What if the way you've been told to run your business was never designed for you? Nicole sits down with feminist business coach, podcast host and author Becky Mollenkamp to unpack the capitalist conditioning most entrepreneurs carry without realizing it. They trace the through-line from toxic corporate workplaces to the inner boss we recreate in our own businesses, and ask the question that changes everything: what's enough for you?

Becky's new book, Liberate Your Business: A Radical Guide for Entrepreneurs Building Inside a Broken System, is the resource she wishes she'd had — one that honors the full complexity of building a values-aligned business inside a system that wasn't built for your humanity.

What's in the Show

• Becky's burnout story — rooted in emotional exhaustion, not overwork
• Why capitalist conditioning follows you into your own business
• The Hedonic Treadmill and why capitalism keeps moving the finish line
• Defining your own "enough" in money, hours, rest, and joy
• Consent-based marketing as an alternative to high-volume launch sequences
• How Becky used AI to finally write the book her ADHD brain couldn't organize alone
• Community-building as resistance — and embroidery as rest
• Becky lifts up: Transgender Law Center (transgenderlawcenter.org)

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Rest and Burnout

03:13 Becky's Journey with Burnout

08:58 Corporate Culture and Expectations of Creativity

12:04 The Cost of Doing Business: Burnout as Normal

15:03 Values and Rest: A Personal Reflection

17:03 Becky's Spiritual Grounding: Values-based living

21:02 Agency and Control in Our Lives

22:29 Bringing Capitalism into our work and businesses

31:04 Navigating Capitalism as Entrepreneurs

40:45 Rethinking Commerce and Relationships

43:35 Redefining Enough in a Capitalist Society

47:09 The Hedonic Treadmill and Its Impact on Happiness

49:29 The Privilege of Safety and Security

50:47 Finding Rest in a Demanding World

52:55 Building Community as Resistance

55:40 Empowering Rest Rebels

59:31 Supporting Trans Rights and Advocacy

01:00:16 Connecting with Becky and Her Work

Sources Mentioned

• Liberate Your Business by Becky Mollenkamp — available at beckymollenkamp.com/book
• Kelly Diels — feminist marketing educator, featured in Liberate Your Business https://kellydiels.com/
• Transgender Law Center — transgenderlawcenter.org

CONNECT WITH BECKY MOLLENKAMP

• Website: beckymollenkamp.com
• Threads: https://threads.com/@beckymollenkamp
• Substack: https://feministrants.substack.com/
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/beckymollenkamp

CONNECT WITH NICOLE HAVELKA:

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The Calm Calendar Club is a brain-friendly planning community for neurodivergent adults, ADHD minds, and sandwich-generation caregivers who are tired of systems that don’t fit real life. We help you build a flexible, values-based calendar that reduces chaos and protects your energy. This low-cost, community-based program is ready for you at defythetrend.com/calm-calendar.

Thank you to the people who helped make this show happen.

Send me a message via Speakpipe.

A proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.

What does faith have to do with reproductive justice — and what does either have to do with rest? Everything, it turns out. Nicole sits down with Elaina Ramsey, Executive Director of FaithChoice Ohio, an organization that elevates the moral power of faith communities for abortion justice and reproductive freedom in Ohio and beyond. Elaina shares her journey from fundamentalist evangelical to pro-faith, pro-choice advocate, and how that transformation shaped her understanding of bodily autonomy, mutual aid, and rest as a deeply spiritual practice. Whether you're navigating burnout in movement work or simply trying to stay human while doing hard things in the world, this episode is for you.

In this episode you'll hear:

• Elaina's journey from fundamentalist evangelical to pro-choice Christian reproductive justice advocate
• How a traumatic experience in college cracked open her thinking about bodily autonomy and led her to this work
• The difference between reproductive health care, reproductive rights and the broader reproductive justice framework — and why it matters
• How FaithChoice Ohio builds rest, grief and mutual aid into their organizational culture as a lived value
• Giving practical support for people accessing abortion care in Ohio including through the Jubilee Fund
• A "Dear Rest Rebels" message: what you freely give others — permission to rest, grieve and be human — is also a gift you can give yourself

Chapters List

00:00 Introduction to Change Makers and Rest

03:25 Time for a Deep Breath

04:33 Elaina's Journey from Evangelicalism to Advocacy

10:45 Outgrowing Evangelicalism is a lot like Burning Out

12:28 The Shift to Reproductive Justice

18:30 Christian Grounding for Rest

23:20 Grief, Lament, and Community Care

28:18 Creating a Culture of Rest in Organizations

31:18 Navigating Expectations in Nonprofit Work

35:01 Understanding Reproductive Justice

42:00 The Broader Implications of Reproductive Justice

44:56 Community Care and Mutual Aid

51:18 Empowering Rest and Self-Care

51:42 Dear Rest Rebels

53:33 Support FaithChoice Ohio

57:18 How to Find FaithChoice Ohio

CONNECT WITH ELAINA RAMSEY & FAITHCHOICE OHIO

• Website: faithchoiceohio.org
• Instagram: @FaithChoiceOhio
• Facebook: @FaithChoiceOhio
• Podcast: R-Soul https://www.faithchoiceohio.org/podcast

CONNECT WITH NICOLE HAVELKA:

Newsletter

LinkedIn

Work with Nicole

The Calm Calendar Club is a brain-friendly planning community for neurodivergent adults, ADHD minds, and sandwich-generation caregivers who are tired of systems that don’t fit real life. We help you build a flexible, values-based calendar that reduces chaos and protects your energy. This low-cost, community-based program is ready for you at defythetrend.com/calm-calendar.

Thank you to the people who helped make this show happen.

Send me a message via Speakpipe.

A proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.

Confession time: Nicole didn’t plan to do a solo episode in season one. But, here it is. In this honest and vulnerable episode, Nicole shares why the podcast briefly disappeared from your feed, what happens when real life collides with ambitious plans, and why sometimes the most humane thing we can do is let good enough be good enough. If you’ve ever felt behind, overwhelmed or like you “should” be doing more, this episode is your permission slip to slow down and focus on what actually matters.

In This Episode:

Why this unexpected solo episode happened
The hidden workload behind producing a podcast
How my computer dying derailed my January plans
Why winter (and life seasons) naturally slow us down
Letting go of perfection and embracing “good enough”
Building more humane systems for getting things done
What I’ve been working on behind the scenes
Why I’m still all-in on this podcast

Chapters:

00:00 Moment to Breathe
00:53 Why “Good Enough” Matters
01:32 The Reality of Podcast Production
03:55 Winter, Rest, and Slower Seasons
06:16 Creating Humane Systems for Work
08:23 Behind the Scenes: Calm Calendar Club
10:46 Why I Love Podcasting

CONNECT WITH NICOLE HAVELKA:

Newsletter

LinkedIn

Work with Nicole

Thank you to the people who helped make this show happen.

Send me a message via Speakpipe.

A proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.