Feminist Founders: Building Profitable People-First Businesses - Fighting for Accessibility with Nichole Beiner Powell-Newman

Fighting for Accessibility with Nichole Beiner Powell-Newman

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05/22/24 • 66 min

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Feminist Founders: Building Profitable People-First Businesses

SUMMARY: Nichole Beiner Powell-Newman, an unwavering advocate for intersectional wellness and CEO of Nichole Gabrielle and Co., LLC. shares her transformative journey from law to leadership consulting, and back to blogging. We delve into the challenges of disability in traditional workspaces, visionary steps towards truly inclusive workplaces, and creating liberatory communities. Nichole challenges us to consider how ableism might infiltrate our business practices and invites us to turn our professed values into actionable, everyday guides. Join us for a conversation that redefines community and courage in leadership.

Nichole Alcántara Beiner Powell-Newman (she/her) is an intersectional wellness advocate, speaker and consultant. She seeks equity, belonging and liberation at the crossroads of race, gender, and (dis)ability, through courageous conversations about lived truths, collective healing/care, and through community-centered action. She enjoys creating spaces that allow vulnerable explorations of unbridled joy for those who hold multiple marginalized identities and cultivating communities committed to intersectional belonging.

Nichole serves as the CEO and Co-Founder of Nichole Gabrielle and Co., LLC, a Leadership and Culture Consultancy focused on creating cultures of belonging for people with marginalized identities. Using the skills she's gained from years of facilitation work, legal practice, and her own experiences as a disabled and chronically ill Afro-Latina, Nichole is able to help companies tackle systemic inequities, have hard conversations, and create spaces where people feel safe and confident that they can be their full selves.

When she’s not spending time in community, Nichole enjoys reading, spending time with her husband, Vince, and learning about new foods and places. Lately, you can find her reconnecting with her roots in food anthropology, studying yoga philosophy, or planning out the big, beautiful life she believes we’re all deserving of.

Website | Instagram | TikTok | LinkedIn

Discussed in this episode:

Nichole’s exploration of feminism and womanism
Why working as a lawyer and have a disability became incompatible for Nichole
The journey from lawyer to blogger to DEI consultant and back to blogging
Finding a truly liberatory yoga practice and how it helped Nichole shift her thinking
Nichole’s vision for inclusive workplaces
Why return-to-work orders are ableist (and may not be financially wise)
How ableism may be showing up in your business
Why it’s liberatory to be in aligned community
The problem with turning community into an industry
How to reimagine community through a womanist lens
Having difficult (and political) conversations as a business thought leader
Turning values from words on a website into a guide for every choice
Science fiction as a pathway to reimagining a more liberated world

Resources mentioned:

“All the Black Girls Are Activists” by Ebony Janice
Melanin and Moxie
Spoon Theory
Susana Barkataki
“The Power of Sitting in the Mess,” Nichole’s Fearless Fire talk
Sins Invalid
“The Myth of Normal” by Gabor Maté
“Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler
Feminist Book Club

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

Website | Instagram | TikTok | LinkedIn

Discussed in this episode:

Nichole’s exploration of feminism and womanism
Why working as a lawyer and have a disability became incompatible for Nichole
The journey from lawyer to blogger to DEI consultant and back to blogging
Finding a truly liberatory yoga practice and how it helped Nichole shift her thinking
Nichole’s vision for inclusive workplaces
Why return-to-work orders are ableist (and may not be financially wise)
How ableism may be showing up in your business
Why it’s liberatory to be in aligned community
The problem with turning community into an industry
How to reimagine community through a womanist lens
Having difficult (and political) conversations as a business thought leader
Turning values from words on a website into a guide for every choice
Science fiction as a pathway to reimagining a more liberated world

Resources mentioned:

“All the Black Girls Are Activists” by Ebony Janice
Melanin and Moxie
Spoon Theory
Susana Barkataki
“The Power of Sitting in the Mess,” Nichole’s Fearless Fire talk
Sins Invalid
“The Myth of Normal” by Gabor Maté
“Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler
Feminist Book Club

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

Previous Episode

Creating Inclusive Communities with Mai Moore

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/

SUMMARY: In this episode of the Feminist Founders podcast, we chat with Mai Moore, founder of Boss Me In, exploring her shift from corporate leadership to championing values-aligned networking for Gen Z women. We discuss creating safer spaces and the unique challenges anti-capitalist startups face. Mai offers impactful leadership tips for building inclusive communities and navigating the non-traditional paths of mentorship and funding. Her insights inspire entrepreneurs to lead with authenticity and purpose, aiming to transform societal norms and foster real change in the business world.

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Mai Moore (she/her) is an Award-Winning Social Impact Leader, Co-Founder of EYEJ: Empowering Youth, Exploring Justice; Founder of Setting Off Social Impact, and Boss Me In. Mai helped two tech start-ups go public; Travelzoo Inc. and United Online. She believes in diverse women, BIPOC persons, and our young people to help create a more equitable and inclusive world. Mai is from Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Website | LinkedIn

Discussed this episode:

Mai’s relationship with feminism
Why Mai moved from the C-suite to helping Gen Z women kick off their careers
What founders need to understand about Gen Z
The challenging (and different) future that Gen Z professionals face
What is missing in many mentoring and networking programs and what makes Boss Me In different
How Mai chose the name Boss Me In
The “no-mask” policy that appeals to Gen Z’s value of authenticity
Creating truly inclusive communities
Steps Boss Me In takes to create safer spaces
The importance of harm repair inside of communities
Personal growth and the ebbs and flows of finding values-aligned communities
How Mai deals with imperfect communities
Tips for finding truly inclusive communities
Finding a mentor at any age
Mai’s best tip for moving beyond the fears of getting visible
Why founders need community
The ways Boss Me In is challenging capitalist norms
VC funding, KPIs, and burnout
What’s different about Boss Me In’s approach to funding

Resources mentioned:

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

Next Episode

Advocating for Workers with Navruz Avloni

SUMMARY: Navruz Avloni, a formidable attorney defending civil rights across California, discusses her path from a childhood in communist Uzbekistan to litigating high-profile cases like Diaz v. Tesla, advocating passionately for victims of workplace discrimination. She shares insights on leaving a partnership to start her own firm, navigating a male-dominated industry with feminist values, and the complex impacts of the #MeToo movement on legal practices. Navruz's story is not only inspiring but also a powerful call to challenge systemic injustices and transform the legal landscape.

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Navruz Avloni (she/her) is a committed attorney and advocate who fights vigorously for important civil rights in courts throughout California. She is recognized for her ability to see the big picture in every case she litigates and for being a tenacious and passionate litigator for victims of sexual assault and wronged employees. She has a proven track record of obtaining favorable results for her clients in race discrimination, disability discrimination, sexual harassment, and whistleblower cases. In her over a decade of litigation experience, Navruz has represented clients in high-profile cases such as Kepnach, et al v. Four Barrel Coffee, Diaz v. Tesla, and Vaughn v. Tesla.

Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn

Discussed in this episode:

Why Navruz is a proud and passionate feminist
How a childhood spent in communist Uzbekistan played a role in Navruz’s career choice
Choosing to be a plaintiff’s lawyer vs. a higher-paid corporate defense attorney
Working up to partner at a firm and then leaving to start her own firm
How Navruz is bringing her feminist values into a male-dominated industry
Why the legal industry, often deservedly, gets a bad reputation — and how Navruz is challenging those norms
How the legal industry often creates burnout (and the tools Navruz employs to avoid it)
Why the legal system is the center of a feminist future
Why so few victims of workplace misconduct take their cases to court.
How the #MeToo movement did—and didn’t—change workplace lawsuits
Bad apples vs. bad policies in workplace lawsuits
How to avoid bad apples (and legal damages from them) in your own business
Tips for avoiding common mistakes among even well-meaning employers
The importance of doing your best to fix an employer mistake
Why Navruz typically won’t represent plaintiffs against small businesses

Resources: