A bracing tour of "Business Truths that Feminists Can't Ignore",
plus strategies for working through them.

Over the past decade of teaching entrepreneurs, I've been keeping a list of all the things that entrepreneurs would rather not hear me say. There are certain truths about business, whether it's "business as usual", values-driven business, or feminist business, that no business -- no matter how revolutionary -- can avoid. We ignore these truths at our peril.

In this workshop, we'll take stock of a dozen of these business truths. And, we'll strategize how to deal with them in feminist ways so that we and our businesses flourish.

==> This session will be held from 12 ET to 1:30 ET in Toronto & New York// in London 7-8:30 pm GMT // Vancouver 10 am-11:30 AM <==

Tickets available on Eventbrite

Overview

To create business-as-revolution, we imagine that we can and will need to change everything about business-as-usual. And, when people tell us we can't change these things about business, we scoff and think to ourselves "yeah, right". We actually have to believe we can change almost everything about business-as-usual, or else we wouldn't question the status quo enough.

And yet... and yet... there are some things about starting a business, running a business, making a product or service, creating a team of coworkers, designing work processes, paying folks, procuring resources, and even meeting basic legal requirements that we simply can't change. (And, I'm not even sure we would change them if we could. That might be fun to talk about too.)

We'll grapple with these truths together, and then figure out ways that we can work with them (or around them, or in sprite of them) to build our businesses.

My intent is not for you to leave with all the answers, but rather for you to have a richer, more detailed map of the business challenges facing feminists. With this map, you'll craft a better way forward for your business.

Who this workshop is for:

This workshop is for entrepreneurs and startup teams who want to create revolutionary businesses and want to explore some business basics in a context where their resistance to conventional business-as-usual won't be treated as naive. Instead, their resistance will be welcomed, acknowledged, and cared for.

This workshop will also be helpful for business coaches, startup mentors, and other teachers who want insight into the myths and assumptions that might hold back the visionary entrepreneurs they aim to serve. When you are aware of what some entrepreneurs might want to ignore you'll be able to help them better.

Participants should have a firm commitment to challenging the ideas I’ll share with your own lived experiences. You should feel ready and willing to look at these issues critically and personalize their implications for yourself and your business.

Finally, participants should feel comfortable with the idea that the workshop will not cover everything that’s important to know about business and feminisms. Every concept that’s included will be important, but not every important concept/ conversation will be included.

This workshop will work best for folx who are comfortable with saying that they advocate for a radically inclusive feminism (think "not White" or "not Lean-In") and who believe that feminist businesses are possible. This workshop will work best for folx who want to experiment with feminist business practices.

Conversely, people who are uncomfortable with the idea of creating imperfectly, prefiguratively feminist businesses right now to help us transition to a feminist future, or people who are unconformable with the challenges of finding ways to work differently within our current capitalist system may find that this workshop is not for them.

Our Approach

This workshop will follow a (more) feminist pedagogical approach. Although much of our time together will be me talking and using slides (with only a few small group conversations and exercises) I don’t want to call this a ‘webinar’ because webinars are framed too much on the one-sided, ‘banking model’ of learning and that’s not how I see this unfolding. I invite you to (and assume that you will) engage actively, not only during the workshop but also after the session. Rather than expecting you to “grab ideas and go”, you’re invited to dwell, muse, consider, and question. Even if I’m talking a lot.

Expectations

• Before the session, I’ll ask you to answer a few questions about your interests so that I can shape the emphasis of the session.

• At the start of our time together, I’ll ask you to review, possibly modify, and then agree to a set of group participation norms.

• I’ll also ask you to share with me, anonymously, your feedback about the process of the session and your reflections on the content of the session.

• Finally, I’ll invite you to consider a few private “take home” reflection questions to build your own wisdom.

The ticket order form will ask you to agree to these expectations. If they don't work for you, please email me at cv@feministsatwork.com.

Tickets available on Eventbrite

Feminist Ticketing Tiers

As part of our exploration of feminist pricing strategies, we'll be using a tiered ticket format.

• The Steadfast Ticket is for folx who are financially secure and covers the cost of your participation.

• The Supporters Ticket is for folx who are able to contribute, beyond the cost of your own ticket, to add funds to the Community-Resourced Ticket Pool.

• The Solidarity Ticket is for folx with limited financial resources; your tickets will be supported by the community and by CV.

Currently, 20% of anticipated tickets are available at the Solidarity level. I'm starting with a target of 10 folks signing up, so this would include 2 Solidarity tickets. More will be added as/if the workshop signups grow.

Community Members -- Finally, folks who are already members of the Feminist Enterprise Commons (FEC), PowerBitches, and We Are The Culture Makers can get 20% off their ticket, using a code I will post on the event listings/ blog posts in each of these communities.

Caveats:

I’ll be drawing on insights from the Lean Startup (Eric Ries) and Running Lean (Ash Maurya) approaches to business-b(Er8cuilding , along with insights from the work of Barb Orser and Catherine Elliot on feminist entrepreneurship. I’ll also draw on what I’ve been learning with my entrepreneurial feminist community, particularly my conversations with Kelly Diels and Petra Kassun-Mutch. That said, much of the material I will share will be new, experimental exposition. You will not have heard this all before.

This workshop will be focused on business ideas emerging from an assortment of progressive business movements (e.g., B Corp, Purpose-led, Evergreen, Social Value, Donut Economics, Indigenomics, Horizontalism, and more). I will do my best to document these influences with a list of references I'll share for your future learning. I will also draw on feminist ideas emerging from an Anglophone, North American conversation, including intersectional feminisms, Black feminisms, and materialist feminisms.

Although I’ll be speaking from my academic expertise and taking the role of a scholar/teacher, I’m not planning to impose my views as though they are objective or the only relevant way to understand things. So that you know the constraints and boundary conditions on the perspectives I’ll be sharing, I’ll be sure to identify my own standpoint and positionality at the start of our time together. I'll also ask you to consider your own standpoint and positionality as you explore these ideas. And, I'll be sure to define standpoint and positionality to you know what I'm talking about and why it matters.

Media Consent

Recording: We will be recording portions of this workshop, and these recorded portions might be used in later workshops. Breakout room conversations will not be recorded. Only sections that feature CV speaking will be shared outside the actual session. By registering for this workshop, you understand and consent to the idea that your image and voice may be recorded. Your image in the Zoom gallery might appear later in video clips that CV shares, but your voice and personal comments will not be shared. If you have concerns about your image or voice being recorded for these purposes, please email cv@feministsatwork.com and we'll work something out.

Emails: Signing up for this class will automatically put you on the email list for the Feminism&Business newsletter, so that I can keep you up-to-date on issues and workshops. Know that you can unsubscribe at any time, and that I will keep your information private.

Because this session will have small group breakouts, and because I'd like participants to connect with each other, the order form will ask you to confirm that you'll share your email contact information with other participants.

Please email me at cv@feministsatwork.com if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.