Image: Vogue Living
Feminine Business is a space where I share intimately about finding my way as a small business owner and feminine leader working against oppressive systems and the dominant hustle culture paradigm. This series explores the joys and challenges of building a business on integrity, intuition, community, and ethical leadership in a world that demands otherwise.
In an age where everything is designed to move faster and produce more, I find myself yearning for the simplicity of old-school business. Remember the days when the only means of advertisement was through the Yellow Pages or radio? When there were no little squares to fill with content or emails to send? Of course, I was very young during this era of business but I remember it vividly nonetheless.
I routinely feel overwhelmed in this dystopian world we find ourselves in today. Why is everyone so obsessed with output now? Of course, I know the answer. The systems we live in are designed to keep people on their toes. Before we’ve completed one thing we are already onto the next. Got to keep up with that damn algorithm. Got to make sure I stay relevant. What I long for mostly is the recognition that we are human, and humans weren’t designed to be endless content machines devoid of care and love. Pushing against this rhetoric is a lot harder than I thought it would be.
That’s why I find myself so drawn to work with other business owners who anchor into the same ethos as me; a human first, body-centred approach that honours the systemic factors at play in our lives. More and more I feel repelled by businesses that do not practice transparency where possible and endeavour towards embodying policies and practices that are not only ethical by nature but also forward thinking. Give me all the feminist marketing and the anti-capitalist agendas, please. Of course, we all make mistakes and evolve over time. But, are you committed to trying?
I find the same of the community I attract. More and more I bring in women who are deeply spiritual, yes, but also women who know what it is to exist in a system that prioritises some and marginalises others. I am very proud of this. There was a time where I did not think it was possible to have a spiritual community that was also politically and socially engaged.
When I feel into this rich community that I am creating and am also part of, I feel an overwhelming sense of internal power. We are small, but strong in the way we demand better for ourselves and our world. We are saying, I see the Capitalist Consumerist culture and no I will not take part. I will not feed the beast that hungers by the hour for more, more, more. It makes me feel less alone on this endless treadmill I often find myself on.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the deeper mission of my business lately. I think it is almost a necessity to wear the business mission on your sleeve at all times. Not only so others can understand why you are here, but so that you have something to land in when times get tough (which they do, regularly).
I cannot live a life that does not nurture the longing I have to build a better life for women. I want women to feel safe in their bodies, both out in the world and inside their own. Beyond that, I want women to feel the beating heart of their sensuality, joy, and aliveness in every corner of their lives. I want to build a world where women are unburdened by the oppressive systems of Patriarchy, Colonialism, Capitalism, and Religion. To build a world where women get to live every day anchored in the truth of who they are and not who they think they have to be.
I want to live in a world where I hear women say “let me feel into that” and “I’m learning to let my body lead”. I want to see women who source their power from within, who no longer need the external world to dictate what is right or wrong for them. Women who can honour the fullest expression of who they are and who they came to be, by connecting deeply to the wisdom within their bodies. Imagine a world where women and mothers feel restored, regulated, nurtured, and powerful. Imagine the strength of that world, the ripples it would create throughout every inch of our lives.
I also long to partner with organisations I truly believe in. Community engagement is a central part of my values. Not from a theoretical, birds-eye view but from a practical, in-it-knees-deep type of way. Grass roots organisations that truly, deeply care about building a better world for the populations they fights for. I am particularly interested in The Returning, an Indigenous-run charity designed to bring all peoples of all ages, races and places back to country, and Art to Healing, a charity that utilises a women-centric approach to healing women and children from their traumatic pasts of sex slavery.
When I close my eyes and place my hands to my heart and picture myself in 10 years time, I see myself standing on land that I own, with a group of women. We’d gather here annually, running retreats and workshops centred on the wisdom of embodiment, healing, nourishment, and rest. It’s a vision I have held closely for many years. To gather women together, to eat well, to tend to the body, to the land, to have our collective grief and pleasure and pain all held peacefully and lovingly. It brings a wave of truth through my being.
It has often been very humbling to sit with this big dream. Who am I to build this? Why is my voice important? And of course, am I delusional to think I could ever make this happen? What has been so clear to me over the last few months is that our desires are divine. The universe would not give you such a beautiful longing without the necessary gifts to achieve it. This desire is here for a reason, and it wants you to bring it to form. Though, it is one thing to hear it and recognise it intellectually, but it is a whole different thing when you feel it as truth in your body.
Last night as I connected to my body before bed, a practice that is somewhat routine for me by now, something very out of the ordinary happened. I had this sudden vision of the stars in the night sky and a recognition that followed quickly after; we are one. As I lay and connected to the sensations under my skin, I felt my arms, my legs, and my head stretched out as if into infinity. My body was buzzing and alive. I felt tears well at my eyes and a deep love in my chest. I am this. This is me.
Then, a rush of sadness and heaviness landed in my chest. I saw visually the pain of my maternal and paternal line, my own pain, the ache I felt for the state of our earth, and the way we treat each other, all planted in my ribcage. This weight felt like heavy cement. As I connected to it, my connection to the stars, to the oneness of all life, grew smaller and further away. I lay with the pain, with my breath and with my tears, allowing myself to just be with the suffering. It felt almost unbearable. A great, unreconcilable thing that felt all consuming.
But I surrendered to my body, trusted her to show me what comes next, and as I did the weight shifted. The cement-like feeling in my chest eased and I sensed a power inside my heart. A deep, rumbling passion echoed throughout my body; if I can be a conduit, however small, for changing the way we relate to our bodies, each other, and the earth, I will have lived a life in harmony with my truth. The expansive oneness returned. My whole body buzzing with life and purpose again.
The intense disconnection from our bodies leads to a life that is so out of integrity that we find ourselves and the world in the state it is today. We steal and excavate land that is not ours to take. We hurt and harm others that do not look like us out of fear. We sanction and dictate sexuality. We dominate, dictate, and leverage power that is not ours to weld. We are obsessed with the pursuit of status and wealth. We have lost sight of what is important.
My hope is to reconnect as many women with the truth of their bodies as possible. Let me show you the beauty, the wisdom, the internal power (power with, not power over), and the fulfilment that comes from staying rooted in your soma. The soma is the access point to the highest self. Our instinctive nature lives here; gently guiding us towards the truest, most aligned, and joyful path we set for ourselves before landing here on earth. You cannot entertain a life that is not in service of this truth when you are connected to your body. Compassion arises. Connection increases. I see you, in all your imperfect glory, just as you see me.
This is what our world needs: to slow down, to tune in, to live from the wisdom of our bodies, in harmony with each other and the earth. If I can play even the smallest role in shepherding this world into being, I will have lived a very happy life.