Privilege as a Tool for Change with Vivienne Miles

Feminist Founders

Nikki the Death Doula

NOTE: Feminist Founders is a listener-funded podcast. Your contributions enable me to continue bringing you these important conversations. To support the mission, sign up for a paid Substack subscription at https://feministfounders.substack.com/
---------

Vivienne Miles (she/her) doesn’t believe a traditional bio is authentic to who she came here to be. Instead, she shares experiences that don't define her, but that have given her a lens to see herself through and a foundation to define who she came here to be.

• Childhood abuse.
• An unplanned pregnancy at 20.
• Sexual assault and physical abuse in her 20s.
• An abortion at 30.
• Another birth at 34.
• A divorce at 22.
• A bankruptcy, foreclosure, and car repossession.
• $50,000+ in healthcare debt from depression and 12 suicide attempts before age 27.
• A model who posed in Playboy ad used her sexuality as a currency for a decade.

Vivienne has grit and resiliency like no fucking other, but none of those things define who she is or how she interacts and engages in her life. With her Saturn Return, a giant beacon of light began to illuminate a path forward; one where she was no longer willing to tolerate abuse from boyfriends and addictions that kept her in low frequencies and shitty situations.

Her vocation might seem shallow, but it’s full of her heart and a love language of healing, connection and unapologetic love, which transcends the four walls of her Co-Op Movement and Social Club.

Website | Instagram

Discussed in this episode:

• Vivienne’s relationship with feminism
• The meaning of her company’s name, Co-Op Movement and Social Club
• How Vivienne bought into diet culture early in life and eventually rejected it
• The ways Co-Op is challenging diet culture norms in the fitness space
• Why community is as important at Vivienne’s gym as movement
• How Vivienne finds employees who share her values
• The challenges of marketing a gym without shame-based approaches
• The ways privilege plays into gym membership and participation
• How ground-breaking it is to have a gym that isn’t focused on weight loss
• The sustainability of her business model beyond her initial 5-year investment
• Why her business isn’t a passion project or charitable endeavor, and the importance of making money
• What helped Vivienne confront her privilege and set out to begin using it to create meaningful change
• Vivienne’s abortion story
• The journey from struggle to privilege and how the former inspired how Vivienne uses the latter
• Her partner’s journey to feminism and supporting her vision

Resources mentioned:

• Podcast Abundance with Virginia Elder
• Jessamyn Stanley on Instagram
• “Loving What Is” by Byron Katie
• “Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle
• AimWell Kids in Kansas City
• Debonie Lewis at Co-Op KC
• The Loveland Foundation from Rachel Cargle

Learn more about accountability coaching with host Becky Mollenkamp at https://beckymollenkamp.com

A full transcript of this interview is available at FeministFoundersPodcast.com