Some days aren’t fixable. They aren’t mindset problems. They aren’t invitations to “reframe.” They’re just heavy, painful, vulnerable days—and pretending otherwise only makes them worse.
In this episode, Becky and Taina talk honestly about what it looks like to live inside a bad day instead of trying to hustle your way out of it. From chronic pain and perimenopause to caregiving, grief, financial stress, and the impossible emotional math of deciding when it’s time to let go, this conversation holds the mess without trying to clean it up too fast.
This is an episode about asking for help when it feels like failure. About how self-gaslighting drains more energy than rest ever could. About the quiet power of naming your limits—and letting them be real.
If you’re feeling raw, overwhelmed, or stretched thin right now, this one’s for you.
In this episode, we talk about:
• Why some days can’t be “turned around” without doing more harm
• Chronic pain, perimenopause, and the emotional toll of living in a body that hurts
• The vulnerability hangover that comes after creating something meaningful
• How comparison and money talk can activate shame—even in values-aligned spaces
• Why asking for help can feel like failure, concession, or loss of power
• Parenting, partnership, and the guilt of needing rest
• Caregiving grief: loving someone (or a pet) while knowing the end is coming
• The impossible responsibility of deciding when to say goodbye
• Avoidance, coping, and why comfort isn’t the same thing as denial
• Letting a day be bad—and why that can actually prevent a spiral
If today feels heavy, you’re not broken—and you’re definitely not alone. Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is call it a bad day, ask for help, and let yourself rest without earning it.
🎧 Messy Liberation is a proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective, supporting independent, values-aligned shows and the people who make them. Learn more at: https://feministpodcasterscollective.com
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:
It’s tender. It’s political. It’s petty. It’s deeply liberatory. In other words: peak Messy Liberation.
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:
Resources + Mentions
🎤 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:
Discussed in this episode:
Resources mentioned:
🎤 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
🔗 Resources Mentioned
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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:
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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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:
Resources mentioned:
💪 Learn More About Laura Thomas
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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:
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:
🎤 PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCAST COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/
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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:
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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In this fiery, messy conversation, Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown dive headfirst into celebrity culture, capitalism’s endless hunger, and the idea of enough. What started as a chat about Taylor Swift’s latest grift spirals—naturally—into reflections on fascism, fire-hose overwhelm, and why local action matters more than ever.
They talk about:
• Why celebrity “side hustles” and billionaire branding keep us chasing more
• How capitalism turns “enough” into failure
• The illusion of American exceptionalism and what fascism actually looks like
• Why your local school board might matter more than Congress
• What iteration (not hustle) really means for liberation
• How collective care—and choosing one or two issues you actually have energy for—is the real resistance
Resource mentioned:
• Deepa Iyer’s Social Change Ecosystem Map
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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:
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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👉 On October 9, 2025, Feminist Founders is hosting The Weight We Carry, a free, focus-group-style conversation on invisible labor. We’ll share stories, hold space, and imagine what collective relief might look like. And your stories will directly shape a white paper we’re writing to push this issue into wider conversations where it belongs. ✨ Reserve your free spot here
In this episode of Messy Liberation, Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown are joined by their dear friend and collaborator Faith Clarke. Faith is a workplace culture strategist who challenges extractive systems and works to build restorative, liberatory environments rooted in belonging.
Together, the three dig into what “belonging” really means—not as a buzzword, but as an embodied experience of communal care, shared responsibility, and accountability. Faith shares stories from her corporate and nonprofit experiences, connects belonging to invisible labor, and explains why true belonging requires honesty about what spaces can and can’t hold.
This is a conversation about work, family, faith, identity, power, and the hard truth that belonging isn’t something leaders “create”—it’s something communities must practice together.
In this episode, we discuss:
🎤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:
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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Becky’s sick, Taina’s tired, and somehow that makes for the best kind of messy conversation. From writing smut to why summer feels like winter, this grab bag episode runs the gamut of sex, TV, astrology, and systemic injustice.
Discussed in this episode:
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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:
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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THIS IS FOR COACHES (or anyone who uses coaching skills)...
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:
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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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:
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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This week, Becky and Taina cut through the noise—what “compromise” really means in a deeply divided America. Triggered by Jerry Greenfield’s exit from Ben & Jerry’s, Tad Stoermer’s critique of liberal nationalism, and the recent killing of Charlie Kirk, we unpack how stories are told, how power is preserved, and who gets to be the “martyr.”
We talk about:
This is a heavy one. We name the fear, the grief, and the hope in imagining a future beyond duct-tape solutions. And, as always, we find a little levity at the end (Cardi B, Beyoncé, and witchy weekends).
Resources Mentioned:
Death isn’t something most of us are taught to face with honesty, compassion, or ritual. In this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown sit down with Nikki Smith, The Death Doula, to explore what it means to navigate dying, grief, and collective loss with more humanity.
Nikki shares how her personal experiences with loss led her to become a death doula and grief coach, and why she believes grief doesn’t have to suck. Together, we talk about how our culture fails us in grief (three days of bereavement leave? really?), the myths of the “stages of grief,” what collective grief looks like in moments like COVID and global injustice, and why rituals matter.
We also touch on end-of-life dignity, hospice care, and what Nikki has learned about her own mortality from walking alongside others in their final days. This conversation is real, tender, and surprisingly hopeful—it’s about love, legacy, and finding joy even in the hardest moments.
If you’ve ever felt alone in your grief, questioned how to support someone through loss, or wondered what it means to prepare for your own death, this episode will meet you right where you are.
Discussed in this episode:
Resources:
What does it mean to rest in a world that’s constantly demanding more from us—and why is rest such an essential part of resistance?
In this episode, Becky and Taina sit down with Jordan Maney (aka The Radical Joy Coach) to talk about rest as resistance, how to distinguish between anger and rage, and why “rest so you can rage” is a mantra worth remembering.
Together they unpack:
Jordan reminds us that rest isn’t an excuse to check out. It’s a strategy for sustaining ourselves in the long fight against oppressive systems. Without it, burnout wins.
If you’ve ever felt guilty about slowing down, or wondered how to balance caring for yourself while also showing up for justice, this episode will leave you with a radical new lens on why rest isn’t optional—it’s part of the work.
Jordan Maney is The Radical Joy Coach and the host of Rest Lab podcast. She helps “bleeding hearts”—people who deeply give a damn—center rest, joy, and care in their lives as an act of resistance.
Resources & Links
🎤 PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE
Becky and Taina sit down with Tiana Dodson, a body liberation facilitator who helps people reconnect with their bodies, destigmatize fatness, and confront the oppressive systems that keep us at war with ourselves.
Together, we dig into the messy, nuanced truths about body liberation: what it really means beyond “body positivity,” why loving your body isn’t always possible (or required), and how systemic oppression—not personal failure—shapes our relationships with our bodies.
Tiana shares her four-step framework for body liberation—education, reframing, resilience/self-care, and advocacy—and we talk about the real-life challenges of living in a fat body in a fatphobic, racist, capitalist culture. This conversation unpacks how liberation isn’t a destination but an ongoing practice of resistance, reclamation, and joy.
Discussed in this episode:
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Tiana Dodson:
This week on Messy Liberation, Becky and Taina dive headfirst into the chaos of U.S. politics, personal rights under threat, and the culture wars playing out in real time. From the militarization of D.C. to the looming Supreme Court cases threatening Obergefell, they unpack how Project 2025 is already reshaping daily life and why “just wait and see” isn’t an option when democracy is on the line.
They also get personal: what it means to feel unsafe in your own country, how queer couples are already strategizing to protect their families, and why pride flags signal more safety than American flags these days.
And because no episode is complete without calling out cultural contradictions, Becky and Taina take on Taylor Swift and the problem with white feminism. Can you enjoy the music while still holding celebrities accountable for their choices? Absolutely—but ignoring privilege and power isn’t an option.
It’s a heated, unfiltered conversation. If you’re activated by it, you’re not alone—just don’t forget to take care of your nervous system afterward.
Discussed in This Episode:
Misogyny isn’t just something “other people” do. In this conversation, Becky and Taina unpack the invisible ways it shows up in our language, our friendships, our relationships, and even inside ourselves.
From judging women for wearing too much makeup to men who call women “females,” we explore the sneaky red flags we’ve normalized. And we get real about the internalized misogyny we all carry, even as feminists.
We also talk about gay male culture borrowing from Black women, the emotional labor of womanhood, and why calling women “crazy” is more dangerous than it sounds. This episode is a gut-check for anyone raised inside patriarchal systems (so, all of us).
If you’ve ever wondered “Am I being too hard on other women?” or “Why do I feel unsafe in rooms full of women who all look alike?”—this one’s for you.
Here's Becky's Thread that prompted this episode
Discussed in This Episode:
Polyamory isn’t what you think it is. In this episode of Messy Liberation, we sit down with Frances Crusoe to talk about ethical non-monogamy, what it really looks like in practice, and how she navigates parenting, faith, and family while living a polyamorous life. We tackle misconceptions (no, it’s not all orgies), explore how jealousy really works, and dig into the radical idea that love isn’t a finite resource. If you’ve ever wondered how polyamory intersects with feminism, religion, and raising kids, this one’s for you.
Discussed in this episode:
• Frances’s journey from church life to polyamory
• The difference between polyamory, polygamy, and ethical non-monogamy
• How she talks to her kids about multiple partners
• Deconstructing jealousy and religious conditioning
• Why consent and communication are the cornerstone of poly relationships
• Polyamory myths and misconceptions (and what’s actually true)
• The intersection of feminism, faith, and love
Resource mentioned:
• “Opening Up” by Tristan Taormino: https://amzn.to/4mfzO2x
☀️ Join us in the Messy Liberation Coaches Circle: https://coaches.teachery.co/join
🎤 PROUD MEMBERS OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/