one is personal, raw, a little chaotic, and very us.

Becky shares what it’s like preparing to speak at a school board meeting about inequitable resource distribution in her son’s district — while naming the discomfort of doing that work as a white parent in a predominantly white room. Then Taina opens up about the complexities of being pansexual, married to a lesbian wife, and navigating attraction, boundaries, and emotional intimacy when your partner is also your best friend.

In This Episode, We Discuss:
• The messy reality of advocating for equity in a school system still clinging to “equal” funding
• Why diversity in schools matters — and what’s at risk when privileged families leave
• The tension of being a group of white moms pushing for equity without falling into saviorism
• How to strategically communicate about equity in political spaces
• The emotional labor of teachers and staff in under-resou🎤rced schools
• Taina’s coming-out journey, late blooming, and the truth about queer identity development
• What happens when you marry the first person you date (and why that’s not the red flag people think it is)
• Navigating attraction, boundaries, and “is this appropriate to say to my wife?” moments
• Why partners cannot and should not be expected to meet every emotional need
• Cheesecake, green beans, and other metaphors we’ll never be able to forget

🎤 Proud members of the Feminist Podcasters Collective — join us at: https://feministpodcasterscollective.com

This week, Becky and Taina sit down with client experience designer and “business cousin” Portia Michele Osumaré for a liberatory conversation about the beauty of being “messy”—and why it’s not something to fix. Together they explore what it means to live outside the boxes that capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy build for us.

From being multi-hyphenate creatives to dismantling productivity culture, this conversation dives into queerness, control, and community—and how letting yourself be delightfully, unapologetically human can actually make your work (and your joy) more sustainable.

Portia reminds us that liberation isn’t theoretical; it’s something we practice every day—in our businesses, our relationships, and even the way we talk about money, success, and each other.

Connect with Portia:

• The Business Cousins Collective
• Follow Portia on Instagram

Discussed in this episode:

• Redefining “messy” as freedom, not failure
• The power of multi-hyphenate creativity
• Queerness as a practice of expansion and self-creation
• How control, order, and “clean” systems uphold oppression
• Building liberatory business models rooted in joy and humanity
• Community as a messy, necessary space for collective growth

Resources mentioned:

• Lucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me”
• Maya Angelou, “Be a rainbow in someone’s cloud”
• Ocean Vuong on how being queer saved his life

🎤 WE’RE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

Becky and Taina try something new in this episode—a looser, more conversational format inspired by their friends from BRB, Crying. Each host brings a “messy situation” to unpack together.

Taina starts with a real-life scare: police chasing a man through her backyard in Baltimore. The conversation unfolds into a raw discussion about policing, white conditioning, racialized fear, and what “abolish the police” really means. Together, they pull apart the myths of “good cops” and community safety, tracing policing back to its roots in slavery and exploring what real care-centered community safety could look like.

Then Becky brings her own messy topic: a threads debate about whether all landlords are unethical. As a small-scale landlord herself, she wrestles with her own complicity in a capitalist system while still trying to do right by her tenant. The pair examine how housing, like policing, reflects deeper systemic issues—and why nuance matters when we talk about ethics and liberation.

The conversation winds into reflections on whiteness, masculinity, and how even our attempts to “opt out” of oppressive systems (like calling yourself a “non-practicing white”) can be another form of avoidance. This one is layered, uncomfortable, and exactly the kind of conversation Messy Liberation is built for.

🧠 Themes

• The conditioning of fear and trust around policing
• How racialized power shows up even in “liberal” white responses
• The difference between policing and community accountability
• Ethical gray areas in housing and capitalism
• Why abolition is about care, not chaos
• Reckoning with privilege, whiteness, and the myth of neutrality

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Designer Terrence Williams
• The BRB, Crying podcast

🎤 WE ARE PROUD MEMBFRS OF THE FEMINIST PODCAST COLLECTIVE

Becky and Taina are joined by fitness coach Laura Thomas for a brutally honest conversation about body image, aging, and what it really means to feel at home in your body.

They unpack how diet culture is a tool of patriarchy and capitalism, how the “male gaze” shapes even the most “empowering” wellness trends, and how we can start to reclaim movement as a way to care for ourselves rather than control ourselves.

This episode invites all of us, especially those socialized as women, to stop outsourcing our worth and start listening to our bodies again

Discussed in this episode:

• Why gyms can feel unsafe (and how to reclaim movement on your own terms)
• How diet culture and anti-fatness are rooted in anti-Blackness
• Decentering men and re-defining beauty on your own terms
• The emotional labor of unlearning body shame
• How patriarchy, racism, and capitalism keep us disconnected from our bodies
• Why movement is resistance, not punishment

Resources mentioned:

• “Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia” by Sabrina Strings
• “The Body Liberation Project” by Chrissy King
• “The Body Is Not an Apology” by Sonya Renee Taylor
• “Why Does Patriarchy Persist?” by Carol Gilligan and Naomi Snider
• “More Than a Body: Your Body Is an Instrument, Not an Ornament” by Lindsay and Lexie Kite

💪 Learn More About Laura Thomas

• Website: laurathomasfitness.com
• Instagram: @laurathomasfitness

🎤 PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

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Coaching can feel like a solo sport, but it doesn’t have to!

Join Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown for a free live workshop on October 30th at 2 p.m. ET where we’ll explore what it really takes to grow as a coach rooted in liberation, not just business.

🌟 In this session, you’ll learn:

• What liberation can look like for you and your clients
• The 3 essentials every coach needs for a sustainable, liberatory practice
• How community can fuel your growth with fresh ideas, accountability, and support

This isn’t just another workshop—it’s a doorway into deeper connection with coaches who share your values.

👉 Reserve your free spot today: https://evt.to/eodmahasw

(If you can’t make it live, sign up anyway—replay will be available!)

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What happens when two podcasts built on honesty, healing, and humor come together?

In this special crossover between Messy Liberation and brb crying, Becky and Taina sit down with Angela (“Nins”) and Ariana (“Arns”), lifelong best friends and co-hosts of brb crying, for a heartfelt, hilarious, and deeply real conversation about what it means to feel your feelings in a world that rewards suppression.

They unpack why crying is a radical act of self-trust, how vulnerability is a muscle that takes practice, and what it looks like to de-armor yourself in a culture that treats emotions like weakness. They also talk about creative rebirth through fan fiction (yes, really), the burnout cycle of podcasting, and how anti-capitalist rest practices can help us find joy again.

This one’s equal parts therapy session, slumber party, and masterclass in liberation.

Check out brb, crying:
Website: https://www.brbcryingpodcast.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brbcrying.podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB3O5-2SWBN4AYpb061iipg

Discussed in this episode:

• The power of crying as emotional liberation
• Why vulnerability is a practice — not a personality trait
• Creative healing through fan fiction and rediscovering joy
• The burnout cycle of podcasting under capitalism
• Safety, embodiment, and learning to feel at home in your body
• The balance between vulnerability and humor
• Partnership, community, and the importance of feeling seen
• Rest and joy as acts of resistance
• Human Design, astrology, and honoring your energy type
• Releasing capitalist urgency and redefining success

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